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Fwd: [tiruvengadam] Re: " A triple tragedy"

From the Bhakti List Archives

I.V.K. CHARY • May 8, 2001 


Dear Abhimanis, Sishyas, Admirers of Vaikuntavasi Mukkur Mattapalli
swamy,

The following mail appeared in "Tiruvengadam" group about personal
experiences of Sriman M.K. Sudharsan with Vaikuntavasi Mukkur
Mattapalli Swamy.  This is being done with a view that
Abhimanis/Sishyas/Admirers of that great Srivaishnava Simham, come to
know of the personal experiences of a fellow Manaseeka Sishya of the
Vaikuntavasi.

Dasan

IVK CHARY

> Dear Friends,
> 
> It might not be out of place to just add here to Sriman Anbil's
> comments.
> 
> When you attended Sri.Mukkur Swamy's discourses you never failed to
> notice the number of young faces that turned up amongst the audience
> in almost equal strenth to elderly ones. Swamy had tremendous appeal
> to young 'aasthika' minds because of his refreshingly contemporary
> approach to ancient scriptural subjects. 
> 
> Swamy could de-mystify even the most abstruse philosophical matter to
> make it intelligible to young, un-tutored but curious minds. He
> avoided over-use of formidably technical (rather intimidating, too)
> expressions of 'siddhAntam' (Sanskrit, Tamil or Mani-pravAlam).
> Everything he presented became really an easy (almost languid)
> marvellous essay in luciditity, simplicity and arresting cogency.
> Swamy never allowed at any time distance to develop between himself
> and his audience --- I mean the "distance of scholarship" which
> lesser scholars or pundits of the world usually always like to
> maintain to set them "apart from the (so-called) motley crowd".
> 
> Swamy's memory was phenomemenally prodigious. He never needed the
> usual props public-speakers generally rely upon viz. handy little
> notes and texts carried under the arm for quick reference in case of
> memory or narrative lapses/slip-ups. Swamy could let loose torrential
> passages from 'veda-ghana-pAtam-s' un-interruptedly for hours on end
> without as much as pausing for breath. Effortlessly he could recall
> verbatim passages from aranyakas, upanishads, brahma-sutra,
> sri-bhAshya, azhwAr-arulecchayal and purvAchArya-srisookthis. While
> quoting from these sources he made sure they were apt and appropriate
> to the context, never exaggerating anything, never overstating
> anything, never for a moment appearing to be wearing his knowledge on
> his sleeve. Everything he discoursed upon had real meaning... and
> more often than not one discovered, upon deeper reflection, multiple
> meanings in the same discourse. 
> 
> Swamy had a sparkling but subdued sense of humour. His wit actually
> was an ornament to his discourse; never a distraction from them. Most
> public speakers use humour as a tool to enliven proceedings when they
> sense the audience is tending to doze off or perceive a few muffled
> yawns. But Mukkur swamy never had to resort to that brand of
> obsequious humour. His witticisms and jokes blended so nicely and
> seamlessly with the subject-matter at hand that one was always at a
> loss to know which deserved more of their attention and
> appreciation... the witticism itself or its underlying message.      
> 
> Swamy's discourses always universally appealed to all sections of the
> 'aasthika-samAjam'. In a broad sense, he was not just a pillar of
> "SriVaishnava kootam" but a pillar of the much larger 'vaideeka
> satsangham'. Swamy was always able to emphasize that fundamental and
> underlying unity of all Vedantic traditions even amidst their age-old
> and sometimes rancourous differences. He spoke a language, at once
> simple and utterly convincing, which Advaitin, VisishtAdvaitin and
> Dvaitin alike found easy to understand and relate to. Swamy was never
> afraid of openly paying his respects and even acknowledging the
> mighty contributions of Adi Sankara and MadhvAchArya to the great
> stream of Vedantic thought handed down the centuries to us.
> 
> A few words now on a slighly personal note.
> 
> Adiyen was a young man of 20-21 when I first came into contact with
> Mukkur Swamy thanks to my dear father who was and remains to this day
> an ardent admirer of the Swamy. My schooling and background had been
> one of Christian liberalism. I had very little knowledge of Vedic
> tradition. I was 'secular'. With my modern education I tended to
> pooh-pooh and reject all things in India's Vedic past.
> 
> Over the next 10-15 years adiyen gradually acquainted myself with
> Mukkur swamy a little closely. I never missed his lectures. I used to
> visit his house in Venkatesan Street in T.Nagar. My mother visited
> him whenever she toured Kakinada. It was Mukkur Swamy who also graced
> the occasion of my son's 'upanayanam' as late as in 1998. 
> 
> He was a generous host. Whenver adiyen visited his home he was
> engrossed in performing some 'yagnyam' or other. He would insist on
> my staying back until the ritual was over, receive blessings and have
> lunch. ALthough he himself was an uncompromising 'anushtAna-karta' he
> never judged others severely. Knowing that I was living and working
> abroad, and being mindful of the secular pulls, pressures and
> constraints living abroad entails, he would refrain from
> pontificating to me on lapses of 'anushtAnam'. The only thing he
> would insist upon, time after time, was that I should never ever fail
> to do 'sandhyAvandanam'.
> 
> Swamy carried himself in public impeccably. Although a strict
> 'vaideekan', he never looked down upon poor 'loukeeka-s' as lesser
> mortals. He treated everyone equally with the utmost civility and
> kindness. After completion of every 'nrisimha-mahA-yagnyam' to which
> thousands of people from all over the country contributed generously,
> Swamy meticulously wrote to each one of them, reporting the
> completion of the yagnyam and acknowledging their 'kainkaryam'. Swamy
> must have distributed at least 100 000 or more 'nrsimha-medallions'
> to bhaktA-s all over the country by way of acknowledging their
> full-hearted 'sahAyam' in the performance of those great
> 'maha-yagnyam-s'.
> 
> Over the years adiyen suspects Swamy did great damage to his health
> in the performance of these 'yagnyA-s'. He was in a perennial state
> of 'deeksha'. He fasted for days on end. Constitutionally, he tended
> to be obese. He took virtually no medication for ailments, petty or
> serious. He spent most of his time beside the raging fires of
> 'yagnya-kundam-s' and worshipping his beloved 'mattapalli-nAthan"...
> Adiyen knows from personal experience, how spending even an hour
> beside a 'yagnya-kunda' can be arduous. Mukkur Swamy simply neglected
> his health in the cause of his life-mission and his absolute
> engrossment in it --- to build up Matapalli into a great
> Nrismha-kshEtra through those great 'yagnyAm-s'.     
> 
> That Swamy has now reached the abode of SriVaikuntam --- of that
> there is no doubt indeed. Nobody regrets it. But the untimeliness of
> his departure is what makes us all continue to grieve. What was the
> hurry for Mukkur Swamy to rush to 'parama-padam' leaving us all
> behind like this? 
> 
> Those whom God loves, He beckons early. This is an old saying the
> truth of which, alas, is confirmed again and again in our moments of
> bereavement such as this painful one.
> 
> Regards,
> adiyEn, mukkur dAsEna dAsAnu-dAsan, 
> Sudarshan
> 
> 
> Namo VenkateshAya namah:
> 
> 
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> 



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