Profiles

Out of my grandfathers, hasn’t it been evident that my third grandfather Sheenanna was very dear to me? But when it comes to him, will I be able to talk about every facet of his nature without hiding anything? Is it respectable? On the other hand, would it be appropriate if I tell only tell about his acceptable behaviour and skip the rest? Forget about being appropriate; will the readers benefit as much as they would have by my writings? This is the apprehension I have.

Every human has flaws, however small or big.

Dṛṣṭaṃ kimapi loke'smin

Here is a verse composed by Naraṣiñyācārya, dedicated towards his teacher.

ಗೋಪೀನಾಥಗುರಂ ವಂದೇ

ಗೋಪೀಚಂದನಧಾರಿಣಮ್ |

ಅಂಗಾರತುಳಸೀಯುಕ್ತಂ

ಆರ್ದ್ರಚಿಕ್ಕಪಟಾನ್ವಿತಮ್ ||

I bow down to my teacher Gopīnathācārya, who bears Gopī-candana, adorned with Aṅgāra[1] and Tulasī[2], covered by small wet cloth.

‘Kamala Lectures’

In 1926, the Culcutta University invited Srinivasa Sastri to deliver talks as a part of the Kamala Lectures series. The word ‘Kamala’ that appears in the title of the lecture series was the name of the daughter of Ashutosh Mukherjee, the Vice Chancellor of the University. He had initiated the series of endowment lectures and had donated for the purpose. As per the rules of the series, the person invited to deliver lectures at the Culcutta University was to deliver the same series at another university in the country.

Rajaji’s words of advice

Sixty-seventy years ago, the erudite scholars of the era were blessed with an abundant vocabulary. Unfortunately, the themes on which this prowess was to be applied were not extraordinary. Shri. Tiruvengadayya of Mulbagal was a scholar in Telugu. He was an expert and an enthusiast when it comes to teaching classical poetry; pure in conduct; a true devotee of the Almighty.  He was the headmaster of the Telugu middle school.

My Suggestions

Once, there was a certain shortcoming in the functioning of the Servants of India Society. Sastri was the head of the organization. The English weekly “Servants of India” which was run by the society was lacking in funds. It was my desire to somehow keep the magazine running and let it survive. I therefore penned down a few suggestions on a sheet of paper and included it in a letter addressed to Sastri. My suggestions were as follows