Re-energising the Kanchi mutt

[tech_rsr]

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I don't like the digressing nature of discussions where we don't seem to stick to the point. We don't discuss whether the Shankaracharya is guilty, and if he is not guilty, what should have been done and what should be done going forward. Instead, we make generalizations on what religious leaders are like, what the current scenario is like, what the religious leaders enjoy that they shouldn't, that goes against the principles of our dharma, etc. Is this a necessary addition to this discussion? I felt that such discussions about how much we should adhere to the ideals that our forefathers and gurus introduced us to, should be part of a different discussion.

 

[chims]

To regain the lost respect , one has to start from the scratch. First both the swamies should vacate the mutt and go to meditative place. A committee formed to find a new swamy. He shall be initiated into sanyasrama by another holy sanyasi( say like sringeri swamy) and the new swamy devote purely religious and do puja. The committee should also appoint a new administration unit to take care and administer Finances, properties and the protocols.
The new swamy should conducts homams and instill a sense of pious to the devotees.By this new chapter for kanchi mutt will be establsihed with paramacharya as the guiding sipirt.
Filling up a vacancy has been handled by various tamilnadu mutts with different occasion and purposes and they maintained the continuity and are serving public with more devotedness.

:director:Madhavan

I appreciate the anguish of Rvmani as also the concern of Prabhakaran. I completely agree with P123 that we as a community should have done more during the arrest of the Acharya. Our differences could have been resolved later. Most of us withdrew from
the scene- that possibly is in our genes. To run away from troubles. As far the view of RV that Acharya had indulged in hobnobbing with politicians, we shd understand that it is needed to a certain extent in the contemporary world. Satya Sai, Ramdev, many other spiritual leaders maintain a good relationship with local politcal leaders for the sustainability of the mutt. Particularly in TN when majority of the parties are agaisnt brahmins and the mutt, the acharya had to turn to central leaders and who ever supported him. This kind of hate is not faced by Sringeri guru among the Karnataka politicians so his case is safe and different. Anyway, what is past is past. Now, taking for a moment that suggestion of RV is the only way ahead, is it possible to do this, I mean isolating the acharyas and taking over the administration of the mutt ? Taking over institutions is alright, but how do we take over the mutt? Any answers?

 

[chims]

Good: They should do more for religious propogation; Ramakrishna Mutt or Iskon does more on religious and social acts.

here is what a non-hindu follower of the mutt asked me

"why do the acharyas have to travel anywhere in a motorised vehicle? why cant they walk wherever they need to go? didnt their guru sri sankara do that ? do u thnk they can accomplish more than sri sankara did by travelling in planes and vans? if i am right , even mettur swamigal and kuvalaikkal swamigal walk everywhere they go , rt? even mahaperiyavaa walked so much ... why go away from your roots? why do they use air-conditioned rooms and luxury like that ? they never seem to stay or live where the poorest ppl dwell ? so a sankaracharya cannot continuously live among huts without any amenities? how often do they do detailed pravachanams over days and months on the works of sri sankara or the other acharyas of the mutt , isnt that the foremost way to draw people's attention to the sanatana dharma ?"

i had no answers ..........

 

[KRS]

Dear Sri Madhavan Ji,

'Lost respect'? On what? Just because the seers were involved in activities that some consider to be not within their purview?

You may not agree with their activities. But I think all of it was towards the welfare of Hinduism. And since Maha Pereiava chose one and acqueised on the other, I do not think we have the qualification to even think about what you are proposing.

I think this issue is very emotional for some folks amongst us and I would warn against putting such thoughts out there.

Regards,
KRS

 

[chims]

Thank you for your sentimental approach

It is not my intention too; the question is re energising the Mutt:
The case is still there- even if you take appeals etc it may take some more years - decade perhaps-already our swamy is 74 plus.

Sri gurumurthy and cho have given two different opinions.Even kalki has distanced itself from the mutt controversy.( the only magazine which publishes mahaswamy's photo every week with an article)

In the topic of re energising you have to deal in 3 different options:
1) the case: the case of individuals and associates of mutt should be absolved of all charges. even if one is charged with it will tarnish the image the mutt build over centuries and leading lights like mahaswamy.

