Glimpses of the life and teachings of His Holiness Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal (1935 - 2018), the 69 Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam and some of the public welfare activity initiatives of the Kanchi Math, under His guidance. Source Reference: DILIP - Quarterly journal published by Sudakshina Trust [Regd], 126-A, Dhuruwadi, A V Nagvekar Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai - 400025, Tel: 2430 9318, 2430 9610, 2430 6319 - Website: www.dilipindia.com Email: dilipindia@gmail.com Issues of Dilip - July/Sep 2009, Jan/March 2018 and April/June 2019.Amrithotsava VandanamRegistered with the Registrar of News Papers for India R. N. 24212 / 74 uiers ar aera: feat a ae once weer | eRearsar Sareea ae rest Esta fart 11 Parityajya mounam vataadhah sthitim cha vrajan bhaaratasya pradeshaatpradesham Madhusyandivaachaa janaandharmamaarge nayan srijayendro gururbhaatichitte My Guru Sri Jayendra Saraswati, who guides people into dharmic ways by his honey-sweet words, who goes on yatras from one place to another in the whole of India, having discarded silence and stay-put under banyan tree (as does Sri Dakshinamurthi), always resides in my heart. Songs composed by Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal in praise of His Guru ~ TTS ee Ae A eR at. were sepa eee faraarente arbget Parca (ast) 2. es Bera Her Rare WoT Vale WoT Tae, (TAY) 3. Fee FER Fre seo, ameye Ty arate ST (A) a. aasher Peay sifaararry wert cer, aerate 3.8. aap aH Sam omfg preter seo Stary satay (aa) 2. aeatas Ta aha, sitter ara wenn afer see, (aah) 3. Far Seer wary aera Te es foes a facto, (aera)Jaya Jaya Jayendra! Pranams to Jagadguru Sankaracharya Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamiji of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham on the occa- sion of his 75th birth anniversary, which falls on the 7th August, 2009. No saintly preceptor of our times has exemplified almost to perfection the ideal ‘Atmano mokshartham, jagat hitaaya cha’ (seeking) self-realisation and (promoting) people's welfare, as His Holiness in his role as a sanyasin in the illustrious order of Monks of the Sankaracharya tradition. The Sankaracharya Maths in India have had pontiffs of great spiritual stature, intellectual attainments and of religious involvement by way of preservation, pro- tection and propagation of Sanatana Dhar- ma. But to Sri Jayendra Saraswati goes the credit of holding the balance even between his commitment to social welfare and his spiritual, moral and religious concerns, which flow from his pontificate of a hoary Math. This he achieved through his renaissance movement called Jana Kalyan, which he announced on the Vijayadashami Day in September 1987. His Holiness’ social activism (confining ourselves to only this aspect of his multifarious acitvities) has been a tremendous force for good. He rose in national stature acceptable to all communities as one who knew no distinctions of caste and creed, race and religion, high and low. That he aimed at national unity, harmony of all religions, enlightenment of the ignorant, and the welfare of all has been recognised and admired all over the country: His Holiness has set up enduring institutions for the benefit of the people in the fields of education, vedic research, healthcare, social welfare and religion. His Holiness has been described by his disciple and successor-designate to the Kanchi Peetham as a ‘walking encyclopedia’. His Holiness’ scholarship is reflected in his discourses, hundreds of them, delivered in Sanskrit, Tamil and Gilip 2 svt) SEP 2009 * 1Hindi all over the country; most of these are available in print. Speci- mens of his discourses published elsewhere in this issue of 'DILIP’ SRI JAYENDRA SARASWATI SWAMIJI HAS BEEN ENGAGED IN SOCIAL WELFARE ACTIVITIES LIKE . | bear witness to his comprehensive i) Education knowledge of Sanatana Dharma and Academic, Vedic, Agama & its bearing on the day-to-day life Shilpa Patashalas of the people. He drives home his upadesa with telling illustrations | ii) Health Care eg. electricity, water, ants, the postman, the fingers of the hand | iii) Social Work - Homes for the and so on. aged and destitutes It was not without reason that the | iv) Renovation of temples Mahaswami chose him as his suc- (Over 6000 during 50 years) cessor; he belonged to a family which for eight generations had been known for simplicity, austerity, de- votion, discipline, generosity, and Vedic knowledge and ritual practi- ces. His learning is vast and intense; he had a gruelling time for six years as a student of Sri Kunju Sastrigal (Sri Krishnamurti Sastrigal) at the Tiruvidaimarudur Rig Veda Patashala, In 1946, at the examination in Vedic studies of students of three districts, Sri Subramaniam stood first. He completed his studies in Vedic and classical literature at Tiruvanaikka under Sri Balakrishna Sastrigal and Sri Sivaramakrishna Sastrigal. v) Awards to seholars, artists, scientists and others engaged in social service The announcement of the selection of Sri Subramaniam as the Peetadhipati- designate was made by the Mahasvami at Tuticorin in 1950. Later, on March 22, 1954, he was initiated into Sanyasa at Kanchipuram. Many years after this, the Mahasvami is quoted as saying, "Jayendra Swamigal has done far more for the health and happiness of mankind, in all its forms, than | have been privileged to do." soe AE veto | sierdanyes wornfe yer 2 % JUL SEP 2009 © Aifip _se An exposition in the form of questions and answers on Hindu Dharma H.H. Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamiji Q. What is the name of our country? A. The name of our country is Bharata- Varsha. Q. How and when did the name Bharata for ‘our country originate? A. The name ‘Bharata’ has come down the ages. Etymologically the name has originated from the word ‘Bharata’. It means the country which can give the resplendent knowledge or effulgence of the Atman. Q. What are the frontiers of Bharata- Varsha ? A. Although the physical frontiers of India are small today, the whole world in its entirety is in effect Bharata-Varsha. Q. What is the authority for this statement? A. According to Manu-smriti, WARIO AHA: | . Se ates fetes gheat aden: 11 This means that the people of different coun- tries in the entire world have leamt, are learn- ing and will be learning how to mould one's character from the erudite scholars or savants of our country Bharat. Q. What other authority is there? A. Archaeologists have collected specimens of our Indian culture and civilisation from all over the country. This collection includes arti- cles for use in yagnas, icons of Ganapati and other gods and various inscriptions in Sanskrit. At present, these can be seen in the house of Dr. Lokesh Chandra in Delhi. Q. What is the name of our Dharma? A. Our Dharma is called Vaidika Sanatana Hindu Dharma. That is, the basic scriptures for our Dharma are the Vedas. The Vedas have come down to us right from very ancient times. dilip 0 sui 1 SEP 2009 & 3Q. How many Vedas are there? A. The Vedas are endless in the form of sound. But sage Veda Vyasa has collected, classified and presented this sound-lore in the form of the four Vedas, namely Rigveda, Yajurveda, ‘Samaveda and Atharvaveda. @. How many Sakhas or recensions are there for each of the Vedas? A. The Rigveda has 21, Yajurveda has 109 (of which Krishna Yajurveda has 64 and Shukla Yajurveda 45), Samaveda has 1000 and Atharvaveda has 50. Thus the total is 1180. Q. What is the meaning of the word Veda? A. The word Veda is etymologically derived from the root ‘vid’ faq ‘to know’. It enables us to realise knowledge which transcends our intellect. In other words, not merely the present day material knowledge of the world but the knowledge which transcends it are both con- tained in the Vedas. Q. What do the Vedas specially teach us? ‘A. The Vedas contain not only transcendental knowledge, but knowledge relating to karma, and upasana wherein we have an enunciation of the rules and regulations relating to different SOME MILESTONES March 27, 1934 - Born to Sfi Mahadeva lyer and named ‘Subramaniam. March 22, 1954 - Anointed as Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swami, the 69th Acharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. August 1, 1971 - Starts the Hindu Mission as the service establishment of the Kanchi Mutt at Karvet Nagar, Chitoor District in Andhra Pradesh. December 1 to 5, 1974 - All Religions Conference at Puri Jagannath. March 30 to April 5, 1977 - World Religious & Philosophy Conference at the Gandhi Museum in Madurai. forms of yagna, havan etc, Besides these tech- niques of worship, meditation etc. the relation between the individual soul and the Paramat- ma or the Ultimate Reality and indeed the entire gamut of actions which a human being has to do right from birth till death are described in great detail in the Vedas. Q. Were the Vedas composed by any indi- vidual? A. The Vedas were not written by anyone. They were transpersonal and they constitute know!- edge from the divine. The Vedic sounds are always there in space. At the beginning of creation, Rigveda was revealed to Sage Agni, Yajurveda to Sage Vayu, Samaveda to Sage Aditya, and Athar- vaveda to Sage Angiras. Very great Maharishis by virtue of the power which they had acquired due to extensive tapas were able to tune their ears and listen to the Vedic sounds or mantras and they taught them to their disciples and thus have preserved them till today. Q. What is the use of studying the Vedas? ‘A. The Vedas constitute the foundation of spir- itual knowledge. By studying the Vedas, one 4% JUL/ SEP 2009 0 dilipean ennoble one's life. The chanting of the Vedic mantras with proper accent and intona- tion of the swaras will lead to the welfare of humanity. Q. Has anyone expounded the meaning of the Vedas? A. Swami Vidyaranya has written an exposition of the meaning of the Vedas, which is the only exposition in accordance with the shastras and based on the Indian tradition and culture. Q. Has anyone else elaborated the meaning of the Vedas? A. An elaboration of the Vedas is contained in the Brahmanas. Eighteen great Maharishis have also written commentaries on the Vedas, which are known as Smritis. The word Smriti means ‘to remember’. Those texts wherein the Maharishis have captured the sounds of the Vedic man- tras and put them down in writing in the form of sutras or small aphorisms for the wel- fare of humanity are known as Smritis. Q. What are the names of these eighteen Smritis? A. The eighteen Smritis are 1. Manu Smriti 2. Parasara Smriti 3. Yagnavalkya Smriti 4. Gautama Smriti 5. Haritha Smriti 6. Yama Smriti 7. Vishnu Sm 8. Sankha Smriti 9. Likhit Smriti_ 10. Brihaspati Smriti 14. Daksha Smriti_ 12. Angi- rasa Smriti 13. Samvarta Smriti 14. Usanas Smriti 15. Atri Smriti 16. Apasta- mba Smriti 17. Satapata Smriti and 18. Prachetasi ‘Smit. Q. How many Puranas and Itihasas are there? A. There are eighteen Puranas and two Itihasas. Q. What are the names of the eighteen Puranas? ‘A. The eighteen Puranas are 1. Brahma Pur- ana 2. Padma Purana 3. Vishnu Purana 4, Siva Purana 5. Narada Purana 6. Markan- deya Purana 7. Agni Purana 8. Bhavishya Purana 9. Linga Purana 10. Varaha Purana 11, Skanda Purana 12. Vamana Purana 13. Kurma Purana 14. Matsya Purana 15. Garuda Purana 16. Brahmanda Purana 17. Brahmavaivarta Purana and 18. Srimad Bhagavata Purana. Q. What are the names of the two Itihasas? His Holiness performing Pooja at Amarnath, June 27, 2001 Giip © su. SEP 2000 + 5His Holiness performing Aarati at the Kanchi Mahasvami’s Brindavanam entire Indian culture and civilisation. Q. What is the meaning of the word asa? _ A. sfat + & + 317 = BETA meaning "It was like this", According to this interpretation, Itihasa is story-based. Inthe Ramayana, we have the story of Bhagavan Rama, and in the Mahabharata we have the story of Dhar- maputra and the other Pandavas. This is what is called Itihasa, These two epics are intimately connected with the life of human. beings and exemplify the manner in which human life has to be conducted Q. How many parts do the Vedas have? What are their names? A. The Vedas have six angas or parts, viz. Siksha (nose of the Vedapurusha); Vyaka- rana (mouth of the Vedapurusha); Chhan- das (fect of the Vedapurusha); Niruktam (ears of the Vedapurusha); Jyotisham (eyes of the Vedapurusha) and Kalpam (hands of ‘A. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata Q. What is the meaning of the word Purana? A. Puranas are texts which desoribe the hist- ory of our country right from the ancient days and even though they relate to ancient peri- ‘ods, yet they are ever new since they conti- nuously establish new values for contempo- rary society. In the Puranas, we have detailed descriptions of the earlier yugas, the history of those yugas, the story of the Manus and the different periods of their reign or Manvantaras, the process of evolution, the process of involu- tion, the history of kings and the geography and astronomy of the universe. In every Pura- na, there is a detailed account of every indivi- dual Hindu deity — god or goddess. In other words, the Puranas are a mirror reflecting the the Vedapurusha). Q. How many Upa-vedas or sub-vedas are there and what are their name: ‘A. Ayurveda is the Upa-veda of Rigveda, Dhanur Veda that of Yajurveda, Gandharva Veda that of Sama Veda and Arthashastra (economics) that of Atharvaveda. Q. What are the things which the Hindus believe in? A. The Hindus believe in the Vedas, the theory of Karma, God both in the Nirguna form of being attributeless or formless, or in the Sag- una form of incarnations, worship of God in personified forms (as idols), respect for rituals through the medium of Agni or fire, looking upon mother, father and guru or teacher in the form of God, seeing God in rivers, mountains and trees, belief in the existence of the other 6 x JUL/ SEP 2009 0 dilip* SOME MILESTONES July 20, 1978 - Silver Jubilee Year of Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamiji's Peetarohana. May 29, 1983 - Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswati Swamiji anointed as the 70th Acharya of the Mutt. May 2, 1993 - Kanakabhishekam performed for the Mahasvami Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati at Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. January 8, 1994 - The 68th Acharya, the Mahasvami, attains Videha Multi. October 15, 2002 (Vijayadashami Day) - Devotees perform Kanakabhishekam to Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swam world, the wearing of tilaks (marks on the fore- head), donning a tuft or the mode of wearing dress ete. Q. What is the theory of Karma? A. The theory of Karma is what has been expounded and established by the Vedas. Q. How many forms of Dharma or Karma are there? ‘A. Dharma and Karma, both are the same, but depending on place and time and the person who practises it, they take different forms. Q. What forms are common to people? A. There are three different forms which are common - individual dharma, family dharma, and national dharma. Even in these, there are several dharmas that pertain to brahma- charis, grihasthas (house-holders), vana-pra- sthas (those who have retired to the forest) and sanyasis. Q. What fruit results from Dharma? A. The fruit of Dharma is punya or virtue by which happiness is attained. Q. What is called Adharma? A. Doing of karma contrary to what is enjoined by the Vedas is called adharma. Q. What consequences flow from adharma? A. The immediate consequence of adharma is papa or sin, which leads to unhappiness. Q. What is the reason for happiness and unhappiness in the present life? A. Happiness and unhappiness experienced by a person in the present life are due to the accumulated paapa and punya of his previous births. Q. If the happiness as well as unhappiness in the present life is due to the sins or virtues accumulated as a result of dharmik actions and adharmik actions in previous births, then where is the need for God? A. Dharma as well as adharma have been expounded in the Vedas, and we do karma accordingly. The one who bestows the fruits of those karmas is God. Therefore, we must have belief in God in this life also. Q. If God gives happiness as the fruit of karma done according to dharma then why does He give unhappiness? A. God bestows fruits in accordance with the karma done by man, depending upon whether dilip 2 suL 1 seP 2009 & 7it is according to dharma or adharma, and he does not bestow fruits according to His capri- ces or whims. For example, electric power is available in the entire house. When we need light for doing our work, we use the switch meant for that purpose only, to illuminate the place of our work. Likewise, God is present everywhere as the witness of everything. Hen- ce He is able to bestow fruits according to one's karmas, as the omnipresent witness. If our friend writes a letter to us, it reaches us through the postman. The postman has no concern with the happy or unhappy content of the letter. He is merely in the nature of a witness. Likewise, God bestows the fruits of our karma depending on whether it is accor- ding to dharma or adharma. He does not de- cide anything according to His whims. Q. If happiness as well as unhappiness is going to be achieved as a result of one's own actions, then where is the need to wor- ship God? A. Asa result of worshipping God, the fruits of the bad karma get minimised.Therefore, it i necessary to worship God. During the rainy season, when a person wears a raincoat, the water drops falling on it flow down and thus, he does not get drenched. Similarly, worship of God is like a protective shield to minimise the fruits of bad karmas. Q. Who creates the world? ‘A. With the power of the Nirguna-Nirakar God (or the formless and attributeless God), the God with attributes as well as forms cre- ates, maintains and nourishes the world. Q. Who takes incarnations? A. God with attributes in Vaikunta or Kailash takes incarnations. Q. What is the purpose of incarnations? A. There are three main purposes, namely protecting the saintly men, nourishing them and through them giving redemption to those who follow dharma, destroying the wicked and thereby reducing the number of those who practise adharma and in turn thereby re- ducing the burden on the earth. Q. What is called an idol? A. Idols are made of eight elements or of granite and are personifications in bodily form of the various incarnations of God in the yugas previous to our Kaliyuga. They are installed after proper invocation with mantras. Q. Will God not incarnate in this Kaliyuga? A.God will incarnate at the end of Kaliyuga. Q. What are the occa: incarnated? A. God incarnates in every yuga. In the Krita- yuga He incarnated as Matsya (fish), Kurma, (tortoise), Varaha (pig), Nrusimha (man-lion form) and Vamana (dwarf); in the Tretayuga he incarnated as Rama and Parsurama; and ns when God has 8 4 JUL/ SEP 2009 0 Mfipin the Owaparayuga he incarnated as Bala- rama and Krishna. In the Kaliyuga he will incarnate as Kalki. Q. In the Kaliyuga, will there be an avatar or incarnation other than the Kalki incarna- tion? A. In the Kaliyuga, there will be no incarnation other than the Kalki incarnation Q. Today there are many persons who call themselves God. What do the Shastras say in this regard? A. According to the Shastras, only ten incar- nations have been accepted. Today there are people who are siddhas, jnanis, tapasvis, viragis (those who have renounced) and mahatmas. When God incarnates, He does so for three reasons, for protecting the saintly and good people, for destroying the wicked and for establishing dharma. The saintly or holy men are there only to give their blessings to people. Q. Today there are many people who by exhibiting magical or such powers call them- selves God. What do the Shastras say inthis regard? A. God can exhibit His magical or other powers. A person who has acquired such powers from God can also exhibit such powers.Some asu- ras and rakshasas had acquired through pen- ance the capacity to exhibit such magical and other skills. A person who exhibits such magi- cal or other powers is called as one who is an adept in tantras and mantras, but he cannot be called God. Q. Is it possible to have direct darshan of God? A. Itis possible to see God face to face, after weaning the mind away from the sense-objects and meditating on God. It is easy to have dir- ect darshan of God, by worshipping the idols installed in temples etc. as the embodiment of God Himself, Further, one can have darshan of God, depending on the emotional level which one has attained. Just as a piece of iron when heated in fire, becomes one with the fire, like- wise, to have direct darshan of God means becoming one with God. Q. What is the significance of rituals with Agni? A. All the rituals which we do in this human life right from birth to death are all performed with Agni as witness. For example, rituals at the time of birth, the naming ceremony, feeding the child with cereals for the first time, the chuda-karma, upanayanam, marriage rituals, pitru-karma and rituals at the time of death ete. are all performed with Agni as a witness. Q. Whatis the use of these rituals with Agni? A. On account of these rituals with Agni, the Devas are pleased and hence man's life be- comes happy and any deficiencies are wash- ed away, dilip 2 suL 1 SEP 2009 * 9Q. Where does man go after death? A. Alter-death, man goes to three different worlds depending upon his karmas. He who establishes schools, sets up places for free distribution of food, builds temples, establi- shes Mutts, and serves the poor people and thus does karma according to dharma goes to Chandraloka with the blessings of the Pitrus and enjoys happiness in Chandraloka. He who does yagnas like Vajapeya or Soma- yaga goes to Swargaloka and enjoys happi- ness there. But both these categories of persons stay there in the other worlds for some time enjoying happiness, but again they come back to the earth. Those who wor- ship Saguna Brahman go to Brahmaloka after death, they do not return to the earth afterwards to take birth, but they attain Brahma-jnana there itself and finally attain liberation. Those who do sinful actions here go to Yamaloka after death to reap the con- sequences of those sinful actions and return to the earth again for taking birth. Q. Doall living beings go to the other worlds after death or is it only man who goes there? A. Itis only man who does karma according to his intellect, and he goes to the other worlds to reap the fruits of his actions. Other living be- ings do not act based on reasoning and there- fore, they are not obliged to go to other worlds for reaping the fruits of their actions. Q. Where do the living beings other than humans go after death? A. They take rebirth in this very world acc- ording to their actions (sinful or virtuous as the case may be) in their previous births. Q. Why does man do karma which results in sin or virtue, in his life? A. The vasanas or proclivities from the previ- ous births arid the environment in the present birth are thé two reasons for this. Q, What is meant by previous birth? A. Whatever births have been there in the human form (that is, leaving births in the form of birds, animals and Devas) before the present human birth ‘are called previous births. Ordi- narily, all births prior to this birth including births in the torm of birds, animals, reptiles etc are all previous births related to karma only. Q. What is the difference between man and other living beings? A. The reasoning power is more in man than in other animals. But other things are common. It is only because of the predominance of reason in man as compared to other living beings that he is considered the best among all living beings Q. Will there be an end to worldly sorrows? A. Worldly sorrows or unhappiness will come toanend only when a person realises God face to face. Q. What is the difference between the indi- vidual soul and the Paramatman? A. The individual soul or the Jeevatman and the Paramatman are one and the same and there is no essential difference. It is the Para- matman which appears in the form of the living being or the form of this world with differentiation, because of its maya-shakti. When a person dreams, he has several types of dreams and all the things which he sees in his dream appear real to him, but when he wakes up, he finds that whatever things he had seen in his dream were unreal and were mere appearances in a dream. The Paramatman alone is real or true and the entire world other than that is unreal Q. Who propagated or spread this truth? A. This truth expounded by the Vedas, Upan- ishads and Shastras was propagated and spread by Jagadguru Adi Sankaracharya. 