Madhwa's Teachings- Satyadhyana Vidyapeetha celebrates Maadhwa Youth's Day on 15-08-09.

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Madhwa’s Teachings.

 

H.H.Shri Satyatma Teertha Swamiji’s Chaturmasya, 2009.

 

Satyadhyana Vidyapeetha celebrates Maadhwa Youth’s Day on 15-08-09.

 

                                                                                                                                25-08-09

Dear Reader,

 

The Satyadhyana Vidyapeetha celebrated Independence Day in a unique manner. It was Maadhwa Youth’s Day, as declared earlier. A large number of young boys and girls came to the Vidyapetha in the morning to take part in the daylong celebrations. While some of them had come to participate in various programs like Power Point Presentation, Quiz Contest and Debate, others had come just to submit to the Swamiji of their having begun observing fast on ekadashi which they had started from the auspicious Krishnashatmi, as had been recommended by him earlier. Most important of all, they had come to pledge a well-disciplined life: a life away from drugs and alcoholic drinks, non-action and nefariousness and corruption and cunningness: a life of simplicity and sincerity, broader outlook and universal brotherhood and tradition and transparency: in short, a life that would make their parents and forefathers proud.

 

Young Pandit Vishwapradnyacharya, who had taken enormous pains to organize the event right from its conceptualization, gave a brief account of Shri Madhwacharya’s life and contribution to the society. Then various youngsters presented write-ups on various subjects like different schools of thoughts, Guru Parampara, Importance of Japa, Benefits of Yoga and Ill effects of bad habit. Evidently the presentations were a product of hard work and showed an appreciable level of maturity in their approach to the subjects they dealt with.

 

After the power point presentation, it was the Quiz contest, which was very interesting: many boys and girls eagerly participated in it. Separate teams of boys and girls were formed, each team comprising a pair and senior pandits formed the panel of Judges. Pandit Vishwapradnyacharya started with questions, which, initially, were simple in nature, and the teams answered them almost instantly. They maintained the same readiness even when the questions became more and more difficult, as the Quiz contest progressed. It was difficult to judge who would be the winner. In the quick fire round, however, the teams, one by one, left the ring mainly because of lack of time and finally a girls team was declared winner and of boys runner-up.

 

Congratulating the winners and the runner-up, a senior Pandit Raghoottamacharya, one of the judges, said that the panel was greatly surprised at the knowledge of the contestant. Some of the questions, he said, were so difficult that only seniors, who had attended discourses for long, would have answered them. He congratulated all the participants for the knowledge they possessed.

 

His Holiness blessed the winning and runner up teams with mementos. All youngsters pledged a well-disciplined life thereafter.

 

Commenting on the proceedings, Vidwan Vidyasimhacharya described the day as a trly memorable day. Youngsters in hundreds showing keen interest in Maadhwa Philosophy, their indefectible devotion to the Swamiji and firm determination to lead a virtuous life as directed by the Swamiji was perhaps a greatest achievement of the Maadhwa Youth’s Day, he said.

 

It will prove to be a giant step towards revival of Viashnavaism. Such events will be organized in future in the divine presence of the Swamiji for the furtherance of Vaishnavaism, he hoped.

 

The Vidwan appreciated the participants’ fluency in English, which, he said, was these days essential: but he advised them to become proficient also in their mother tongue, be it Kannada or Marathi, because basic concepts become clear through the medium of mother tongue, he said. He appealed to the non-Kannadigas to learn Kannada language for; he said, Madhwa philosophy is fully explained in that language in the works like Harikathaamruat sara next only to Sanskrit, he said.

 

Next was a debate session. Shri Satyabodha from Navi Mumbai, spoke on Atheism. The young engineer heavily relied upon the Darwinian Theory of Evolution and stated that a single cell amoeba in water developed into a multi-cells life form, evolving itself to suit the environmental conditions. The development of complex life forms was the result of natural selection. Evolution of life, he went on to say, was a natural process and that the so call God’s hand in it is superfluous. Secondly, existence of God does not stand the test of scientific scrutiny or even logic and lastly, he said, even the shashtras say that the world has no beginning; it exists from time immemorial. How can there be a creator of the world, which has no beginning, he asked?

 

Responding to the argument Shri Pushkaracharya, a young student of the Vidhypeetha said that the physical world has two forms – the expanded form that all of us see and super-condensed microform, like a small seed that encapsulates a giant tree. God, he replied, causes the super-dense microphysical world to expand to become the physical world we live in. Thus, He creates the world and is therefore, the creator of the physical world. Not only does God create the world, but He also sustains it, he said, quoting scriptures in support of his statement. Like his “opponent”, he also spoke in flawless English. The ‘opponent” subsequently said the he firmly believed in God and that he took atheistic position only for the sake of debate.

 

In his amrutopdesha, His Holiness elaborated on God, the Creator and the Sustainer. God, the Omnipotent creates this world, nay the universe; with His powers, which none can comprehend. The way God creates and sustains the world has remained shrouded in mystery. He gave the example of the human being himself who paradoxically doubts the very existence of God, Who protects him all his life.

 

The union of tiny fish-like cells called chromosomes that carry genes develop into embryos which, undergoing various strange developmental stages, finally gives the human being his/her form which is called the ultimate stage in the theory of evolution. These developments take place in a most secure place and under prefect conditions. The process of formation and development of human form has baffled and mystified science till today.

 

According to the shastras, soul sails through space and reaches the meeting place in the womb through rain to food, from food to man and from man to woman. This soul in not alone; there are many other souls trying frantically to enter the fertilized egg but only the strongest one wins the race and enters the embryo. This complex process of creation of body is not of soul’s own making. It must have a creator: it has a creator and He is God. Indeed only God can and does create the world, he said.

 

The world or the universe is not a chance projection in the void called space. God has created everything for a purpose, be it extra-terrestrial like the sun, the moon, the planets and the stars or terrestrial like the world with different forms of life; He has created them to help human beings to reach their goals. God is supreme; He is the creator and sustainer of every one and everything. He can also be the destroyer of the universe; He reduces it to its microscopic form and enlarges it at His will. We owe God everything. He is All Compassionate and forgives us for our wrong doings, he said.

 

Let us, therefore, surrender to God and appeal to Him with all our earnestness to make us a tool in his hands for our progress and ultimate emancipation.

 

With best regards,

 

Ramachandra Tammannacharya Gutti,

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