MY INTRODUCTION

[Guest guest]

Namaste

 

I belong to an orthodox Smartha family and my parents had eight sons

and six daughters ( I am the youngest). Smartha families obey the

teachings and traditions established by Shankaracharya through the

Shankara Matts and our family adhere to the following of Sringeri

Peetam located in Karnataka State. My grandfather Sri Venku Sastrigal

was a Sanskrit scholar well versed in Vedas who migrated from Angarai

(Trichi District) to Thriuppuvanam (near Madurai). This migration was

initiated by the Diwan of Thiuppuvanam to establish VedaPadasala

(School conducting Veda reciting classes) under the stewardship of my

grandfather. My father, Sri Viswanatha Sastrigal studied Vedas from

the same school and later moved to Madurai after the death of my

grandfather. I was born in Madurai, the capital city of Pandya Dynasty

located in Tamil Nadu, India. Madurai is situated in Southern India,

known as the temple city famous for the shrine of Goddess Meenakshi

and also for hot summer.

 

My early education of religion and philosophy were mostly provided by

my grandmother. She was a true devotee and never failed in her daily

duties which includes taking care of everybody which includes God

through daily pooja and prayer. Her daily pooja was quite elaborate

consisting of bathing the idols, dressing them, garlanding them and

reciting slokas in praise of them and taking care of all their needs.

It was a remarkable symbolic gesture on her part to demonstrate that

the pooja is a just a reminder to fulfill her obligations ordained by

Him. Lord Ganesha got the fruits and milk symbolically where as the

family members got the Prasad in material form. I always appreciated

her devotion and dedication to the Gods through service to her family

and neighbors. Her total life was to serve every member of my family

without any ego and with full of love. She demonstrated how the daily

rituals helped her to gain enormous physical and mental strength and

provided her the discipline to conduct her daily duties. I can always

find answers to my questions and doubts by remembering her kindness,

unselfish service and devotion. When actions and words were

completely synchronized, doubts will melt away from our minds. She

loved everyone unconditionally and she hated none and that is True

Devotion.

 

I had my school and college education in India. I worked in India for

several years at IIM, Ahmedabad before moving to the USA for

completing a Ph.D. in Economics and Statistics. I and my wife Shanthi

moved to Raleigh, NC in 1975 and lived there for fifteen years. We had

been quite active in the Hindu Society of NC during our stay in

Raleigh and moved to Burke, VA during 1990 to join as a Federal

Government Economist. For the past ten years we have been attending

Chinmaya Mission activities under the stewardship of Swami

Dheeranandaji. My wife has been conducting the Balavihar classes at

the Virginia Center and this year, I teach the Youth group on Hindu

Culture and Tradition. We have two sons, Ravi and Jayanth.

 

Our Kula (family) Guru is Adi Shankaracharya and he is the guiding

force behind me. I am greatly benefitted from the teachings of Swami

Chinmayananda, Swami Dhyananda Saraswati, Swami Tejomayanandaji and

so many other stalwarts of Vedanta Philosophy. They have enlightened

the ancient value-system hidden in Bhagavad Geeta and other scriptures

to the intelligent comprehension of the modern students of technology

and science. Their unselfish and tireless service constantly reminds

me that what I know is equivalent to a dust particle in the mountain

of knowledge.

 

warmest regards,

 

Ram Chandran