10 % JUL/ SEP 2009 0 difipQ. Where was Jagadguru Adi Sankaracharya born? A. He was born at Kaladi in the Kerala State in India. Q. Does the Advaita Vedanta philosophy recognise idol worship? A.Surely it does recognise idol worship. Jagadguru Adi Sankara charya had advocated and reco- gnised idol worship as a means for attaining the state of the Para- matman or the Ultimate Reality Prior to Adi Sankaracharya's time, idol worship was not recog- nised, but in the Vedas, Shastras and Puranas, there is a good deal of reference to idol worship, and hence Jagadguru Adi Sank- aracharya had accepted idol worship as a means for attaining the Ultimate Reality. Guru Vandanam by His Holiness Q. At present there are several books on Hindu Dharma andmany gods and goddesses have been recognised. How long will one have to accept these? A. Today, all the Dharma granthas have been given recognition in the Hindu Dharma. But the Gita contains the essence of the Vedas and Puranas. In the same way, it is expected that all the gods and goddesses do find recog- nition; indeed each one of them is omnipotent. Therefore, itis necessary to accept one God or Goddess as one's Ishta Devata. Q. Where is the need to have so many scrip- tures and so many gods and goddesses in the Hindu Dharma? A. The scriptures other than those relating to the Hindu Dharma had been written down only by one or other great person. In other religions, God had been delineated as the formless or attributeless Nirguna-rupa. Although one scrip- ture and one deity is desirable or meaningful, yet the Hindu scriptures are not the creations of a single great personality. Right from very ancient days, the tradition of the sacred scriptures of the Vedas has come down to us through the guru-sishya tradition. They are not the product of the intellectual achievement of a single individual. Therefore, these sacred scriptures of the Hindu Dharma are blemishless. There is scope for blemishes only when the work is written by a single great individual because itis the product of his intel- lectual prowess. So, in other religions, they accept one attributeless or formless God as a single deity or God. But the question arises to whom the temple for the Nirguna form is dedi- cated, where it is located, how meditation on it Gilip 2 JUL SEP 2009 % 11Holiness with L Sri Ganapati Sacchidananda Swamiji is to be done, and how worship is to be done and so on. Therefore, in the Hindu Dharma, God has been accepted in two forms, one, the form on whom we can meditate and to whom we can offer worship etc. and the other, the formless and attributeless God which has been kept as the ultimate goal, so that we can attempt to delineate its nature. Take, for example, candy. It can exist in the form of a crystal or also ina solution form. One can see the candy crystal and touch it with one's hands, but the taste of candy in solution can only be experienced and understood only by tasting it and not by mere wordy description of candy. For the purpose of seeing the Saguna form with our eyes and doing meditation and worship, the Saguna form has been installed in temples etc. The happi- ness which is to be had by worship of God in Nirguna form has to be experienced through these means. What we find is that, while people following other religions have not accepted the Nirguna form, yet they often preach that God is omnip- tent and omniscient and omnipresent but that omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God has no definite place. In Hindu Dharma also, God is omnipresent but he has a place everywhere. Wherever we invoke Him, He will be present there. With one lump of gold, we can make various types of ornaments with different names and forms, but the basic content is only gold. Likewise, the same Paramatman, while existing in various Saguna forms visible tothe eye, does not undergo any change. Q. In the Hindu Dharma, there are dif- ferent gods and goddesses with dif- ferent forms and their history is also different. So, which ones are to be accepted and which ones are to be abandoned? A. The Nirguna Paramatman does not admit of any form or special characteristic or history. Therefore, for remembering God at all times, we have accepted the Puranas which contain the history of His different forms and describe His Saguna character. In the Saguna form, we have only one form ultimately. Ina drama, the same person appears with different names, different attires and different characters, but he is exactly the same man. Likewise, the Paramatma appears in different forms for per- forming his leelas. Water is taken from the Ganges river through various canals and is put to use in various ways. Although the water flows in different canals, yet it is the same ultimately. Sweets are available in different names and shapes and people are attracted towards them and they purchase them accord- ing to their liking. If it were the same sweet, then people may not be attracted to purchase them. Likewise, if God had only one form, then all the people may not be attracted towards Him. In reality, there is only one Nirguna Paramatma. The ‘Saguna form is for performing leelas, for our doing pooja, meditation etc. 12 + JUL / SEP 2009 0 diffQ. For how long have we been having these diferent gods and goddesses that we see today in Hindu Dharma? ‘A. According to our Hindu Dharma there are four yugas namely Kritayuga, Tretayuga, Dwaparayuga and Kaliyuga. In the Kritayuga, all the people were able to meditate on the Nirguna-Paramatman with firm dedication. But they were able to attain jnana only after medi- tation for several years. In the Tretayuga, the strength of mind became less and therefore people resorted to idol worship and recitations. In the Kaliyuga because the mind is very fic- kle, it is not able to engage itself in idol wor- ship. Therefore, there is need for many gods and goddesses for the purpose of kirtan, nama- japa, and listening to Puranas etc, But what- ever fruits were obtained in the Kritayuga, Tretayuga and Dwaparayuga after many years of penance are easily attainable in the Kali- yuga. Q. What is the meaning of the word Kali in Kaliyuga, and what is its nature? A. The meaning of the word even for a short period, he becomes the recip- ient of special fruits thereof. In a good environ- ment, if somebody does good actions, there is nothing special about it because that is the nature of the people in the atmosphere. To be a good person in a bad environment is some- thing rare. If a drop of oil is poured into a big vessel full of water, the oil spreads into the entire water, in the same way, even a small amount of good actions done in a bad enviro- nment yields fruits more effectively. In the earlier yugas, a small amount of bad deeds led toa small amount of unhappiness or sorrow, but in the Kaliyuga,even a small amount of bad deeds results in more unhappiness or sorrow. A drop of poison put in a big vessel containing milk makes the entire milk poisonous, likewise, even a small amount of bad deeds leads to ‘enormous sorrow or great unhappiness. This is, the characteristic of Kaliyuga. Q. Who wrote the sutras or aphorisms of the Vedanta Vakyas of Upanishads? ‘A. Maharishi Veda Vyasa wrote them. *Kali‘is sin. Thats to say, in this yuga, the number of per- sons who commit sins is more. In the earlier yugas, the number of persons who were doing virtuous deeds was more. The earlier yu- gas were punya yugas and people were doing more of virtuous deeds. Kaliyuga is paapayuga and therefore, in acordance with that, all people are doing sinful deeds. Buteven in this bad environment, if anyone does karma accor- ding to dharma and seeks the knowledge of the Atman His Holiness being received with reverence by handicapped c! Gilip © suL 1 SEP 2009 * 13Empowering education that enlightens - His Hol blessing students doing Veda Adhyayana Q. After classifying the Vedas, tohow many and which disciples did he give them? A. He gave them to four disciples, the Rig Veda to Pailarishi, the Yajurveda to Vaishampa- yana, the Sama Veda to Jaimini and Athar- vaveda to Sumantu. Q. Who wrote the 18 Puranas? ‘A. Maharishi Veda Vyasa saw everything with his mind's eye or jnana-drishti and wrote the eighteen Puranas. Where was the discourse on the Purana: first given? A. In the Naimisharanya-kshetra, the discour- ses on the Puranas were given, but that on the Bhagavatpurana was given at Shukratal (Musaffarnagar district). Q. How many dharma-granthas or scrip- ‘tures does our Hindu Dharma have? A. The main scriptural works of Hindu dharma are 18 in number, namely the four Vedas, the four Upavedas, the six Veda-angas, Meemamsa- shastra, Nyaya-shastra, the Puranas and Dharma-shastra Q. Which work contains the es- sence of all these Shastras? A. The Gita which Bhagavan Kris- hna expounded to Arjuna, keeping him as a symbol of humanity in the Dwaparayuga contains the essence of all the Shastras. Q. How many Yugas are there? What are their names? A. Yugas are four in number, name- ly Kritayuga, Tretayuga, Dwapara- yuga and Kaliyuga, Q. What is the duration of each yuga? A. Kaliyuga, Dwaparayuga, Tretayuga, Satya- yuga (or Kritayuga) 4,92,000 years, 8,64,000 years, 12,96,000 years, 17,28,000 years. These four together constitute one Mahayuga. 1000 Mahayugas constitute the daytime of Brahma, the Creator, and likewise 1000 Mahayugas constitute one night-time of Brahma. In other words, 43,20,00,000 years constitute one daytime of Brahma and likewise 43,20,00,000 years constitute one night time of Brahma. @. How many hours does a human day contain? A. It contains 24 hours. Q. How many days constitute a month? A. Generally, a month consists of 30 days; it has two fortnights, the Shukla-paksha and the Krishna-paksha. Q. How many Tithis are there in a month? And what are their names? 14 + JUL/ SEP 2009 0 dilipA. There are 15 Tithis in a fortnight, and they are : Pratipada, Dwiteeya, Triteeya, Chaturthi, Panchami, Shashti, Saptami, Ashtami, Navami, Dasami, Ekadasi, Dwadasi, Trayodasi, Chatur- dasi and Poornima or Amavasya. Q. What is the meaning of Shukla-paksha and Krishna-paksha? ‘A. From the Pratipada to Poornima, moonlight starts waxing and therefore it is called Shu- kla-paksha, and similarly from Pratipada to Amavasya, moonlight is waning and the nights become darker and darker, and therefore it is called Krishna-paksha. Both the Pakshas to- gether constitute one month. Q. What else are Shukla-paksha and Kri- shna-paksha called? A. Krishna-paksha constitutes night of Pitrus and Devatas while Shukla-paksha constitutes their day. Q. How many seasons or Ritus are there? A. Ina whole year there are six seasons each of a duration two months, as follows: a) Chaitra and Vaishakh — Vasantaritu (spring); b) Jye- shta and Ashadh — Greeshmaritu (summer); ¢) Shraavan and Bhadrapadh — Varsharitu (rainy season); d) Ashwin and Kartik — Sara- dritu (autumn); e) Margashirsh and Paush — Sishiraritu (winter season); f) Magha and Phal- gun — Hemantaritu (early spring) Q. How many Ayanas are there in a year? ‘A. There are two Ayanas in a year, Daks! nayana and Uttarayana. Part of Sishiraritu, Hemantaritu, Vasantaritu and part of Greesh- maritu constitute Uttarayana, while the bala- nce of Greeshmaritu, Varsharitu, Saradritu and part of Sishiraritu constitute Dakshinayana. That is to say, Uttarayana begins with San- karanti and continues till Ashada month; like- wise the period from Ashada to Sankaranti is called Dakshinayana, When the sun goes from the east to west through the south it is called Dakshinayana but when the sun goes from east to the west through the north it is called Uttarayana. Q. What is special about Dakshinayana and Uttarayana? A. Dakshinayana constitutes one night of De- vatas while Uttarayana constitutes one day- time of Devatas. Therefore, one human year constitutes one full day for Devatas. Q. How many worlds are there? A. There are 14 worlds. Q. What are their names? A. We live in Bhuloka (earth). Above us are the six worlds, Bhuva, Suvah, Mahah, Janah, Tap- ah and Satya, while below there are seven worlds namely Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Rasatala, Talatala, Mahatala and Patala. Thus there are 14 worlds. Q. What is the duration of human life? A. Generally, in Kaliyuga, the duration of hu- man life is 100 years. In the Vedas, there is a reference to human life being of 100 years’ duration; whether actually it is less or more dilip 2 sur 1 sep 2009 * 15Some Kumbhabhishekhams pertormed by Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamiji April 28, 1963 - Participated in the Kumbhabhi- shekam of the Adi Sankara Vimana Mandapam at the Agni Teertha in Rameswaram. December 29, 1968 - Mahakumbhabhishekam for the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Sankara Vimana Manda- pam at Triveni Sangamam, Allahabad June 7, 1973 - Mahakumbhabhishekam of Uttara ‘Swamimalai Murugan Temple in New Delhi. January 28, 1974 - Mahakumbhabhishekam of Sti Kama Kotteeswaran Templo at Hanuman Ghat in Benares (Kasi). April 1976 - Mahakumbhabhishekam of Sri Kama- kshi Amman Temple in Kanchipuram. May 25, 1977 - Mahakumbhabhishekam for tho newly constructed Sri Kamakshi Ambal Temple at R.S, Puram, Coimbatore. May 12, 18978 - Mahakumbhabhishekam for the newly constructed "Adi Sankara Keerthi Sthamba" at Kaladi in Kerala on Sri Sankara Jayanti Day. February 1, 1979 - Mahakumbhabhishekam for the Golden Vimanam of the Sri Kanchi Kamakshi Amman Temple, Mahakumbhabhishekam for the Kanchi Sri Ekambranatha Temple. May 27, 1998 - Mahakumbhabhishekam of (Vaagdevi) ‘Sri Saraswati Temple at Varanasi. June 1, 1998 - Mahakumbhabhishekam of Sti Kanchi Kamakoti Vimana Mandapa at Allahabad. June 24, 1998 - Mahakumbhabhishekam of the newly constructed Sri Balaji Venkateswara Temple at Betkuchi in Assam. January 24, 2000 - Mahakumbhabhishekam of Sri Murugan Temple at Chheda Nagar, Chembur, Mumbai. A diamond *Vel" was offered on behalf of the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt. than 100 years depends on one's karma. Likewise, the duration of the life of Deva- tas and the Creator Brahma is also 100 years. Q. How does man have 100 years' life like Devatas and Brahma? ‘A. One human year is equal to one full day of the Devatas. The life of Devatas is 100 years based on this calculation. The human year normally consists of 365 days; likewise one year of the Dova tas also has 365 days; generally 100 cycles of the four Yugas, namely, Saty ayuga, Tretayuga, Dwaparayuga and Kaliyuga consititute one day-time of Brahma and likewise another 100 cye les of four Yugas constitute one night of Brahma, and Brahma's life lasts for 100 years based on this calculation Q. So far, how many years are over in Brahma's life? A. So far, 50 years of Brahma’s lite are already over. Q. What is the authority for this? A. Everyday, while doing sankalpa we say: sremrern: fait art the first half consists of 50 years and we are now in the second half when the 50 years of the first half are already over. Q. How many Kalpas are there? A. Kalpas are 9 in number. (A Kalpais a day of Brahma or 1000 Mahayugas, be- ing 4320 million years of mortals), Q. What are their names? A. The names are Paarthiva, Koorma, Pralaya, Ananta, Svetavaraha, Brahma, Saavitra ete. 16 x JUL/ SEP 2009 0 dfifipQ. Which Kalpa is going on now? A. Svetavaraha Kalpa. Q. How many Manvantaras are there and what are their names? A. There are 14 Manvantaras namely: Svaa- yambhuva, Svaarochisha, Uttama, Taa- masa, Raivata, Chaakshusha, Vaivasvata, Saavarni, Brahmasaavarni, Dharmasaa- varni, Rudrasaavarni, Devasaavarni, Indra- saavarni and Dakshasaavarni. Q. Which Manvantara is going on now? A. Vaivasvatamanvantara. Q. How many Dweepas are there in the Bhuloka? ‘A. There are seven dweepas. Q. What is the authority for this? A. In the shastras, we have the statement *Saptadweepa Vasundara’. Q. What are the names of these Dweepas? A. The names of these Dweepas are: Jambu- dweepa, Plakshadweepa, Kushadweepa, Krounchadweepa, Shaankadweepa, Shaal- mali, Pushkaradweepa. Our country Bharat is in the Jambudweepa. Q. How many Varshas are there in Jambu- dweepa? A. There are 9 Varshas namely Bharata, Kim- purusha, Hari, llavruta, Bhadraashva, Ketu- maalava, Hiranyaka, Ramanaka and Kuru. Q. How many oceans are there? A. There are seven oceans namely Lavana, Ikshu, Sura, Sarpi, Dadhi, Ksheera, Suddhodha- ka. Of these only the salt ocean remains now. Q. Which is the highest mountain and greatest mountain in the Bhuloka? Where is it located? A. The greatest and highest mount: the His Holiness performing Kanakabhisheka to his Guru, the Mahasvami of Kanchi ‘Sumeru mountain which is towards the north of the nine varshas. Q. At present in Bharatavarsha, which is the greatest and highest mountain and what is. the authority for this? A. The greatest and highest mountain is the Himalayas, and the entire Bharatavarsha is situated to the south of it. The authority for this is aegaea fait gaara ferret arr afer: Q. How many Chiranjeevis are there? ‘A. There are seven Chiranjeevis, namely : Ashwatthama, Bali, Vyasa, Hanuman, Vibhee- shana, Kripa, Parasurama. . Why are they called Chiranjeevis’ A.The Creator Brahma and Indra and other Devatas have a life of 100 years; because these seven persons have life exceeding that of the Devatas and Brahma, they are called Chiranjeevis. dilip 0 swt 1 seP 2008 % 17Q. What is meant by the word Chiranjeevi? A. Chiranjeevis are those who live for a longer dura- tion than what has been or- dained for ordinary human life. Q. What is the character- istic of man in the four yugas? A. Inthe Kritayuga man lives for 1000 years. He lives a long life because of his tapas. Even if he is killed, “Shengole” offered to His Holiness by the citizens of Kanchi - January 14, 2004 as long as the bones of his body remain, he lives till then. He takes his food in the form of leaves, fruits and water and mentally contemplates on God. He never does karma based on adharma, and he has the capacity to go up to the Devaloka. In the Tretayuga also, as in the Kritayuga, man lives for 1000 years; in this yuga, com- pared to Kritayuga, dharma, jnana and bhakti become diminished by one quarter. In Dwaparayuga, man lives for 100 years. Even if he is Killed, as long as there is blood in his body, he lives. He takes interest in yagnas, havans, ete and does puja to God but com- pared to Tretayuga, in this yuga, bhakti, jnana and dharma become reduced to half, and there is increase in population, and it decreases only because of wars. The tendency for people to go on pilgrimage to holy places is on the increase in this yuga In Kaliyuga, the maximum duration of life is only 100 years. Man lives as long as he takes food. His body becomes subject to many dis- eases and he dies at a young age. Compared to Dwaparayuga, in this yuga, dharma, jnana and bhakti become only one-third. There is much violation of the right code of conduct of life. Impelled by personal or selfish consider- ation, people go to temples for worship as well as do dharmik karma. Q. What is the true form of God in Hindu Dharma? ‘A. God has only one form, namely, Nirguna- Nirakara (the attributeless and formless), wor- thy of contemplation and meditation, full of effulgence and akhanda-sat-chit-ananda- swarupa. Q. At present, in Hindu Dharma, we see ‘several types of temples and idols. Why is this so? ‘A. Godis one without name or form. Yet, forthe benefit of his devotees and also for destroying the wicked people, he acquires name and form and incarnates. In Kaliyuga, the human mind is very fickle and weak. It is not capable of con- templating the Nirguna-Brahman. Therefore, in order to enable him to engage his mind in the contemplation of God, God in the Saguna form has been accepted. Water appears in various forms, but in real- ity itis only in one form. Likewise, the Paramat- man appears in many forms, but in reality it is 18 % JUL / SEP 2009 0 difiponly one. For instance, there is water in ice- cream, Water is used mainly for drinking pur- poses, but it also finds use in ice-creams etc., but ice-cream costs some amount, while water does not cost anything, In the same way, the Saguna Paramatma is just like the ice-cream, an embodiment of the Nirguna Paramatma giving scope for it to perform leelas and be- come a medium for experiences. While in Kali- yuga, so many forms of God are visible, there were not as many forms in the Krita, Treta and Dwaparayuga. Q. If God did not have so many forms in the earlier yugas, how is that He has so many forms in this Kaliyuga? A. Before, Kaliyuga, Bhagavan Vishnu had nine incarnations. Itis these incarnations which are seen in various temples in the form of various idols. Before Kaliyuga, sages and ma- hatmas were able to contemplate God mental- ly, and God came and gave darshan to such maharishis. This has become a part of Itihasa or history at present. In the ancient days, many Devatas wor- shipped Mother Parvati. But now people wor- ship images or idols in the form of village Devatas, village Shakti etc. In the ancient days to get relief from sorrows, many maharishis created some Devatas through mantras. Such Devatas are also there in Kaliyuga for giving small fruits or results, and they exist in various: forms. In the ancient days, villages and towns etc were constructed according to shilpa-shastra and agama-shastras. The same trend is con- tinuing. Therefore, according to both these shastras, there are temples located at the vil lage or town limits. In Dwaparayuga, there were wars between kings on several occa- sions, resulting in the killing of many people. In the ancient days, the warriors who died in wars went to swargaloka. Therefore, no sin attached to the killing of people. But in Kaliyuga, the killing of a person amounts to a sinful act. Therefore there is a need to atone for the sin to got released from the consequences of such sin. Therefore, various types of temples have been constructed. Thus, in Kaliyuga, several temples with Devatas who command respect have come up. Q. Are all these Devatas different or are they just one Devata in the form of Shakti? A. All these Devatas are only a part of the same Paramatma. Q. What is the authority for this? wer fayfrrened wa aftagirrta at wetasares a am datsraeray "Whatever Devatas are seen in the form of Shakti are all part of me only*. This is what Sri Krishna has said in the Gita. (Ch. X - 41) Q. Are there any othe examples of this? A. Light, radio, fan and indeed many factories work with the aid of electricity, but we see its effect in various forms. Just as electric power which is one is able to run so many things, likewise, we see several idols constructed with dilip 2 JUL 1 SEP 2009 % 19various elements in the temples and in all of them we recognise the presence of god. Q. In Hindu Dharma, what form does God take? ‘A. In Hindu Dharma, God has been recognised in five basic forms. The real form of God is Nirguna-Nirakara, but He appeared in Saguna form for the purpose of creation and destruc- tion. The same God is recognised by people in the form of incarnations performing His leelas. The same God exists in the minds of all the people, and is present in temples for the purpose of contemplation and meditation. The same God who incarnated and who appeared in the form of Devatas is now existing as village Devatas. Paramatma is like electricity which we cannot see with our eyes. Just as electric power is flowing along wires for doing various types of work, likewise is the real form of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, and just as the electric wires start from the powerhouse, like- wise starts the incarnation of God from the Paramatman. From the powerhouse or electric substation, electricity reaches every house and is also available for running of factories. Like- wise, the idols in temples are the different forms of God. Just as we use plugs for tapping electric power in houses, likewise, we have village Devatas similar to the plugs for tapping electric power. Thisis the reason why the same Paramatma is having so many forms in the Hindu Dharma. Q. Who started the Hindu Dharma? A. Nobody had started the Hindu Dharma. It has come down to us from very ancient days. Q. Are there any examples of this? ‘A. Whatever path was adopted by many great men became the path of the Hindu Dharma. For example, suppose there is an ashram on the banks of a river, and there are three roads or paths to reach it, one is a main road, another is His Holiness performing Vyasa Pooja a secondary road and the third is the footpath. The paths other than the footpath are to be constructed after making proper measurements ete. When there is heavy traffic on them, some- times there are accidents on those two roads. Butin the footpath there are no such accidents, nor is there any crowd on it. People go there in aline. If one goes by the main road, often one does not reach the goal. One has often to go by by-ways or bylanes, and without any signs to guide also. The Hindu Dharma is like the foot- path. That is why there are no accidents in the footpath of the Hindu religion. If one goes by the main road, which is a pucca road, some- times because of heavy traffic, the road gets spoilt and entails a lot of expenditure to be set right. But no expenditure is involved in the making of the footpath and itis also a pleasure to go on the footpath. Thus, spreading of Hindu Dharma is not to be achieved by mere expenditure but by having good thoughts and by following the right code of conduct in life. Q. Is the Hindu Dharma spreading mainly 20 + JUL/ SEP 2009 0 ailipbecause of preaching or other reasons? ‘A. Hindu Dharma is spreading mainly because of right conduct; for ensuring right conduet, itis necessary to do a little bit of preaching, Q. Is there any authority for this? ‘A. Whatever upadesas are contained in the Gita as expounded by Bhagavan Krishna at Kurukshetra are all meant to be practised by man. Such upadesas in the Vedas, Upani- shads and Puranas are also to be practised by man. Atthe end of the Gita, Arjuna tells Krishna — ‘piesa axe cat — "I shall do what you have told me". Arjuna replied in this way and did what Krishna had asked him to do. Therefore, Hindu Dharma is something to be practised, as ex- pounded. Q. Today so many differences have arisen between people in the Hindu Dharma. How have they arisen? A. In Hindu Dharma, in a spirit of mutual love, for the welfare of people and for getting worked done without any quarrels between people and with mutual help, different items of work have been entrusted to different sections of people. Solongas the different sections were doing the work entrusted to them, Hindu Dharma did not experience any problems because of differ- ences between people. It is only when people ‘started abandoning their respective items of work and transgressed into the sphere of work of others that differences started leading to peacelessness in society. Hindu Dharmais like a hand with five fingers, but all the fingers have to cooperate for doing any work. The five fin- gers never quarrel among themselves. So, in Hindu dharma, the allotment of work to differ- ent sections has not been done for perpetuat- ing differences but for the purpose of coopera- tive effort conducive to the welfare of the peo- ple as a whole. Q.Is there high (superior) and low (inferior) order in Hindu Dharma? A. All the five fingers in the hand are not identical, they are big and small; so it is in the case of Hindu Dharma also. Even though the fingers are side by side, yet they do not quarrel, 80 itis in the case of Hindu society also. Just like the five fingers, the Hindu Dharma also represents a united society. Q. Today, because of Hindu Dharma, people are experiencing a lot of difficulties. What is the reason for this? Ea His Holiness during his visit to the Vyasarpadi slums A. In Hindu Dharma, the philosophy of karma has been accepted. Whatever good or bad actions we have done in the previous birth or in the present birth, we have to reap the conse- quences of that karma, in the form of happi- ness and unhappiness, pleasure or sorrow, as the case may be. Q. When will all this end? A. It will end when one gets atma-jnana or God's blessings. Q. How many types of karma are there? ‘A. Karma is of three types: (i) Sanchita (accu- dilfp 2 suL/ SEP 2009 % 21mulated), (ii) Agami (yet to be performed) and (iil) Prarabdha (being experienced). Q. What is the meaning of this? A. In Hindu philosophy, creation has had no beginning. There was nobody who had started it. Therefore, whatever good or bad karmas were done in the several births earlier consti- tute sanchita karma. Whatever karma, good or bad, we do in the present life goes by the name of agami karma. Prarabdha karma represents those karmas out of the sanchita karma be- cause of which we have taken the present birth. Q. Where do these karmas exist? A. They are in the form of samskaras and they reside in the human mind. Q. How can one know that they reside in the mind? ‘A. The samskaras relate to several lives right from animal life to the life of the Devatas. Therefore, man sometimes does worship of Devatas and sometimes he behaves like an animal. Therefore, all the samskaras are there in one’s mind. Whatever samskaras awaken to prominence start expressing themselves in life and we behaveiin accordance with them. There- fore, in human life, karma is done accordingly leading to happiness or unhappiness or sorrow resulting therefrom. There cannot, therefore, be too much of happiness or unhappiness. Q. Is it possible to have less of happiness- unhappiness in a man's lite? A. Yes, it is possible. For this purpose, the grace of God's power,blessings of saints and holy men, being in the company of good and saintly people or having satsang, atonement for sins committed, and doing virtuous acts like giving dhana etc. are necessary. Q. Is there any example of thi A. Today we get articles from fair price shops 22 suL/ SEP 2009 0 dflip Some More Important Milestones... October 30, 1971 ~ Paduka Pratishta at Sri Kanchi Sankara Mutt in Malleswaram, Bangalore. April 21, 1972 - Hindu Religious Conference at Nagerci September 12 to 24, 1973 - Badari Yatra May 4 to 10, 1974 - First visit to Nepal. Memo- lal Arch built by Nepalese Government to commemorate the visit of His Holiness. February 16, 1977 - Sahasra Kallasa Ganga. Abhishekam for Sri Ramanatha Swami at Rameswaram. May 1, 1981 - Maha Kumbha Mela - Ujjain May 1982 - Adi Sankara Pratistha at Trichur Sri Vadakkunathar Temple September 9, 1984 - The "Golden Chariot” for the Kanchi Sri Kamakshi Amman Temple launched. Bhoomi Pooja for the Kanchipuram Kumarakottam, Rajagopuram, Thiruppani September 16, 1984 - The 1000th year celebration function of Raja Raja Chozha at Tanjore. Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Mattham donates a gold crown. The Mutt also creates a Trust to ensure continuance of day to day poojas andis the first one to donate As. 1 lakh to the Trust. ‘August 12, 1985 - Carnataka Sangeeta Seva Trust formed at Tiruvarur. August 1, 1996 - The then President Shri Shankar Dayal Sharma inaugurates the 60-feet high, 200 tonne heavy statue of Sri Adi Sankara installed at the University Campus at Enathur, Kanchipuram. The statue is carved out of a single stone.July 9, 1998 - *Kailasa Darshan”. H.H. also performs the Pratishta of Sri Adi Sankara at the foot of the Kailas Mountain. February 26, 1999 - Inauguration of the birth place of Tirugnana Sambandar. Honours and felicitations to *Odhuvaars". May 12, 1999 - Installation of Adi Sankara at "Kamakya” in Assam. January 3, 2000 - 6th Aaradhana function of Kanchi Mahasvami performed in a fitting man- ner. A 3kg. Silver Kavacham offered to “Tapas Kamakshi at Kanchipuram. 