Mahaswami and the Nation were inseparable: a unique advaita!
According to Hindu
calendar, the star Anuradha (Anusham) falling in Vaikasi (May-June) is the
janma nakshtram of Kanchi Mahaswami (Shri Chandrashekarendra Saraswathi—1894-1994). This year June 2 is the birthday of that
great saint. Following are a few reminiscences reflecting on his concern for
society, Hindu consolidation and points of national honour;
· Two castes of Hindu society were in conflict
and violence erupted in the year 1953 at Mudhukulathoor, Ramanathapuram
District. Many houses were damaged and
people of both castes suffered much. On reading the news about the sufferings
of families belonging to both the castes, Mahaswami dispatched relief material
to the village. He could not bear Hindu society being violently divided.
· Last week Supreme Court sought the opinion of the
Centre and the states on whether our country should be called India or Bharat,
while dealing with a petition on the subject.
Once, a senior RSS pracharak posed a similar question to the Mahaswami: ‘some
people say that India was born on 1947; a few call this nation a sub-continent
and refuse to call it a nation; what is
the fact?’ The Mahaswami recited this sloka from Vishnupuranam which is 3000
years old: ‘Uttaram yad samudrasya, himadres chaiva dakshinam, varsham tat
Baratham naama, Barathi yatra santatihi’
(The land south of Himalayas and North of the ocean is Bharat. The
people are Bharatis).
· The
Constituent Assembly of India was in the process of drafting the Constitution
of India. Mahaswami invited a few
members of the Assembly known to him and engaged them in a discussion. At the end of the discussion the members were
convinced that Go-mata worshipped by crores of Hindus who believe that all the
deities of the Hindu pantheon reside in
the cow and therefore killing of the cow should not continue in independent
India. It is in this background that we
find total ban on cow slaughter as part of the Directive Principles of State Policy in our Constitution.
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