|
2
Sri Rama
Jayam
S.C IYER Dt/-21 12 2012
To: Sri.
RAJARAM KRISHNAMURTHY IRS
Dear Sir,
Re: Your
letter appearing in Iyer 123 Group
Dt/- 20 12
2012 on How to create&
Support
Vedas-study& Teaching.
Namaskaram.
I happened
to read your letter that appears in Iyer 123 Group Mail above, frankly
giving your opinion there in.
At the
outset, I wish to make it plain that money collection through donations is
NOT the object of the appeal made. We, born as Iyers, have a duty to
perform- that is the study of the Veda and to teach it to others who are
similarly born as Iyers. This is the advice given by ADI SANKARA himself.
(since you are a well learned person, occupying a high position in society,
you can access His works and satisfy yourself on it.). To day, most of us
are not doing it , for various reasons. I am not elaborating them here. A
very small number among us, however, are found to day, learning Vedas. They
are not equipped otherwise, like us all to choose professions, that give
them a lot of money and comforts, we all enjoy, and so, they have been
compelled to follow this calling to make an honourable living, by the
prevailing economic conditions. You find them as Vadyars/Purohits etc.
There are
others, much less in number, who study the Veda fully, and a fewer still,
with meanings. These few do not accept professional occupations, like the
category described above, but do accept for teaching to willing boys in
their homes, in the traditional way. You will not find in their homes, cars
or other comforts, generally found elsewhere. At best, there will be a cow,
for feeding them with milk and ghee required for their anushtanas. This
group, once patronized by kings, then by Zamindars, and later by a few Chettiar
families, is gradually vanishing for lack of patronage. (There is a young
(33yrs old) Dikshita living in Sri Rangam and this young man has been
performing yagnyas for the welfare of humanity, these the last 9 years,
with meager help rendered by locals. He and his wife live there, bereft of
comforts enjoyed by all of us, in towns and cities.)
The Kanchi
Mutt is helping a few of them, within its available means. With the advent
of the HR&CE Board, the daily Veda Parayana in temples, which form
part of the daily rituals, for which the kings of yore had allotted
villages ( as found in stone edicts even to day), has been completely
stopped in the last few decades. These Veda Pandits were working in the
temples as Adhyayana Bhattars, and being paid by them. They are no more to
be found these days in any of our temples. And there is no sign of the
HR&CE Board having any plans to revive this Veda Parayana practice in
the temples.
{In the North, in States like,
Odisha, NE, Bengal, Bihar, U.P. and in Rajasthan, you can find Ved Pandits
going from door to door, offering their domestic Pooja Prasad daily and
taking some money in return, given by the house holder (of course, this is
something short of begging). This is the reality to day of the so-called
forward community of Brahmins in those regions. They have forgotten Vedas
long ago, thanks to Muslim rule for 190 years followed by about 180 years’
rule by the British and then by our ‘secular’ government. The ‘social
oppression’ by the Brahmins is still being talked about, with wide
publicity, by our political class and the‘objective’ media. They have a
cast iron constitutional frame work to assist them.}
Such of
those as have been blessed by the Almighty, and our forefathers, for a
well-equipped, comfortable living in these modern times, have to think for
a moment about our roots and our heritage, dating back to the Rishis of
yore, try to live in a manner as they would expect of us and accept. But to
deny totally, our own roots and identity and still claiming to be Brahmins
doesn’t appear appropriate, either to themselves or to their fore fathers.
It is true,
it is not possible to day to live the life of Agraharam. But one should
honestly followthe elementary precepts at least as described
in our scriptures. There are many books like Ramayanam, Mahabharatam,
Thevaram, Divya Prabandham etc., that give us the do’s and don’ts. They are
all easily accessible.
One child
in each family can be given the facility of. Veda adhyayanam. To day, there
are Vidya sthanams that cater to basic vedic study coupled with formal
secular education to CBSE standard up to XII std level. If a boy wishes to
study further in colleges, he can opt for it. Or, if he wants to study
Vedas and Vedangas (Siksha, Vyakaranam, Chchandas, Jyotisham, Niruktam or
Kalpam- these are different branches of Veda-based study) further, he can
do so. There are many more branches like Nyaya, Tarka Vedanta etc. The
Vedic sea is vast and wide.
As Addison
wrote, there is a lot for us “ to Strive, to Seek, to find and not to
yield.”
Mr. Rajaram
writes about kali yuga traits, particularly, avarice. Yes, sir, it is
present every where, in every calling & profession, among the rich and
among the poor, and in every society, in East and in West. These will be
here and will not vanish, in my humble view, by any amount of reforms.
Fortunately,
there are Acharyas still among us to day, but no sishyas. Thanks to the
timely effort initiated by the Kanchi Mahasvami Pujya Sri
Chandrasekharendra Sarasvati in 1960, and subsequently by His sishyas who
adorn that Peetham to day, there are a handful of Yagnya Dikshitas, a few
Agnihotris, quite a few Ghanapatis& Sa-Lakshana Vidwans ( those who
have learnt the meaning of the Veda phrases) and many Veda pandits. But, as
things stand to day, whether there will be similar strength in Veda
adhyayees, in a generation from now, is a big question. That depends on all
of us Iyers (and other Brahmins), in this generation
My appeal
to Mr. Rajaram (and I am not saying this to convince him or any other) “let
try our wee-bit to preserve our own identity, by protecting the tender
sprout of the Vedas, which in the verge of extinction, in this generation
of ours.
And I pray
to God that He give us all the good sense and strength for it.
With kind
regards,
S.C
Iyer
21 Dec 2012
|
No comments:
Post a Comment