Modern Interpreters of Hindu Philosophy

Modern Interpreters of Hindu Faith

It is indeed a great privilege to write about the untiring advocates of the Hindu faith. Many a time an honest sincere interpreter of Sanatana Dharma will get only heaps of scorn or brickbats. It is a thankless job – assiduously going through thousands of pages of Sanskrit original texts and assimilating their true meaning and purport. A select few will gain the insight into these texts through the grace of a (the) Guru or Devi (Sri-Mata). Then one has to synthesize all the diverse canonical texts, the Puranas, Brahma-Sutras, Upanishads, the three epics (Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Srimad-Bhagavatam) and countless commentaries. It is verily an impossible task and endless journey – not achievable in a lifetime. Often a lonely pursuit and if one is lucky, one at least encounters the Guru or (to put metaphorically) the light at the end of a tunnel! 

The Telugu land (particularly Andhra Pradesh) has over the centuries produced a number of first-rate original preceptors (including the Buddhist scholar Nagarjuna). We do not know why this piece of land (dirt) has produced exceptional music composers, Hindu philosophers, and saints. One cannot assert that it is due to any inherent goodness on the part of its inhabitants; perhaps Kanaka Durga and Balaji showered their choicest grace on this populace as an answer to their incessant daily prayers and to alleviate their mundane suffering. Who would have guessed Sri Ganapathi Muni, Trilinga Swamy, Sripada Srivallabha, and even J. Krishnamurti would be born in the same province (or geographical land mass)?

Now, I want to introduce Swami Medhananda-puri and Sri Shanmukha Sarma to the wider world. They are already known through the modern Internet, YouTube, and lots of video clips. I cannot really add anything to their well-established repute or credentials.

Sri Medhananda-puri is well versed in all the four languages: Sanskrit, Hindi, Telugu, and English.  He is associated with the Kailash Ashram and gives discourses at the Bahamas retreat also. I am especially touched by his Telugu translation of the Kanakadhara Stotram. His discourses on Brahma-Sutras bring out the essence in all its purity and glory. So are his diligent elucidations of the Upanishads (ex: Mandukya) with line-by-line explanation and additional commentary. For the Hindi audiences as well as the Telugu populace the teacher is an invaluable gift. We should not be cavalierly carried away or get exulted by a few English-speaking Swamis or books in this area (of Brahma-vidya). The reason is simple: For many Sanskrit textual words there are no equivalents in English, ex: dharma, mukti, moksha, karma, Eswara, murti, etc. Usually a glossary is appended hurriedly to provide a rough idea to the non-vernacular, non-Sanskrit (foreign/Indian) reader. In addition to this rough translation we have the augmented noise (white noise) of wrong interpretation; incorrect interpretation also occurs when the proponent (expounder) has deep prejudices. Often the interpreter is not even aware of his (her) blinds or in-built biases. We find even in scientific fields there are individuals who hold irrational (erroneous) beliefs (ex: Shockley, Crick) – now what to speak of “Brahman”? Earlier times we had Sri Ramana, Sri Paramacharya, and many other acharyas who came to our rescue; they patiently showed us the validity of our Sastras and interpreted our scriptures like Gita in simple words. Paramacharya always blessed his audience and showed the way, coming down to the layperson’s level. Today we are extremely lucky to have several original interpreters of Hindu scriptures in the Telugu land. One would hope all the Telugu people take advantage of this unique historical opportunity. 

For the aspirant in this exploration there are a number of hurdles: Finding the right text, correct translation, and explanations. Then one has to self-study with patience. Still numerous doubts and troubles crop up in the path. Where would the enquirer turn to for help? Luckily the Kanchi Kamakoti site has some of the finest “Benediction Discourses” by Paramacharya. There we come across valuable advice and guidance. Sri Ramana (maharishi) reiterates many times thus: “Here, in this context and matter, what we have to do is this. Normally we accumulate knowledge and skills. But here we ‘dis-cover’; we remove the set of layered beliefs. Like peeling away the onion layers. The effulgent self needs no support, needs no further explanation or elaboration. So, all the books, scriptures, and commentaries merely give us a partial map to (towards) the truth. At one point even Sri Ramana agreed all this amounts to burdensome baggage – which eventually gets discarded (unloaded) on the way. So, one need not get discouraged by sheer ignorance or lack of scholarship!

