Author:gsr

Circa 1909, the drama company Sumanorama Sabhā (or Suguṇavilāsa Sabhā) of Bellary arrived in Bangalore. Kolachalam Srinivasa Rao was the director of that drama company. He was an advocate. It was Sāhukār Netkallappa[1] who helped the company by making arrangements for them in Bangalore.

Another noteworthy element visible in Kathā-sarit-sāgara is the amiability within society - even those days there were religions, castes, occupations, and good and bad people; but they did not clash due to these differences; even the principles of Buddhism which are termed Cārvāka or Nāstika (atheist), merged with Hindu traditions like milk and water. Within the same families there were people who followed different paths; wonder why people should brawl over this! What do we have to profit from bickering over which god is great?

Gratification

On the day the gopura work was completed, the kalaśa was established, and the samprokṣaṇā was done, one should have seen Sajjan Rao. He was the epitome of gratification; a man in supreme bliss. An essential part of human life is that bliss. One has to live for such pure joy. Fortunate are those that experience such joy.

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Sajjan Rao graced my house one day afternoon at around three. I received him and after he sat down, I asked him, “What’s this rāyare – you’ve come in this sunshine? It is so hot!”

My intention here is to write about my Ātma-gurus. Ātma-guru can mean several things: “The teacher of my choice”, “The teacher who taught me about the Ātman”, “The teacher of prime importance” etc. The meaning that I have in my mind is: “favorite teacher”. It is not that I found him because I specifically searched for him. Neither did I specifically evaluate his capabilities and hence acquainted myself to him. It is purely out of luck that we got to know each other.