i was in chennai to participate in a national seminar by the dept of philosophy in univ. of madras during 27-29 november 2015, sponsored by the vishvamohan trust blessed by sadguru svaamii gnaanaananda a lady saint with true jnaana n vairaagya. it rained earlier heavily, i once doubted whether to go or not. but my friend assured me that he was driving around n there was nothing to panic about. i reached chennai by a flight from delhi n by a cab the univ. guest house on the marina beach. another friend came from bhubaneswar by train n he reached a few hours before me. we stayed in the same room n talked on panchadas'ii, vidyaaranya, mysticism n a lot. very little drizzles were there but no heavy rain to affect the smooth flow of traffic.
we enjoyed the south indian meals n snacks n were glued to the seminar proceedings listening to the great masters of advaita n other s'aastra-s gathered for the purpose. vidyaaranya was a man of encyclopaedic knowledge, a king- maker n sustainer of state-craft, the builder of the vijaynagar capital city which was greater than the earstwhile constantinople in grandeur, a man of religion, spirituality n mysticism. he wrote on astrology n astronomy, architecture, philosophy, dialectics, comm. on the veda-s, on music n so on. i presented a paper on his concept of jiivanmukti or the ideal of being liberated while still one is alive in body.
it was a rare treat to listen to pandit swaminath shastrigal who is conferred with the title of vedaantasamraat, a towering traditional scholar of advaita vedanta n other shastra-s, he was equally at ease in chaste sanskrit n felicitous english. we had no chance of listening to him in his mother tongue tamil which we couldn't understand ! another scholar of eminence was dr nagaswami, a former director of madras museum who is convinced that 80 per cent of tamil is from samskrit only a fact that the tamil-chauvinists won't like ! the relatively young mani dravid, a profound scholar of puurva n uttara-miimaamsaa, who has been recently anointed with the coveted title of 'mahaamahopaadhyaaya' was felicitated. i was asked to compose a few verses in sanskrit which i did.on 30th nov.
my friend delivered a talk on ' s'rii vidyaa ' at the ashram of the sadguru in presence of svaamii s'riihariprakaas'a n a limited number of saadhaka devotees congregating for the purpose. i made a few remarks telling about the naturally obtaining s'riiyantra on the mount called hariparvata on the outskirts of srinagar in kashmir. we were felicitated by s'rii hariprakas'a with a few articles n fruits n sweets. we were then fed with good south snacks which was sufficient for the dinner.coming back we talked about the pontiff of the ashram who did not see people due to ill health n was in maunam inside. we prayed for her good health n desired to see her the next time we're chanced to visit chennai !
the night we passed after returning from our friend's house after a cup of tea. it then started raining n with an auto-rickshaw we backed to the guest house for rest. getting up in the morning we realised that the rains are on n it was difficult for the caretaker to move out to get us cups of morning tea n snacks. the dept student who is blessed by nature with a rare curiosity to know n know reached as promised n booked a vehicle with difficulty immediately so that i could reach the airport on time. i was away n then he helped my friend to get to the rly station. my flight time n his train time was the same: 8.45 am.
after my flight took off n his train left, suddenly it rained so torrentially that the airport was closed as the tarmac n runways were heavily flooded n so also were the rly tracks at the station forcing to cancel all the trains after that !all channels are beaming the plight of chennai today throughout ! it comes naturally to our mind as to whether this was a coincidence that the 3-4 days in between some power held back the showers that the seminar n our visit to the spiritually vibrant ashram in chennai should be over without any trouble ! very difficult to justify but very natural it is to feel n talk to oneself ! there're things beyond our small terrestrial powers which we think as everything ! one never knows !
my friend phoned up, he is alright: i think of the helpless people, seeing their plight on the tv screen i think if it is they who're responsible or are they suffering to compensate for others' causes ! god certainly should know ! or nobody knows indeed ! pray, let's pray !
