A SANSKRIT AND TELUGU SCHOLAR MEETS RAMANA MAHARSHI

[Guest guest]

A SANSKRIT AND TELUGU SCHOLAR MEETS RAMANA MAHARSHI

 

 

 

Panthalu Lakshmi Narayana Sastri was a scholar and adept in

composing extempore poetry. The following is obtained from his

Telugu booklet Sri Ramana Sandarsanamu.

 

In 1943, a close relation asked me to translate in Telugu, Ganapati

Muni's Sanskrit work Uma Sahasram. I at once agreed. This was the

first time I saw Bhagavan's picture, and it drew me like a magnet.

During the 1946-summer vacation of the college where I served, my

wife and I set out on a pilgrimage to Tiruvannamalai. As we entered

the hall, the Veda parayana was going on. Bhagavan was seated

majestically on the sofa. His first sight evoked great faith and

ineffable bliss in my heart. I was so moved that as Bhagavan rose

for breakfast I could not restrain myself and fell prostrate at his

feet. In the process, all my books which I had brought to present

to Bhagavan fell on the floor. A devotee picked them up and helped

me to go to the dining room. After breakfast I went to my lodging

and composed twenty verses in Sanskrit in praise of Bhagavan under

the title Atmanhista Nivedanam.

When I entered the hall again, I introduced myself to Sri

Bhagavan in Sanskrit, not knowing that he spoke Telugu. When I

said, " Uma Sahasram maya andhrikritham " (I have rendered Uma

Sahasram into Telugu) he replied, " Oh, you are translating Uma

Sahasram into Telugu " , and even corrected my use of the word

andhrikritham which means `completed translating'. Bhagavan somehow

knew that I had not actually finished the work, and when he enquired

how far I had gone with my translation, I confessed that I had only

so far translated a hundred slokas. Then I requested him to permit

me to read out the poem I had composed in my room. Bhagavan nodded

his head and I recited the verses with a strong emotional fervour.

On the third day, I had the fortune of reading out

the Uma Sahasram which I had already translated, and informed

Bhagavan that I had written to the publishers of the Sanskrit

original for permission to publish the translation, and was awaiting

their reply. Bhagavan advised, " If you go and meet Kapali Sastri in

Pondicherry, he will help in obtaining the necessary permission. "

I was talking to Devaraja Mudaliar [A well-known devotee at

the Ashram] about the publication of my book, and told him that I

was unable to go to Pondicherry as I had taken a vow for a

pilgrimage to Chidambaram, and that if I went there, my finances

would not permit a visit to Pondicherry.

After reaching Chidambaram, I accommodated myself in

a pilgrim's lodge. All the time, I was spending money very

thriftily in view of my meager finances. Talking to the steward of

the pilgrim's lodge, I told him of my visit to Bhagavan and how I

was unable to follow his instruction to go to Pondicherry. He told

me that a visit to Pondicherry would not cost much, and convinced me

to extend my journey. He even accompanied me to the bus station and

voluntarily purchased a ticket for me out of his own pocket.

I arrived at Pondicherry on May 10, 1946, and went

to see Kapali Sastri. I introduced myself in Sanskrit and presented

him with a copy of my Andhra Dhyanyalokam. In the afternoon I read

out to him my translation of Uma Sahasram. He listened carefully

and commended my translation, and felt it was faithful and lucid.

He promised he would do whatever was necessary to get my work

published. When I was about to leave, he gently said, " As I am

staying alone without my family, I am unable to offer hospitality to

you, so you must kindly accept at least this. " So saying he forced

five rupees into my hands.

In retrospect, calculating the additional

expenditure on the trip to Pondicherry, I found to my surprise that

it had cost me only five rupees extra!

Before leaving Pondicherry, Kapali Sastri told me that I would be

passing through Tiruvannamalai on my way back to Vijayanagarm. I

had not realised this before and was elated at the prospect of

seeing Bhagavan again. As I was about to enter the Ashram, I saw

some devotees near the gate, one of whom was telling the

others, " Sastriji is now coming from Pondicherry. " I was surprised

that they knew of my unexpected change of route. I went up to them

and asked how they knew I had been to Pondicherry. I was told that

after I had left for Chidambaram, one of the devotees told Bhagavan

about my departure. He had then replied, " He will go to

Chidambaram, from there to Pondicherry, and then come back here. He

will leave for Vijayanagaram only after giving us a performance of

his extempore poetry. "

Later, when the devotees asked a performance of my

poetry, the subject chosen was Bhagavan. When I started composing

poems, I felt as if some divine force had taken possession of me.

An advocate from Guntur jotted down the poems, twenty in all, while

the recitation was going on. When the recitation was over, he gave

me the paper, requesting me to fill in the blank spaces. I told him

that the poems came to my lips spontaneously by Bhagavan's grace,

and I did not myself remember what I had said. Bhagavan also

remarked, " Even if he tries, the original form cannot be recaptured. "

Later I was told that when Devaraja Mudaliar said to

Bhagavan, " It seems that Sastri is a great poet " , Bhagavan

remarked, " Yes, I agree. But all this is only activity of the

mind. The more you exercise the mind and the more success you have

in composing verses the less peace you have. What use is it to

acquire such accomplishments if you don't acquire peace? But if you

tell this to people, it does not appeal to them. As Ganapati Muni

used to say, when going forward one can run with speed, but when it

is going backwards, that is, running inwards, even one step is hard

to take. " When I came to learn of Bhagavan's opinion on the

composition of extempore poetry, I greatly curtailed my poetic

ambitions.

 

 

prof laxmi narain (prof_narain)

 

Source and courtesy: Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad

This article was published in Sri Ramana Jyothi,

monthly magazine of the Kendram.