An abode of peace

[Guest guest]

Jai SrimanNarayana.

 

I have the bhagyam of knowing about this group from HH Jeeyar swamy varu and

have just joined this group and already enjoyed some wonderful postings

about members' queries and detailed and concise explanations from Sriman

Swamy varu.

 

I just want to share my experience of visiting an abode of peace during my

recent visit to India. Whenever we want to think of a holy or pious place,

one of the adjectives that (some times)comes to mind is 'peaceful'. Peaceful

may not mean absence of noise - who has not experienced peace watching the

flow of water through the gorges near Rishikesh and listening to the

constant noise that churning of water through a myriad stones makes day in

and day out? Or who has not experienced peace watching the waves in the sea

relentlessly crashing on the shore? One of the meanings in the dictionary

for the word 'peaceful' is to be at peace with oneself; to be in a state in

which peace can prevail... Absence of conflict (or distrubance)alone is not

sufficient to say some one or some place is peaceful. A place can be

considered peaceful not simply becaue the mind is not disturbed but only

when it is actively engaged, empowered (or encouraged) to pursue what it

desires to pursue. I experienced this feeling of being in an abode of peace

- a place that is tranquil yet bubbling with activity, a place where

everything is in order yet individual freedom (and creativity) was

encouraged and respected, where several individuals were doing different

things but were all moving towards a common goal, where the conduct is

guided by a sense of duty and love rather than rules and enforcement... Many

of you may already have had the bhagyam of visiting that abode of peace

already - Swamy vari ashramam in Sitanagaram.

 

Every plant in the ashramam was lush green - why wouldn't it be listening to

the singing of birds mixing with the chanting of vidyarthis (all in their

tender age of about 10 years) learning their rigveda chandas every day. The

occasional breeze from the River Krishna, like a cooling glance from the

acharya (or like the proverbial beauty of the eyes of Lord Ranganatha),

gently carries the sounds from the main hall (where vishnu sahasranamam was

being chanted by visiting bhagavathas) and seems to be delivering the beauty

of Lord's thousand names to each and every leaf; the trees seem to nod like

elderly members of the family while they listen to bhagavad kalakshepam

(discourses) from learned scholars. Peacocks seemed too eager to participate

in the chanting with their occasional calls; the trains passing nearby

seemed to repeat the 'aum'karam.

 

The last time I visited the ashramam was way back in 1985 - though I have

been longing to visit Swamy varu more frequently, I was not fortunate - too

engaged in 'lowkika chintana' ('this-worldly' thoughts).

 

Visiting the ashramam after 15 years, was in a way, a chance to really

apprepciate how things have progressed and changed. There seemed to be

intense competition - between flowering plants here and the tulasi plants

there; between the large trees here and the very useful banana trees there :

each of them, it seemed, (like children dressing up for a big day), want to

out-do others so that Swamy varu may spend more time standing near them

(each of the larger trees was like a huge canopy covering the waiting

bhaktas - the competing trees there seemed to think - the larger the number

of bhaktas sheltered, greater the chances that Swamy varu may stop there to

talk to some one, to enquire, to converse, to consult, to advise the various

others). Every inch in the ashramam seemed to be the personification of

Sabari in Ramayana - longing to have the opportunity to be in the company of

Swamy varu and listening to the message of our acharyas and alwars through

the discourses of Swamy varu and to serve the divya murthis (of Sita

Laskmana sametha Srirama).

 

I felt really lucky - felt I was recharged with peace and calm after years

of cacophony.

 

My apologies for talking so much.

 

Adiyen, dasan PB Anand

 

 

 

 

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