Sanskrit Bharati Visits SRSG

A group of Sanskrit teachers from the Sanskrit Bharati organization came to the ashram for a 7-day retreat. Most of them are from the Uttar Anchal or northwestern Uttar Pradesh. They are trainers who are preparing other teachers who will lead 18-month Gita study groups to be given to graduates of the basic their spoken Sanskrit course and starting later this year.

I was told that this course will be given in 10,000 locations in 16 countries. The purpose is to familiarize students with the Gita as well as to deepen their knowledge of grammar and vocabulary.



This is a picture of Chandramani Acharya, who was trained up at the same Arya Samaj school that Sanjay Shastri went to, Prabhat Ashram near Meerut. A pretty nice place by the looks of it, where everything is conducted in Sanskrit. Children who join the school are obliged to speak Sanskrit or miss a meal. It is learn or starve. They also do things like recite Panini's sutras while in a headstand and other memorization feats.

Chandramani is now the Gurukula's head teacher. And quite deservedly so. Here he is welcoming the Sanskrit Bharati group.


This is Dr. Sanjiva Kumar, the leader of the Sanskrit Bharati group. They have been giving a basic course in spoken Sanskrit to the Gurukula students who wish to attend. Unfortunately, that group has dwindled to only a handful. Dr. Sanjiva is very charismatic and very good at what he does. I asked him what their relationship with RSS and VHP is (besides that they all sit in orderly rows), and he was open in stating that they have the same philosophical goal of advancing pride in India and its culture, as well as helping it progress, etc.


Here Dr. Sanjiva is giving a set of the Gita books to be used in the above-mentioned course to Swami Veda. Swami Veda addressed the group in Sanskrit, but due to general poor health and fatigue has not been giving the regular classes he originally intended to.


I gave one class to the group in Sanskrit on the five pillars of sadhana. As mentioned on my other blog, that has inspired me to go into silence for a week before leaving for Canada. My intention is to be back here in September, unless something else comes up. I should write this up in Sanskrit, but I probably won't have the time.

Radhe Radhe!

Photos from Aug. 22, 2008

Sujit took these photos of me in my office around Janmastami time.


Sujit...

Sanskrit Classes Resume

Well, almost. At least we got the AC working.

The students had a busy week with the yoga camp, which they executed very well. Swamiji then gave them three days' holiday as a reward. But now, holiday is over...

Ahh, but it is 40 degrees out there and even 3 o'clock is too soon after lunch in this heat. So only three students showed up. We will try to do better tomorrow.

Back when I was a boy... well not exactly... but when I was living in Nabadwip, I studied for a while at the Nabadwip Sanskrit College. I would eat early and walk through the midday heat to get there at 12, because for some reason, the college was open from 12-4. The reason, I believe, was because the brahmins need all that time in the morning to get all their various pujas performed. Or so I heard it said.

Of course, NO students were ever there before 2 at the earliest, and the few teachers who showed up would be lolling on their gaddis. Even if some students did appear early, they and their teachers spent the time fighting off sleep. How anybody learned anything, at least in the summertime, is beyond me.

Luckily, for the few months that I went, my teacher, Kanailal Adhikara Panchatirtha, was very conscientious and always there. I went through Jiva's commentary on Brahma-samhita with him and a little of Vedanta-sara, but that was about it.

Only one month left before I leave for Canada. Not really looking forward to it. But I would like to accomplish something with these students before abandoning them for the rainy season.

In the meantime, this blog and the other have taken separate lives. I have split off all the non-Vaishnava related posts and put them here. The other blog will now have the main purpose of only discussing Vaishnavism-related concerns.

Teaching Sanskrit in Rishikesh

Sujit took these photos of my Sanskrit class yesterday.

Gita class in Rishikesh

Someone took this picture recently and sent it to me.

Deva Prayag

We yesterday went by bus to Chandrabadni temple and then Deva Prayag. It was one of those bus rides where you seem to be constantly coming within inches of a thousand foot drop. The first leg of the journey followed the Ganga from Rishikesh to Deva Prayag where the Bhagirathi and Alakananda meet. The road is being repaired in that piecemeal fashion that seems favored by Indian engineers--a half-finished culvert to snake around here, a torn and deserted piece of primitive dirt road sprinkled with avalanche remnants there. But the places where the road has been widened and refinished are obviously a huge improvement.

This segment of the road is through a fairly well-preserved forest, though the valley walls are quite sheer and probably do not permit much inhabitation. There are some rafting and kayaking campsites along the river, and occasionally hotels or ashrams on the hilltops, but generally Nature seems to be protected here.

As you approach Deva Prayag, the forest starts to thin and look a little more desertlike. Cactus and aloe-type plants are common, the earth looks yellowish and rocky, the trees seem to be predominantly on the upper parts of the hills. There is more and more terracing, and as you pass from Deva Prayag towards Chandrabadni (Wikimap), you keep climbing and the terraced sections descend down both steep and sloping hills to thousands of feet below, where you can occasionally catch glimpses of the Alakanandi River.



Deva Prayag is a small town, very picturesque, though this does not seem to be its high season. There are two suspension bridges and its main advantage, it seems to me, is that there are no cars anywhere. You just can't get them in there. So there are staircases up and down the steep inclines on all three sides, but the roads have to go around.

The Omkarananda people have built a school right at the confluence and a nice new ghat has been constructed there. The Alakanandi comes in gently, but the Bhagirathi is lathering and frothing madly. I was a bit tired and rather foolishly did not bathe, though most of the students did. I sat down on and talked to some local children. Taught them to chant raso'ham apsu.

The old temple you can see in the picture is of Ramachandra. It contains a single blackstone murti that looks more than 500 years old. The priests say it is 2000 years old.

As usual, it was difficult not to become irritated at the neglect of cleanliness. It seems that people would understand that some other solution besides throwing the garbage out of your windows or over the side of the fence needs to be found. So the natural scenic beauty of both the gorges and the village at Deva Prayag are marred.

The same is apparent at Chandrabadni. Because Chandrabadni is so highly placed and is comparatively easily accessible, it was a naturally attractive spot for the telephone companies to put up their towers. Now the temple is wrapped tightly in cables, tubing and satellite dishes of various shapes. Does no one think of the aesthetics? Would that really be too much progress?

Even so, neither place is so badly damaged that it could not be saved. Hopefully someone will see the light before it is too late and "progress" completely destroys everything.

Chandra-badni

This is the top of the mountain.
We walked the last kilometer, and there were stairs,
so no alpinist heroics, but the air is thin
enough to make our heads all spin.

We look down on freewheeling falcons
flying far above the terraced slopes.



Wisps of cloud cling to neighbor peaks
like Kalidas's doot, resting weary from his trip,
waiting maybe for another word to bring
the beloved, who wanes within the snowy summits
that trim the not-too-remote horizon.



Devi mantras, dhaks and dhols,
sussurating Sapta-shati, bellows and bells.
I buy my coconut and bring it to you,
Devi Chandravadani.

Pierre and Meena.