2) the Mutt: should become the religious head again and should lead for the various rituals and agamas: he has unnecessarily involved himself in tamil agama controversy and earned a dislike from a majority of the section of tamilnadu ( brahmin only 2% and the non brahmins of hindu faith and anti brahmin stances of political parties)in the tamil siva agama and others .If he has adopted mutual respect for other mutts, they would have joined and raised voice for conspiracy against the mutt.When all the Hindu mutts have agreed to present themselves for Mahamagam at the appropirate time, sri swamy entered the tank separately much before the time,without any mutt- all thambirans are annoyed with his solitary approach thats why he did not have any sympathy from any fellow Hindu organisations.

3. The self styled yahava once said; "the day is not far when jayendra will be put behind bars; ''- he was saying as predicition- is it a prediction or ploy.With so much of govt clout can he not realise the conspiracy; why then he has kept goondas by his side- one of his aide goonda has been termed as approver and he is still in jail for safety as though he will be killed if he is out.
With this background, swamilji and all,coming out unscathed will be test on the grace divine and poorvaacharyas.many people are working to sully the mutt image.

Mahaswamy ,apart from his grace and divine appraoch, is also an expert in dealing with political persons; when Indira gandhi after her defeat wanted to meet mahaswamy and came to kanchi, suddenly on that hour, sri swamy entered into Mouna Upavasam and she was there for about 30 minutes and joined with meditation with him and claimed great satisfaction, without a single word discussed for the event; the point is that the govt was headed by morarji desai and many anti stances like shah commission introduced. The point is mahaswamy uttered no positive no negative words for Mrs gandhi.- and the result is great admiration from everybody.
Like this , the mutt should also distance itself from politics and dealing with crores of rupees, they need a professional approach other than religious approach.
With due respect to one and all in the controversy, i wanted to share few points i gathered to re energise the mutt
:violin:
madhavan

Dear Sri Madhavan Ji,

'Lost respect'? On what? Just because the seers were involved in activities that some consider to be not within their purview?

You may not agree with their activities. But I think all of it was towards the welfare of Hinduism. And since Maha Pereiava chose one and acqueised on the other, I do not think we have the qualification to even think about what you are proposing.

I think this issue is very emotional for some folks amongst us and I would warn against putting such thoughts out there.

Regards,
KRS

 

[sapr333]

>>>I think this issue is very emotional for some folks amongst us and I would warn against putting such thoughts out there.>>>

In yet another site, some one shared this interesting jovial discussion, to patch up the differences....


EB Jr: Iyers are better

AN Jr: No, Iyengars are better

EB Jr: Iyer sounds like Higher and that’s why we are better

AN Jr: Iyer sounds like Air and that’s exactly what you are full of.

EB Jr: We fly high like Iyerplanes while you still travel using yesterday’s IyenCars

AN Jr: At least we travel in Rolls Royce Iyencars while you suffer from Deep Vein Thrombosis in Economy class Iyerplanes

EB Jr: Iyengar sounds like I-Anger, and that describes you guys pretty well

AN Jr: Iyer sounds like I-Err, and that describes you guys even better

EB Jr: We are also Smartha than you.

AN Jr: Of course you aren’t. How can you be when you follow the Odd Waiter philosophy?

EB Jr: Your naamam looks like a V with an I in between, and reminds me of vi, that useless editor

AN Jr: vi is the best editor in the world, and I can do a s/r/ngar before you can apply your vibhuti

EB Jr: You call yourselves Why Snow White? Ignorance is built into your name

AN Jr: You call yourselves Say White. Painting everything white smacks of a lack of creativity.

EB Jr: Your C-rap (Carnatic Rap) star R.E.A. Goody sucks. His voice should be used as an alternative energy source by carpenters sawing wood.

AN Jr: Your C-rap star MD (Mad Durai) Money sucks even more. He hardly raps words. He keeps pulling out his item girl assistant (Kalpana Swara) to distract the crowd with her gyrations.

And so on.



And they both mutually concluded safely,this way...