Sri Shanmukha Sarma brings wit and acerbic humor to his discourses. But his respect, love, and care for the audience is boundless. Why would anyone travel thousands of miles and give extended discourses in USA? Why? Why would anyone miss the creature comforts and homely meals? All for imparting the essence of Bhagavad-Gita slokas? Sri Shanmukha Sarma is a devout Lalita devotee and an extraordinary lyrical poet. His songs on Siva are marvelous and they melt anyone who can fully understand Sanskrit and Telugu phrases. There are nine ways to pay our devotion to Narayana. One of the easiest methods is to patiently listen to the narration of Ramayana or Srimad-Bhagavatam. And then slowly meditate on the subtle message and meaning therein. In this present day we are lucky to have such extraordinary scholarly exponents in our midst. Many of the routine doubts get evaporated like the foggy curtain upon the first ray of sun! Sri Shanmukha Sarma can be called as the “great synthesizer” of Hindu thought. A thought, rather an insight so original, so ancient, so liberating, and so profound – it is worth meditating outside time. (Copyright 2023 by the author) 

"Sama gana lole" Song

Ragam: Hindolam

Talam: Rupaka

saamagaana lOlae salalita guNa dhyaanae aMba 

sOmabiMba vadanae nisseema mahima charaNae 

saamaja mRdu gadanae kaama daana nipuNae 

kOmalaaM(LaaM)gi kaamaeSvara vaamabhaaga sadanae 

naama (raama) bhajita saadhu jana paapakooTa madanae 

taamasaadi guNa kalpita taapatraya Samanae 

daevadayaa rasa poorita daama kamala nayanae   

साम गान लोले सललित गुण ध्याने अम्ब 

सोमबिम्ब वदने निस्सीम महिमा चरणे 

सामज मृदु गदने काम दान निपुणे 

कोमलङ्गि कामेश्वर वामभाग सदने 

नामभजित साधु जन पाप कूट मदने 

तामसादि गुण कल्पित तापत्रय शमने 

देवदया रस पूरित दाम कमल नयने   

సామగాన లోలే సలలిత గుణ ధ్యానే అంబ 

సోమబింబ వదనే నిస్సీమ మహిమ చరణే 

సామజ మృదు గదనే కామ దాన నిపుణే 

కోమలాం(ళాం)గి కామేశ్వర వామభాగ సదనే 

నామ (రామ) భజిత సాధు జన పాపకూట మదనే 

తామసాది గుణ కల్పిత తాపత్రయ శమనే 

దేవదయా రస పూరిత దామ కమల నయనే 

(I give the lyrics in Telugu and Sanskrit for the benefit of north and south Indian music fans. The transliteration (generated by Lekhini) in English will be of help to the modern person not fully conversant with the Indian languages. Sri G. N. Balasubramaniam was a musician's musician. He was a great composer too and his poetic genius shows up in his creations. I learnt this song from Smt. M. L. Vasantakumari, one of his brilliant disciples. If my memory is correct I remember one interesting fascinating fact about MLV - she rarely rehearsed songs before the public performances.

The reader can understand the meaning if she knows a bit of Sanskrit. For in-depth exploration one can seek the help of Sri Lalita Sahasranamam and its excellent commentaries. I'll give the audio links in a later update. Copyright 2023 by the author)

  

"ne pogada kunte" A Tyagaraja Kirtana

రాగం: దేశ్యాది తోడి 

తాళం :  ఝంప

నే పొగడ కుంటే నీ కేమి కొదవో? (వూ)

నీ మనసు తెలిసె గదరా ఓ రామ (శ్రీ రామ)

