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V.Balasubramani
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Young man on an epic journey
If you happen to wake up at 6 in the morning and go for a jog near Llyods Road, chances are that you’d spot Dushyanth Sridhar, wearing a panchakacham and sporting a helmet, cycling, an activity the 28-year-old is passionate about.
He’s probably on his way to a Thirupaavai upanyasam. Not to attend but deliver it. This young upanyasakar has been making waves in the city thanks to his ‘modern interpretation’ of the Vedas and the Puranas.
While his audience comprises the young and the old, his reach through mass media like the TV and the Internet primarily draws the youth. “To reach out to the younger generation, you have to address them in a language they understand,” he says. The examples he quotes are contemporary — there could be references to Salman Khan, science and Harry Potter — but the content is steeped in philosophy.
He conducts atleast 200 discourses a year and about 70 of them are lined up in the Margazhi season. “The response to my Thirupaavai discourses — which are held early in the morning — has been quite heartening,” says Dushyanth, who is well-versed in the Sri Bhashyam, Gita Bhashyam, Rahasya-traya Saram and Bhagavad Vishayam.
Dushyanth’s love for philosophy began at an early age; when he was five, he memorised the Dayasathakam which his mother was learning. “When growing up, I was very interested in elocution competitions but never did I think that I’d become an upanyasakar,” he says. “We were in Bangalore and had no connection with discourses; in fact, my mother knew very little of Sanskrit and my father had never listened to a upanyasam before.”
Things changed when he went to BITS Pilani to pursue a degree in chemical engineering. “I was asked to talk about Seetha Kalyanam; I struggled to get the Tamil words right. I thought that I did a shoddy job.”
But his dean and principal didn’t think so. They called him aside and said that it was fantastic. Soon, he was asked to deliver lectures on other topics — which meant that he had to study and research on them.
Read more at: Young man on an epic journey - The Hindu
If you happen to wake up at 6 in the morning and go for a jog near Llyods Road, chances are that you’d spot Dushyanth Sridhar, wearing a panchakacham and sporting a helmet, cycling, an activity the 28-year-old is passionate about.
He’s probably on his way to a Thirupaavai upanyasam. Not to attend but deliver it. This young upanyasakar has been making waves in the city thanks to his ‘modern interpretation’ of the Vedas and the Puranas.
While his audience comprises the young and the old, his reach through mass media like the TV and the Internet primarily draws the youth. “To reach out to the younger generation, you have to address them in a language they understand,” he says. The examples he quotes are contemporary — there could be references to Salman Khan, science and Harry Potter — but the content is steeped in philosophy.
He conducts atleast 200 discourses a year and about 70 of them are lined up in the Margazhi season. “The response to my Thirupaavai discourses — which are held early in the morning — has been quite heartening,” says Dushyanth, who is well-versed in the Sri Bhashyam, Gita Bhashyam, Rahasya-traya Saram and Bhagavad Vishayam.
Dushyanth’s love for philosophy began at an early age; when he was five, he memorised the Dayasathakam which his mother was learning. “When growing up, I was very interested in elocution competitions but never did I think that I’d become an upanyasakar,” he says. “We were in Bangalore and had no connection with discourses; in fact, my mother knew very little of Sanskrit and my father had never listened to a upanyasam before.”
Things changed when he went to BITS Pilani to pursue a degree in chemical engineering. “I was asked to talk about Seetha Kalyanam; I struggled to get the Tamil words right. I thought that I did a shoddy job.”
But his dean and principal didn’t think so. They called him aside and said that it was fantastic. Soon, he was asked to deliver lectures on other topics — which meant that he had to study and research on them.
Read more at: Young man on an epic journey - The Hindu