A small but influential community of tamil Brahmins has been agitating for a separate homeland, on the lines of Khalistan and Bodolan. However, their movement is said to have suffered a setback when it came to light that the name “Republic of Iyerland” has already been taken in the UN.

 

[RVR]

Chims rightly said, the mutt & swamijis should keep away from politics. Politicians will make use of the mutt and swamijis for their own benefit and throw them to dust bin when they have achieved their objectives.

 

[rrvvvr]

Dear all,

There is some good news for the followers of the mutt. Yesterday, at Puduchery court 2 key prosecution witnesses (wife and daughter of Late Shankararaman) contradicted their earlier statements. They said they had not seen anyone entering their house on the day of the murder (TOI 05 Aug). Good sense seems to have prevailed atlast. Hopefully the matter will be resolved soon.

 

[RVR]

I am sure both the acharyas will get acquitted in the case. But the damage they have done to the mutt is irreparable.

 

[kunjuppu]

rrvvvr,

may i please request you to exercise a sense of fairness in the kanchi mutt case.

the victim, sankarraman, who was murdered, was after all another tamil brahmin like us.

sankarraman came from the poorer classes, but felt strong enough about his faith and traditions of the mutt, to speak out. no matter what, i do not think, this warrants him being killed.

i suspect that due to the poor circumstance, his widow and daughter do not have the luxury of high powered lawyers to advise them.

i do not wish to discuss the merits of this case, as there are strong feelings about it, and the last thing i want to, is to burst open a potential pandora's box of vitriol.

but, i cannot help feeling sympathy for sankarraman and his destitute family.

in the annals of indian justice, and in the context of a billion people, most often i question the relevance of one single person like sankarraman being killed.

i certainly do not want to uphold a higher than ordinary standards of justice for the kanchi mutt, when i believe under similar circumstances religious folks from other faiths or mutts, would go scot free.

sankarraman was someone of our own kind, and i think we should introspect a bit, before, in the name of mutt sanctity, sacrifice him and his family, to the alter of power and mighty.

under no circumstances should the voice of the poor and the powerless be silenced by the high and mighty.

no matter what the outcome is, this whole episode is fraught with tragedy in many many ways.

pray let us not gloat, over the misfortunes of some poor family, in the name of religious righteousness.

thank you.

ps.. even with an acquittal, i suspect, may still not absolve the kanchi mutt of the accumulated stains from this case.. it may indeed take much more than a simple discharge of a court case to wipe the slate clean.

 

[RVR]

Well said Mr.Kunjuppu. I think we should stop discussing the kanchi mutt affair or the murder case in this forum. We can do lot of good work through this forum and we should concentrate more on development of poor and downtrodden people rather than discussing about individuals & their problems

 

[chims]

Well said Kunjuppu; As it is said Ceaser's wife should be above suspicion;

rrvvvr,

may i please request you to exercise a sense of fairness in the kanchi mutt case.

the victim, sankarraman, who was murdered, was after all another tamil brahmin like us.

sankarraman came from the poorer classes, but felt strong enough about his faith and traditions of the mutt, to speak out. no matter what, i do not think, this warrants him being killed.

i suspect that due to the poor circumstance, his widow and daughter do not have the luxury of high powered lawyers to advise them.

i do not wish to discuss the merits of this case, as there are strong feelings about it, and the last thing i want to, is to burst open a potential pandora's box of vitriol.

but, i cannot help feeling sympathy for sankarraman and his destitute family.

in the annals of indian justice, and in the context of a billion people, most often i question the relevance of one single person like sankarraman being killed.

i certainly do not want to uphold a higher than ordinary standards of justice for the kanchi mutt, when i believe under similar circumstances religious folks from other faiths or mutts, would go scot free.

sankarraman was someone of our own kind, and i think we should introspect a bit, before, in the name of mutt sanctity, sacrifice him and his family, to the alter of power and mighty.

under no circumstances should the voice of the poor and the powerless be silenced by the high and mighty.

no matter what the outcome is, this whole episode is fraught with tragedy in many many ways.

pray let us not gloat, over the misfortunes of some poor family, in the name of religious righteousness.

thank you.

ps.. even with an acquittal, i suspect, may still not absolve the kanchi mutt of the accumulated stains from this case.. it may indeed take much more than a simple discharge of a court case to wipe the slate clean.

