[tiruvengadam] A Triple Tragedy

[Guest guest]

--- Ram Anbil <Ramanbil wrote:

> Dear Bhagavatas:

> MUKKUR LAKSHMINARASIMHACHAR SWAMI

> His depth of knowledge, courage of conviction and his powerful

> manner of > delivery, which could transform esoteric concepts as to

be easily > understood > by even lay folk like me - were the hall

marks of this stalwart.

Anbil Ramaswamy

 

 

Dear Friends,

 

It might not be out of place to just add here to Sriman Anbil's

comments.

 

When you attended Sri.Mukkur Swamy's discourses you never failed to

notice the number of young faces that turned up amongst the audience

in almost equal strenth to elderly ones. Swamy had tremendous appeal

to young 'aasthika' minds because of his refreshingly contemporary

approach to ancient scriptural subjects.

 

Swamy could de-mystify even the most abstruse philosophical matter to

make it intelligible to young, un-tutored but curious minds. He

avoided over-use of formidably technical (rather intimidating, too)

expressions of 'siddhAntam' (Sanskrit, Tamil or Mani-pravAlam).

Everything he presented became really an easy (almost languid)

marvellous essay in luciditity, simplicity and arresting cogency.

Swamy never allowed at any time distance to develop between himself

and his audience --- I mean the "distance of scholarship" which

lesser scholars or pundits of the world usually always like to

maintain to set them "apart from the (so-called) motley crowd".

 

Swamy's memory was phenomemenally prodigious. He never needed the

usual props public-speakers generally rely upon viz. handy little

notes and texts carried under the arm for quick reference in case of

memory or narrative lapses/slip-ups. Swamy could let loose torrential

passages from 'veda-ghana-pAtam-s' un-interruptedly for hours on end

without as much as pausing for breath. Effortlessly he could recall

verbatim passages from aranyakas, upanishads, brahma-sutra,

sri-bhAshya, azhwAr-arulecchayal and purvAchArya-srisookthis. While

quoting from these sources he made sure they were apt and appropriate

to the context, never exaggerating anything, never overstating

anything, never for a moment appearing to be wearing his knowledge on

his sleeve. Everything he discoursed upon had real meaning... and

more often than not one discovered, upon deeper reflection, multiple

meanings in the same discourse.

 

Swamy had a sparkling but subdued sense of humour. His wit actually

was an ornament to his discourse; never a distraction from them. Most

public speakers use humour as a tool to enliven proceedings when they

sense the audience is tending to doze off or perceive a few muffled

yawns. But Mukkur swamy never had to resort to that brand of

obsequious humour. His witticisms and jokes blended so nicely and

seamlessly with the subject-matter at hand that one was always at a

loss to know which deserved more of their attention and

appreciation... the witticism itself or its underlying message.

 

Swamy's discourses always universally appealed to all sections of the

'aasthika-samAjam'. In a broad sense, he was not just a pillar of

"SriVaishnava kootam" but a pillar of the much larger 'vaideeka

satsangham'. Swamy was always able to emphasize that fundamental and

underlying unity of all Vedantic traditions even amidst their age-old

and sometimes rancourous differences. He spoke a language, at once

simple and utterly convincing, which Advaitin, VisishtAdvaitin and

Dvaitin alike found easy to understand and relate to. Swamy was never

afraid of openly paying his respects and even acknowledging the

mighty contributions of Adi Sankara and MadhvAchArya to the great

stream of Vedantic thought handed down the centuries to us.

 

A few words now on a slighly personal note.

 

Adiyen was a young man of 20-21 when I first came into contact with

Mukkur Swamy thanks to my dear father who was and remains to this day

an ardent admirer of the Swamy. My schooling and background had been

one of Christian liberalism. I had very little knowledge of Vedic

tradition. I was 'secular'. With my modern education I tended to

pooh-pooh and reject all things in India's Vedic past.

 

Over the next 10-15 years adiyen gradually acquainted myself with

Mukkur swamy a little closely. I never missed his lectures. I used to

visit his house in Venkatesan Street in T.Nagar. My mother visited

him whenever she toured Kakinada. It was Mukkur Swamy who also graced

the occasion of my son's 'upanayanam' as late as in 1998.

 

He was a generous host. Whenver adiyen visited his home he was

engrossed in performing some 'yagnyam' or other. He would insist on

my staying back until the ritual was over, receive blessings and have

lunch. ALthough he himself was an uncompromising 'anushtAna-karta' he

never judged others severely. Knowing that I was living and working

abroad, and being mindful of the secular pulls, pressures and

constraints living abroad entails, he would refrain from

pontificating to me on lapses of 'anushtAnam'. The only thing he

would insist upon, time after time, was that I should never ever fail

to do 'sandhyAvandanam'.

 

Swamy carried himself in public impeccably. Although a strict

'vaideekan', he never looked down upon poor 'loukeeka-s' as lesser

mortals. He treated everyone equally with the utmost civility and

kindness. After completion of every 'nrisimha-mahA-yagnyam' to which

thousands of people from all over the country contributed generously,

Swamy meticulously wrote to each one of them, reporting the

completion of the yagnyam and acknowledging their 'kainkaryam'. Swamy

must have distributed at least 100 000 or more 'nrsimha-medallions'

to bhaktA-s all over the country by way of acknowledging their

full-hearted 'sahAyam' in the performance of those great

'maha-yagnyam-s'.

 

Over the years adiyen suspects Swamy did great damage to his health

in the performance of these 'yagnyA-s'. He was in a perennial state

of 'deeksha'. He fasted for days on end. Constitutionally, he tended

to be obese. He took virtually no medication for ailments, petty or

serious. He spent most of his time beside the raging fires of

'yagnya-kundam-s' and worshipping his beloved 'mattapalli-nAthan"...

Adiyen knows from personal experience, how spending even an hour

beside a 'yagnya-kunda' can be arduous. Mukkur Swamy simply neglected

his health in the cause of his life-mission and his absolute

engrossment in it --- to build up Matapalli into a great

Nrismha-kshEtra through those great 'yagnyAm-s'.

 

That Swamy has now reached the abode of SriVaikuntam --- of that

there is no doubt indeed. Nobody regrets it. But the untimeliness of

his departure is what makes us all continue to grieve. What was the

hurry for Mukkur Swamy to rush to 'parama-padam' leaving us all

behind like this?

 

Those whom God loves, He beckons early. This is an old saying the

truth of which, alas, is confirmed again and again in our moments of

bereavement such as this painful one.

 

Regards,

adiyEn, mukkur dAsEna dAsAnu-dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Dear Sudarshan anna:

 

That was truly a befitting tribute to Sri Mukkur Swamy ! I've

had the distinct pleasure of listening to only 2 of his lectures

in Venus colony when I was an adult (once accompanied by your

mother, and the other with my father, might I add!), but perhaps

several as a child (along with my grand mother and great grand

mother). Alas, I'll now have to turn to those audio tapes, if

any, of recordings of his lectures. As a pedestrian when it comes

to our understanding of our great sampradAyam, whatever little I

know of it, I owe it to the late Sri Mukkur Swamy!

 

His physical absence will be sorely missed, but I'll continue

to cherish him in spirits.

 

adiyen,

ananth