ప్రాపుగల శుక సనక ప్రహ్లాద నారద

పరమేశ రుద్రాది భక్తులర్చింపగ

భుజియింప బెట్ట సతి, బుధులు సామాజికులు 

భజియింప సోదరులు పవన సూను(డు)  -

డజ (అజ) బిడౌజాది సురలాప్తు లైనారు; నీ 

రజ నాయన శ్రీ త్యాగరాజానుత! బాలుడగు (నే)

raagaM: daeSyaadi tODi 

taaLaM :  jhaMpa

nae pogaDa kuMTae nee kaemi kodavO? (voo)

nee manasu telise gadaraa O raama (Sree raama)

praapugala Suka sanaka prahlaada naarada

paramaeSa rudraadi bhaktularchiMpaga

bhujiyiMpa beTTa sati, budhulu saamaajikulu 

bhajiyiMpa sOdarulu pavana soonu(Du)  -

Daja (aja) biDaujaadi suralaaptu lainaaru; nee 

raja naayana Sree tyaagaraajaanuta! baaluDagu (nae)

(I came to know about this kirtana from a cassette. Must have bought it either in Andhra Pradesh or in US. Dr. Balamuralikrishna gave a flawless rendition of every phrase. Here the composer is directly asking Sri Rama thus: "What do you lose if I don't praise You? Do you miss or lack anything due to my omission (of act)? You know very well the facts. The sages like Suka, Sanaka, Prahlada, Narada, etc., they all are extolling you. And Siva and Rudras are there too in the gathering." The next stanza becomes a bit complex to decipher, but we will explore the details later. Finally Tyagaraja says - "I am just a little boy compared to all other devotees". So, Rama, please disregard my faults. If I cannot attend to You, if I cannot sing and praise Your qualities - it's alright. There are thousands of celestials and sages who constantly sing melodious songs on You. I am just an insignificant entity in that august company!) 

Lyrics of "jnana mosaga rada"

జ్ఞాన మోసగ రాదా గరుడ గమన వాదా 

నీ నామమున నా మది నిర్మల మైనది 

పరమాత్ము౦డు జీవాత్ముండు పదు నాలుగు లోకములు 

నర కిన్నర కింపురుష  నారదాది మునులు 

పరిపూర్ణ నిష్కళంక నిరవధి సుఖ దాయక 

వర త్యాగరాజార్చిత వారము తాననే (జ్ఞానము)

రాగము: గమనశ్రమ

తాళము: రూపక  

j~naana mOsaga raadaa garuDa gamana vaadaa nee naamamuna naa madi nirmala mainadi paramaatmu~0Du jeevaatmuMDu padu naalugu lOkamulu nara kinnara kiMpurusha naaradaadi munulu paripoorNa nishkaLaMka niravadhi sukha daayaka vara tyaagaraajaarchita vaaramu taananae (j~naanamu) raagamu: gamanaSrama taaLamu: roopaka

[vadaa = the whirring sound. Luckily due to parents' blessings I got "the music rub" in the sinews. So, without listening to any singer I learned to sing this kirtana with perfect melody, myself. Here, the composer is asking for Sri Rama's grace (help). He says, "Why not bestow the supreme wisdom on us? Just by uttering (or hearing) your precious name my mind becomes clear, it gets uncluttered. Then Tyagayya enumerates a long list of "objects" including the sages like Narada, vina, and the fourteen worlds. (Narada and Tumbura are the great celestial singers.) Rama, you are the only one who can give us perfect, unblemished, and interminable happiness. Won't you give us the "wisdom" to recognize all the above entities as none other than Yourself (Rama)?"] Copyright 2022 by the author

 

A Look into the Family Tree

A Look into the Family Tree

(Meeting The Ancestors)

Recently I got a request to prepare a rough draft of our family tree. A nephew asked me for the tree to trace his father’s lineage. As I was going through the details I had to put together records from three or four diverse sources (original documents in mother tongue). Then as I was pouring over my attention I came across interesting facts. There were well-educated engineers (one held the position of Regional Engineer for the Indian Railway), a sub-Registrar (recorder of farm holdings and lands), a very erudite scholar of Vedas, and one very observant Hindu priest and a unique conductor of Vedic functions. I wondered what would they think of me? I wish I could speak with some of them; and converse about all sorts of things. How did they overcome their troubles? How did they survive through the lean years, through crop failures, sickness, etc.? 