32 Vedic scholars. honoured with "Vastram, gold coin and um- brella”. A publication “Devotees and Maha Periyaval was released. May 24, 2000 - Sri Varadaraja Swamy Temple Chariot repaired at the instance of H.H. at a cost of Rs, 60 lakhs. June 25, 2000 - H.H. visits Bangladesh and has the darshan of Sri Dakeswari Devi. January 13 / 14, 2001 - H.H. bathes at the Kumbha Mela at the Allahabad Triveni San- gam on the Inaugural day. June 27, 2001 - Darshan at Amarnath. November 23, 2001 - "Gold Crown” offered to Sri Kumari Amman at Kanyakumari. October 17, 2002 - inauguration of the new Sri Kamakshi Annadhanam Trust and the new Annadhanam Hall. October 31,2002 - Deepavali - Explanation of the Anti Conversion Bill - Public Meeting at Marina Beach, Chennai. Huge crowd listens to H.H. in spite of torrential rain. November 8, 2002 - inauguration of the new Kanchipuram Railway Station. Both Acharyas grace the occasion, with our ration cards. Some officer visits every house and writes down the names of all the members of the household on the card. He also writes the house number on the cards. But when a person wants to go with his ration card to the fair price shop, it is not necessary to go according to the house number. Only he goes when he feels the necessity to do so. In the same way, whatever virtues or sins we have accumulated, have been written down, and that is called sanchita karma. By the grace of God, whatever He thinks of in His sankalpa as karma for giving fruits, such karmas alone come to the fore yielding fruits. Suppose five kg. are written down on the card, the shop- keeper does not give more than that. But if we do not have enough money, then we can even take only four kg. instead of five kg. Likewise, the effect of the fruits of karma can be less. By the grace of God, we may reap the fruits of our good or bad karmas in this very life. Suppose a big officer comes there and he needs to pur- chase articles for his house. He comes and takes five kg. and sometimes even ten kg. even though ten kg. has not been written down on his card. In the same way the happiness or unhappi- ness of sanchita karma can be experienced, and the actual quantum of such happiness or unhappiness has nothing to do with the sanch- ita aspect because of the grace of God. Q. When will there be an end to all karmas? A. On realising one's own Atman as part of the Paramatman, there will be an end to sanchita and agamikarmas. The prarabdha karma, how- ever, can be destroyed only after experiencing their consequences. . Courtesy : Kanchi Kosh, published by Kanchi Kamakoti Jagadguru Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamiji Peetarohana Swarna Jayanti Mahotsava Trust Gifip © sui 1 SEP 2009 & 23THERE is avery old saying in our country, which has come down to us from the ime of our rishis, namely : WAAGAS FHT: | wie aft fret gedit aca: 11 Its those who have been born in India who are going to provide spiritual and moral educa- tion to the rest of the world. The people of other countries have to come here and imbibe spiri- tual and moral education from our country. That is the meaning of this saying. In other words Indiais the gurufor the people in the rest of the world. This saying is not just two or three years old but it has come to us over thousands of years. Therefore, our country has been the centre for imparting spiritual and moral educa- tion for a long period of time. Hence, itis called gurubhoomi. So, itis like a guru for the rest of the world We can also see this from another angle. Right from the time creation started, our coun- try has been there. Nobody knows when cre- ation started. It is anaadi. It is without begin- ning. So, our country has been the guru for the people in the whole world. There are many branches of knowledge, and spiritual knowl- edge is the basis for everything else. It is our country which has been the great centre for HLH. Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamiji Preserve Our Cultural Heritage and Stick to your Dharma imparting scientific, moral and spiritual educa- tion. That is the greatness of India. When we look around in the world, we find that our cultural traditions are seen in many countries of the world. One can directly see their presence in different countries of the world. This shows that our cultural traditions are very old without any beginning, The Adiva- sis or Girivasis or those who live in the moun- tainous regions right from ancient times have preserved their culture and their traditions. There are such adivasis in Tamilnadu and in many other states in India and indeed in the whole world. So our cultural traditions are very old and it is from our coutnry that they have branched off to other countries. For instance, the concept of idol worship is an important plank of the Hindu religion. It is only those who accept this who can be said to belong to the Hindu religion Similarly, rituals are also an important part of our religious life. Likewise, faith in rebirth is another important aspect of our religion. Our birth in this world is not accidental. it is the result of our actions in previous births. It is something like a reaction to those actions. Thus, idol worship, rituals and faith in rebirth are three important features of our religion. This is what is enshrined in our Sanatana Dharma and this is what has come down to us right from the Vedas. 24. JuL/ sep 2009 0 fifiBuddhism and Jainism also accept these things. Strictly speaking, Buddhism and Jain- ism are not religions different from Hinduism; they are partof the Hindu religion but they differ from it only in philosophical thinking. offer went ot: (Non-violence is supreme duty) is the watch- word of Buddhists and Jains and this is just to emphasise this aspect that they had done alot of work in that regard. But this is also in our religion. Just like Saivism, Vaishnavism, Sak- tam, the Vallabha school of thought, the Nim- barka school of thought etc, Buddhism and Jainism are also part of our culture and civilisa- tion In recent times, we have seen reports about mass conversion of a number of dalits to Bud- dhism. This conversion has taken place per- haps under duress or because people have been terrified or because of monetary entice- ments or allurements or the promise of material development or economic betterment. But they do not know that whateveris there in Buddhism is also there in our religion, such as idol wor- ship, religious rituals and faith in rebirth. Itis worth noting that only persons belong- ing to the lower strata of society get converted to Buddhism, and not people belonging to the upper strata of society. If this conversion has been brought about by promise of monetary benefits or promise of material advancementor by instilling a sense of fear in them, thenitis not proper. For, ultimately, they are not going to get any of these benefits in a lasting manner. Also, these neo-Buddhists do not know what Bud- dhism really is. Merely for the purpose of im- proving their social status, they have embraced Buddhism. Whereas Prince Siddhartha, born in a royal household, renounced everything and came out of the royal household in search of peace and in search of enlightenment, these people have gone over to Buddhism because of a sense of greed for material advancement or just for the purpose of eking out a better livelihood, not because of any ideological or philosophical differences in their thinking. Bud- dhism and Jainism are part of Hinduism. Take, for example, the Parsi community. The maximum number of Parsis live in Mum- bai. There are a few Parsis living in other parts of the country also. What we find is that they have assimilated themselves in our cultural traditions. Just like milk and sugar mixing to- gether, they have merged into our cultural mainstream and got accultured to our cultural traditions. Just as we have faith in rituals like agni-samskar, the Parsis also have faith in this. Again, take the example of Christianity. The Old Testament is just like our Vedic scriptures We were able to secure a copy of the Old Testament followed by the Jews in Israel and we find that what is enshrined there is akin to our own cultural traditions and there are only very minor differences between our religion and their religion. It is only in the New Testa- ment that several changes have been made and new things have been inserted, such as, for instance, the eschewing or condemnation of idol worship. The fact that they have sought to eschew it or condemn it shows that idol worship was prevalent there among themin the olden days when the Old Testament was being followed. If something did not exist, where was the need to eschew it or condemn it? Similarly, in the case of Islam also, there are many things which are in common. On the basis of the omnipresent God, who can only be described as ‘not this, not this’, or neti neti, finally they have also had to arrive at the permanent Paramatman, and they have just called the Paramatman as Allah. So it is clear dilip 2 sut/ SEP 2009 % 25that they have also accepted the omniscient and omnipresent God. This shows that in the early days, idol worship was there in the Quran also. The very fact that they have condemned itlater shows that it was prevalent among them earlier. In the old Jewish religion in Israel, idol worship was there, and Jesus Christ had come only thereatter. There was no question of any religious conversion during those days. It was a case of “once a Jew, always a Jew. Nobody went over from one religion to any other reli- gion. There was no scope for going away. If a person went away from one religion, it meant that he went out for ever and there was no question of his coming back; therefore there was no conversion from one religion to anoth- er. Everyone should stick to his own religion In Tamil, we have the story of the serpent on the body of Lord Siva asking Garuda: 'Oh Garuda, are you alll right" Everyone is happy where he is. Everyone will be happy only when he is in his proper place. if one leaves one's religion or one’s place and goes over to another religion or another place, one will be in trouble. Therefore, if one sticks to one’s own religion, it will be better and that will conduce to peace and happiness. Sticking to one’s own dharma or religion is important. This teaching has come down to us right from ancient times. We have to go accord- ing to what has been handed over to us by tradition, and there should be no question of straying away from it. One may ask:" What if a person goes over from one religion to another religion? If somebody becomes a Christian ora Muslim, then what is the difficulty? After all, he is also a human being. All that has happened is that he is just following another religion”. This type of question is asked only in India. If you go to the USA or the UK or the Gulf countries, nobody asks this type of question. If this type of conversion goes on, then our culture will come to an end. The purity of the Ganga should not be allowed to be sullied. Similarly, the sacred- ness of the cow should not be allowed to be minimised. Similarly, idol worship should not be given up. If these things are given up, then it will lead to demolition of temples. We know from history how during the time of the Muslim rule, several temples had been destroyed, and history is a witness to what has happened. If our cultural habits like wearing of tilak on one's forehead, idol worship etc. are given up, then our cultural tradition will not be there. There- fore, to preserve our cultural traditions, we have to preserve our religion. Only then the welfare and happiness of everyone will be assured Our country is like a big generating station for electric power. It is our country which has to give power to other countries. Itis from our country that spiritual powernas to be given to others. If things go wrong in the power station itself, then how can other coun- tries derive spiritual power from our country? Therefore, if conversion goes on everywhere, that is not proper. Purely for the purpose of material advancement or because of financial inducements or allurements, one should not think of leaving one's religious tradition or one's religion and embrace another religion. Our great guru or Acharya, His Holiness Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swamigal had referred to this aspect nearly forty years ago. At the time of conversion, to say, Chris- tianity, the persons who are going to be con- verted are told: "Come over to Christianity. you will get salvation or redemption very soon. Otherwise, you will go to hell and you will live permanently in hell”. If that be the case, as our great Acharya has pointed out, those who are condemned to hell will remain condemned to it forever and there is no scope for their salvation or redemption. It is not proper to terrify people 26 % JUL / SEP 2009 0 ailipin this manner. One may belong to any reli- gious denomiation, one may be a Christian or Hindu or Muslim or Sikh, but one should stick to one's own religion and when one realizes the Atman or Self, one will realize salvation in one’s own religion and therefore, there is no need to go over to another religion for this purpose. In the Bhagavad Gita, we have the exhorta- tion saraent far: weenieeyear | au fared sta: arent warag: 11 Do not feave your religion for any reason whatsoever. If on the basis of philosophical differences or doctrine, you want to change your religion, one can understand, but what is happening today has no relationship with it at all, Mere changeover from one religion to an- other does not improve the status of the individ- ual, So, conversion in the name of elevating the caste or status of the individual has no mean- ing. Amongst Hindus, we have various sec- tions like Brahmins, Kshatriyas etc. and we have also Harijans. Harijans are also Hindus. Whatever be the caste diversities, they all belong to one religion. Take the case of the five fingers on one's hand. They are all different. Yet itis with the cooperation of all of them only that we are able to take the glass of water and drink water. If they were to be at loggerheads, then it would not be possible even to hold the glass of water. It is for the purpose of cohesive functioning that the five fingers are different, but they all belong to one body. There are different sense organs in the body, which are all different, each performing its own function. We see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and speak with our mouth, but all these sense organs are part of the same body. In the same way, our Hindu samskritiis one, although there are differences and diversities. Just as there is no quarrel between the five fingers on one's hand when they perform any function, likewise, there should be no conflict or quarrel among the different sections of society. ideologically, we should consider everybody as our own. Ina family, the different members may be following different professions, one may be a lawyer, another may be an engineer, another may be a teacher and so on, but they all belong to one family. In the same way, the Hindu samskritiis one and the Hindu family is one. This is the essence of our Indian culture or samskriti — unity in diversity. The same God dwells in the innermost re- cesses of every being as the antaryamin. The same idea is emphasised in the Bhaja Govin- dam also: wafante areastet farwpetet gate warafro: | wife ava adategar Sarr ‘The same Godis there in every being. There- fore, do not see only the differences outside and start quarrelling or getting angry with oth- ers. Whatever differences may be there exter- nally, we must try to see the unity amdist these diversities, because the same God is present in every being. If we start seeing only the differences everywhere, then only quarrels and conflicts will be the order of the day. In our Hindu samskriti, we do not go on the basis of these external diversities, but we see the same God in everyone and function in a spirit of service to everybody with love and compassion, seeing unity in diversity. This is the hallmark of our culture and civilization. Our motto has always been: seraftart aqea Eger (Continued on page 39) dilfp 2 JUL / SEP 2009 % 27Message by His Holiness to Public Servants * IN the Mahabharata, we have the following dictum: ‘paropakarartham Idam Sareeram Paa- paaya Parapeedanam.” We should conduct our life in such a way that we help others and Not give any trouble to others. Giving trouble to others is sin or papa. So, the effort in human life is to help others. Thatis the most important thing. Take the example of ants. They move in a line one after the other. While on the move, they communicate with one another and they move forward ina line one after another without breaking the line. This is an example of disci- pline. In human life, all activities should be done with some discipline. Nothing should be done in a hurry, but everything should be done aiter deep thinking. Before we do any activity, we should think deeply over it and then only do that activity. If we do so, then we shall be free from tension which is the source of so many diseases. Those who think deeply and then do any activity, do it leisurely without any tension. They understand things better, and they create no difficulties either for themselves or for oth- ers. We have the example of Rama in the Ramayana. There are four things which char- acterize his qualities. He was a poorvabhashi, mridubhashi, smitabhashiand satyabhashi. He Used to think well before doing any action. He used to speak softly and never in a harsh manner. He always used to speak with a smile on his face. He always used to speak only truth all the time. Lecture delivered held at the Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi on 5.6.03 followed by H.H's answersto the various questions posed to Him, Once Dr. C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar, who was the Dewan of Travancore, had come to the Kanchi Mutt. | had just come to the Peetha. He came to see me also. Before | could speak anything, he started speaking about the quali- ties that one belonging to the Peetha should have. He outlined precisely these four qualities and explained how some discipline or niyama was to be maintained by one adorning the Peetham. In management there are many of these qualities which have a role to play. Atall levels of administration the spirit that should prevail is one of service to the people. In an institution like this, training is given about how to go about the work. But our experience is that, while training is given at the intellectual level and everything is done nicely on paper, when it comes to implementation, at the practical level, we find deficiencies. Therefore, merely having nice things in writing alone will not help. The practical aspect should also be taken care of Moreover, it is very difficult to reduce every thing to writing, because there are many things which have to be taken into account on the Practical plane. So, administrators or manag- ers should also pay attention to the practical implications of what they do and consider what effect their action will have on the public whom they intend to serve. I would like to share one experience of mine in this regard. We had acquired a piece of land and we wanted to construct a building on that. Immediately, protests were voiced that if build- ings were constructed on that piece of land, the 28 x JUL/ SEP 2009 0 difipchildren in the neighbourhood would lose their sports ground and it would thus affect the sports life of the children. We showed them the title deed, the document of registration, the correspondence on the matter etc. but it was of no avail. If at the time of allotment of the land, this aspect could have been considered, then all this trouble would not have arisen. For the solution of any problem, there are four steps which are advocated which have to be followed one after the other, namely saama, daana, bheda and danda. This has come down tous from ancient days. First we have sama, that is the path of dialogue or negotiation. In 90, percent of the cases, dialogue produces the desired results and we can get things done. We should not resort to danda or complaint to the police in the beginning itself. We should resort to danda only after we have exhausted the other three steps. If we resort to danda in the beginning itself, then the people will become angry and we may not be able to achieve what we want. Sufficient homework should be done well in advance so that the action will be suc- cessful. This is the essence of management. The ideal role mode! which | would like to mention in regard to service is Hanuman, Ra- ma's brother Bharata served Rama by enthron- ing his padukas on the throne. The monkey king Sugriva served Rama by helping him to trace the whereabouts of Sita. But the service rendered by Hanuman was something selfless. While the service rendered by others may have been motivated by some selfish desire, in the case of Hanuman it was utterly selfless ser- vice. He was practising what the Bhagavad Gita says, namely Karmanyeva adhikaaraste maa phaleshu kadaachana that is, he was doing service for his own sake without any expectation of the fruits thereof. Thus, Hanuman is an example of an ideal servant. Of course, everybody cannot become a sanyasi and leave off all desires or the fruits of an action. But what is required is dedication while doing an action. When we do servic an office, we should do it with a spirit of dedica- tion. We should have the feeling that we are serving the nation by doing that action. It is unfortunate that this spirit of dedication is on the decline. This has led to corruption etc. in administration and management. If the ques- tion is asked how corruption should be weeded out my answer would be that if work is done with dedication and in a spirit of service to the people, then corruption will automatically dis- appear. In ideal management, where there is dedicated work in a spirit of service to the people, not only will the work go on well but corruption will also get eliminated. This aspect of serving the people should be emphasised in the course of training. . Everyone should work in such a way that he becomes a role model for others and he should live his life in an exemplary way, so that it could be emulated by others. If everyone keeps this in view and acts, then thousands of such peo- ple will come up in the service of the people Otherwise, everyone will start going in his own way, and that will not be good for the country Even if one in a thousand, functions like a role model, in course of time that will bring about the desired change in others. The attitude should be one of service to the people and to the nation so as to raise the level of the people Programmes for betterment may be all right on paper, but when it comes to implementation, this sprit of service with dedication should actuate everyone, so that the desired results may be achieved. Q. You talked about action and reaction and also about corruption. Sometimes, the time gap between action and reactions large, as. difip 2 JUL / SEP 2009 * 29aresult of which the people concerned suf- fer. Can there be reduction in the time gap between action and reaction? A. In some cases, the reaction is quick, while in some other cases, the reaction is leisurely. Suppose, for example, a person has high tem- perature, medicine is given for three days and then he becomes normal. But when a person has headache, he just takes a tablet and he becomes all right in 15 minutes. So, in every instance, the reaction cannotbe quick. In some cases it is quick while in some other cases it comes after some time. The same time interval cannot be there in all cases. Q. This gap between action and reaction is not clear to an individual. When a person does something which he should not have done, he feels after some time that he should not have done it, and he has a sense of repentance which comes later. A. There cannot be quick reaction in all cases If that were the case, then nobody will do any work. To give an example, suppose a person commits some robbery or some murder, he is remanded to police custody, for about 15 days or So, and then the case goes on for a year or so before he is sent to jail after conviction. In some cases, by inducing some sense of fear in the individual, the police deal with the case and go away. So, the reaction cannot always be quick. In some cases it is quick while in other cases it comes after some time. Q. When we do an action, we expect to get something as a result of that action, and when we fail to get the result expected, it leads to some reaction. In order to have proper coordination between action and re- action, how are we as human beings to take things in their stride and face the situation? A. Action leads to reaction. But immediate reaction for everything will lead to problems and will become a source of suffering and sorrow. We have to keep our interests in view and then react without being afraid. Some times, immediate reaction may not be in our interests, Q. In the case of Gujarat, after the earth- quake, and in the case of Orissa, after the cyclone, the reaction was quick. A. The earthquake in Gujarat and the cyclone in Orissa were not man-made disasters but natural calamities, and there is no question of any sin attached to the reaction of people in those cases. Q. We are all in administration and many of us sometimes face a dilemma. Sometimes, we are obliged to take disciplinary action against an individual after proper inquiry, but the moment we start taking action the family of the individual comes and weeps before us saying that if action is taken, the family will be ruined and so on. In such cases, what action should we take? A. Action leads to several reactions. Some- times because of one man’s fault, thousands of people may suffer. Suppose a driver drives his vehicle in violation of the traffic rules, some- times it may result in a major accident and nine or ten people may get killed and the driver has to face the punishment for it. | would like to narrate to you the story of Maharishi Valmiki in this connection. He was just a house-holder living in the forest, and he used to loot and rob people coming into the forest and feed his family, children and parents. One day, some mahatmas were going through the forest and when this man wanted to loot them, they said that first he should answer one question of theirs and then he could have all that they had. They told him : "you are robbing and looting people to feed your family and you are commit- ting so much of sin. Please go home and ask your family members whether they would agree to have at least some share in this sin" 30 % JuL/seP 2009 0 difip th ilyaeonons0H ow When he went home and asked this question, everyone said: "It is your duty to feed the family. We are not concemed with how you arrange to feed us. So we cannot have any share in your sin." That set the man thinking and when he came back and told the Mahat- mas about this and wanted some means to be redeemed from the sin. They gave him some upadesa and went away. Then he gave up all his bad and sinful actions and started repeating the Ramanama oblivious of what was happening around, until an anthill star- ted covering him. Later some Maharishis passing that away on hearing the sound emanating from the anthill brought out this person, who subsequently came to be called as Maharishi Valmiki, and it was he who wrote the great epic, Ramayana. The moral of this story is that if a person commits some sin, whether it be for his fa- mily or for any other reason, he has to suffer the consequences of that sinful action Sometimes, when a person does something wrong, his family may be ruined because of his action. Q. Paramatman has created this nexus be- tweenactionand reaction. Sometimes, when we do an action, it may give suffering to other people or we ourselves may suffer as a result of that action. Bad action leads to bad results. If we do bad action, then sin arises. How can this be eliminated? A: | would like to recall a neeti sloka in this connection Kulasyaartham ekam tyajet graamartham kulam tyajet Janapadasyartham graamam tyajet atmaartham prithvim tyajet When one person in a family does some- thing wrong, then he is removed from the fam- ily. Suppose there is cancer in some part of the body, the affected part is removed from the body so that the rest of the body may be all right and still life may go on. If a whole family does something bad, then the family is banished from the village, so that the rest of the village may live a healthy life. If a whole village does something wrong, then the whole village is banished so that the rest of the community may live a normal life. For the sake of the Atma even this earth has to be foresaken. If a sinner is going to be punished for the sin he has committed, awarding punishment to him is not sin at all. @. As mentioned earlier, when we are about to take disciplinary action against an indivi udal after proper inquiry his family comes and says that it will be ruined if action is taken against the individual and therefore action should not be taken. What are we to do in such cases? . A. | gave the example of Valmiki. None of his family members agreed to have a share in his sin. They knew that what he was doing was sin and yet they did not agree to take any share in it, When a person does something sinful, it is for his family to set him right, otherwise the whole family will be ruined. So, as | said earlier for the sake of the family, one person who commits sin may be banished. If there is cancer in a part of the body, surgery is resorted to remove it from the body so that the rest of the body may be saved. Similarly, suppose that there is fire in a house, immediately the fire is, extinguished, so that the rest of the village can be saved. Similarly if there is commotion or disturbance in a village, it is contained within that village, so that it does not spread to the other areas, When it comes to management, you should stick to the fundamental characteristics of a manager or an administrator, to which | had made reference earlier also. | had said ear- Gilfp 2 JUL / SEP 2009 + 31lier that when Dr. C. P. Ramaswamy Aiyar visited the Kanchi