Fwd: [tiruvengadam] A triple tragedy

[Guest guest]

Dear Abhimanis, Sishyas, Admirers of Vaikuntavasi Mukkur Mattapalli

swamy,

 

The following mail appeared in " Tiruvengadam " group about personal

experiences of Sriman M.K. Sudharsan with Vaikuntavasi Mukkur

Mattapalli Swamy. This is being done with a view that

Abhimanis/Sishyas/Admirers of that great Srivaishnava Simham, come to

know of the personal experiences of a fellow Manaseeka Sishya of the

Vaikuntavasi.

 

Dasan

 

IVK CHARY

 

> 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

>

>

> Namo VenkateshAya namah:

>

>

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