Greatness of Kanchi Mahaswami - 13.

[Guest guest]

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.