Mutt, before | could speak anything, he started elaborating the qualities that should mark a person belonging to the Peetha, which would preserve the sanctity of the Mutt, These were exactly the qualities that char- poorvabhashi, mridubhashi, smitabhashi and satyabhashi You should do your work with dedication, You should not go on looking at the clock and do your work but do your work with dedi- cation; then the results will come automati- cally whether it be a promotion or incentives or acterized Rama, namely that one should be any other. | Kumbhabhishekam of Ponnur Temples - An Appeal Ponnur, hailed as Tiru Anniyur in Thevaram, lies north of the Cauvery river in Mayila- | duthurai Taluk, Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu. About five km north-west of Mayiladuthurai, this village is surrounded by pilgrim centres like Nidur, Mayiladuthurai, Thiruvelvikkudi, Thiruedirkolpadi, Thirumananjeri and Tirukkurukkai. Every year, in the last six days of the Tamil month Panguni (March - April) the golden rays of the morning sun fall on the lingam of Sri Aapatsahaayeswarar. These days are celebrated with special pujas known as Suryapuja (sun worshipping Sri Aapatsa- haayeswarar). Pilgrims from far and near throng the temple. When His Holiness Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Sankara Mutt entered his 51St birthday, devotees decided to celebrate the auspicious occasion by performing Kumbhabhishekam of 51 temples in Tamil Nadu. Ponnur was added to the list at the last minute, as the 51st temple. As it happened, the first Kumbhabhi- shekam took place on Dec 12, 1984. On the same day Kumbhabhishekams of other temples in this village were also pertormed. The next Kumbhabhishekam of the temples in this village took place on May 2, 1997. For the benefit of pilgrims visiting the temple, a guest house was built in Ponnur with the generous assistance of devotees. The “Iraivan Narpanimandram” , Ponnur, has decided to perform Kumbhabhishekam of all the temples in this village very soon with the kind co-operation and generous donations of all devotees. It is proposed to make a separate corpus of funds (Rs. 20 lakhs) to maintain the family of the hereditary Sivacharya living in this village. It is estimated that the total cost of renovating the main temples of the village, including that of Sri Bhudevi, Sri Neela Devi sameta Sri Kariamanicka Perumal, will be Rs. 30 lakhs. Devotee may send their contributions through M.O’s and D.D's and cheques drawn in favour of Tiruppani Committee, "Iraivan Narpani Mandram", Ponnur to Sri V. Rajamani, Door No. 1, 2nd Cross Street, E. K. Raghava Reddiar Colony, Jafferkhanpet, Chennai - 600 083. Phone : (044 - 24894000) 1 | 32 % JULEP 2009 0 dipBhagavad Gita Uniqueness of Bhagavad Gita vis-a-vis other Gitas There are many Gitas. We have Rama Gita, containing the upadesasof Rama to Hanuman. We have Uddava Gita containing Krishna's upadesas to Uddava. We have Gopika Gita containing songs sung by Gopikas in praise of Krishna. Then we have Stutigita containing songs sung in praise of God by the Vedas. Thus, there are so many Gitas, each shining with a particular name. But only the Gita which was born at Kurukshetra is called the Bhaga- vad Gita. Since Krishna had given the upadesa it should have been called Krishna Gita, but it has been called the Bhagavad Gita. This is because Krishna had come in his full form as God and given the upadesa. He showed right from his birth that he was an avatar of God in his full form. He was born inside a jail, and he H H Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamiji he could also create it. In the Bhagavad Gita we find that Krishna had shown his viswarupaform to Arjuna. Arjuna was stricken with fear when he saw it. Krishna told him: showed his full form to his parents. He freed his parents from the jail. In the same way, he is there to free us from the jail of our daily life. When he was a child of about three years, the complaint was made that he had eaten mud. But when Krishna opened his mouth, his moth- er Yasoda was in for a great shock and sur- prise. She was terrified to see the whole world within his mouth.Then, Krishna became an ordinary child. When he was with the Gopis, he could take several forms simultaneously and be with each one of them at the same time. When Brahma had taken away the cows,calves and the cowherd boys and hidden them in Brahmaloka, he created new cows, calves and cowherd boys exactly as they were before, showing thereby that he could create also. Brahma had in his arrogance thought that he alone could create, but he found that Krishna could not only protect and nourish the world but “1am the Kaaladeva, the annihilator of the worlds, the destroyer of the worlds Then, he says: “Ihave already killed your enemies. You are only an apparent cause for theirdeath.” Thus, we find all the time Krishna exhibiting his full powers as God in his full form. difip 2 suL SEP 2009 % 33There is another special thing about the Bhagavad Gita. Generally, when upadesa is given by a teacher to his disciple, he does it at a calm and quiet place and whispers the upadesa, such as the Panchaksharior Ashta- kshari mantra, into the ears of the disciple, keeping it a secret, away from the hearing of others. But the Gitopadesa was given at a place where lakhs of people were arrayed around, and that too in a battlefield, where a battle was imminent and any time anyone could kill some other person. It was a place where there was no scope for peace at all Yet, if Krishna gave his upadesa to Arjuna in the midst of the battlefield It was because his upadesa was not for a particular indivi dual by name Arjuna but for the whole of humanity. Again, when upadesa is given by a teacher tohis disciple, the guru or teacher is seated on a higher pedestal while the disciple is ata lower level. Butin the case of the Gitopadesa, we find Arjuna was seated at a higher level in the chariot, while Krishna was sitting down below as the charioteer. The reason, as we said before, is that this upadesa was not meant for any particular individual but it was meant for the whole of humanity. It was a special type of upadesa to tell all people how life should be lived, what path they should follow and how universal happiness, prosperity and peace could be achieved. Itwas not meant for any one individual, butitwas meant for everybody wher- ever he may be living, whatever language he may be speaking Thus, the Bhagavad Gita gives an exposi- tion of the right way of life for the happiness, prosperity and peace of the whole of humanity, As the phrase goes, this upadesawas given for the whole of humanity, keeping Arjunaas merely a symbolic person: raf Pafirer Bt rer It indicates the way of lite which everyone should follow and the method for attaining the knowledge which will lead to the removal of sorow and suffering. It gives Jnanopadesa for structuring thé right way of living which will conduce to universal happiness and peace. Kurukshetra, birthplace of Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita was born in Kurukshe- tra. which is in the present State of Haryana in India. Indeed, the Bhagavad Gita starts with the verse: ened geet wader qaqa: | ara: usar fared We 11 Thus, Kurukshetra is described as a dharm- abhoomi, a place for dharma. This shows that even in the ancient days, Kurukshetra was a holy place where dharma was reigning su- preme. . Our country Bharat is a holy land. tt is a land devoted to dharma. Other countries are described as bhogabhoomi, that is, lands for enjoyment. In the ancient days, maharishis used to live in India, they did tapas, worship- ped God and got his grace. Bhagavan Vishnu came down from Vaikunta to Bharat in the form of avatars. He remained in every village and town of our country in various forms in order to give his blessings and grace to the people. There is a proverb in Tamil:Koil illaada cori! kudi irukka vendaam" (Don't live at a place where there is no temple). There was no place in our country in the ancient days where there was no temple. There were temples dedicated to Siva, Vishnu and many grama devatas or village deities. So, our country is a holy land where God has incarnated in seve- ral forms and has been present in every village and town. So, every village or town in India is a holy place. Among them, Kurukshetra is a very important one. 34 x suL/ SEP 2009 9 dilipAs the Bhagavad Gita says: fet ane wont a oer afer apy That charity which is given at the proper place. at the proper time and to the proper person is considered the best of charities. In the same way. for meditating on God, we need a holy place like Kurukshetra, It is said: pedaiertt ‘Among the holy places, Kurukshetra stands foremost. There are several places in India where maharishis had done tapas and attained Jnana and people had practised dharma. Among them, Kurukshetra is important as a dharma- bhoomi. It is a holy place where God in his incarnation as Krishna and Arjuna had dis- cussed various aspects of dharma. The Gita was the result of that discussion. It was at this place that Krishna had discussed holy thoughts with Arjuna and thus Kurukshetra has become a dharmabhoomi and also a very holy place What is the special message of Bhagavad Gita for humanity? The Bhagavad Gita has been referred to in books in various languages and it has been translated into various languages like German, French, Japanese and so on. That shows that ithas something special to offer to the whole of humanity. What does it talk about? There is a curiosity among people all over the world to know what it talks about and what message it gives. Every man born in this world lives in the world for sometime, experiences happiness or sorrow in various situations, and because of that he develops many bad qualities such as hatred, jealousy, angeretc. Then, his life comes to an end. He uses his reasoning power to think whether this is the be-all and end-all of life, or whether there is any other better way of living Does one have to go through the cycle of birth and death all the time? As the Bhaja Govindam says: refer otto wer, Then, he begins to realize that going through this cycle of birth and death is not the highest goal of life. The highest goal of life is to attain immortality, that is, freedom from this cycle of birth and death. He then starts analyzing how his forefathers had lived and how this cycle of birth and death has been continuing. He starts considering why there is suffering, and how suffering befalls the lot of an individual. He starts thinking, as the Bhaja Govindam says: weed FISt HA APTA: wt a aaa et a ara: “Who are you? Who am I? Wherefrom have | come? Where do | go after this? Who is my mother? Who is my father?" and so on. Then, he realizes that there is no relation between the two. Yet we all think that there is some relation, and we start living our life on that basis. Then, another child is born, and it is surprising to find that the same cycle goes on generation after generation. This is what the science of genet- ics also establishes. The genes in the embryo determine how it will develop when it comes into the world. Take the example of the five Pandavas. They were born in the forest. Gandhari was living at that time in the city. When she came to know that Kunti had con- ceived, in a fit of anger and jealousy she beat herself on her abdominal portion, and the em- bryo within the womb split into 100 parts giving birth later to 100 children. Her name was Gandhari which meant one blinded by igno- rance or darkness.As theTamil phrase goes: Tayaippola pillai, noolaippola selai” (Like the mother, so the children: like the thread, so the sari). The bad qualities of Gandhari thus passed dilip 2 JUL 1 ser 2009 * 35on to her children also, and their very names bear the imprint of those qualities, as, for in- stance, Duryodhana (one who fights in a bad way), Dussaasana (one who rules in a wrong way) and soon. The word Dhritarashtra means ‘one who bears the rule of the kingdom. The word ‘Pandu" means one who is white; when- ever he used to approach his wife, he used to be stricken with fear and therefore he became white in colour. In the case of Prahlada, we find that he had imbibed the good qualities of his, mother Gayalu, even when he was in the em- bryo, because his mother used to spend allot of time listening to stories about the leelas of God, singing songs in praise of God and was doing Bhakti towards God. So, Prahlada be- came a mahatma himself. Duryodhana and his brothers, because of their bad qualities, came to fight with the Pan- davas. The Pandavas came to the fight to establish dharma and score victory for dharma. That is what the Bhagavad Gita says. Generally, everybody has a family. It con- sists of his father and mother, their children or sons and daughters, grandchildren etc. So long as there is love and affection between the members of the family, the family is happy and peacetl. If any one in the family passes away, then everyone else starts crying and weeping If there is happiness in the family, everyone shares it. As the Tamil phrases go: Nallar oruvar ularel, avar poruttu ellarkkum mazhai peyyum (if there is one good man, for his sake, rain will come for the others also); similarly, “teeyar oruvar ularel, avar poruttu ellorkum teengu varum". If any one in the family is suffering, then everybody else also starts suf- fering. This is what normally happens in daily life. When Krishna went away from Gokulam to Mathura to kill Kamsa, the Gopikas started feeling the sense of separation and wept bitter- ly. Similarly when Krishna went back to Vaikunta from Dwaraka, everybody in Dwaraka started crying and weeping that even God had left them and gone away. When the physical body is cast away, every- one starts weeping. Similarly, when there is birth in the family, everyone rejoices. Nature keeps a balance between birth and death, If only birth is there, evolution will be set at nought. Similarly, if only death is there, then also life will become difficult. So, a balance has been kept by nature between birth and death When the Pandavas and the Kauravas led by Duryodhana and his brothers were arrayed atthe battlefield at Kurukshetra, Arjuna saw his gurus, ancestors and other relations on the other side, and he started feeling: "If everyone of them is going to die, how shall | be able to live? Whatis the use of my living alone? Ido not want to have the kingdom if they are not going to live with me. So, | do not want to fight". He ‘was filled with an intense sense of remorse and suffering. In fact, the Bhagavad Gita starts with this sense of remorse and suffering, anditends with the message of how to end remorse, suffering and sorrow. The very first sloka of the Bbagavad Gita says: watt geet wader qqeea: | arer: Uveaia fergpda wea 1 Dhritarashtra asks Sanjaya to describe to him the happenings in the battlefield at Kuruk- shetra. At that time, his mind had relented a little and he was eager to know what was happening at the battlefield. Sanjaya had been given special divine eyes to see the happen- ings at the battlefield as if he were seeing them froma very short distance and describe them to Dhritarashtra who was blind and who could not therefore see them himself. The maharishis of old had been given special ears to tune them to 36 ¥ vuL/ SEP 20090 dilip anesthe Vedic sounds in the ether, capture them and pass them on to their disciples. In a simi- lar manner, Sanjaya had been given special divine eyesight by Vedavyasa to see the hap- penings at Kurukshetra, which was very far from Hastinapur, and describe them to Dhrit- arashira Dhritarashtra asks the question: ‘What are my people and the Pandavas who have as- sembled at Kurukshetra doing?’ The word used by him was “ ATwTeT:” Duryodhana and his brothers were his sons, and the Pandavas, were his brother's sons. Yet, when it comes to war, all this relation between brother and broth- er, uncle and nephew, guru and disciple ete. is forgotten. This is the tradition that has been coming down right from historic times. No one bothers about such relationships during a war. The very word " HTe@mT:" which Dhritarashtra used shows his mental make-up. He did not even mention Duryodhana by name but he merely said:"My people” and this shows that he was seeing the Pandavas as different from his people, namely Duryodhana and others. It is this very feeling of duality or discrimination that leads to suffering. God is one, and we are all his children and as such we are all brethren. But if we think of ourselves only all the time out of a sense of ahamkara or ego, then we be- come subject to suffering and sorrow. It was this ego or ahamkara which was underlying Dhritarashtra’s question, when he asked: “What are my people and the Pandavas,who had assembled at Kurukshetra with the desire to fight with one another, doing? Have they talked to one another? Have they met in the battle- field?” It is only when the sense of ego or ahamkara is eschewed that the world will be- come a happy one. This is the very first mes- sage of the Bhagavad Gita to end suffering and sorrow, namely that the Aham (or the lower self or ego which we normally identify ourselves with), should be eschewed and the real Aham or the real Self should be understood and realized. If a person lives with ahamkara and thinks al the time only of “My family, my people or my country’, then he is in for suffering and sorrow. The moment he casts off his ahamkara or ego, his suffering and sorrow will come to an end, and it will make for a happy and harmoni- ous world. The moment we start realizing that everything belongs to God and cast off our sense of ahamkara or ego, we shall be free from sorrow and suffering. The main message of the Bhagavad Gita is that this sense of ego or ahamkara should be cast off, and the real Self should be realized. Periyapuranam and Bhagavad Gita similar in many respects Sekkizhar's Periyapuranam and the Bhaga- vad Gita are both similar in many respects The Bhagavad Gita was sung by God Himself, while Periyapuranam was written by poet Sek- kizhar. There is so much of unity in the thoughts contained in both, in the sense that both talk about the same thing. They both tell us how we should conduct our lives while at the same time we also have Bhakti towards God. They both ‘emphasize that if you have Bhakti and do your duty, you will get God's grace, you will know the true state of God and will attain a good state. Saints like Tirugnanasambandar, Sundarar, Appar, Manickavachakar etc. spent their whole lifetime doing their duty with bhakti. Indeed, there was what one might call a Bhakti revolu- tion started in Tirugnanasambandar’s time. They were able to see God, get God's grace and attain a good state. They adhered to truth and they were steadfast in fulfilling what God had resolved. The ethical aspects or moral values that we should adhere toin our daily life are enshrined in their lives. If you do your duty, then God will give you the result. This is what the Bhagavad Gita also emphasizes when it says: Gilfp © su 1 SEP 2009 % 37aniuda afirered a ey eaTT This was exactly what the Saivite saints were doing. Appar used to say: “ Yen kadan pani seitu kadappaduve" My mission is to go on doing my duty all the time. They used to go about doing what God had wanted them to do, and therefore they were able to get God's grace and finally attain a good state. They strictly adhered to truth There were many saints who fulfilled not merely God's injunctions or resolves but even those of his devotees. One saint used to ho- nour all those who were wearing vibhuti. Anoth- er saint sacrificed even his boy to serve the flesh of his son to God who had come to his house as a devotee guest One great woman saint even sacrificed the tresses of hair on her head asher offeringin the service of God. Another saint used to offer all he had through his paintings in the service of God. They thus displayed unshakable and steadfast Bhakti towards God. They fulfilled not only Gods resolves but even those of his devotees. They were constantly engaged in doing their duty. God was pleased with their Bhaktiand steadfast adherence to their duties, and so he gave them darsan as Siva riding on his bull. This is what the Bhagavad Gita em- phasizes in the following words @ a avai: dias oud ar: Every man should be devoted to his own karma and do it properly. Then, he will get God's grace. This is what we find from the life of the Saivite saints. They continued to do their duty and adhere to truth so that God gave them darsan and gave them his grace. Thus, the Periyapuranam and the Bhagavad Gita em- phasize the same thing that everyone should have Bhakti and do his duty with strict adher- ence to truth and he will then attain a good state with God's grace. Both of them give us lessons or guidelines about how we should conduct our lives by doing the duties ordained for us along with doing bhakti, so that we may get God's grace. Bhagavad Gita and Tirukkural speak the same about karma In our religion, there are three paths to reach God. One is the path of karma, the second is the path of Bhakti and the third is the path of jnana or knowledge. When it comes to karma, there are many types of karmas which are there. One of them relates to Bhakti towards God, by doing puja and worship of God according to the prescri- bed rituals ete. But the unfortunate thing is that this term karma is not properly understood by people. A person following a certain profession has to perform certain duties related to that profes- sion. A householder has certain duties to per- form such as taking care of his parents and serving them, taking care of the children andso on. The householder has also to observe cer- tain vratas like Varalakshmivrata or Karadai- yan Nombuetc. There are many such rituals he or his wife has to perform for pleasing the Devatas. Likewise, he has also several duties to perform for his ancestors. For instance, after death, several ceremonies have to he per- formed for thirteen days for the pitrus or ances- tors. The Tirukkural also refers to these cere- monies in the verse: “Tenpulattaar daivam virundokkal taanenrangu aimpulattu ombal talai” The best dharma is the steadfast per- formance of the prescribed duties for the pitrus, Devas, unexpected guests or atithis, relations and for oneself. 38 ¥ JUL / SEP 20099 diipThe ancestors or pitrus are referred to as tenpulattaar. Those who go by the northern path after death go to Devaloka while those who go by the southern path go to pitruloka, Therefore, the pitrus or ancestors are referred to as tenpulattaar. People generally think that it is only in San- skrit works that these references can be found. At one time, there was a dispute whether the Tirukkural or the Bhagavad Gita was superior. Many people sang in praise of the Bhagavad Gita in the Sanskrit language, because the general impression was that these thoughts were available only in the Sanskrit works. But it was found on analysis that, as the phrase Preserve our cultural heritage and stick to your dharma (Continued from Page 27) The whole world is one. We see the same Paramatman in everyone, whether he is a Hindu or a Christian or a Muslim. It is in accor- dance with this samskriti or cultural tradition that we have to work Sometimes we may have to see differences so that we are enabled to see the unity in the midst of that diversity. It is only in our culture that we have the concept of. wa verter agar aT eae, S2aury va Let everyone see only good things, and let everyone be happy. Therefore, there is no need to terrify anybody or instil a sense of fear in anybody for the purpose of conversion. In our Hindu samskriti, all are brothers and sis- ters, becasue the same Paramatmanis present as the antaryamin in everyone. Different countries have diferent flags. Amer- ica has its flag. Japan has it own flag. Russia goes, ‘Aariyamum sentamizhum’, that is, both Sanskrit as well as Tamil works spoke the same language Thus, one will find that whatever the Bhaga- vad Gita says is also to be found in the Tiruk- kural, The duties or karmas to be performed by an individual, as mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita are also found in Tirukkural. Both expound the duties to be performed by every individual, and what the Bhagavad Gita says is to be found in the Tirukkuralalso. . Courtesy : Jayendra Vani (Vol Il) - Discourses of Jagadguru Kanchi Sankaracharya, H.H. Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamiji has its own, and we have our own. If the flag of only one country is to fly at the UN, it would mean that only one country is being honoured. So, in the UN headquarters, the flags of all the countries are flying, which emphasises this concept of unity of the whole world. One can think of many such examples. The mere fact that a person is a dalit or belongs to a lower caste does not mean that he should leave his religion and go over to another, religion. There have been great saints among dalits also, such as guru Ravidas and Mahar- ishi Valmiki, But very few dalits appear to be aware of the greatness of these saints. It was Valmiki who wrote the Ramayana, and Guru Ravidas's sayings are akin to what we find in our scriptures. Valmiki and Guru Ravidas are a part of our Indian heritage. If only the dalits realize this, they will not go over to another religion. In the name of doing service to the lower sections of society, some foreign coun- tries are doing this. The motto of service is part of our religion. Wat UeAt aH: Service to society is our greatest dharma. Courtesy : Kanchi Kosh difip 2 su. / seP 2008 % 39A rare meeting with H.H. Sri Jayendra Saraswati* Monks had priorly gathered in the Maitri Mandir. Video cameramen also had set up their sets. His Holiness arrived around 1.10 p.m. He was accompanied by a few of his personal assis- tants. He took the seat on the right side cot in the Maitri Mandir. Sri V. S. Hari accompanied by Shri Rajnikant (film star, YSS devotee). Both of them took their place on the left side of the cot on which Sankaracharya sat. Swami Krishnanandaji presented His Holiness with the Engagement Calendar and also a copy of Swami Bidyanandaji's Jivan Smriti in which Swami Bidyananda had reverently recorded his meeting with the Parama- charya of Kanchi. Sanyas and Modernity sanyas principles, For instance there are these videos, fas, compute tc. Swami Shraddhananda: Has Paramacharya e canen puters etc. spoken to you anything about Paramahans Yogananda? His Holiness : These technological advan- cements relate to the brain but sanyas relates to the L flict. His Holiness nodded his headto signify thathe _° ‘Re heart. There is no conflict had not. The brain can be compared to foreign ‘Swami Shraddhananda : Anything he spoke? His Holiness did not seem to recall any such reference, and said so. ‘Swami Krishnananda : With the influx of mo- dernity, is there any effect on the practice of * Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetha, Meeting held at Maitri Mandir, Yagoda Ashram, Ranchi on 4th June 2002. countries and the heart to our own country. We can make good use of these technolo- gies to improve the quality of our service. In fact these are very necessary. They can be made good use of. Without fire one can- not accomplish many good tasks like light- ing, cooking but the same fire can be made use of for nefarious activities. It is up to the culture of our heart to determine how we are going to make use of these technological advantages. 