We all may have close companions, spouses, relatives, and friends. With some we could open up and share intimate issues and life’s ordeals. Nobody’s life is perfect in this world. Even queens and royal members have problems. I read somewhere once a European queen was in distress during the First World War. She wanted her citizens be safe and out of mortal danger. All she could do was to pray on her knees. With our esteemed grand parents we could open up our hearts willingly without inhibitions. We could ask our grand mother her achievements, her failures, and her celebrations. 

While going through the family tree I came across a name that sent exhilaration through my body. My father is related to Sri S. Narayana. Once he visited our village on some errand and I vaguely remember his personality. He was impeccably dressed with polished shoes. Then very few people in the village would wear shoes; only our math teacher used to leisurely polish his brown shoes during weekends. Later our esteemed relative’s sons also visited us and stayed for a few days while attending to their farm affairs. In the village we knew very few details about Sri Narayana; he served as principal in Madras (Presidency College) and retired in Guntur. If I had gone with my mother to Vijayawada I too would have gotten a glimpse of this elderly scholar in his golden years. But it was not to be, alas; also I would not have appreciated such matters as I was too young, barely in my knickers, still struggling with basic algebra like (a+b) cubed. That’s how I came to know tit-bits of my distant relatives and our ancestry. Much of that legacy of memory got dusted and crusted in the layers of time. More or less I left it out in my native village. Father kept good contact with Sri Narayana’s sons and he attended his son’s marriage also. 

After many years I got interested in Srinivasa Ramanujan through an article in Scientific American. There was a renewed interest in his works (Lost Note Books) and with advances in Computer Science people started looking into pi (π). This writer is not into researches in advanced mathematics. There are many interesting results, formulae, and discoveries in Ramanujan's work. The infinite series 1+2+3+4+ ...... .... = -1/12 result really grabbed my attention. It has wonderful applications to physics and other fields. School children should be educated about these results; it does not matter whether young minds can grapple with such stupendous ideas. Such exposure to great minds and humble beginnings inspires everyone.

(This photo is from the Internet.)
 

Now we have the brute force of software to verify many of his formulae and identities. See the recent article in Wired magazine by Stephen Wolfram. This article tries to bring some cohesion and beauty to the great Indian mathematician’s achievements. For the layperson it is not easy to grasp the fine details of this rarefied field of higher math and number theory. They can still watch the English movie (The Man Who Knew Infinity) to get a foot in the door (of higher mathematics). 

For a long time there was only one portrait photo of S. Ramanujan (from his passport). This was taken after he got extremely weak with sickness. The sparkle in his eyes is hypnotic but there is the foreboding sense of early demise, of a life cut short due to undiagnosed illness coupled with poor nutrition (it was during the war time in England). The same photo adorned our college library on the Godavari banks. Then slowly after painful research and digging up the old university records they came up with several more B/W photographs. In one such photograph we find Mr. Narayana next to the legendary mathematician. So, that completed the circuitous connection of our family to the Royal Society Fellow, Ramanujan. My interest and enthusiasm for Ramanujan’s work has swelled up by leaps and bounds since then. I wish all the school children learn more of C V Raman, G N Ramachandran, Ramanujan, M. N. Saha, and other great modern Indian researchers; they worked mostly on the Indian soil and they toiled their entire lives with modest resources. It is a pity the outside world knows more of them than the average Indian citizen. There is some truth to the saying: “A prophet is never known in his homeland (sic)”.

I would be amiss if I do not say a word about our great grand mothers and grand mothers. They transmitted to us the fine culture, Telugu music, and great culinary talents. Without their boundless love where would we be? In the hot humid mosquito ridden and disease prone coastal lands, many generations would have been lost. It was our ancestors’ love and blessings that gave us our health, intelligence, and prosperity. I learnt a lot by looking at our family tree. May I conclude that our forefathers would always inspire and guide me in every endeavor. Copyright 2022 by the author

Except That Act (A Poem)

Except That Act

Bedroom is in turmoil

Crises, Crises

Here 

Everything happens

Except that One!