 

[KRS]

Folks,

Soon after the arrest of the Seers, I was quite involved in various efforts to support the Sri Matham. I also talked to numerous folks on this sad affair. Here are my thoughts:

1. I would not blame the Seers for structuring their reign as Matathipathis with their own particular ways to serve - this was blessed by Maha Periaval.

2. There have been quite a number of service oriented institutions associated with the Sri Matham that are even today serve the public well.

3. Politics was thrust upon the Math. In this respect, I would blame the managers at the Sri Matham for not properly understanding the links between the Sri Matham activities and the political world. In other words, they did not do a proper risk assessment and protect the Gurus and the Sri Matham from that. The then management should shoulder the most blame for this.

4. I do not think I have the proper qualification to assess whether the Seers should resign or not. I only know that we need to stress the fact that the Sri Matham management should be improved and professionalized, so that the nefarious charecters do not take advantage.

5. My thinking is that if Maha Periaval, who had 'divya drishti' (as evidenced by numerous eye witness and first hand accounts), selected the current Seers, I have no hesitation whatsoever to support that.

6. Regarding Sankararaman and family, yes, I do also think that the poor chap lost his life because he was used for a nefarious purpose. Who used him is the main question. It will never come out, I think, because I believe that the State was involved (based on the way the arrest was made, the way drugs were given and videos taken, and the way the arresting police officer's background and subsequent behaviour contributed to the 'non prima facie' of this case).

7. I just can not believe that a child like guru with advanced diabetes would act in a way that it is being alleged by the State. The intent was to destroy a once proud institution and it has succeeded to the most part. We need to reflect on this.

That's all I want to say. I was never close to Sri Matham before this incidence happened and I was neutral in my outlook when I researched this. I can categorically state that we are pointing the fingers at the wrong direction.

Regards,
KRS

 

[kunjuppu]

thanks krs.

excellent summary.

just only reinforces, i think, that it is best politics and religion are kept separate. politics is a fast flowing river with deep undercurrents. the uninitiated will be swept away by their feet in an instant.

re mutt management: i have written elsewhere, i happened to know some of these guys and i would never buy a used car from them.
enough said.

the issue, is how, and who, can throw this coterie out (i presume the bulk of them are still there); and how can these be replaced by honest and capable folks.

personally, i have always kept a distance from all mutts, and also from this thread.

i felt compelled to pen here, only because, i wish to caution against jingoistic statements in case of a court aquittal, from a sense of misguidance from the ardent supporters.

no matter what happens, i think that there are no winners in this episode.

the mutt has presented itself as a spectacle for the ill wishers, and as an embarassment for the well wishers.

thank you.

 

[KRS]

Dear Sri kunjuppu Ji,

You are absolutely correct. Management at Sri Matham, in my opinion was (and perhaps is today) at best naive & incompetent and at worse idiotic & incompetent.

The only way it can change is for the community to carry this message to the Sri Matham administration, name names and replace the idiots responsible. But, it can not happen now as a large part of the community like some here have been turned off.

I only hope that when the case is over, the well wishers of this Sri Matham band together and demand accountability from the ADMINISTRATION. Otherwise as you and Sri Venkatramani Ji have pointed out, the stain will remain forever.

Regards,
KRS

 

[RVR]

Dear KRS ji and Kunjuppu ji,

When Paramacharya was there, he never attempted to raise funds for the mutt. I have seen my father use to give one bag of paddy to the mutt every year out of our farm produce. No body use to collect cash. These sort of small collections were used to feed the visitors to the mutt.

Whenever rich and affluent people bring place full of fruits with cash, Paramacharya use to distribute the same then and there to the poor people who come in the same Q to have his blessing.

Whenever Paramacharya visits places, he use to advice his disciples to do charitable work directly under donor control and will never attempt to bring the money to mutt fold.

Things have changed over the years and like most of the Godman, Kanchi mutt is also flush with funds. When the mutt started raising funds directly, all sort of problems started. All sort of people who possessed ill gotten wealth started associating with mutt probably more closely than people like us ( As you rightly said we were never very close to the mutt particularly its adminstration). Once you collect money, without proper checks and balances, there is possibility of corruption breeding into the system. Systematic compounding of such mistakes have resulted in the present situation.