40 % JUL / SEP 2009 0 dfifipyAdvaitavad and worship of images Br. Vasudevananda : How do you reconcile the fact of advaitavagi worshipping images? His Holiness : As sadhana, image worship is not only helpful but necessary. As sadhya, there is no need, As sadhya it is akhanda paramatma, Without having the image in the sadhan stage, one can remain restless. It is necessary as the ladder is. For one who has climbed up, it is not necessary but for the others it is necessary. Sanyas Br. Omkarananda : What is sanyas? His Holiness: |t is a matter of anubhava. Basically it is to remain in God Conscious- ness (isvar chintan). One may wear the ochre dress but if the mind is unclean, it does not help. For /svar-chintan the sadhan is the cloth but the cloth is not all in all. One must reflect with anubhay. This is the very sadhan of sanyas. Swami Krishnananda : Are there some specific rules for sanyasis such as not attend- ing marriages and shraddhas? His Holiness : There is no question about that. Why should a sanyasi attend such functions any way? That is the mark of pravritti, whereas sanyas is the road to nivritti, They are contrary to one another. A sanyasi- who does not have taste or conviction for that path of pravritti any more - why should he have to have anything to do with marriage ceremony which is the star- ting point for one who is treading the path of pravritti Now about the funeral ceremony, This is the final rite of the family man, for the necessary shuddhi. The Christians as per their teachings have no conviction in these matters (although they do speak of hell etc.) Such people who feel that pancha-bhuta is all there is to human life, may not subscribe to the need for shrad- dha etc, because as, per them, there is no concept of continuing life after death, andhence there is no concept of further purification Asfor the sanyasi, he does notattend shrad- dha for he does not entertain the thought life and life hereafter (through reincarnation etc) that the householders subscribe to. His atten- tion is to (deathless) imperishable Brahman. In the passing one might mention wearing of crystal malas engenders nivritti. Therefore itis not advisable for householders to wear them who are treading the path of pravritt Experiences with Paramacharya Br. Vasudevananda : Can you mention any of your experiences with Paramacharya, your Guru? His Holiness: One should keep such experi- ences to one’s own self and should not speak of them. These are very personal, good only for ‘one's own person. Programme at Yagoda Ashram Swami Krishnananda : How did you like the programme yesterday here at the Ashram? His Holiness : \t went off well. (Smiling) And | too gave my talk in keeping with the Ashram's teachings. (ie. he spoke about sadhana and yoga etc.) Br. Vasudevananda : When are you coming here next? His Holiness only smiled, signifying that he did not know when the opportunity might offer itself. ‘Swami Krishnananda : You were with us for dilip 2 suL/ sep 2009 % 41rather a short time, spend the night here. and that too you did not His Holiness : (Jocularly) After all lam Peetha- ahish Shankaracharya, koimamuli sanyasithori hai? (Am | any ordinary monk?) | am raj-sanya- siand sol! went and stayed in Raj Bhavan! [The whole assembly broke into laughter.] Cardinal principles of sanyas Swami Omkarananda : (in Tamil) You have spent 50 years as sanyasi. What are the cardi- nal principles of sanyas? His Holiness : (In Tamil, followed by Hindi). Once | was travelling with my Gurudev to Jam- bukeshwar. As permy rule of sanyas deeksha, | was supposed to stay at least three days by myself. | approached Gurudeva for his permis- sion. It was then that | stayed without maintain- ing any contact with anybody. These were the only the three days that | could spend thus. Then | was forcefully drawn away, being need- ed in the Veda Patashala. Those three days | had remained on alms, doing the anushthanas (spiritual performances) thrice a day, as pre- scribed, and remained anabhi-sanga putra- dara-grihadishu (unattached to home and hearth) nirashi, aniketah (without any desires, without any dwelling place). | stayed under a tree. This period in my life as a parivrajaka only, | can call as myself having lived as a sanyasi.(His Holiness laughed). Parivrajaka life is actually one step above that of a sanyasi. In this, one who remains or moves around without any pre-planning; he goes wherever he may be called. If he gets anything he will eat. Ifhe does not get anything, he will just fast. Paramahansa mode of living is still different. Therein one follows ajagar-vritti (living like the python) which does not go hunt- ing for prey. It stays at one place - takes food only if the food comes its way. General (His Holiness turning to Shri Rajnikant, and with a compassionate smile) : He has done a big work - made a film on Babaji. Before that people did not know so widely about Babaj. He has got even the common man to know about Babaji. This has been a very good service to God Swami Krishnananda : Now you may give him the order to do a film on Paramacharya. His Holiness : (smiling) No thatwill notbe... Of course there has been a CD. It is based on the life of my Gurudeva and on me. (Saying this he sent somebody to get a copy of the CD - which he presented to YSS). Pilgrimages by sanyasis Br. Vasudevananda: What is the importance of visiting pilgrimage sites by sanyasis? His Holiness : A sanyasi is not to go. Tirtha yatra implies sankalpa [Sankaracharya is speaking of the traditional mode of going on pilgrimages that a householder does. He plans a trip, where he shall go etc}. A sanyasi is not supposed to entertain any sankalpa (planning). tone plans he is not a sanyasi. He moves from place to place without sankalpa. Asankalpa- sanyasi (one who gives up planning) is a yogi This is the main criterion. Donning ochre or having disciples etc. are merely incidentals. A sanyasi must not go around making his own arrangements. Pr. Pravir: How long should be the period for a sanyasi for ekanta-sadhana (remaining by oneself and doing one's sadhana)? His Holiness : Full time. From birth to death. (Continued on page 45) 42 x suL/ sep 2009 9 diilipMy Guru Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamiji* Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswati Swamiji IN everyone's life one day will be a turning- point and most memorable day. In my life, 29th May 1983, is a red-letter day. On that day, | was initiated to Sanyasa by Jagadguru His Holiness Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamiji. | felt blessed as my divine guru took me into his fold and nurturerd me as a hen would its chicken. I look back to that date and the years of my close association with my guru. | was drawn to him like iron filings to a mag- net. Words fail me to express the great quali- ties of my guru that | have observed at very close quarters. | distinctly remember the words of Paramacharya. They are still ringing in my ears: "What your guru has done for this Mutt cannot be done (by anyone else)" (Avar Sri- matathukku Seidhullathy Yaavar Oruvaraa- lum Seiya Mudiyadhatu). My guru is a multifaceted person. There is a sloka by Vallabhacharya in praise of Sri Krishna: ‘Adharam Madhuram Vadanam Madhuram Nayanam Madhuram Hasithham Madhuram Hridayam Madhuram Gamanam Madhuram Madhuradhi Patherakhilam Madhuram (Everything about Him is sweet) * Excerpts from the discourse given on various occasions about His Guru Sri Jayendra Saraswati Sankaracharya Swamiji by His Holiness Sri San- kara Vijayendra Saraswati Sankaracharya Swami Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswati Swamiji with His Guru Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamiji Likewise, my guru is the embodiment of all good qualities. For the high exhalted position he holds as the Peethadhipati of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham established by Sri Adi Sankara Bhaga- vadpada, 2510 years ago, His Holiness is most simple, with an ever-smiling face, and is easily approachable (Sowlabyam) by one and all. He gives a patient hearing to the problems in the lives of his devotees, suggests solutions with parikaras and blesses them. He gives darshan without bothering about his own inconvenience. He never allows anyone who has come to him Gilip 2 suL 1 SEP 2009 & 43go disappointed. One of the many names of God is Achyuta, meaning that he would not let slip out of his hands those who have come to his fold His Holiness isa walk- ing encyclopedia. There is no subject under the sun unknown to him. He is a respecter of good things wherever they are and would not fail to rec- ognize and reward. His management skills are worth knowing by students of management studies. His meticulous planning and careful implementation are worthy of emulation. His quick decision-taking without procrastination is a virtue by itself. Sluggishness and slack- ness do not find a place in his dictionary. He always engages the right person to do the right job to get the right result. His compassion knows no bounds. ‘Adi Sankara had said that the Vedas should be studied daily "Vedo Nithyam Adeeyatham" His interest in Vedas and Veda vidhyarthis is beyond words. His enquiries with Pathasala students about their studies, comforts and requirements are a source of encouragement to them forgreater involvement in their studies. He has been encouraging them to study Veda Bhasyam the study of which is waning nowadays. He follows in letter and spirit the upadesa of Adi Sankara. Adi Sankara was engaged in unifying all the forces of his period. Periyaval is the central force in unifying the various factions and es- tablish firmly the unity in diversity in the coun- try. After Adi Sankara, Periyaval alone in this Peetham, has gone to Kailasham and erected the statue of Adi Sank- ara at the foot of Mount Kailash. He has visited all the places of worship in India — the §1 Sha- kti Peethams, 7 Moksha Puris, 12 Jyoti linga Kshetras and has bathed in all the 7 sacred rivers in addition to all the other sacred rivers. His Guru bhakti is well known. Whatever His guru Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swamiji wished to be done during his time, he fulfilled them without fail "Gurupriya" on the subject of Vedanta au- thored by him is in a class by itself. His assessment of situa- tions, judgement of persons and predictions have never failed. He is a role model to be followed. The respect and regard shown by other reli- gious leaders is a proof of his greatness. His deep rooted convic- tion in our tradition and culture and his encourage- ment for the scientific advancement to propagate 44 + JUL / SEP 2009 0 dipour culture make him a great bridge between the old and the new. His dealing with the press, his interviews, and opinions are acclaimed worldwide. Last but not the least, is his view of social reformation. Hinduism in the past was individual-oriented. It stressed the upliftment of the individual in the spiritual field to attain the postion of no return, i.e. without rebirth. The credit of social uplift through the movement of “Jana Kalyan" and “Jana Jag- ran" goes to him. His attempts to make the people realise the importance of service to community - Manava Seva is Mahes- vara Seva deserve all praise. His vision has never been narrow or restricted to any particular area but covers the world in general and the nation in particular. His thought and A rare meeting with His Holiness Sri Jayendra Saraswati (Continued from page 42) There cannot bea single moment when he may stay without such ekant-sadhana. In 5 or 10 year life insurance you are to pay premium regularly. If there be a lapse even once, the entire policy lapses. Similarly with one's sadhana. Tackling the ego Swami Krishnananda : Whether a sanyasi or an householder, the greatest problem is to tackle one's sense of ego and transferring it into satconsciousness. How does one handle this? His Holiness : Recently on our way to the source of the Sindhu river, we had as our companion a big official who was also an in- dustrialist. He asked me a question. Quoting a verse from Viveka-Chudamani, he asked how a businessman is expected to practise renun- ciation of ego. | answered that while he is running the business he has to use his ies have always been directed towards national integration . stick, enforce discipline etc. Back at home, he should maintain the understanding that everything that he is doing is for the Param- atma only. And (smiling) in the court a judge must write his judgement and enforce laws but when back home if he tries to write judge- ment, he will get a beating. One must work according to the station of life and the task he is handling. (Everyone laughs). . Our culture, religion and religious scriptures have ‘come down to us ever since the dawn of creation. Our religious scriptures called the Vedas, tells us about things which we generally do not understand with our limited intellect and brain. In this modern age, we Understand many things with our intellect and mind. But there are many things which are not known to us through these things. It is those things which are expounded in the Vedas, ‘The Vedas are called Srutis because they have ‘come down tous by word of mouth. They are not learnt byreading or patha butby hearing. The Vedas have to be recited in accordance with the prescribed swaras and according to the prescribed speed and pitch. The ‘swara, sabda and akshara have all to be correctly pronoimnced. If Vedic recitation is done paying atten- tion to all these details, then it is very pleasing to the ear; and success is also assured to us in all our endeavours. -H.H. SriJayendra Saraswati Swamiji dilip 2 JUL 1 SEP 2009 45The 21st century Jagadguru - A life devoted to the service of mankind SRI Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, an institution set up by Adi Sankara Bhagavatpada, the 32-year- old philosopher genius, born in 512 BC, is the fore- most among the Sankara Mutts established by Adi Sankara to spread the message of Dharma. Adi Sankara himself was the first Peethadhipathi of this Peetham which has had an unbroken lineage of 70 heads - his followers who have managed this insti- tution through the years. fondly referred to as Sri Periyaval, has been its head, serving the cause of Dharma and the people of this country for 55 long years. He will be turning 75 this August 2009. ‘At the commencement of the Peetharohana Swar- na Jayanti Mahotsava, His Holiness had stated the following: “That lhave been there for 50 years is of no consequence. What is more important is what has been done for our people’. We realise the import of The revered Mahasvamigal, also referred this statement only when we look at the impact to by many as "Nadamaadum Deivam - The of his untiring work over the last 55 years. His Holiness was inititated into Sanyasa Dharma as laid out by Adi Sankara himself, and has been following the tenets of his sanyasa dharma. He has zeal- ously been carrying forward the teachings of Adi Sankara and fulfilling the wishes of the Maha- svami, his Guru. At the same time he has reached out with compassion, succour and help Walking God", was also an illustrious head of to the millions of poor and needy. His bold the Peetham, who held the august position for initiatives are built on solid foundations 87 years and lived for 100 years. His worthy laid out by Adi Sankara and his venerable successor Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamiji, Guru. His genius has been in adapting modes 46 JUL/SEP 2009 0 difipof modern technology, travel and communication to reach out to people without diluting the core values. Sri Periyaval has travelled to ‘every nook and corner of Bharata Varsha and also beyond. He is the first and only Acharya to have travelled across the country three times by foot, covering near- ly a million kilometres, the length and breadth of this country from Kashmir to Kanyakumari Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swa- migal was the first ever monk to itis more important to revive and look after the existing temples than create new ones. He has always highlighted the role of the temple as a centre of economic and social activity in any commu- nity. He has thus ensu-red reno- vation and maintenance of many dilapidated temples. There are several trusts that operate under the direction of the Mutt which focuses on spreading Vedic education, sup- porting and rewarding scholars, encouraging research schola- stic work in relation to Hindu have been honoured in Bangladesh by having a Sankaracharya Gate and Jayendra Arch near the Dhakeshwari Temple, the Shakti Peetham at Dhaka, when he visited this tem- ple to have darshan of god- dess Dhakeshwari. The Bangladesh Government gave 1 crore Takka in his honour for renovation of the Dhakeshwari Tem- ple. H.H. remains the only saint to have been invited by the Chinese Government to visit China. At his instance an Adi Sankara Pratishta was done in Manasarovar during his visit. He had an Adi Sankara statue consecrated in all the 12 Jyotir Linga Kshetras. He has also travelled to Amarnath and the Sindhu River. H.H. has been credited with highest Jeer- nodharanams, Kumbhabhishekams of tem- ples all over the country. Many of them are some of the oldest temples in the country. Sri Periyaval has always been of the view that religion and philosophy. The Veda Shastra Pan- dita Raksha Sabha gives a monthly pension of Rs.1000 to 250 Pundits; the Veda Pata Nidhi Trust serves the cause of Vedic scholars with hum- ble means; the Dharma Paripalana Sabhas orga- nise seminars, conte- rences on Vedic Studies; and the Veda Rak- shana Nidhi Trust is the foremost institution for the preservation of Vedas. His Holiness intensified the activities of the Mattham to cover new social objectives and it is due to his untiring efforts that the Kamakoti Peetam established religous and social institu- tions in many parts of the country. (See Pages 49 - 51) The Kamakoti Peetham has now be- come a centre of socio-religious renaissance. During his 55 years of his pontificate Sri Periyaval has established about 1000 insti- tutions to promote bhakti, social welfare, health, child care, orphanages, oldage homes, dtp © su. see 2009 % 47sanitation and rehabilitation of the handicapped, village crafts, and education. His Holiness has been instrumental and has been the inspiration behind several social institutions of signiti- cance which serve the poor and the needy. These organ- isations are expressions of his infinite compassion for the suffering millions of our country. While he is keen to invest in resources for the young who are the future of our country, His heart melts for the old and the infirm who have no one to look after them. The old age homes that are run under the auspices of the Kanchi Mutt, in Kalahasti, Kanchipuram, Kasi are a few of the many facilities created under his guidance for the old people. At Chennai, the Mutt has an outstanding institution operating for the physically challenged. His Holiness was one of the earliest to reach sites hit by natural disasters and calamities like Latur and Bhuj with tangible help and moral support. In Gujarat he travelled nearly 800 kilometres each day for a week, stopping at various places to provide courage and solace to the disaster-stricken people. . The Jana Kalyan movement started under the direction of His Holiness constantly aims at providing vocational skill development and improving self-employment for both men and women from the economically backward class. His Holiness has always emphasised the true value of cottage industries. There is no doubt that the power of his love and compassion dissolves miseries and takes the follower on the path of dharma. On August 7, 2009 His Holiness Sri Periyaval turns 75. It is an opportunity for all the devo- tees to demonstrate their faith and commitment to dharma through participation in a symbolic act, the Amrithotsava Bhiksa Vandanam. It is proposed to offer 7500 Bhikshavandanams to His Holiness to commemorate the 75th year. Of these 750 will be offered on August 7th at Kanchipuram. The rest of the Bhikshavandanams will be offered during the full chatur- masyam period and the balance will be spread throughout the year. His Holiness Sri Periyaval accepted the idea of the Amrita Mahotsava Celebration only on one condition. He has said : "Feed the poor, look after the needy, educate the illiterate, empower them to earn their daily wages and lead a life of dignity. Every morsel of food they eat from your efforts, is your bhiksha vandanam to me’. . 48 % JUL/ SEP 2009 0 dilip| Given below are some of the institutions affiliated to the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham related to education, healthcare, social work, temples/branches, goshalas and in other miscellaneous fields. A) Education Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Vishwa Mahavidyalaya (Deemed University), Enathur Sri Sankara Samskruta Vaidika Samskruti Patashala, Kancheepuram (Female Education) Sri Sankara Smartha Samskruta Patashala, Bangalore | Sri Sankara Vidyalayas (14), Sri Sankara Oriental Schools (4), Sri Kanchi Sankara Vidyalayas (26) at various cities | Sri Sankara Schools at Bhopal (MP), Bhilai (Chattisgarh), Shahjahanpur (UP), | Haridwar (UP) and Kurukshetra (HP) Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School (1st CBSE Sankara School), Adayar, Chennai Kanchi Sankara Educational Health Trust, Secunderabad Sti Kanchi Kamakoti Seva Trust, Anmedabad Kanchi Kamakoti Paramacharya Centenary Bhavan, Secunderabad (Computer Education) Sri Jayendra Saraswati Schools at Kalavai, Nellai, Coimbatore, Vizhupuram, Tirunelveli Sri Jayendra Saraswati Arts & Science College, Tuticorin Sri Jayendra Saraswati High School & Women’s College, Coimbatore School for Handicapped Children, Haridwar, Uttar Pradesh Ayurveda Colleges Vedic Education Sri Sankara Veda Samskruta Patashala at Secunderabad, Oorapakkam (Kancheepuram District) Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal Sri Kamakoti Peetha Patashala, Irulneeki Village, ‘Tamil Nadu Sri Kamakoti Ghatikashram Trust, Ghatikasthanam, Kancheepuram Sri Jayendra Saraswati Veda Vedanga Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya, Madhya Pradesh Sankara Bhakta Sabha (Ved Bhavan), Hyderabad Kalavai Veda Patashalai, Kalavai (North Arcot District) Tamil Nadu Sri Vidyaranya Vidya Peetham, Hospet, Karnataka Sivaagama Patashalas (Trichy, Tirupuramkundram) Shilpa Patashalas (Mamallapuram, Kancheepuram) dilip 2 suL 1 seP 2009 49| B) Healthcare Kanchi Kamakoti Sankara Hospital, Sri Jayendra Saraswati Institute of Medical Sciences, Chennai Kanchi Kamakoti Childs Trust Hospital, Chennai . Sri Jayendra Saraswati Ayurvedic College & Hospital, Nazarathpet, Tamil Nadu | Paramacharya Chandrasekhara Saraswati Ayurvedic Kendra, Aurangabad, Maharashtra Sankara Netralaya, Chennai Sri Sankara Dev Netralaya, Guwahati Sankara Medical Centre at Madhubani (Bihar), Bongaigaon (Assam), trulneeki (Tiruvarur), Chennai Sankara Eye Society Hospitals in Coimbatore, Guntur, Bangalore, Shimoga, Anand (Gujarat) | Kanchi Sankara Medical Centre in Kolkata Sri Jayendra Medical Centre, Vizhipuram Sri Jayendra Homeo Clinic, Pudukottai Sri Jayendra Nursing Home, Cuddalore The Kumbakonam Hindu Mission Hospital, Kumbakonam Sri Mata Trust, Adayar, Chennai (For poor cancer patients - shelter and food) Sankara Charitable Trust, Rudra Prayag, Uttar Pradesh Sree Sankara Free Medical Centre, Chalai, Tiruvananthapuram And the many Hindu Mission Hospitals at various cities, €) Social work Sti Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Bhakta Jana Sabha Trust, West Mambalam, Chennai Janakalyan at Mylapore (Chennai) and Madurai Sri Kamakoti Kamakshi Charities, Salem, Tamil Nadu D) Severs ‘Temples & Branches Uttara Chidambara Nataraja Mandir, Satara, Maharashtra (T/B) Sri Adi Sankara Keerthi Sthamba Mandapam, Kaladi, Kerala (T/B) 50 x JUL/ SEP 2009 0 difipSri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Vishwa Mahavidyalaya (Deemed University) and the International Library at Enathur, Kancheepuram Adi Sankara Statue at Enathur Keerthi Sthamba (Pillar of Greatness), Kaladi Gilip © suL1 SEP 2009 * 51Srl Kamakshi Nitya Annadhana Hall, Kancheepuram 52 % JUL/SEP 2009 0 difipSri Kanchi Kamakoti Sankara Math, Malleswaram, Bangalore (T/B) Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham Charitable Trust, Vasco Da Gama, Goa (T/B) Purva Tirupati Sri Balaji Mandir, Guwahati, Assam (T)” The Ekkavan Shakti Peet, Ambaji, Gujarat (T) Sri Devi Kamakshi Mandir, New Delhi (T) Sri Shodasa Ganapati Mandir, Shimla (T) Sri Hanuman Temple, Secunderabad (T) Sri Ashtalakshmi Devalayam, Hyderabad (T) Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Venkateswara Swamy Temple, Vishakapatnam (T) Sri Trishakti Mata Devalayam, Warangal, Andhra Pradesh (T) Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Seneshwaralayam & Sri Gyanasaraswati Devalayam, Warangal, Andhra Pradesh (T) Sti Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, Haridwar, Uttar Pradesh (B) Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Sankara Math, Saraswati Temple, Baramullah, Jammu & Kashmir (B) Sti Sankara Mattam, Georgetown, Chennai (B) E) Goshalas (Cow Protection) Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal Janakalyan Goshala, Lalgudi, Tamil Nadu Sti Kanchi Sankara Goshala, Thinniam, Tamil Nadu F) Miscellaneous Veda Sastra Pandita Raksha Sabha, Sion West, Mumbai (Pension to Vedic Scholars) Veda Pata Nidhi Trust, Mylapore, Chennai (Pension to Vedic Scholars) Kachchi Moodoor Archakas Welfare Trust, Kottoor Gardens, Chennai (Archakas Wellare) Sti Chandrasekhara Rural Development Trust, Adayar, Chennai (For Rural Development) Home for the Aged at Pandidnamedu (near Mahabalipuram), Kancheepuram, Kalahasti, Kasi Kalavai Vriddhashram, Kalavai, North Arcot District, Tamil Nadu Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetha Carnataka Sangeetha Seva Trust, Harrington Road, Chennai (Fine Arts and also maintains the illams (birthplace) of the Trinity of Music at Tiruvarur) Sri Kamakshi Nitya Annadhana Hall, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu (Annadhanam) difip 2 suv 1 SeP 2009 % 53grat: Sharh ora data aoegye a orden eee stare et rare eng ara ere RIOT | A eon HOTTA FLISHEA|| ypeazerararer ereseizeri Baa Sra TUTEOTBTE Aaa Pow | ante ara? ectaerenrae5I aceremreee rates: Bar II aferwenareel tcuciein Bat aereareuereel ereweAR: aH Rereniamerrel sePrafates: gas! sirgoenetn Sezerow Ha: 11 afte serena apeRrers a after rere arena: ga: 11 aanterai areal atoagy AR: Fa | renege exazen a fev || a Htoorace: Aoeiea HI ah reg earn gd | once arate arora | ‘zrael a Zel gpeen covenant: UPSET | pranectetarare Zefa: Bag | aggrecan: Soha ORG 1 cifercrarareres Setanen fazrata | sen: wordy Bavkcer ererast| facsae aber ateliaieaa| wisn’ ve ga TAT II aftecrgerara atari a scram! port ava: reer Fae | ahesdrafeeretia BR: ae cp | Sra ceed Ga Sree |!oN | EDITORIAL Guru’s Upadesha 4 A Preserve our Dharma \ J \ j\ HLH. Sri Jayendra Saraswati a THESE days serious efforts are being made to increase the worldly comforts of our people in their day- to-day life with a view to bring their standard of living on par with that of people of the so called developed countries. Such efforts and objectives deserve to be appreciated but with some reservation because, in the process, the real goals and objectives of life should not be discarded. In recent times, people have become less keen to know these goals and objectives and shape their life accordingly. After we became free, ourlife style has undergone a big change. We have taken leave of our cultural heritage and life's goals. In our keen desire to secure money, position and power we have been neglecting the spiritual side of life. Instead of valuing good conduct we are indulging in small pleasures. Many people are disinterested in matters connected with religion or they tend to be agnostic. There are some, of course, who perform religious rites purely in expectation of some benefits. We have a notion that we are more civilised than our earlier generations. We are happy that our standard of living has gone up. But the fact is that we reckon this standard in terms of motor cars, telephones, transistors, television, planes etc. We have completely forgotten the virtues of simple living The exodus of people from villages to urban areas is on the rise with the result that the peace of village life is lost and the complications of urban life with its no holds barred competition are increasing. People have lost the pleasure of a peaceful rural iving. Valmiki has beautifully described Rama's rule, Rama Rajya. Mahatma Gandhi wished that such a Rama Rajya should be established in our country. But we have not been able to realise his dream. Of course, we have the democratic from of government for which elections are held. Butin every election honesty and integrity become acasualty. Two institutions have fostered our culture and thereby our good conduct. One is the family and the other in the form of educational institutions. In our country, the farnily as a unit of the society has always enjoyed a high place. The joint family which gave due recognition to age and experience has practically disappeared. it provided shelter to the old, the weak and the poor. The compulsion to go far and wide in search of a living has resulted in the breaking of the joint family. The result of this change is that the feeling of each for himself has developed. Many are ignorant of the benefits of following the "Kula ‘chara and many others justignore it. In the sphere of education, the old Guru Sishya relationship is gone. The meaning of the word *Sishya' is that the he is one who needs to be disciplined. In the sense that a "Sishya" is a person of humility, he is also called "Vineya'. In the modern educational system, both the words have lost their meanings. Gifip © sanmar 2018 + 1The path which our ancients followed in these matters has been destroyed. Most of us have lost our peace of mind and, therefore, the pleasure thats derived fromit. We have forgotten the meaning of the saying that nothing that is of this world can give us peace or happiness. We should not jump to the conclusion that our ancestors had discarded worldly life. In fact, they have spoken much about it. They have widely discussed the four objectives of the humans viz. dharma, artha, kama and moksha. With a few exceptions, most of you are family men. For the proper functioning of society, those in family life need to acquire wealth and seek rightful enjoyment. But, what is also down is that these two pursuits should be based on dharma and with moksha as the ultimate goal. Today's ills of the society are all due to the fact that we have discarded dharma and are merely pursuing wealth and pleasure. We should not determine what is dharma and what is adharma on the basis of man-made laws. We have to ascertain what the sastras say on this and act accordingly. “Know what the sastras enjoin and follow dharma accordingly”, says the Gita. But, today, it is common practice to ignore the sastras with each one acting according to his /her wishes. The basic features of dharma are common to the world. But it cannot be practised in a uniform manner. it cannot also be said that all dharmas are applicable to everyone. Our ancestors have laid down that practice of dharma should be according to one's fitness and station in life. The dharma of the teacher, the guru, is one thing, But the dharma of the student is different. Similarly, there are different dharmas for the husband and wife, master and servant etc. Today there are conflicts because of a lack cof understanding of which dharma is applicable to whom and people trying to follow dharmas to which they are not entitled. “Better death in following one's own dharma. It is dangerous to follow another's, saysthe Gita, Speaking in a general way, one has lost the desire to live a good life. Discipline is wanting and we have developed the tendency to bend ourselves to suit every situation. In our day-to-day life ostentation has set in and simplicity has been displaced. We have lost sight of the fact that there is in us the imperishable ‘ata’ and that we should strive for its evolution. Instead, we are only trying to satisfy the wants of the perishable body. A disciplined mind and moral way of life are the roots of ‘soul force’ (atma shakti). There roots are now getting dried up. How then can we develop ‘soul force"? There is inall of us a spark of divinityin addition to human qualities. Ifa person is to give up his desire for pleasure, the tendency to cause harm to others and avarice, he should be a balanced person with love and sympathy for others and should be willing to give to those in need. A civilization will command respect only if its people combine in themselves these qualities along with truth, ahimsa and freedom from the desire to possess what belongs to others. To the extent that each one of us strives to bring about the combination of these qualites in every one of us, we will succeed in rescuing our Bharat from the cultural crisis in which itfinds itselt. Let us, in the manner of Sri Sankara Bhagavatpada’s "Shadpadi Stotrat following manner. , pray to God in the “Oh Lord, remedy my lack of self-control, enable my mind to be kept under control. Release me from my attachment to the pleasures of the senses. broaden my outlook and enable me to love all life; help me cross the ocean of samsara’ . 