Introduction to Sri SSS's biography by Sri Jaldhar Vyas prabhuji

[Guest guest]

praNAms

Hare Krishna

 

Just would like to share this beautiful introduction by Sri Jaldhar Vyas

prabhuji (one of the moderators in Advaita-L list) on Smt. Savitri Devaraj

mAtAji.s English translation of H.H. Sri Sri Satichidaanandendra

Saraswati's biography. Originally written in Kannada by late Veda Brahma

Shree Lakshmi Narasimha Murthy. Just for the information of those

interested in Swamji's life & his contribution to advaita vedanta.

 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

bhaskar

 

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It is our ancient custom to recount the biographies of our saints and

scholars. In the tales of the itihasa and puranas or the digvijaya of

Shankaracharya we can see the practical application of the theories of the

shastras. We mustn't think that the heroes of sanatana dharma belong

solely in the legendary past for even today Punya Bharat is the home to

sages of the greatest magnitude. One such luminary was Swami

Satchidanandendra Saraswati of Karnataka. (1880-1975) The story of his

life and great deeds was written in Kannada by Shri Lakshminrsimha Murti,

a disciple, under the title Gurucharitamrita. Now thanks to our list

member Shrimati Savitri Devaraj, it is available to English speakers as

well. She was kind enough to send me a copy and here are my thoughts

about it.

 

Y. Subbaraya was born in a typical Brahmana family of that time. His

parents though not great scholars themselves were faithful astikas and did

their duties dilligently. And the village Yellambalase where they lived

though small and off the beaten track was filled with pious people. It was

an environment that instilled a devotion to dharma and jnana in young

Subbaraya that would last a lifetime. This was a very uplifting part of

the book for me. We see the boy growing into a young man and steadily

increasing in Vedantic knowledge. From the beginning, he did not just

repeat what he had learnt but thought analytically about each topic.

 

Although he supported himself by various teaching jobs, Vedanta continued

to remain Subbarayas main interest and in 1920, he formed the Adhyatma

Prakasha Karyalaya as a vehicle to spread knowledge about Shankaracharyas

teachings and his own views on the same. His fluency in Sanskrit, Kannada,

and English led him to become a prolific author. This book gives useful

information on the title, contents, and publication dates of his many

works and the various dharmic activities of the Karyalaya.

 

In 1948, Y. Subbaraya took sannyasa with the name Swami Satchidanandendra

Saraswati. The description of this event in this book reminds us that

Vedanta cannot remain a matter of books. It has to be put into practice

with vairagya.

 

Swamijis critical approach (combined with the utmost reverence. He did not

make controversy for its own sake.) led him to conclude that the two major

lines of interpretation of Shankaracharyas thought, the bhamati and

vivarana schools unnecessarily complicated and even obscured the teachings

of Advaita Vedanta. He felt sadhakas should concentrate on the bhashyas

alone and only turn to other works if absolutely needed. As you can

expect this was contested by more conservative scholars. Personally, at

this point I don't know if I would agree with Swamiji. However it is

clear that he was no deviationist and his ideas are well within the bounds

of traditional Advaita Vedanta and were accepted as such by the vidvans.

The book explains the nature of the controversy and tells of some of the

participants but I would have liked more information. Happily, the book

also contains English excerpts from one of Swamijis Sanskrit works on the

topic called vedantavidvadghosti ( " Vedantins Meet " ) This will give the

reader an introduction to his style and salient arguments.

 

By the time Swamiji attained mahasamadhi in 1975, he and his organization

(which is still going strong today) were responsible for introducing the

thought of Shankaracharya to literally thousands of people. By

introducing new readers to the life and teachings of this great soul, I am

sure this book will help increase that number further still.

 

" Shri Shri Satchidanandendra Sarasvati (Life History & His Contributions

to Shankara Vedanta) " (294 pages) is available for Rs.150 (India) or

$5(foreign) from Adhyatma Prakasha Karyalaya Holenarasipur 573 211 India.

 

 

--

Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar

 

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