On the contrary the charitable institutions promoted by disciples of Paramacharya are flourishing well. Once such example is `Sankara Nethralaya' where Dr.Badrinath & his associates are doing a wonderful service to the community.

Will the mutt people make the Deemed University at Kanchi into an autonomous institution leaving both academics and adminstration to eminent people to start with? Will all the followers and well wishers of Kanchi mutt write to the mutt authorities and Acharya to do that?

If the mutt listen to us, a world class university can be built which will also help rebuilding the image of Kanchi mutt.

 

[RVR]

Please see following the article appeared in the Times of India about Kanchi University. The article appeared only yesterday i.e. 7th August 2009. You can view the article by clicking the following website

Engg students beaten up by seniors - Chennai - City - NEWS - The Times of India

This is the state of affairs of the university.

 

[kunjuppu]

here is something, i think, we can learn from universities in north america.

they have the 'orientation' or the 'frosh' week, where the new students are welcomed.

this is organized through the universities. the senior students form committees, plan various activities, picnics, concerts and parties.

all meant to make the new student feel welcome and get familiarized to the university.

if the college management, take the initiative, and help organize such activities. as well as, strict enforcement of penal laws against those who perpetuate ragging, we should see improvements.

ragging is the cowardly way. a group harassing some hapless younger person. it is a shameful act that is found only in india, as far as i know.

thank you.

 

[RVR]

Dear Sri Kunjuppu ji,

In India, Supreme Court has given strictures against ragging and the Institution head can be punished if he fails to prevent ragging.Most of the states have passed strict legislation against ragging and Tamilnadu one among them.Most of the institutions have formed anti-ragging committees within their campuses to escape punishment under the law.

My point is university run by Kanchi Sankara Madam is not bothered about all these things. The administration is in such a poor state of affairs that even ragging is not prevented.

I pray God for better sense to prevail on the administrators

 

[rrvvvr]

Dear all,

Many of you have criticised the gurus for collecting donations and mis-managing the affairs of the mutt. I think we are being unfair to them. They have done their bit to the socieity by opening hospitals, schools, colleges and constructing veda patashalas, goshalas and temples in remote villages. For this they need funds and they have been successful in collecting the required sum. You can't expect them to manage the funds. They have appointed some eminent persons (retd CAs, Bankers, Govt officers etc) to manage the affairs who seem to have taken things for granted. Please remember that these mis-managers are also brahmins like us. They have exploited the freedom given to them by the gurus in good faith. It is not right to ciriticise the gurus for collecting funds or for state of affairs in the university/hospitals run by the mutt.

I know a friend of mine who started an old age home at HYB with all good intentions of helping the desittue old people. Believe you me, it was so difficult collecting funds to run the home each month. People would just turn away from him thinking that he would come to seek funds. So friends it is easy to talk ill of them now but would have taken years (may be a few yugas) for any of us to do all that they have done to the society. That too being brahmins in Tamil nadu. We just need to grant it to them for the way they have weathered themselves of all the politcal and social storms at an unforgiving state like Tamil nadu. Let us put our brains together to seen how we can carry their work forward.

 

[rrvvvr]

Dear all,

whatever the jagadgurus have been accused of- collecting funds, hobnobbing with politicians, opening schools and universities etc., has been done by many other gurus. Sathya Sai Baba, Baba Ramdev, Ramakrishna Ashram, Chinmaya, and even our own Bangaru adigalar. The list is only growing by the day. Can anyone ever imagine Adigalar or Sathya Sai being arrested? In fact Sathya Sai has been accused of many things by his own students (no dis respect intended, I am an admirer of Sai for his services to the society) but still his supporters steadfastly supported him. That support is what our acharyas lacked.