2% JANIMAR 2018 0 dilipHis Holiness Sri Jayendra Saraswati: His Grace and Compassion P.R. Kannan The learned writer tells us many an unknown event in the Swamiji's life THE 82-year-old Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti_ Peetham, Shri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamiji attained Siddhi on Febuary 28, 2018. The next day his mortal remains were interred in the Sankara Matham premises at Kanchipuram, next to the Adhishthanam of his Guru, Shri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Swamiji. Born as ‘Subramanian Mahadeva Iyer on July 18, 1935 in a village called Irulneekki (which significantly means dispeller of darkness), he was discovered in his teens as a worthy successor by the Sankaracharya of Kanchi, He ascended the venerated Peetham, established by ‘Adi Sankaracharya some 2500 years ago, on March 22, 1954 after completing Vedic and scriptural studies. His Guru, Shri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi, the 68th Acharya, known popularly as* Paramacharya, Mahaswami and ‘Walking God’, was a towering personality with a magnetic presence, marked by erudition of scriptures, mastery of languages as well as modern science, and limitless empathy with the downtrodden. Shri Jayendra Saraswathi was quick to absorb alll the knowledge and divine qualities of his dear Guru. His Guru bhakti was phenomenal. (In all his discourses later he would never fail to give expression to his deep love and regard for his Guru).He spent about a decade and a half under his tutelage. He then undertook long tours and studied the conditions prevailing in different social strata across the length and breadth of the country. During the next half a century, he took the Peetham to new heights of spirituality and social service, hailed as unprecedented even by dogged admirers of the Paramacharya. People started hailing him as ‘Kriya Shakt, the active force of his Guru, who was ‘Ichcha Shakti. He breathed fresh life into institutions supporting study of Vedas, Agamas and religious literature; resurrected dilapidated temples, and improved living standards of Pujaris and workers. Swamiji is the only Sankaracharya to visit Kailash- Manasarovar, and Dhaka in Bangladesh. He installed an Adi Sankara's idol in Manasarovar and visited the twelve Jyotirlinga kshetras and many other holy places. The keen interest shown by him in research into ancient and rare sources of knowledge has translated into many path-breaking discoveries, ranging from stone inscriptions in Kampuchean temples to Kashmiri religious books. Under his guidance, Kashmiri scholars located two rare ancient books ‘Lougakshi Grihya Sutra’ and 'Vaidika Mantra Kalpalata', which were published by Venkateswara Vedic University in ‘Tirupati in 2011/2012. He had a phenomenal memory and would surprise the visitor by mentioning his name and personal details even after a long time gap. He composed many songs in Sanskrit and Tamil about his Guru and the Gods. He enjoyed GGtIB sanimar 2018 + 3Camatic music, and often hummed his own favourite song 'Bhaja Re Gurunathamm Manasa.’ During his discourses, he often referred to the phrase ‘Jantunam Narajanma Durlabham’ (human birth is rare indeed’), while stressing the need to be alert in avoiding deviation from righteousness The most significant contribution of Swami is perceived as his changing the image of the Kanchi Sankara Matham from a brahminical hub to an institution dedicated to the development of all sections of Hindu society, while being kind to followers of other religions and encouraging them to be true to their faiths. He started movements like Jana Kalyan etc. in order to spread the right knowledge of Hindu religious principles among the common public as well as to integrate the backward sections with the mainstream Hindus. Jana Kalyan movement works constantly towards providing vocational skill development and selt- employment support. Swamiji visited Dalit neighbourhoods as part of this outreach. Dalits considered him to be theirnew messiah. Education & health care Many are the temples of modem learning founded by Swamiji, notable among them being the Chandrasekharendra University at Enathur near Kanchipuram, which houses a svecial library of ancient palm-leat manuscripts and digitised texts, and many Sankara colleges. Healthcare is another area where Swamiji showed keen personal interest and helped establish hospitals, and medical centres in many places across the country. Sankara Eye Hospital, Chennai, Sankara Deva Netralaya, Guwahati, the recently opened Sankara Eye Hospital at Berhampur in Odisha, Childs Trust hospital and Sankara Hospital in Chennai and Hindu Mission hospitals spread over many places area few examples. During his tours Swamiji used to find time to visit jails and comfort the convicts. At times of natural calamity, Swamiji insisted on personally visiting and supervising the relief and rehabilitation efforts organised by the Matham and blessing those in misery. His visits to Latur in Maharashtra, Bhuj in Gujarat and the flood affected areas of Uttarakhand are cases in point. Visitors from all over India and abroad flocked to Swamiji for guidance and inspiration. His simplicity, accessibility, attention to detail and captivating smile are legendary. He once said: “If Iswara appears in front of me | shall not ask for wealth, fame or immortality. | shall ask for the ability to get into other people's nearts and remove their sorrow and tears.” When Swamiji was in Paithan in Maharashtra in 1984, the proposal mooted by locals to erect a statue of Sri ‘Adi Sankara in the local Sant Eknath Samadhi Mandir was opposed by a lone doctor. Atthe time ‘of Swamiji's leaving, the doctor said to him: “Maharaj, Ihave troubled you much. Please don't curse me.” Swamiji smiled and said: “Doctor, | did not experience any trouble. The talk of curse is completely wrong. Even if you cut this body into several pieces, each piece will only bless you. I have worn this saffron cloth not for cursing anybody, but for seeing Narayana in everybody.” The offshoot of this expression of compassion was that the same doctor changed his mind, got the statue of Adi ‘Sankara installed in the same place later and invited Swamiji to come and inaugurate it. On another occasion when a suggestion was made to shift the local masjid away from the Sankara Math at Kanchito avoid disturbance, he promptly rejected it and said, ‘There is no trouble at all Mandir and masjid should coexist.’ Once, when a devotee expressed her concem on deteriorating social values, he instantly asked her to chant 2ath verse of Soundaryalahari, 16 times daily. Miraculous change Sri Swaminatha Sastrigal of Lucknow narrates an incident which happened some twenty years ago in the Jayendra Saraswathi Veda Pathasala run by him there. Sri Sastrigal took pity on a brahmana boy, who was then working as a servant in a Pandit's home in conditions of neat-starvation, doing household Cleaning etc. He took him under his care, put him in the Veda Pathasala and started to teach. The boy had a problem of speech; pronouncing Vedic passages was beyond him. Sri Sastrigal tried relentlessly. One evening, he tried for one hour to make him repeat a single sentence. With the boy unable to do so, the teacher was very upset and scolded him, and even beat him. Ina fit of anger, he told the boy to leave the Pathasala in the morning and get back to his village. The boy 4s ganar 2018 odfilipdeeply regretted his condition. He refrained from taking dinner and, before going to bed, he placed his book at the feet of Sri Acharya Swamiji in a picture and begged him: “Swami, | have not seen you; none in my family has ever seen you, My Guru has immense bhakti for you. He wishes to ‘send me back to my village. lam however keen to be here and study Veda. Please bless mo.” Early next moming, the teacher, who had also spent the night with worry on his mind, asked the boy to chant the Vedic passage. And lo! the boy, without opening the book, chanted the entire Panchati (Panchasat) in good svara. The teacher was stunned at this miracle. The boy explained that in his dream, Sri Acharya Swamiji had come there, sat in the same seat which was used by the Guru, and taught him the mantras; and that is how he could now chant them properly. The teacher felt: How is it that Sri Acharya Swamiji, his Bhagavan of so many years, never taught him anything, whereas he came down to initiate this unlettered boy into Veda? He could not control his tears; he embraced the boy. His bhakti for Sri Swamiji increased. The boy is Surendra Kumar Misra, who is now well-versed in Vedas and Prayogam, and acts as Priest in all functions in Tamil families in Lucknow. Needless to add, he is well-off, is married, has a nice family and enjoys all good things of ite Gire regains eyesight A student from Kenya was studying in BA Economics course in the Maharaja's College, Mysore. Suddenly she lost her eye sight; she was, not able to see things clearly. The optician in Mysore said that there was a tumour in her brain, which affected her eyesight. On his advice she consulted the doctor in the St. John’s Hospital in Bangalore, who also confirmed the same. Totally crestfallen, she approached her Economics Professor Ms Mini Muttanna, who is a devout devotee of Maha Periyaval and Pujya Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamiji. The girl requested her teacher to take her to Periyaval. They both went to Kannchipuram and had darshan of Pujya Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamiji. Periyaval asked her to sit in front of him and, looking at her and twisting his face he made several rounds of gesture with his hands soas to remove the tumour from her brain. After a few minutes, he asked her to continue the medicine that the doctors had prescribed. She returned to Mysore satisfied After a month or so, she got back her eyesight. ‘She then went to St. John Hospital and on reexamination, it was found that the tumour. in her brain had totally disappeared! Sri ~ Jayendra Saraswathi Swamiji was camping in Valliammal School in Chennai in 1974-1975. One day when he was doing the Chandramouliswara Puja after the Gaja Puja, the elephant suddenly started trumpeting, trying to break the chain with which it was tied. The mahout had gone out at that time. All assembled devotees were terrified and started running helter skelter. When the commotion became loud, Periyaval, even as he was doing Puja, just tured his head and looked at the elephant; the pachyderm instantaneously became still ike a rock! That was the strength of his Drishti. Within a minute thereafter the mahout returned and pacified the animal. Sri Periyaval was continuing with the Puja asif nothing had happened In another incident when a batch of 12th Standard school students of Sri Sankara school had darshan of Sri Swami to seek his blessings before the Board examination, as was the tradition every year, Swamiji blessed and gave kumkum Prasad to all the students. When it was the turn of one boy Anand, Swamiji said ‘Aduttha varusham’ (Next year). (The indication was that Anand would not be able to write the exams. that year.) Everybody returned happily; even Anand, as he thought Swamiji was referring to Tamil year. It so happened eventually that he indeed ‘could not appear for the exams. barring the first day, due to chicken pox. The boy, who had got his vidyarambham from Swamiji, faced this agony now. But Sri Swamij's blessings made up abundantly for this setback. Anand went on to study in BITS Pilani and London Business ‘School. He is now very devoted to Sri Swami Ammother reports that when her son died as a teen in a truck -bike collision, she felt the presence of Sri Acharya Swamijiin the hospital, although Swamiji was in Allahabad partaking in Maha Kumbh Mela. The boy's uncle, who was close to Swami, informed him about the death. A month or so later, Swamiji rang up the boy's mother and asked "Eppadi amma irukke?" (How are you?). She started sobbing and poured her heart out. Swamiji said,"Nee En kavalai padare? Naan daan avanukku angeye MOKSHAM EP « sania 20103 5KODUTTHU VITTENE!" (Why do you worry? I granted him Moksha there itself, ie. Allahabad Triveni Sangam Maha Kumbh Mela - Thai Amavasya). That was the day when the boy had breathedhis last. Once A Monther! On another occasion when Sri Acharya ‘Swamijl was leaving Nagpur, there was a huge crowd to see him off. In that crowd, there was an ‘old woman, who was struggling to push forward and meet him. Suddenly Swamiji stopped the convoy and asked the crowd to give way! Puffing and panting, the woman went near him. Swamij enquired about her welfare, how many children she had etc. and gave her some fruits as Prasad. She took them happily and left. Swamiji then said: “Indha amma 6..... 7 piravigalukku munnaal EN THAI" (This woman was my mother some 6..7 births ago). ‘Swamiji worked hard for resolving the Ayodhya Ram Mandir dispute. For this he personally interceded with the high and the mighty in the areas of politics and religion. His untiring efforts appear to be yielding the desired fruit of peace and coexistence after many years now. Tamil Nadu has had a long history of powerful anti-brahmana forces. Swamiji was _keen on stopping conversion of the backward Hindus into the Christian fold, which started to grow alarmingly. He personally visited sensitive places and counselled the communities. All this earned the vicious enmity of vested interests, which got Swamiji arrested on trumped up charges of murder in November 2004. The case was finally closed in 2013 after a long legal battle, which took its toll on Swamiji's physical health as well as on the devotion of a section of his followers. However, the Kanchi Peetham grew to new heights after the controversy subsided. Swamiji leaves behind his eminent and dedicated successor Sri Sankara Vijayendra ‘Saraswathi as the new head of the Peetham and alargecontingentoftearfulcountrymen. “One who is established in selfless and detached action, who is pure, whose mind and senses are under control, and whose self is identified with the self of all - he is never bound, though he be engaged in work” - The Bhagavad Gita, Ch 5, Verse 7 6 4 JANMAR 2018 OdiAn exposition in the form of questions and answers on Hindu Dharma H.H. Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swami : Q. Whats the name of our country? ‘A: The name of our country is Bharata-Varsha Q. How and when did the name Bharata for our country originate? A: The name ‘Bharata’ has come down the ages. Etymologically the name has originated from the word ‘Bharata’. It means the country which can give the resplendent knowledge of effulgence of the Atman. Q. Whatare the frontiers of Bharata-Varsha? A: Although the physical frontiers of India are small today, the whole world in its entirety is in effect Bharata-Varsha. Q. Whatis the authority for this statement? A: According to Manu-smriti. This means that the people of different countries in the entire world have learnt, are learning and will be learning how to mould one's character from the erudite scholars or savants of our country Bharat. Q. What other authority is there? A; Archaeologists have collected specimens of our Indian culture and civilisation from all over the country. This collection includes articles for use in yagnas, icons of Ganapati and other gods and various inscriptions in Sanskrit. At present, these can be seen in the house of Dr. Lokesh Chandra in Delhi. Q. Whatis the name of our Dharma? A: Our Dharma is called Vaidika Sanatana Hindu Dharma. That is, the basic scriptures for our Dharma are the Vedas. The Vedas have ‘come down tous right from very ancient times. Q. How many Vedas are there? A: The Vedas are endless in the form of sound. But sage Veda Vyasa has collected, classified and presented this sound-lore in the form of the four Vedas, namely Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda. Q. How many Sakhas or recensions are there foreach of the Vedas? A: The Rigveda has 21, Yajurveda has 109 (of which Krishna Yajurveda has 64 and Shukla Yajurveda 45). Samaveda has 1000 and Atharvadeva has 50. Thus the total is 1180. difip 2 sannar 2018 7Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. Museum in Madurai. March 27, 1934 - Born to Sri Mahadeva lyerandnamed ‘Subramaniam. March 22, 1954 - Anointed as Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamij, the 69th Acharya of August 1, 1971 - Starts the Hindu Mission as the service establishment of the Kanchi Mutt at karvet Nagar, December 1105, 1974- All Religions Conterence at Puri Jagannath. March 30to April 5, 1977 - World Religious & Philosophy Conference at the Gandhi Some Milestones Chitoor District in Andhra Pradesh. Q. What is the meaning of the word Veda? ‘A: The word Veda is etymologically derived from the root ‘vid’ FA to know. It enables us to realise knowledge which transcends our intellect. In other words, not merely the present day material knowledge of the world but the knowledOge which transcends itare both containedin the Vedas. Q. What do the Vedas speciallly teach us? A: The Vedas contain not only transcendental knowledge, but knowledge relating to karma, and upasana wherein we have an enunciation of the rules and regulations relating to different forms of yagna. Besides these techniques of worship, meditation etc. the relation between the individual soul and the Paramatma or the Ultimate Reality and indeed the entire gamut of actions which a human being has to do right from birth till death are described in great detail in the Vedas. Q. Were the Vedas composed by any individual? A: The Vedas were not written by anyone. They from the divine. The Vedic sounds are always there inspace. ‘At the beginning of creation, Rigveda was revealed to Sage Agni, Yajurveda to Sage Vayu, Samaveda to Saga Aditya, and Atharvaveda to Sage Angiras. Very great Maharishis by virtue to the power which they had acquired due to extensive tapas were able to tune their ears and listen to the Vedic sounds or mantras and they taught them to their disciples and thus have preserved them till today Bovanmar 2018 % dip Q. What is the use of studying the Vedas? ‘A: The Vedas constitute the foundation of spiritual knowledge. By studying the Vedas, one can ennoble one's life. The chanting of the Vedic mantras with proper accent and intonation of the swaras will lead to the welfare of humanity. Q. Has anyone expounded the meaning of the Vedas? ‘A: Swami Vidyaranya has written an exposition of the meaning of the Vedas. This is the only exposition in accordance with the shastras and based on the Indian tradition and culture. Q. Has anyone else elaborated the meaning ofthe Vedas? ‘A: An elaboration of the Vedas is contained in the Brahmanas. Eighteen great Maharishis have also written commentaries on the Vedas, which are known as Smritis. The word Smriti means ‘to remember. Those texts wherein the Maharishis have captured the sounds of the Vedic mantras ‘and put them down in writing in the form of sutras or small aphorisms for the welfare of humanity are known as Smritis. Q. What are the names of these eighteen ‘Smritis? ‘A: The eighteen Smritis are 1. Manu Smriti 2.Parasara Smriti 3. Yagnavalkya Smriti 4. Gautama Smriti 5. Haritha Smriti 6. Yama ‘Smriti 7. Vishnu Smriti 8. Sankha Smriti 9. Likhit Smriti 10. Brihaspati Smriti 11. Dakshan Smriti 12. Angirasa Smriti 13. Samvarta Smriti 14, Usanas Smritit5. Atri Smriti 16. ApastambaHis Holiness performing Pooja at Amarnath, ‘June 27,2001 Smriti 17. Satapata Smriti and 18 Prachetasi ‘Smriti. Q. How many Puranas and Itihasas are there? A: There are eighteen Puranas and two ltinasas Q. Whatare the names of the eighteen Puranas? A: The eighteen Puranas are 1. Brahma Purana 2. Padma Purana 3. Vishnu Purana 4. Siva Purana 5. Narada Purana 6. Markandeya Purana 7. Agni Purana 8. Bhavishya Purana 9. Linga Purana 10. Varaha Purana 11. Skanda Purana 12. Vamana Purana 13. Kurma Purana 14. Matsya Purana 15. Garuda Purana 16. Brahmanda purana 17. Brahmavaivarta Purana and 18. Srimad Bhagavata Purana. Q. Whatare the names of the two ltihasas? ‘A; The Ramayanaand the Mahabharata. Q. Whatis the meaning of the word Purana? A: Puranas are texts which describe the history of ‘our country right from the ancient days and even though they relate to ancient periods, yet they are ever new since they continuously establish new values for contemporary society. In the Puranas, we have detailed descriptions of the earlier yugas, the history of those yugas, the story of the Manus and the different periods of their reign or Manvantaras, the process of evolution, the process of involution, the history of kings and the geography and astronomy of the universe. In every Purana, there is a detailed account of every individual Hindu deity - god or goddess. In other words, the Puranas are a mirror reflecting the entire indian culture and civilisation. Q. Whatis the meaning of the word Itihasa? A: Bfate+ ait = sfierameaning “It was like this". According to this interpretation, Itihasa is story-based. In the Ramayana, we have the story of Bhagavan Rama, and in the Mahabharata we have the story of Dharmaputra and the other Pandavas. This is what is called Itihasa. These two epics are intimately connected with the life of human beings and exemplify the manner in which human life has to be conducted, Q.How many parts do the Vedas have? What aretheirnames? A: This Vedas have six angas or parts, viz.Siksha (nose of the Vedapurusha); Vyakarana (mouth of the Vedapurusha); Chhandas (feet of the Vedapurusha); Niruktam (ears of the Vedapurusha); Jyotisham (eyes of the Vedapurusha) and Kalpam (hands of the Vedapurusha). Q. How many Upa-vedas or sub-vedas are there and what are their names? ‘A: Ayurveda is the Upa-veda of Rigveda, Dhanur Veda that of Yajurveda, Gandharva Veda that of Sama Veda and Arthashastra (economics) that of Atharvaveda Q. What are the things which the Hindus believe in? ‘A: The Hindus believe in the Vedas, the theory of Karma, God both in the Nirguna form of being attributeless or formless, or in the Saguna form of incarnations, worship of God in personified forms (as idols), respect of rituals through the medium of Agni or fire, looking upon mother, dilip © JaNimar 2018 9His Holiness performing Aarati at the Kanchi Mahasvami's Brindavanam father and guruor teacher in the form of God, seeing God in rivers, mountains and trées, belief in the existence of the other world, the wearing of tilaks (marks on the forehead), donning a tuft or the mode. of wearing dress ete. Q. Whatis the theory of Karma? ‘A: The theory of Karma is what has been ‘expounded and established by the Vedas. Q. How many forms of Dharma or Karma are there? A; Dharma and Karma, both are the same, but depending on place and time and the person who practises it, they take different forms. Q. How many forms are common to people? A: There are three different forms which are common - individual dharma, family dharma, and 10 0 sanmar 2018 % dilip national dharma. Even in these, there are several dharmas that pertain to brahmacharis, grihasthas (house-holders), vana-prasthas (those who have retired to the forest) and sanyasis. Q. What fruit results from Dharma? A: There fruit of Dharma as punya or virtue by which happinessis attained. Q.Whatis called Adharma? ‘A; Doing of karma contrary to what is enjoined bythe Vedasis called adharma. Q. What consequences flow from adharma? A: The immediate consequence of adharma is paapa or sin, which leads to unhappiness. Q. What the reason for happiness and jess in the present life? \ess and unhappiness experienced by a person in the present life are due to the accumulated paapa and punya of previous births. : Q. If the happiness as well as unhappiness in the present life is due to the sins or virtues accumulated as a result of dharmik actions and adharmik actions in previous births, then where is the need for God? : Dharma as well as adharma have been expounded in the Vedas, and we do karma accordingly. The one who bestows the fruits of those karmas is God. Therefore, we must have belief in God in this life also. @. If God gives happiness as the frult of karma done according to dharma then why does He give unhappiness? A: God bestows fruits in accordance with the karma done by man, depending upon whether it is according to dharma or adharma, and he does not bestow fruits according to His caprices or whims. For example, electric power is available in the entire house. When we need light for doing ‘our work, we use the switch meant for the purpose only, to illuminate the place of our work, Likewise, God is present everywhere as the witness of everything . Hence He is able toSome Milestones July 20, 1978 - Silver Jubilee Year of Sri Jayaendra Saraswati ‘Swamij's Peetarohana. May 29, 1993 - Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswati Swamiji anointed as the 70th Acharya of the Mutt. May 2, 1993 - Kanakabhishakam performed for the Mahasvami Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswatiat Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. January 6, 1994 - The 68th Acharya, the Mahasvami, attains Videha Mukti. October 15, 2002 (Vijayadashami Day) - Devotees perform Kanakabhishekam to Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamiji. bestow fruits according to one's karmas, as the omnipresent witness. if our friend writes a letter to Us, itreaches us through the postman. The postman has no concem with the happy or unhappy content of the letter; he is merely in the nature of a witness. Likewise, God bestows the fruits of our karma depending on whether it is according to dharma or adharma; he does not decide anything according to His whims Q. If happiness as well as unhappiness is going to be achineved as