Fwd: Greatness of Kanchi Mahaswami - 13.

[Guest guest]

, " Dr.B.G.Y Sastry "

<drbgysastry

wrote:

 

13- " Where did you learn? "

 

As narrated by Sri D.Sivasubramanian, Dy. Director Handloom (Retd.) TN Govt..

now doing

seva at Sri MaTham Office, with thanks to him for his permission to post his

recollection in

KF:

 

As an ardent devotee of Kanchi MahaswamigaL, I have great pleasure to read

articles

appearing in magazines, souvenirs etc. about MahaswamigaL and I am used to

preserve

them in my library.

 

On one such occasion I was thrilled by an article written by Dr. C.R.

Swaminathan, former

Deputy Educational advisor to Govt. of India given to a souvenir. I reproduce a

gist of the

article, the message of which, I feel, should be spread among the present

generation.

 

This happened in the year 1956-57, when H.H. Sri Kanchi MahaswamigaL was camping

at

the Madras Sanskrit College, Mylapore, Madras.

 

One evening, MahaswamigaL was about to address a huge gathering in which great

personalities like Rajaji were present. He was contemplating about the topic he

should

speak on.

 

Suddenly, he called late Prof. Sankaranarayana Iyer, who was standing by the

side of the

dais and recited two lines of a Sanskrit verse. He asked the Professor if he

remembered

the remaining two lines of that verse. The Professor pleaded ignorance and got

down from

the dais.

 

This conversation took place before the mike, so audience gathered could easily

hear its

details. Dr. C. R. Swaminathan, the author of the article on Mahaperiyava, heard

the

beginning of the Sanskrit verse that Periyavaa recited. Since he happened to

know the

other two lines of the verse, he went to Prof. Sankaranarayana Iyer and told him

those two

lines.

 

The Professor went up the dais again and recited the lines before MahaswamigaL.

 

Mahaperiyava asked him, " You said you did not know the lines. How come you know

them

now? "

 

The professor replied " Someone in the audience remembered it and told me. "

 

Mahaperiyavaa inquired who was the person and told the Profession to call Dr.

Swaminathan to the dais. When he came, Paramacharya inquired about his name and

occupation. Then the sage asked, " Where did you study? " Thinking that the

question was

about his academic education, Dr. Swaminathan replied that he studied in the

Presidency

College, Madras.

 

" Not that. Where did you learn this verse? "

 

Dr. C.R. said that his grandfather taught him the verse when he was a child..

Paramacharya

inquired about his native place, his grandfather's name and his family details.

The entire

conversation was held before the mike, so the audience heard every bit of it.

 

The verse in question was the following:

 

arthaaturaanam na gurur na bandhu,

kshudhaathuranam na ruciki na pakvam,

vidyaturaanaam, na sukham, na nidra,

kaamaaturanam na bhayam na lajja.

 

One who pursues wealth knows no guru or relations.

One who is hungry knows not taste or if the food was cooked well.

One who pursues knowledge knows neither comfort nor sleep.

One who has desires knows no fear or shame.

 

Later in the discourse, Paramacharya dealt with the Kenopanishad and explained

how

Goddess Parvati came as a teacher to enlighten the celestials about the supreme

Brahmin.

 

When concluding the discourse, he referred to the earlier incident and said:

 

" Before I started delivering my discourse, I called a young man to the stage to

know where

from he learnt the subhashita verse, of which I recited the first half. I knew

who he was.

What I wanted him to tell you about his reciting the other two lines this moral

verse was

that he had learnt it, not from his school or college, but from his

grand-father, and that

too during his childhood days. It was to impress upon you all that children

should get

moral education at home from elders because they cannot get it from the modern

schools

and colleges " .

 

Dr. Swaminathan concluded his article with these words:

 

" I am recalling this incident to show that an insignificant person like myself,

extremely

nervous, while standing before H.H. on the dais, noticed by about thousands of

people

forming the audience, could be utilized by the Acharya to drive home to the

audience that

(a) a joint family system with elderly parents and grandparents can serve as a

valuable

supplement to the school education of young children (b) the elders can usefully

spend

their time by narrating such stories and morals to the children and © such

teaching can

be retained in one's memory only if imparted at the formative age. "

 

The above incident happened 50 years before, but the message holds good even

today

and will stand for years to come.

 

--- End forwarded message ---