Had the mutt and the acharyas been in any other state of the country, they wouldn't have faced this humiliation. Does anyone remember the constructive role played by Jayendrar in resolving the Ayodhya problem? I doubt if the muslim leaders would have shown the same regard and respect to any other Hindu leader. Why did no other Hindu leader come forward to resolve the issue in the larger interest of the society?I am sure many of them would have been envious of the acharya for the respect he commanded at that time. It required guts to take on the challenge to resolve such a sensitive issue. A guru who was kept in the highest esteem by all sections of the society in all corners of the country had been let down by his own people in his own land. That is the irorny of the mutt.

 

[kunjuppu]

rrvvvr,

please correct me if i am wrong.

i think that kanchi mutt is under a cloud, primarily because of the death of sankarraman.

the other stuff that you mention ie collecting funds, hobnobbing with politicians, opening schools and universities etc., if done well may be an issue with some folks, but not big enough, i think, to explode to this level of disapproval.

the irony of this all, is that sankarraman,from what it appears to me, was a poor brahmin, obsessed with the mutt, and what he thought, was deviation from its traditional roles.

such gadflies, i agree, can be bothersome, and can cause a lot of unfavourable publicity. still, i think, getting killed for such attitude is going a bit too far.

i think, justice, should be fair, and not biased against the poor and the powerless. in this case, i cannot fathom, where justice ends and politics begins. so murky, it appears to me.

to sum up, i think, it is the murder charge surrounding the mutt, that has given it, the primary black mark. the reputation of other activities could be debated or a matter of views, but definitely not serious enough for such a strong censure.

also, i think, we cannot always blame our assistants for our travail. if one ventures into a field, one should pick able lieutenants to manage and execute. their ineptness is a reflection on the boss' ability to manage. i find it difficult that many troubles could be also attributed to 'mis-managers'.

finally, as i understand from the tone of your note, that even if other mutts were in similar situations, the mutt followers would have moved heaven and earth to protect their mutt of choice. true. but, i think, the jury is still out, if the kanchi oriented TBs should have behaved in the same manner.

thank you.

 

[RVR]

[QUOTE=rrvvvr;24453]Dear all,

whatever the jagadgurus have been accused of- collecting funds, hobnobbing with politicians, opening schools and universities etc., has been done by many other gurus. Sathya Sai Baba, Baba Ramdev, Ramakrishna Ashram, Chinmaya, and even our own Bangaru adigalar. The list is only growing by the day. Can anyone ever imagine Adigalar or Sathya Sai being arrested? In fact Sathya Sai has been accused of many things by his own students (no dis respect intended, I am an admirer of Sai for his services to the society) but still his supporters steadfastly supported him. That support is what our acharyas lacked.

We are concerned only with Kanchi mutt and its administration including various institutions run by it. Let us not talk about other Godman. Kanchi mutt has a tradition built by several predecessors of the present Acharyas and the same has been tarnished in no time. Since I am a follower of Kanchi mutt, I am writing this out of pain. Most of the Godman amaze wealth by all sort of means and to cover their misdeeds indulge in some charitable activities. Why Godman amaze billions of dollars. Great carnatic music composer Thyagayya composed a song starting `Nidhi Sala Sugama'. He prefered Lord Rama's feet than material benefits offered by the King. We keep such people at the highest esteem. Ramakrishna Mutt and Chinmaya Mutt doesn't indulge in black magic activities and their institutions are administered much better than the institutions run by Kanchi mutt.Whatever points we are raising against Kanchi mutt are only to correct their mistakes. Inspite of our objections, if the misdeeds continue, it will be very sad.

Had the mutt and the acharyas been in any other state of the country, they wouldn't have faced this humiliation. Does anyone remember the constructive role played by Jayendrar in resolving the Ayodhya problem? I doubt if the muslim leaders would have shown the same regard and respect to any other Hindu leader. Why did no other Hindu leader come forward to resolve the issue in the larger interest of the society?I am sure many of them would have been envious of the acharya for the respect he commanded at that time. It required guts to take on the challenge to resolve such a sensitive issue. A guru who was kept in the highest esteem by all sections of the society in all corners of the country had been let down by his own people in his own land. That is the irorny of the mutt.[/QUOTE]

Who invited this humiliation? Are we responsible for it? Do you think the Ayodhya problem is resolved by the Acharya? Because Acharya wanted to make some political mileage, he got involved in the Ayodhya mess. Politicians irrespective of party affliation, don't want the Ayodhya issue resolved for their own ulterior motives. Acharya should have thought about it and should have avoided playing in to their hands. Both Hindu as well as Muslim organisations refused to accept his suggestions.