There’s time for every act

Except for that One.

How it used to be?

My bedroom

Used to rock with the sights

Of

Companionship and body embraces

Tender memories of shared intimacy

Such

Feelings would crowd my mind

Used to be a place filled

With loving tones and talk

Now (tension … tension)

All the time’s spent

For the City

(Restricted Emotions

Disconnected Intimacy)

Children come

And

Drop their books on the bed

The maid comes

And

Drops the laundry on the bed

Relatives come

And settle on the bed

Enjoying a meal

Friends come

And sip their tea on the bed

My bed is always occupied -

During days and nights

(Is always busy)

Like our urban (city) lives

There isn’t a thing

That doesn’t happen on my bed 

Except that One! (English Translation of the Telugu poem by మెహజబీన్ )

(I came across the original poem in a Telugu newspaper. It caught my attention immediately. The poet is hinting at something deeper during these troubled post-Covid times. The poem brings out the pain of modern life in a big city. Things like bedroom (or beds) do exist but without their essential functionality. Companionship, intimacy, and physical touch are rare in this day. What for all this endless stress, strife, and work? How sad? Life is reduced to mere drudgery.

I congratulate the original Telugu poet for expressing so poignantly the delicate situation and for imparting form for the distress.) Copyright 2022 by the author

Tyagaraja Kirtana "nagu momu galavani"

ప. నగుమోము గలవాని నా మనోహరుని

జగమేలు  శూరుని జానకి వరుని  ||నగుమోము||

చ. దేవాది దేవుని దివ్యసుందరుని

శ్రీ వాసుదేవుని సీతారాఘవుని  !!నగుమోము!!

సుజ్ఞాన విధిని సోమసూర్య లోచనుని

అజ్ఞాన తమస  మణచు భాస్కరుని  !!నగుమోము!!

నిర్మలాకారుని నిఖిలాఘహరుని

ధర్మాది మోక్షంబు దయచేయు ఘనుని !!నగుమోము!!

బోధతో పలుమారు పూజించి నే నా

రాధింతు శ్రీ త్యాగరాజ సన్నుతూని (సన్నుకూని)  (తిని)  !!నగుమోము!|

pa. nagumOmu galavaani naa manOharuni

jagamaelu  Sooruni jaanaki varuni  ||nagumOmu||

cha. daevaadi daevuni divyasuMdaruni

Sree vaasudaevuni seetaaraaghavuni  !!nagumOmu!!

suj~naana vidhini sOmasoorya lOchanuni

aj~naana tamasa  maNachu bhaaskaruni  !!nagumOmu!!

nirmalaakaaruni nikhilaaghaharuni

dharmaadi mOkshaMbu dayachaeyu ghanuni !!nagumOmu!!

bOdhatO palumaaru poojiMchi nae naa

raadhiMtu Sree tyaagaraaja sannutooni (sannukooni)  (tini)  !!nagumOmu!|

(I first came across this song in a cassette tape with Dr. Balamuralikrishna's voice. There is another Tyagaraja song with the beginning phrase "nagu momu". The latter song was analyzed in detail here in one of the posts. This lyric is full of Rama's various qualities (epithets). Here, I would like to look into the meaning of some words:

Both Lord Vishnu and Sri Rama are looked upon as the Deva with Sun and Moon as the two eyes (with lotus-like petals, etc.) In Bhagavad-Gita we come across Sri Krishna with similar description (11th Chapter, Viswaroopa Darsana Yogah). The most appropriate way of understanding this description is thus: When we perceive the "para-Brahman" it has to be in the inner recesses of wisdom (enlightenment). We can only feel and see Him in the avenue of "good-knowledge" (= sujnana). There Sri Rama is found with the kind eyes of Sun and Moon. Here, in this context Sun dispels all ignorance (ajnana). At the same time there is the gentle beam of Moonlight to soothe the devotee. Thus, wisdom is imparted gently to the Bhakta; like a mother Sri Rama instructs the devotee with love. 

nikhila + agha = all encompassing sins, impurities, or defects

haruni = the destroyer, the evaporator of all such sins) Copyright 2022 by the author