result of one's own actions, then whiereis the need to worship God? ‘A: As a result of worshipping God, the fruits of the bad karma get minimised. Therefore, it is necessary to worship God. During the rainy season, when a person wears a raincoat. the water drops falling on it flow down and thus he does not get drenched. Similarly, worship of God is like a protective shield to minimise the fruits of bad karmas. Q. Who creates the world? A: With the power of the Nirguna-Nirakar God (or the formless and attributeless God), the God with attributes as well as forms creates, maintains and nourishes the world. Q. Whotakes incarnations? A: God with attributes in Vaikunta or Kailasha takes incarnations. Q. Whats the purpose of incarnations? ‘A: There are three main purposes, namely protecting the saintly men, nourishing them and through them giving redemption to those who follow dharma, destroying the wicked and ‘thereby reducing the number of those who practise adharma and in tun thereby reducing ‘the burden on the earth. Q. Whatis called anidol? A: Idols are made of eight elements or of granite and are personifications in bodily form of the various incarnations of God in the yugas previous to our Kaliyuga. They are instalied after proper invocation with mantras. Q. Will God notincarnate in the Kallyuga? A: God will incamate at the end of Kallyuga. Q. What are the occasions when God has incarnated? A; God incamates in every yuga. In the Kritayuga. He incarnated as Matsya (fish) Kurma (tortoise). Varaha (pig). Nrusimha (man- ion form) and Vamana (dwar); in the Tretayuga he incarnated as Rama and Parsurama; and in the Dwaparayuga he incamated as Balarama and Krishna. In the Kaliyuga he will incarnate as Kalki difip 2 saniar 2018 11Q. In the Kaliyuga, will there be an avatar or incarnation other than the Kalki incarnation? A: In the Kaliyuga, there will be no incarnation other than the Kalki incarnation, Q. Today ther are many persons who call themselves God. What do the Shastras say in this regard? A: According to the Shastras, only ten incarnations have been accepted. Today there are people who are siddhas, jnanis, tapasvis, viragis (those who have renounced) and mahatmas, When God incamates. He does so for three reasons, for protecting the saintly and good people, for destroying the wicked and for establishing dharma The saintly or holy men are there only to give their blessings to people. @. Today there are many people who by exhibiting magical or such powers call themselves God. What do the Shastras say in the regard? God can exhibit His magical or other powers. A person who has acquired such powers from God an also exhibit such powers. Some asuras and rakshasas had acquired through penance the capacity to exhibit such magical and other skills. A person who exhibits such magical or other powers is called as one who is an adept in tantras and mantras, but he cannot be called God Q. Is it possible to have direct darshan of God? A: It is possible to see God face to face, after weaning the mind away from the sense-objects and meditating on God . It is easy to have direct darshan of God, by worshipping the idols installed in temples etc. as the embodiment of God Himself. Further, one can have darshan of God, depending on the spiritual level which one has attained. Just as.a piece of iron when heated in fire, becomes one with the fire, likewise, to have direct darshan of God means becoming one with God. Q. What is the significance of rituals with Agni? . ‘A: All the rituals which we do in this human life right from birth to death are all performed with Agni as witness. For example, rituals at the time of birth, the naming ceremony, feeding the child with cereals for the first time, the chowla-karma, upanayanam, marriage rituals, pitru-karma and rituals at the time of death etc. are all performed with Agnias awitness. Q. Whats the use of these rituals with Agni? A: On account of these rituals with Agni, the Devas are pleased and hence man's life becomes happy and any deficiencies are washed away. Q. Where does man goatter death? A: After-death, man goes to three different worlds depending upon his karmas. He who establishes schoots, sets up places for free distribution of food, builds temples, establishes Mults, and serves the poor people and thus does karma according to dharma goes to Chandraloka with the blessings of the Pitrus and enjoys happiness in Chandraloka. He who does yagnas like Vajapeya or Somayaga goes to 12.0 JANMAR 2018 * ili‘Swargaloka and enjoys happiness there. But both these categories of persons stay there in the other worlds for some time enjoying happiness, but again they come back to the earth. Those who worship Saguna Brahman go to Brahmaloka after death, they do not return to the earth afterwards to take birth, but they attain Brahma-jnana there itself and finally attain liberation. Those who do sinful actions here go to Yamaloka after death to reap the ‘consequences of those sinful actions and return to the earth again for taking birth Q. Do all living beings go to the other worlds after death ors it only man who goes there? It is only man whe does karma goes to the other worlds to reap the fruits of his actions. Other living beings do not act based on reasoning and, therefore, they are not obliged to go to other worlds for reaping the fruits of their actions. Q. Where do the living beings other than humans go ater death? hey take rebirth in this very world according to their actions (sinful or virtuous as the case may be) intheir previous births. Q. Why does man do karma which results in sin orvirtuein his life? ‘A: The vasanas or proclvities from the previous births and the environment in the present birth are thetwo reasons for this. Q. Whatis meant by previous birth? A: Whatever births have been there in the human form (that is, leaving births in the form of birds, animals and Devas) before the present human birth are called previous births. Q. What is the difference between man and other living beings? A:The reasoning power is more in man then in other animals. But other things are common. It is only because of the predominance of reason in man as compared to other living beings that he is considered the best among allliving beings. Q. Will there be an end to worldly sorrows? A: Worldly sorrows or unhappiness will come to an end only when a person realises God. Q. What is the difference between the individual soul and the Paramatman? A: The individual soul or the Jeevatman and the Paramatman are one and the same and there is no essential difference. It is the Paramatman which appears in the form of the world with differentiation, because of its maya-shakti. When a person dreams, he has several types of dreams and all the things which he sees in his dream appear real to him, but when he wakes up, he finds that whatever things he had seen in his dream were unreal and were mere appearances in a dream. The Paramatman. alone is real or true and the entire world other than thatis unreal. Q. Who propagated or spread this truth? A:This truth expounded by the Vedas, Upanishads and Shastras was propagated and spread by Japadguru Adi Sankaracharya. difip 2 sANimar 2018 % 13Guru Vandanam by His Holiness. Q. Where was Jagadguru Adi Sankaracharya born? ‘A: He was born at Kaladiin the Kerala State in India. Q. Does the Advaita Vedants philosophy recognise idol worship? ‘A: Surely it does recognise idol worship. Jagadguru ‘Adi Sankaracharya had advocated and recognised idol worship as a means for attaining the state of the Paramatmen or the Ultimate Reality. Prior to Adi Sankaracharya's time, idol worship was not recognised, but in the Vedas, Shastras and Puranas, there is a good deal of reference to idol ‘worship, and hence Jagadguru Adi Sankaracharya had accepted idol worship as a means for attaining the Ultimate Reality Q. At present there are several books on Hindu Dharma and many gods and goddesses have been recognised. How long will one have to acceptthese? A: Today, all the Dharma granthas have been given recognition in the Hindu Dharma. But the Gita contains the essence of the Vedas and Puranas. In the same way, it is expected that all the gods and goddesses do find recognition; indeed each one of them is omnipotent. Therefore, it is necessary to accept one God or Goddess as one's Ishta Devata. Q. Where is the need to have so many scriptures and so many gods and goddesses inthe Hindu Dharma? ‘A; The scriptures other than those relating to Hindu Dharma had been written down only by ‘one or other great person. In other religions, God had been delineated as the formless or attributeless Nirguna-rupa. Although one scripture and one deity is desirable or meaningful, vet the hindu scriptures are not the creation of a single great personality. Right from very ancient days, the tradition of the sacred scriptures of the Vedas has come down to us through the guru-sishya tradition. They are not the products of the intellectual achievement of a single individual. Therefore, these sacred scriptures of the Hindu Dharma are blemishless. There is scope for blemishes only when the work is written by a single great individual because it is the product of his intellectual prowess. So, in other religions, they accept one attributeless or formless God as a single deity or God. But the question arises to whom the temple for the Nirguna form is dedicated, where it is located, how meditation on it is to be done, and how worship is to be done andsoon. Therefore, in the Hindu Dharma, God had been accepted in two forms, one, the form on whom we can meditate and to whom we can offer worship etc. and the other, the formless and attributeless God which has been kept as the ultimale goal, so that we can attempt to delineate its nature. Take, for example, candy. It can exist in the form of a solid or also in a solution form ‘One can see the candy and touch it with one’s hands, but the taste of candy in solution can only be experienced and understood only by tasting it. For the purpose of seeing the Saguna form with our eyes and doing meditation and worship, the ‘Saguna form has been installed in temples etc. The happiness which is to be had by worship of ‘god in Nirguna form has to be experienced. ‘What we find is that, while people following 14.0 sanmman 2018 + dip2 His Holiness with Sri Ganapati Sacchidananda Swamiji other religions have not accepted the Nirguna form, yet they often preach that God is omnipotent and omniscient and omnipresent but that omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God has no definite place. In Hindu Dharma also, God is omnipresent but wherever we invoke Him, He will be present there. With one lump of gold, we can make various types of omaments with different names and forms, but the basic content is only gold. Likewise, the same Paramatman, while existing in various Saguna forms visible to the eye, does not undergo any change. Q. In Hindu Dharma, there are different Gods and Goddesses with different forms and their history is also different. So which ones are to be accepted and which ones are to be abandoned? A: The Nirguna Paramatman does not admit of any form or special characteristic or history. Therefore, for remembering God at all times, we have accepted the saguna forms. The Puranas contain the history of His different forms and describe His Saguna character . In the Saguna form, we have only one form ultimately. In a drama, the same Person appears with different names, different attires and different characters, buthe is exactly the same man. Likewise, the Paramatma appears in different forms for performing his leelas. Water is take from the Ganges river through various canals and is put to use in various ways. Although the water flows in different canals, yet it is the same ultimately. Sweets are available in different names and shapes and people are attracted towards them and they purchase them according to their liking, fitwere the same sweet, then people may not be attracted to purchase them. Likewise, if God has only one form, then all the people may not be attracted towards Him. In reality, there is only ‘one Nirguna Paramatma. The Sagune form is for performing leelas, for our doing pooja, meditation etc. Q. For how long have we been having these diferent gods and goddesses that we see today to Hindu Dharma? ‘A: According to our Hindu Dharma there are four yugas namely Kritayuga, Tretayuga, Dwaparayuga and Kaliyuga. in the Kritayuga, all the people were able to meditate on the Nirguna- Paramatman with firm dedication. But they were able to attain jnana only after meditation for several years. in the Tretayuga, the strength of mind became less and therefore people resorted to idol worship and recitations. In the Kaliyuga because the mind is very fickle, it is not able to engage itself in idol worship. Therefore, there is need for many gods and goddesses for the purpose of kirtan, namajapa, and listening to Puranas etc. But whatever fruits were obtained in the Kritayuga, Tretayuga and Dwaparayuga after many years of penance are easily attainable in the Kaliyuga. Q. What is the meaning of the word Kali in Kaliyuga, and whatis its nature? A: The meaning of the word ‘Kall’ is sin, That is to say, in this yuga, the number of persons who commit sins is more. In the earlier yugas, the number of persons who were doing virtuous‘Empowering education that enlightens - His Holiness blessing students doing Veda Adhyayana deeds was more. The earlier yugas were punya yugas and people were doing more of virtuous deeds. Kaliyuga is paapayuga and, therefore, in accordance with it, all people are doing sinful deeds. But even in this bad environment, if anyone does karma according to dharma and seeks the knowledge of the Atman even for a short period, he becomes the recipient of special fruits thereof. In a ‘good environment, if somebody does good actions, there is nothing special about it because that is the nature of the people in the atmosphere. To be a good person in a bad environment is something rare. Ifa drop of cil is poured into a big vessel full of water, the oil spreads into the entire water, in the same way, even a small amount of good actions done in a bad environment yields fruits more effectively. In the earlier yugas, a small amount of bad deeds led to a small amount of unhappiness or sorrow, but in the Kaliyuga, even a small amount of bad deeds results in more unhappiness or sorrow. A drop of poison put in a big vessel containing milk makes the entire milk poisonous, likewise, even a small amount of bad deeds leads to enormous sorrow or great unhappiness. This is the characteristic of Kaliyuga. Q. Who wrote the sutras or aphorisms of the Vedanta Vakyas of Upanishads? laharishi Veda Vyasa wrote them. Q. After classifying the Vedas, to how many and which disciples didhe give them? A: He gave them to four disciples, the Rig Veda to Pailarishi, the Yajurveda to Vaishampayana, the Sama Veda to Jaimini and Atharvaveda to Sumantu. Q. Who wrote the 18 Puranas? ‘A: Maharishi Veda Vyasa saw everything with his mind's eye or jnana-drishti and wrote the eighteen Puranas. Q. Where was the discourse on the Puranas first given? A: In the Naimisharanya-kshetra, the discourses on the Puranas were given, but the one Bhagavatpurana was given at Shukratal (Mulsaffarnagar district) Q. How many dharma-granthas or scriptures does our Hindu Dharma have? ‘A; The main scriptural works of Hindu dharma are 18 in number, namely the four Vedas, the four Upavedas, the six Vada- angas. Meemamsa-shastra, Nyaya-shastra, the Puranas and Dharma-shastra. Q. Which work contains the essence of all these Shastras? A: The Gita which Bhagavan Krishna ‘expounded to Arjuna, keeping him as a symbol of humanity in the Dwaparayuga contains the ‘essence of al the Shastras. Q. How many Yugas are there? What are their names? ‘A: Yugas are four in number, namely Kritayuga, Tretayuga, Dwapara, yuga and Kaliyuga. Q. Whatis the duration of each yuga? A: Kaliyuga, Dwaparayuga, Tretayuga, Satya yuga (or Kritayuga) 4,32,000 yeas, 8,64,000 years, 12,96,000 years, 17,28, 000years. These four together constitute one Mahayuga, 1000 16.0 JANMAR 2018 * OHipMahayugas constitute the daytime of Brahma, the Creator, and likewise 1000 Mahayugas constitute one night-time of Brahma. In other words, 43,20,00,000 years constitute one daytime of Brahma and likewise 43,20,00,000 years constitute one night time of Brahma. Q. How many hours does a human day contain? A: Itcontains 24 hours. Q. Howmany days constitute amonth? A: Generally, amonth consists of 30 days; thas two fortnights, the Shukla-paksha and the Krishna- paksha Q. How many Tithis are there in a month? And whatare their names? A: There are 15 Tithis in a fortnight, and they are : Prathama, Dwiteeya, Triteeya, Chaturthi, Panchami, Shashti, Ashtami, Navami, Dasami, Ekadasi, Dwadasi, Trayodasi, Chaturdasi and Poornim or Amavasya. Q. What is the meaning of Shukla-Paksha and Krishna-Paksha? A; From the Prathama to Poomima, moonlight starts waxing and therefore it is called Shukia- paksha, and similarly from Prathama to Amavasya, moonlight is waning and the nights become darker and darker, and therefore it is called Krishna-paksha, Both the Pakshas together constitute one month. Q. What else are Shuki paksha called? A: Krishna-paksha constitutes night of Pitrus and Devatas while Shukla-paksha constitutes. their day. paksha and Krishna- Q. How many seasons or Ritus are there? A: Ina whole year there are six seasons each of a duration two months, as follows: a) Chaitra and Vaishakh - Vasantaritu (spring): b) Jyeshta and Ashadh - Greeshmaritu (summer); 0) Shravan and Bhadrapadh - Varsharitu (rainy season); d) Ashwin and Kartik - Saradritu (autumn); e) Margashirsh and Paush - Sishiraritu (winter season); f) Magha and Phalgun - Hemantaritu (early spring). Q. How many Ayanas are therein ayear? A: There are two Ayanas in a year, Dakshinayana and Uttarayana. Part of Sishiraritu, Hemantatitu, Vasantaritu and part of Greeshmaritu constitute Uttarayana, while the balance of Greeeshnaritu, Varshartitu, Saradritu and part of Sishiraritu constitute Dakshinayana. That is to say, Uttarayana begins with Sankaranti and continues tll Ashada month, likewise the period from Ashada to Sankaranti is called Dakshinayana. When the sun goes from the east to the west through the south. itis called Dakshinayana but when the sun goes from the east to the west through the north it is called Uttarayana. Q. What is special about Dakshinayana and Uttarayana? ‘A: Dakshinayana constitutes one night of Devatas while Uttarayana constitutes one daytime of Devatas. Therefore, one human year constitutes one full day for Devatas. Q. How many worlds are there? A: There are 14 worlds. difip 2 sANIMAR 2018 % 17His Holiness performing Kanakabhisheka to his Guru, the Mahasvami of Kanchi Q. What are their names? ‘A; We live in Bhuloka (earth). Above us are the six worlds, Bhuva, Suvah, Mahah, Janah, Tapah and Satya, while below there are seven worlds namely Atala, Vitala, Sutata, Rasatala, Talatala, Mahatala and Patala. Thus there are 14 worlds. Q. What is the duration of human life? A; Generally, in Kaliyuga, the duration of human life is 100 years. In the Vedas, there is a reference to human life being of 100 years’ duration; whether actually it is less or more than 100 years depends on one's karma, Likewise, the duration of the life of Devatas and the Creator Brahmais also 100 years. Q. How does man have 100 years’ life like Devatas and Brahma? ‘A; One human year is equal to one full day of the Devatas. The life of Devatas is 100 years based on this calculation. The human year normally consists of 365 days, likewise one year of the Devatas also has 365; generally 100 cycles of the four Yugas, namely, Satyayuga, Tretayuga, Dwaparayuga and Kaliyuga consititute one day-time of Brahma and likewise another 100 cycles of four Yugas constitute ‘one night of Brahma, and Brahma's life lasts for 100 years based on this calculation. Q. So far, how many years are over in Brahma's life? A: So far. 50 years of Brahma's life are already over. Q. Whatis the authority for this? A: Everyday, while doing sankaipa we say: smrerareOr: FacAT TT The first half consists of 50 years and we are now in the second half when the 50 years of the first half are already over. Q.How many Kalpasare there? A: Kalpas are 9 in number. (A Kalpa is a day of Brahma or 1000 Mahayugas, being 4320 million. years of mortals). Q. Whatare their names? A; The names are Paarthiva, Koorma, Pralaya, Ananta, Svetavaraha, Brahma, Saavitra ete. Q. Which Kalpato going on now? A: Svetavaraha Kalpa. Q. How many Manvantaras are there and what aretheirnames? A: There are 14 Manvantaras namely. Svaayambhuva, Svaarochisha, Uttama, Taamasa, Raivata, Chaakshusha, Vaivasvat, Saavami, Brahmasaavarni, Dharmasaavarni, Rudrasaavami, Devasaavami, Indrasaavarni and Dakshasaavami Q.Wich Manvantara is going onnow? A: Vaivasvatamanvantara. Q. How many Dweepas are there is the Bhuloka? ere are seven dweepas. Q. What is the authority for this? A: In the shastras, we have the statement "Saptadweepa Vasundara". 18 0 saNmaR 2018 * dilipQ. What are the names of these Dweepas? A: The names of these Dweepas are: Jambudweepa, Plakshadweepa, Kushadweepa, Krounchadweepa, Shaankadweepa, Shaaimall, Pushkaradweepa. Our country Bharat is in the Jambudweepa. Q. How many Varshas are there in Jambudweepa? A: There are 9 Varshas namely Bharata, Kimpurusha, Hari, lavruta, Bhadraashva, Ketumeelava, Hiranyaka, Ramanaka and Kuru. Q. How many oceans are there? ‘A: There are seven oceans namely Lavana, Ikshu, ‘Sura, Sarpi, Dadhi, Ksheera, Suddhodhaka. Of these only the salf ocean remains now. Q. Which is the highest mountain and greatest mountain the Bhuloka? Whareis it located? ‘A: The greatest and highest mountain is the ‘Sumeru mountain which is towards the north of the nine varshas. Q. At present in Bharatavarsha, which is the greatest and highest mountain and what is the authority for this? A: The greatest and highest mountain is the Himalayas, and the entire Bharatavarsha is situated tothe south of t. The authority for thisis. Q. How many Chiranjeevis are there? A: There are seven Chiranjeevis, namely Ashwatthama, Bali, Vyasa, Hanuman, Vibheeshana, Kripa, Parasurama. Q. Why are they called Chiranjeevis? ‘A: The Creator Brahma and Indra and other Devatas have a life of 100 years. Because these seven persons have life exceeding that of the Devatas and Bhahma, they are called Chiranjeevis. “Shengola” offered to Hi Q.Whi A: Chiranjeevis are those who live for a longer duration than what has been ordained for ordinary human ite. ‘meant by the word Chiranjeevi? Q. What is the characteristic of man in the four yugas? A: In the Kritayuga man lives for 1000 years. He lives a longlife because of his tapas. Evenif heis Killed, as long as the bones of his body remain, he lives till then. He takes his food in the form of leaves, fruits and water and mentally contemplates on God. He never does karma based on adharma, and he has the capacity to goup to the Devaloka. In the Tretayuga also, as in the Kritayuga, man lives for 1000 years; in this yuga, compared to Kritayuga, dharma, nana and bhakti become diminished by one quarter. In Dwaparayuga, man lives for 100 years. Even if hes killed, as long as there is blood in his body, he lives. He takes interest in yagnas, havana, etc and does puja to God but compared to Tretayuga, in this yuga, bhakti, Jnana and dharma become reduced to half, and there is, increase in population, and it decreases only because of wars. The tendency for people to go on pilgrimage to holy places is on the increase in this yuga. In Kaliyuga, the maximum duration of life is only 100 years. Man lives as long as he takes, food. His body becomes subject to many liness by the citizens of Kanchi - January 14, 2004 Gilip 2 sANIMAR 2018 19His Holiness received with traditional honours at Tirumala - March 21 2003, diseases and he dies at a young age. Compared to Dwaparayuga, in this yuga, dharma, jnana and bhakti become only one-third. There is much violation of the right code of conduct of life. impelled by personal or selfish consideration, people go to temples for worship as well as do dharmik karma. Q. What is the true form of God in Hindu Dharma? A: God has only one form, namely, Nirguna- Nirakara (the attributeless and formless), worthy of contemplation and meditation, ful of effulgence and akhanda-sat-chit-anandaswarupa. Q. At present, in Hindu Dharma, we see several types of templesand idols. Why is this so? A: God is one without name or form. Yet, for the benefit of his devotees and also for destroying the wicked people, he acquires name and form and incarnates. In Kaliyuga, the human mind is very fickle and weak. It is not capable of contemplating the Nirguna-Brahman. Therefore, In order to enable him to engage his mind in the contemplation of God, Godin the Saguna from has been accepted Water appears in various forms, but in reality itis only in one form. Likewise, the Paramatman appears in many forms, but in reality it is only one. For instance, there is water in ice-cream. Water is used mainly for drinking purposes, but it also finds use in ice-creams etc., but ice-cream costs some amount, while water does not cost anything. In the same way, the Saguna Paramatma is just like the ice-cream, an embodiment of the Nirguna Paramatma giving scope for it to perform leelas and become a medium for experiences. While in Kaliyuga, so many forms of God are visible, there were not as many forms in the Krita, Treta and Dwaparayuga. Q. If God did not have so many forms in the earlier yugas, how is that He has so many forms in this Kaliyuga? A: Before, Kaliyuga, Bhagavan Vishnu had nine incamations. It is these incamations which are seen in various temples in the form of various idols. before Kaliyuga, sages and mahatmas were able to conternplate God mentally, and God came and gave darshan to such maharishis. This has become a part ofitihasa or history. In the ancient days, many Devatas worshipped Mother Parvati. But now people worship images or idols in the form of village Devatas, village Shakti etc. In the ancient days to get relief from sorrows, many maharishis created some Devatas through mantras. Such Devatas are also there in Kaliyuga for giving small fruits or results, and they exist in various forms. In the ancient days, villages and towns etc were constructed according to shilpa-shastra and agama-shastras. The same trend is continuing. Therefore, according to both these shastras, there are temples located at the village or town limits. In Dwaparayuga, there were wars between kings on several occasions, resultingin the killing of many people. In the ancient days, the warriors who died in wars went to swargaloka. Therefore, no sin attached to the killing of people. But in Kaliyuga, the killing of a person amount to a sinful act. Therefore there is a need to atone for the sin to get released from the consequences of such sin. Therefore, various types of temples have been constructed. Thus, in Kaliyuga, several temples with Devatas who command respect have come up. Q. Are all these Devatas different or are they just one Devatain the form of Shakti? A: All these Devatas are only a part of the same Paramatma. 