Indira Gandhi visited Paramacharya when she lost power. But Paramacharya didn't utter a single word to her and avoided talking about politics. He kept a distance from these politicians and never gave any VIP treatment. So many charitable instituions are operating in the country with the blessings of Paramacharya. Sankara Nethralaya one such Institution started by Dr.Badrinath with the blessings of Paramacharya. It is running very efficiently as an autonomous institution. But institutions run under the direct control of the Kanchi mutt has poor image among public.

We have to have a professional approach in supporting good things and at the same time criticise wrong doings. If we don't criticise wrong doings, we are deviating from the path of dharma. Personally Bhisma & Drona are good people but they fought for a wrong cause. Pandavas won because they didn't deviate from the path of dharma. Sri KRS, Sri Kunjuppu & me are only pointing out the mistakes of Kanchi Mutt affairs and if such mistakes are corrected, we will be very happy. We have nothing against the mutt and the present Acharyas

 

[rrvvvr]

Dear Mr Venkataramani,

"who invited this humiliation? Acharya wanted political mileage" is what you said. Nothing can be more funny than this. I din't know which elelction he wanted to contest to get political mileage. All that he vied for must have been some politcal support for the mutt to survive and grow in a state where Krishnasamy, Thol thru and DK goons call the shots.He may not have resolved the Ayodhya issue, but made an earnest attempt. I am certainly not for religious leaders hobnobbing with politicans but that is the order of the day. I feel he could have maintained certain distance but I emphathise with him for the political conditions in the state. It is unfair for us to compare him with Paramacharya. Why don't poeple compare the paramacharya with his 67 predecessors who lived a further saintly life than him? Paramacharya and Jayendrar have lived in different times. I don't think it was great of him to keep mum for an hour when the Prime Minister visits to seek his blessing. He could have used the opportunity to talk to her about the welfare of the society and politely dissuaded any politcal discussion. Having come to seek his blessings the Prime Minister would have honoured every word the acharya spoke. To my mind, he lost an opportunity to do something good for the society. I don't think Sathya Sai or Baba Ramdev would do this. As peetadhi pathis they have a responsibility towards the society. Why should they shy away from politicans? They must use their influence for the good of the society. I fully support the endeavours of Jayendrar. It is unfortunate that he has been let down by his coterie of advisors and trusted managers of institutions that he has created. Poor man has not graduated from any B school to learn the nuances of managing money minded gunks who exploited his influence and trust. And all of them were brahmins, mind you. I think he has learnt his lesson well and has been demonstraing it in the las few years. Guys, give him a break. I really liked the way you concluded your argument by saying that you have nothing against the acharyas after showering a barrage of criticsm against their activities.

Dear Mr Kunjuppu,

It would be far fetched to imagine that a man of Acharyas stature would have murdered a hapless brahmin like Shankara raman. Shankara raman must have had his grouse against the guru or his coterie, but there are so many others who dislike the acharya even without knowing what he actually does. He should then be going on a killing spree eleminating all such individuals. It would fair to conclude that Shankararaman's sentiments were exploited by some elements to fix the Acharyas, which I am sure they wouldn't succeed in.

Kanchi mutt is a great institution and has initiated some purposeful ventures to make a difference to the society. Today poeple in south may not know where the other mutts are located but all poeple in North know where Kanchi mutt is located. Let us come out with some good suggestions to make the purpose meet its ends rather than waste our time criticising the gurus for their worldly errors, ignoring their great intellectual greatness.

 

[RVR]

Personally I am a devotee of Kanchi mutt but it doesn't mean I have to blindly accept whatever they do. I would like to criticise the mutt whenever I feel it is going in the wrong direction.

There may be other devotees who will accept blindly whatever the mutt do. They may not like to criticise the mutt even if they go wrong.

All our criticism isof internal nature and I earnestly feel that such criticism has to be encouraged for better administration of the mutt affairs.

If people think that cricism is unwarranted, then I don't mind stopping at this point