A tiny step towards realisation of a dream

Well, the प्रवचन (Discourses) of Sri Bhadragiri Achyutadas had a profound influence on me. The greatest tribute that I could give him was to aspire to become a Pravachanakara myself. This aspiration was in me for many years and and I was also reasonably prepared to give a discourse on few पुराण 's that I had read. Yet, I could not commence, as there was no one to listen to my discourse. 

नीचै: गच्चति उपरि च दशा चक्रनेमी क्रमेण [the spokes of wheel which has gone down will come up in due course of time] observed Kalidas in his classic मेघदूतं .

Now that I am leading practice of Yoga and Surya Namaskara near my house, I calculated that those who come there to practice, would be compelled to listen to my experiments on them with these discourses. Further, I tested the waters by also teaching them विष्णु सहस्रनाम and विकृति संवत्सरस्य पंचांग श्रवण . The response was not bad. 

After few days, I started with संक्षेप रामायण  spread on 3 days. As the shloka's and its meaning was with me, there was no difficulty in the proceedings. On the concluding day, I summoned enough courage to crack a joke trying to imitate Sri Achyutadasa. I was expecting a roaring laughter from my limited audience but instead saw their faces which were reaction less! 

Well, I have a long way to go......          

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A must read book 'Apaschimaha Paschime'

'अपश्चिम: पश्चिमे'  is the latest book I have read and undoubtedly a very impressive one. It is unique in concept and presentation and a wholesome entertainer. Moreover, it is written in simple and easy to understand Samskrit.   

     It is a narration of a visit to America. कति कवय: ? कति कृतय: ? {How many poets? How many books?}  Do we need yet another traveloge? you may ask. 

     I must say an affirmative YES and am sure you will also agree due to the following reasons and once you read the book.

    It is an account of efforts made by the author to popularise samskrit in distant America in 1997. The author Dr H R Vishwasa, a samskrit scholar himself, is an unsung hero who has dedicated his life to promote samskrit. The selfless efforts made by like minded people in reviving the sacred language through an organisation "Samskrita Bharathi" is phenomenal. Revolutionary ideas of Samskrita Bharathi like 'Speak Samskrit in 10 days' or 'Samskrit through Correspondence' and innumerable publications in Samskrit have dramatically improved the popularity of samskrit. The graph of samskrit is certainly on an upswing. The visit to America was in this direction to run few "Sambhashana shibira's"

     The uniqueness of the book is that it is in very simple and easy to understand samskrit. There are many incidents frequently cropping up in the narration which made me to laugh at varying degrees. The inherent wit and humour of the author is manifest in the book. The preface is by renowned scholar Vempati Kutumba Shastry, former Director of Rashtriya Samskrita Samsthanam. The gist is this book is in 'must read' category. [Published by Samskrit Bharathi, Mata Mandir Galli, Jhandewala, New Delhi-110055. Pages: 97  (Price Rs.35 for the first print which is now sold out. I was just lucky to snatch one of the few copies which were available. New Print is in the process and likely to be published in a month's time, I learnt).