20.0 JANMAR 2018 * diipQ.Whatis the authority for this? mer Preyfrrcercs amr shiargpraarar | TeRaTSeTED ts HT PRS TAETAR | | “Whatever Devatas are seen in the form of Shakti are all part of me only". This is what Sri Krishna has. said in the Gita. (Ch. X-41). Q. Are there any other examples of this? A: Light, radio, fan and indeed many factories work with the aid of electricity, but we see its effect in various forms. Just as electric power which is one is able to run so many things, likewise, we see several idols constructed with various elements in the temples and in all of them we recognise the presence of god. Q. InHindu Dharma, what form does God take? A: In Hindu Dharma, God has been recognised in five basic forms. The real form of God is Nirguna- Nirakara, but He appeared in Saguna form for the purpose of creation and destruction. The same God is recognised by people in the form of incarnations performing His leelas. The same God exists in the minds of all the people, and is present in temples for the purpose of contemplation and meditation. The ‘same God who incarnated and who appeared in the form of Devatas is now existing as village Devatas. Paramatma is like electricity which we cannot see with our eyes. Just as electric power is flowing along wires for doing various types of work, likewise is the real form of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, and just as the electric wires start from the powerhouse, likewise starts the incarnation of God from the Paramatman, From the powerhouse or electric substation, electricity reaches every house and is also available for running of factories. Likewise, the idols in temples are the different forms of God. Just as we use plugs for tapping electric power in houses, likewise, we have village Devatas similar to the plugs for tapping electric power. This is the reason why the same Paramatma is having so many forms in Hindu Dharma. Q. Who started the Hindu Dharma? A: Nobody had started the Hindu Dharma. In has ‘come down to us from very ancient days. Q. Are there any examples of this? ‘A: Whatever path was adopted by many great men became the path of the Hindu Dharma. For example, suppose there is an ashram on the banks"of a river, and there are three roads or paths to reach it, one is a main road, anotheris a secondary road and the third is the footpath. The paths other than the footpath are to be constructed after making proper measurements, etc. When there is heavy traffic on them, sometimes there are accidents on those two roads. But in the footpath there are no such accidents, noris there any crowd on it. People go there inane. If one goes by the main road, often one does not reach the goal. One has often to go by by-ways or by lanes, and without any signs to guide also. The Hindu Dharmais like the footpath That is why there are no accidents in the footpath of Hindu religion. If one goes by the main road, which is a pucca road, sometimes because of heavy traffic, the road gets spoilt and entails a lot of expenditure to be set right. But no expenditure is involved in the making of the footpath and it is also a pleasure to go on the footpath. ‘ Thus, spreading of Hindu Dharma is not to be achieved by mere expenditure but by having good thoughts and by following the right code of conduct in life. His Holiness performing Vyasa Pooja ditipy 2 sannmar 2018 % 21Q. Is the Hindu Dharma spreading mainly because of preaching or other reasons? ‘A: Hindu Dharma is spreading mainly because of right conduct. For ensuring right conduct, it is necessary to do a tle bit of preaching. Q.Is there any authority for this? ‘A: Whatever upadesas are contained in the Gita as expounded by Bhagavan Krishna at Kurukshetra are all meant to be practised by man. Such upadesas in the Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas are also to be practised by man. At the end of the Gita, Arjuna tells Krishna wR TAF TA shall do what you have told me’. Arjuna replied in this way and did what Krishna had asked him to do . Therefore, Hindu Dharm: ‘something to be practised, as expounded. Q. Today so many differences have arisen in the Hindu Dharma. How have ‘A: In Hindu Dharma, ina spirit of mutual love, forthe welfare of people and for getting work done without any quarrels between people and with mutual help. different items of work have been entrusted to different sections of people. So long as the different sections were doing the work entrusted to them, Hindu Dharma did not experience any problems because of differences between people. it is only when people started abandoning their respective items of work and transgressed into the sphere of work of others that difference started leading to peacelessness in society. Hindu Dharma is like a hand with five fingers, but all the fingers have to cooperate for doing any work. The five fingers never quarrel among themselves. So in Hindu Dharma, the allotment of work to different sections has not been done for perpetuating differences but for the purpose of cooperative effort conducive to the welfare of the people as a whole. Q. Is there high (superior) and low (inferior) order in Hindu Dharma? A: All the five fingers in the hand are not identical, they are big and small; so itis in the case of Hindu Dharma also. Even though the fingers are side by side, yet they do not quarrel, so itis in the case of 22.0 JANIMAR 2018 + dfifip His Holiness during his visit to the Vyasarpadi slums Hindu society also. Just lke the five fingers, the Hindu Dharma also represents a united society. Q. Today, because of Hindu Dharma, people are experiencing a lot of difficulties. What is the reasonforthis? A: In Hindu Dharma, the philosophy of karma has been accepted. Whatever good or bad actions we have done in the previous birth or in the present birth, we have to reap the consequences of that karma, in that form of happiness, pleasure or sorrow, as the case may be. Q. Whenwill all this end? : Itwill end when one gets atma-jnana or God's blessings. Q. How many types of karma are there? A: Karma is of three types: (i) Sanchita (accumulated), (i) Agami (yet to be performed) and (i) Prarabdha (being experienced) Q. Whatis the meaning of this? : In Hindu philosophy, creation has had no beginning. There was nobody who had started it. Therefore, whatever births earlier constitute sanchita karma. Whatever karma, good or bad, we do in the present life goes by the name of agami karma. Prarabdha karma representsthose karmas out of the sanchita karma because of which we have taken the present birth. Q. Where dothese karmas exist? A; They are in the form of samskaras and they reside inthe human mind. Q. How can one know that they reside in the mind? A: The samskaras relate to several lives right from animal life to the life of the Devatas. Therefore, man sometimes does worship of Devatas and sometimes he behaves like an animal. Therefore, all the samskaras are there in one's mind. Whatever samskaras awaken to prominence start expressing themselves in life and we behave in accordance with them. Therefore, in human life, karma is done accordingly leading to happiness or unhappiness or sorrow resulting therefrom. There cannot, therefore, be too much of happiness or unhappiness. Q. Is it possible to have less of happiness- unhappiness ina man's life? ‘A: Yes, itis possible. For this purpose, the grace of God's power, blessings of saints and holy men, being in the company of good and saintly people or having satsang, atonement for sins committed, and doing virtuous acts like giving dhana etc. are necessary. Q. Is there any example of this? A: Today we get articles from fair price shops with our ration cards. Some officer visits every house and writes down the names of all the members of the household on the card. He also writes the house number on the cards. But when a person wants to go with his ration card to the fair price shop, ifis not necessary to go according to the house number. Only he goes when he feels the necessity to do so. In the same way, whatever virtues or sins we have accunulated, have been written down, and that is called sanchita karma. By the grace of God, whatever He thinks of in His sankalpa as karma for giving fruits, such karmas alone come to the fore yielding fruits. Suppose five kg. are written down on the card, the shopkeeper does not give more that that. but if we do not have enough money, then we can even take only four kg. Instead of five kg. Likewise, the effect of the fruits of karma can be less. By the grace of God, we may reap the fruits of our good or bad karmas inthis very life. Suppose abig officer comes there and he needs to purchase articles for his house. he comes and takes five kg. and sometimes even ten kg. even though ten kg. has not been written down on his card. In the same way the happiness or unhappiness of sanchita karma can be experienced, and the actual quantum of such happiness or unhappiness has nothing to do with the sanchita aspect because of the grace of God. Q. When will there be an end toll karmas? in realising one’s own Atman as part of the Paramatman, there will be an endto sanchita and agami karmas. The prarabdha karma, however, can be destroyed only after experiencing their consequences. Courtesy : Kanchi Kosh, published by Kanchi Kamakoti Jagadguru Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamij Peetarohana Swama JayantiMahotsava Trust. ilip 2 sania zo18 + 23A Rare Meeting With H.H. Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamiji ‘Monks had priorly gatheredin the Maitri Mandir, Video cameramen also had set up their sets. His Holiness arrived around 1.10 p.m. He was accompanied by a few of his personalassistants. He took the seaton the right side cot in the Maitri Mandir. Sri V.S. Hari accompanied by Shri Rajnikant (film star, YSS devotee). Both of them took their place on th eleft side of the cot on which Sankaracharya sat. Swami Krishnanandaji presented His Holiness with the Engagement Calendar and also a copy of Swami Bidyananadaj’s Jivan ‘Smitiin which Swami Bidyananda had reverently recorded his meeting with the Paramacharya of Kanchi. Sanyas and Modernity Swami Shraddhananda: Has the Paramacharya spoken to you anything about Paramahans Yogananda? His Holiness nodded his head to signify that he had not. ‘Swami Shraddhananda: Anything he spoke? His Holiness did not seem to recall any such reference and said so. Swami Krishnananda: With the influx of modemity, is there any effect on the practice of sanyas principles. For instance, there are these videos, cameras, computers etc. His Holiness: These technological advancements relate to the brain but sanyas relates tothe heart. There is no conflict. The brain can be compared to foreign countries and the heart to our own country. We can make good use of these technologies to improve the quality of our service. In fact these are very * Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetha. Meeting held at Maitri Mandir, Yagoda Ashram, Ranchi on ‘ath June 2002 necessary. They can be made good use of. Without fire one cannot accomplish many good tasks like lighting, cooking but the same fire can be made use of for nefarious activities. It is up to the culture of our heart to determine how we are going to make use of these technological advantages. Advaitavad and worship of images Br. Vasudevanande: How do you reconcile the fact of advaitavadi worshippingimages? His Holiness: As sadhana, image worship is not only helpful but necessary. His Holiness: It is a matter of anubhava. Basically it is to remain in God Consciousness (isvar chintan). On may wear the ochre dress but ifthe mindis unclean, it does not help. For Isvar- chintan the sadhanis the cloth but the cloth is not all in all. One must reflect with anubhav. This is the very sadhan of sanyas. Swami Shraddhananda: Are there some specific rules for sanyasis such as not attending marriages and shraddhas? 30.0 JANMAR 2018 x dilipHis Holiness: There is not question about that. Why should a sanyasi attend such functions any way? That is the mark of pravritti whereas sanyas is the road to nivritti. They are contrary to one another. A sanyasi — who does not have taste or conviction for that path of pravritti any more - who should he have to have anything to do with marriage ceremony which is the starting point for one who is treading the path of pravritt Now about the funeral ceremony. This is the final rite of the family man, for the necessary shuddhi, The Christians as per their teachings have no conviction in these matters (although they do speak of hell etc.). Such people who feel that pancha- bhuta is all there is to human life, may not subscribe to the need for shraddha etc. because, for them, there is no concept of continuing lite after death, and, hence there is no concept of further purification. As for the sanyasi, he does not attend shraddha for he does not entertain the thought life and life hereafter (through reincarnation etc.) that the householders subscribe to. His attention is to (deathless) imperishable Brahman. In passing one might mention wearing of crystal malas engenders nivritt. Therefore it is not advisable for householders to wear them who are treading the path of pravritt. Experiences with Paramacharya Dr. Vasudevananda: Can you mention any of your experiences with Paramacharya, your Guru? His Holiness: One should keep such experiences to one’s own self and should not speak of them. These are very personal, good only for one's own person. Programme at Yagoda Ashram Swami Krishnananda: How did you like the programme yesterday here atthe Ashram? His Holiness: It went off well, (Smiling) And too gave my talk in keeping with the Ashram's teachings, (ie. he spoke about sadhana and yoga etc.) Br. Vasudevanands: When ate you coming here next? His Holiness only smiled, signifying that he not know when the opportunity might offer itself ‘Swami Krishnananda: You were with us for rather a short time... and you did not spend the night here, His Holiness: (jocularly) After all | am Peethadhish Shankarachary, Koi mamuli sanyas thori hai? (Am| any ordinary monk?) lam raj-sanyasi and so | went and stayed in Raj Bhavan! (The whole assembly broke into laughter), Cardinal principles of sanyas ‘Swami Omkarananda: (In Tamil) You have spent 50 years as sanyasi. What are the cardinal principles of sanyas? His Holiness: (In Tamil, followed by Hindi) Once | was travelling with my Gurudev to Jambukeshwar. As per my rule of sanyas deeksha, | was supposed to stay at least three days by myself. | approached Gurudeva for his Permission. It was then that | stayed without maintaining any contact with anybody. They were the only three days that | could spend thus. Then | was forcefully drawn away, being needed in the Veda Patashala. Those three days | had remained on alms, doing the anushthanas (spiritual performances) thrice a day, as prescribed, and remained ababhi-sanga putradara grihadishu to home and hearth) nirashi, aniketah (without any desires, without any dwelling place). | stayed under a tree. This period in my life as a parivrajake only. | can call as myself having lived as sanyasi. (His holiness laughed). Parivrajaka life is actually one step above that of a sanyasi. In this, one who remains or moves. around without any pre-planning, he goes wherever he may be called. If he gets anything he will eat. fhe does not get anything, he will just fast. Paramahansa mode of livingis still different. Therein one follows ajagar-vriti (living like the python) which does not go hunting for prey. If stays at one place — takes food only if the food comes its way. dilip 2 sanimar 2018 % 31General (His Holiness turning to Shri Rajnikant, and with acompassionate smile) : He has done a big work — made a film on Babaji. He has got even the common man to know about Babaji. This has been a very good service to God. ‘Swami Krishnananda: Now you may give him the order to doa film on Paramacharya. His Holiness: (smiling) No that will not be... Of course there has been a Cd. Itis based on the life of my Gurudeva and on me. (Saying this he sent somebody to get a copy of the CD — which he presentedto YSS). igrimages by sanyasis Br. Vasudevananda: What is the importance of visiting pilgrimage sites by sanyasis? His Holiness: A sanyasi is not to go. Tirthayatra implies sankalpa (Sankaracharya is speaking of the traditional mode of going on pilgrimages that householder does. He plans a trip, where he shall go etc.). A sanyasi is not supposed to entertain any sankalpa (planning). If one plans he is not a sanyasi. He moves from place to place without sankalpa. Asankalpa—sanyasi (one who gives up planning) is a yogi. This is the main criterion, Donning ochre or having disciples etc. are merely incidentals. A sanyasi must not go around making his own arrangements. Pr, Pravir: How long should be the period for a sanyasi for ekanta-sadhana (remaining by oneself and doingone's sadhana)? His Holiness: Full time. From birth to death. There cannot bea single moment when he may stay without such ekant-sadhana. In 5 or 10-year life insurance you are to pay premium regularly. If there be a lapse even once, the entire policy lapses. Similarly with one's sadhana. 32.0 sanmar 2018 x dilip Tackling the ego ‘Swami Krishnananda: Whether a sanyasi or an householder, the greatest problemis to tackle one's sense of ego and transferring it into sat- consciousness. How does one handle this? His Holiness: Recently on our way to the source of the Sindhu river, we had as our companion a big official who was also an industrialist. He asked me a question. Quoting a verse from Viveka Chudamani, he asked how a businessman is expected to practise renunciation of ego. | answered that while he is running the business he has to use his stick, enforce discipline etc. Back at home, he should maintain the understanding that everything that he is doing is for the Paramatma only. And (smiling) in the court a judge must write his judgement and enforce laws but when back home if he tries to write judgement, he will get a beating. One must work according to the station of life and the task he is handling. (Everyone laughs), ‘Our culture, religion and religious scriptures have ‘come down tous ever since the dawn of creation. Our religious scriptures called the Vedas, tell us about things which we generally do not understand with our limited intellect and brain. In the modem age, we understand many things with our intellect and mind, But there are many things which are not known to us. through these things. It Is those things which are ‘expounded inthe Vedas, ‘The Vedas are called Srutis because they have come down to us by word of mouth. They are not leamt by reading or patha but by hearing. The Vedas have to be recited in accordance with the prescribed swaras ‘and according to the prescribed speed and pitch. The swara, sabda and akshara have all to be correctly pronounced. If Vedic recitation is done paying attention to all these deta, then itis very pleasing to the ear, and success is also assured to us in all our ‘endeavours. —H.H. SriJayendra Saraswati SwamijJaya Jaya Jayendra! V.S.R.K. * PTAA aR FETIP AT: | aofeet dierent careqarare aT: | There exist great and good persons who, like the spring, do good to others. Having themselves crossed the ocean of samsara, they help others todo sowithout any motive. -Vivekachudaamani, Verse 39 Jagadguru Sri Jayendra Sarasvati passed into Eternity on Wednesday the 28th February 2018, at Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu. He was the 69th head of the illustrious 25-century-old Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. The Math owes its inception to Acharya Shankara, the philosopher- poet-saint and exponent of the Advaita doctrine of the unity of existence; he was also its first head. Sri Jayendra Sarasvati (hereafter the Swami) succeeded to the pontificate an extraordinary saint of our time, hailed as God Incamate, Jagadguru Sri Chandrasekharendra Sarasvati reverentially called the Mahasvami or the Paramacharya. True to the Tamil cultural tradition of identifying men of intrinsic worth in scholarship, saintiiness or both as 'Periyavaal’ (the great one), the 19-year-old Subramanian of lrulneekki village in the old Thanjavur District, was referred to as 'Puduperiyavaal’ (the new one) after his initiation into sannyasa on March 22,1954. The year was ‘Jaya’, according to the Indian calendar with a cycle of 60 years. The significance of Jaya’ in Jayendra in the monastic name of Subramanian, needs to be noted. He was destined to be an achiever. Call of the Divine Subramanian belonged to a traditionally orthodox Brahmin family. He was born on July 15, 1935, of Mahadeva lyer and Smt Sarasvati Ammal. Though an English-educated railway ‘employee, Mahadeva lyer decided on initiating his son into Veda-adhyayana, the study of the vedas, at 9, from Feb 4, 1944, Subramanian started studying Rig Veda under Sri Krishnamurti Sastrigal, an younger brother of Periyavaal, at Tiruvidaimarudur. He stood first in ‘a competitive examination in the Veda held in March, 1946. In January 1948, Mahadeva lyer had the first intimation about Periyavaal's desire to have Subramanian as his successor, at the Math, Later, when he personally met His Holiness, he was told about the proposal. Before he could make up his mind, Mahadeva lyer was officially transferred to Tiruchi from Villupuram. Subramanian, after Tiruvidaimarudur, continued his studies in the Veda at a patashala at Trivanaikka, near Tiruchi. Following some tragic events in the family, Subramanian made up his mind to put on the ochre robe. An elated father, later in 1952, took his family including Subramanian on an all-India pilgrimage. The call of the divine was loud and clear. ‘Sannyasa was the lastof the fourstages of life in the Vedic way of living. In Subramanian's case, it was a leap from brahmacharya to sannyasa, skipping garhastya and vaanaprasta (from learning to renunciation) discarding family life and forest-residence. Subramanian was initiated into sannyasa by Periyavaal on Mar 22, 1954 (It was also the 60th year of the latter). Subramanian, now a sannyasin under the monastic name Jayendra Sarasvati, had a gruelling time during the five-day observance- night-long vigil, standing in waist-deep water etc. The neophyte turned out to be a model disciple. An eye-witness account goes thus: "Itis 4:30 a.m. early moming. Pudu Pariyava is difip 0 sanimar 2018 * 33bringing pots and pots of water and filling the silver vessels kept in the pooja room, all the while carefully holding the sacred staff (dandam). He then arranges the pooja materials in their proper places. He is now dusting Sri Maha Periyava's seat and covers itwith a freshly washed and dried cloth. He now feeds the lamps with ghee and trims the wicks so that the lamps may burn well. fe squeezes the fruits and collects the filtered ice to be used for ‘abhishekam’. Now, Sri Maha Periayava, having finished his morning ablations, enters the room with a radiating brilance. In that ‘small room there is no place for a third person”. This kind of Guru-seva continued all through the life of the Mahasvami till Jan 8, 1994 when he attained ‘Samadhi’ Speaking about his Guru, the disciple said that he was fortunate in obtaining a Guru who was ‘pure and wise’ and had given him ‘the mental peace we all seek' He also composed asong in Sanskriton the Guru. During his discipleship, Sri Jayendra Sarasvati accompanied his master on the tours all over the country. He himself acquired proficiency in giving discourses in Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. His discourses have been published in a few books. Gurubhakti, religious harmony, the importance of the Vedas, the need to study our scriptures, recital of stotras ete are among the topics he took up in his speeches. He spoke to the point and rarely meandered for lack of adequate knowledge. He emphasized that a combination of qualities (Deivee sampat) as enumerated in the Gita (Chapter 16, verses 2 and 3) in every citizen would help us ‘succeed in rescuing our Bharat from the current (cultural) crisis’ Turning-point ‘A tuming-point in the even tenor of his saintly life in monastic seclusion came in 1987 when he was 52. In June, he had visited the Tirupati temple of Balaji and contemplated over his role as a sannyasin. It struck him that he should launch a Vivekananda-like movement that has for its motto 'aatmano mokshartham, parajana hitaaya cha’ ~spiritual self-realisation and service to others. On August 23, 1987, he quietly left the Kanch Math without telling anyone about his destination. He stayed at Talacauvery in Coorg District of Karnataka for four days before a search party found him out. He returned to Kanchi with a mind full of thoughts about ways of serving the people at large. Orthodoxy frowned upon his re-entry into the Math and even sought legal intervention. But a gracious Mahasvar kept the doors wide open. It was not a prodigal son who returned. It was a sannyasin, with ideas of service for strengthening the Math. A biography of the Mahasvami by Ramachandrapuram Sri P. Sambamurthy Sastry gives a clue to the change of mind of Sri Jayendra. After the initiation of the young ‘Subramanian into sannyasa on March 22, 1954 the Mahasvami spoke to a large gathering of devotees. He said: “Ata time when we have now anew swami, | want to share some thoughts with you. At present, the income that the Math gets from its property is not sufficient. The expenditure is five times more than the income. The expenditure is strictly limited to the performance of the ‘poojas’ and propagation on a small scale of religious teachings. | am normally reluctant o talk to you about money matters. But Jam compelied to do so as a new swami will have tolook after the affairs of the Math in future. More facilities have to be provided. As householders you will have your own financial difficulties. But as devotees, each one of you should consider the Math also as a part of your family, Financial help according to your capacity will goa long way in enabling us to fulfil our duties. You should try togive what tie you can’. Did the young sannyasin - Sri Jayendra Sarasvati was then 33 years into the noble ‘ashrama' - have the Mahasvami's words in his heart when he launched the ‘jan kalyan’, movement? Was he not acting on them? After his return from Talacauvery, the Math became a bee-hive of activity. Jayendra Swami's Initiatives Sri Jayendra Sarasvati moved from one part ofthe country to another, met politicians in power and prominent men in every strata of society, drew plans, and initiated constructional activities on a large scale in various places. Institutions came up like the lotus flowers in the broad Mylapore Kapaleesvarar temple in Chennai; the ‘Swami had stayed there earlier for 18 months. The Mahasvami later remarked: "Jayendra ‘Swamigal had done far more for the health and 34.0 sANmar 2018 * ilihappiness of mankind, than | have been privileged to do". (A self-effaving under- statement considering his soul-elevating influence) Alas, critics were not wanting who spoke of his ‘excesses’; extremism and secularism. The activities/projects the Sri Matham (as the Kanchi Math is known) now fall under four broad groups viz. preservation and promotion of the Vedas, secular education, medical aid and humanitarian services. A) Educational 1. Traditional (Vedic) : There are, quite a large number of patashalas (run by locally formed trusts) in most of the States. 2) Secular (Schools and Colleges under an University) © Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Vishwa Maha Vidyalaya at Enathur, near Kanchi, founded in 1993 - a deemed university. ‘© Engineering College near Kanchi © Arts and Science College, Enathur © Ayurvedic College as part of the Maha Vidyalaya @ The Chandrasekharendra Saraswati international Library and Research Centre, Enathur. © Several Sankara Schools imparting modern education (with a traditional flavour) Oriental Schools in almost all districts of Tamil Nadu. © Shilpa Sastra Patashalaat Kanchi (250 Vedic pandits are given financial assistance every year). B) Medical Kanchi Kamakoti Sankara Hospital and Sri Jayendra Sarasvati Institute of Medical Sciences, Cherapakkam, Chennai. © Kanchi Kamakoti Child's Trust Hospital, Chennai, © Ayurvedic Dispensary and Leprosy Hospital, Kumbakonam. © 21 Hindu Mission Hospitals and Health Services in Tamilnadu. Kanchi Sankara Medical Centre, Lake Gardens, Kolkata. © Kanchi Sankara Eye Society, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. Sri Kanchi Sankara Health and Education Foundation, Guwahati. Sankara Netralaya in the North-east. Eye Hospital, Madhulana, Bihar. Gerénal Hospital on the way to Badrinath. A chain of rural health hospitals in Tamil Nadu. coon C) Humanitarian 1. Poor-feeding in various places. 2. Old Age Homes in Tamil Nadu, Kalahasti (Andhra Pradesh) Varanasi and Chitrakoot, 3. Destitute Homes at Kalavai (T.N.), Kalahasti (AP)). 4. Home for the disabled at Kanchi and Haridwar. Force for Good On Nov 11, 2004, on Deepavali day, a long shadow fell on the Math following the arrest of His Holiness in Hyderabad. It was alleged thathe ‘was involved in a conspiracy to murder a temple servant in the Kanchi Varadarajaperumal shrine. ‘A more thoughtless prosecution could not be imagined. The devotees of the Math were deeply distressed and dumb-struck. The case dragged ‘on for nine long years and on Nov 27, 2013, a special court in Puducherri acquitted all the 22 accused. The learned judge found no motive for conspiracy to murder an employee of a temple. The case was an instance of vexatious litigation that could have been avoided if only the Governmenthad been sensitive to the feelings of the people - something one would expect in a democracy. The Swamiji was a tremendous force for good. His life was an open book. Guided on the spiritual path by the Mahasvami, he served his countrymen in the fields of religion, education and health with unabated zeal. He achieved all that he wanted to do. He remained an exemplar of all the values of our immemorial culture. He propagated the tenets of Hindu Dharma without haste, without rest. Piety was the breath of people was his mission. life. Service to (Courtesy :Bhavan's, Journal) . dilip 2 sanmar 2018 % 35,Glimpses of Pujya H.H. Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamij Photo Courtesy & Acknowledgement: hitps://srayendraperiyava. wordpress.com! 38 0 JANmaR 2018 x AiliPhoto Courtesy & Acknowledgement : htipsi/srijayendraperiyava. wordpress.com dilip 2 sanmar 2018 x 3935 BF 5)