This story was first published in THE WEEK issue dated April 6, 2003
His scorecard reads 50 not out. It has been a fine innings for the pontiff of the Kanchi Kamakoti mutt, who when 17 became Shankaracharya in 1954.
Jayendra Saraswati is no novice when it comes to cricket either. As a 14-year-old, he played the game with passion in the bylanes of Villupuram and Thiruvadaimarudur in Tanj avur, where he had enrolled for vedic education. Three years later, he was batting on a different pitch having been instated as the 69th acharya of the Kanchi mutt by his predecessor Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami (Paramacharya). The start of year-long festivities to mark the golden jubilee celebrations got underway on March 22, the day he was instated, at Chennai with Nepal's King Gyanendra as chief guest.
The Shankaracharya has handled socio-religious issues and political googlies with aplomb. In November 2000, he visited Leh to bless the soldiers. Few godmen have dared to tread on controversial territory, such as Ayodhya, as the Shankaracharya has. "The excavation at Ayodhya set a wrong precedent," he says. "People in other parts of the country could petition the court for similar excavations at other spots. It will lead to turmoil."
The "man of God" was disappointed when his peace initiatives against communal conflicts lost out to fundamentalist sloganeering. "We must not fight in the name of religion and culture," he says. "The nation ought to be supreme for all." The Shankaracharya speaks his mind, even if it is not always well received. The outspoken pontiff was "a lean and timid lad" recalls his uncle Viswanathan.
Born M. Subramaniam, he broke his mother Saraswathi's heart when he decided to take up sanyas. "She would
weep uncontrollably atfunctions," says the Shankaracharya's brother, Ramakrishna Iyer. "When there was a marriage in the family she would cry and tell others how she too would have had a daughter-in-law if Subramaniam had not become an ascetic."
It was Subramaniam's father, Mahadeva Iyer, employed with South Indian Railway's loco department, who set him on the vedic path. Mahadeva's ancestors were well-versed in the Vedas and the family was bound by strict vedic traditions. "My parents, accompanied by great-grandfather Veerasami Ganapati and my brother, worshipped at all the famous temples in the country before he took sanyas," says Ramakrishna. "They even visited the Taj Mahal as my brother would not be able to see it after becoming an ascetic."
As head of the Kanchi mutt, the Shankaracharya has carried out several projects. He has tried to speed up social welfare measures and stresses "there can be no social service without a realisation of God". Under his guidance, the vimanam atop the sanctum sanctorum of Sri Kamakshi Amman temple at Kalady, Kerala, where Sri Adi Sankara was born, was gold-plated. The Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Viswa Maha Vidyalaya and the Jayendra Saraswati Ayurvedic College and Hospital in Nazarethpet, and the Sankaradeva Nethralaya in Guwahati were also established. He visited Kailash-Manasarovar in Tibet, becoming the first Shankaracharya after Adi Sankara to visit it.
His visits to China, Bangladesh and his three padayatras from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Nepal—a first by
a monk—won him scores of devotees, Vijayendra Saraswati Swamigal, who was made the 70th pontiff of the mutt in 1983 at 13 by Jayendra Sarawati, recalls how as a boy, he first heard of his predecessor at Thandalam village. The Shankaracharya's day begins at 4 a.m. Through the day he meets devotees, offers puja and deals with his correspondence personally. He calls it a day at 10 p.m. or sometimes later. He attributes his energy to "guru kataksham (guru's blessings), yoga and diet, in that order".
A mediapersons' delight, the sage seems keen to do all he can to reach out to and I tell him what the issues of the common man are." But is there a place for saints in politics? "They need us, just as we need them to work for the betterment of the nation," says the jet-setting pontiff whose list of devotees include President Abdul Kalam, Gyanendra, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and Vice President Bhairon Singh Sekhawat, who were at the Chennai celebrations, and former cricketer K. Srikkanth. "Sometimes they come here, sometimes I go there (the Centre)."
The Shankaracharyahasbeenkeen to carry out the vision of his guru who referred to him as Kriya Shakthi (man
The Shankaracharya's day begins at 4 a.m. Through the day he meets devotees, otters puja and deals with correspondence personally.
He even engaged a Hindi tutor and bowled over audiences in north India with his Hindi discourses.
I mention that I sighted former AIADMK minister Thambidurai exiting the Shankaracharya's room a few minutes ago andhe smiles. "He is just another devotee," he says. "They come to us with their issues, seek blessings."
He has reached out to millions of devotees in remote villages and has lived a spartan life. The outer room, where he meets devotees, is crammed with the fruits, flowers, vegetables and garlands offered to him, but he keeps nothing for himself. His saffron coloured van often stops at villages to unload and distribute the gifts received.
And for those who thought saints are only capable of philosophical discourses, the Shankaracharya offers a rethink. Ever so often, he has been heard laughing heartily at his own one-liners or at a joke made by a disciple. Under the Shankaracharya, the Kamakoti Peetham, which runs hospitals, educational institutions and charitable trusts, has become a beehive of socio-religious renaissance. He believes that education broadens one's perspective and helps induce change.
He says he disapproves of the US going to war against Iraq. The Shankaracharya keeps in touch with global events through close associates and many of the volunteers at the mutt are former bureaucrats, retired journalists and UN diplomats. He has a computer-equipped team to accompany him on tours. "I do not review the past, but look forward to the present," he says. "With my guru's blessings I am able to cope with whatever comes my way."