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Vedic "vairAgyam"

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Still on last week's "top-of-the-list" topic of "material comfort and

spiritual pursuit", I received a number of interesting private mails from a

few members. Thank you all for the keen discussions.

 

One common query raised was, of course, if I knew of anyplace in India where

an indivdual or a community lived entirely in accordance with the "sAstrA".

 

My answer is:

 

I have heard that in parts of Krishna Districts in Andhra Pradesh many

villages still live as per the old Vedic code. There are scores of families

in villages who have devoted themselves solely to Vedic pursuit. They rarely

venture out of their villages. Their children are also trained to become

full-time "ghana-pATin-s". They do not seek the patronage of anybody. They

ask for no donations to finance their life-styles. They do not also want to

become the cynosure of "religious tourists" from outside both in and outside

India. They want to be left alone.

 

In Tamilnadu, I have myself witnessed a Vedic community living more or less

as per "sAstrA". Last year I visited Navalpakkam--- a hamlet near Wandiwash.

This place is a 3-street village where the main one is an "agrahAram" with a

"perumAl-koil". The place has electricity but none of the other trappings of

modern living... no drainage, no taps, no metal roads, no commercial

establishments like grocery-stores and wayside restaurants.

 

A community of Tatachars still lives in this village. The most venerable,

the late Sriman Navalpakkam Devanatha Tatachari lived in this village. He

passed away not very long ago. He was a veritable giant amongst Vedic

scholars of recent times. He was a "nitya-agnihotri". All his life he was

known to have hardly stepped out of Navalpakkam. His farthest trip was to

Kanchipuram to attend "brahmOtsavam" of Varadar temple. He spent the rest of

his life in Navalpakkam in strict observance of all Vedic precepts and

ideals. When it was announced that he was the recipient of the President of

India Sansrit Award, he politely asked that if he must receive it at all

then it better be handed to him at Navalpakkam itself. For he had no plans

to go to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to collect a mere award!

 

The kanchi-Acharya, it is said, had the greatest regard for this Vedic

doyen.

 

After Devanatha-tatachari passed away some members of his family and

family-tree still live in the village. They are today carrying on the

tradition of the hamlet unmindful of secular pressures. When I visited the

place last year for the annual "adhyAyana-utsavam", I saw a galaxy of Vedic

scholars congregated there. They had all learnt thier Vedic lessons from

"ayyasami" (Devanatha-tatachari's pseudonym). Every year they gather at the

village to celebrate "adhyayan-utsavam" in a solemn manner bereft of

ostentation or fanfare. They do not solicit donations. Valayapatti

Sriman.Ramanuja Tatachar and Sriman Yagnyavarahaswami were notable amongst

the congregation there. Ramanuja-tatachar continues to live in Navalpakkam

devoting himself to Vedic training and propagation. He is training a band of

select disciples in "ghanam". I even saw a young Advaitin boy from

Uttar-pradesh who they said was undergoing "gurukula-vAsam" under the

tatachar for about 3 years.

 

So.... the long and short of it is that .... yes, it is not impossible at

all to live according to the Vedic "sAstrA" even in these days of MTV,

Coco-Cola and pan-pizza.

 

But one needs a great deal of "vairAgyam" to make such a choice in life....

and "vairAgyam", I have realised, is far easier to talk about on the

"bhakti-list" than to put into practice in real life...

 

The Vedic ideal still lives and flourishes here and there in India.... but

invariably it prefers, I suppose, low-profile and even lower hype....

 

adiyEn dAsAnu-dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

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