My Ātma-guru: N Narasimha Murthy (Part 1)
[[My Ātma-guru: N Narasimha Murthy (Part 1) Source: prekshaa]]
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. I was influenced by him and I thought to myself that I should see such a noble person as a teacher. If I had revealed this to him, he would have disagreed with me outrightly. I considered him as a teacher, but he never treated me like a student.
His name is N Narasimha Murthy.
Around 1907-08, I was living in Chamarajpet (Bangalore) at my in-laws house. The house was on the 3rd cross, between 2nd and 3rd main roads. That house was famous for music and harikatha. In those days, Narasimha Murthy lived on the 4th main road of Chamrajpet. He was working at the secretariat. His father had arranged a horse drawn carriage to facilitate the daily commute to his place of work. The carriage vehicle and the horses were a sight to behold.
One of the days at around 10 AM, Narasimha Murthy routinely sat in the carriage vehicle and his turban that he wore around his head, fell down. In those days, the government employees did not goto the office without a head turban. What could Murthy do? Moreover, he did not know to tie the turban. However, he was acquainted with my in-laws family. Being a place where music was taught, it occurred to Murthy that there would always be some high society person who would know how to tie a turban. He stopped the vehicle near our house, got down from the vehicle, and requested: “can someone please tie my turban”. There were some “turban experts”^(^([1])). They tied the turban beautifully and fastened the turban with pins at appropriate places to ensure that it did not come out again. Murthy, who seemed as joyous as the group of gods who found nectar after churning the milky ocean, conveyed his gratitude and left.
Precedent
The turban expert who helped Murthy felt thankful for being able to help. They also jokingly conversed amongst themselves: “What a scholar! What a big-shot! Despite passing MA, BL, and being so famous, he could not tie his own turban.”
At that time, Narasimha Murthy and I were not acquainted with each other. I had only seen him from a distance.
Narasimha Murthy’s father was from Nanjangud and his name was Subbarao. He had made his name as a lawyer in Srirangapatna. Murthy’s brother N Subbarao, earned fame during his tenure as the vice chancellor of Mysore University. His sister Shrimathi Kaveramma is married to Benne Subbarao, son of Benne Govindappa – who is both rich and virtuous. In this essay, I might remember these great people again. Hence, I have mentioned their names here.
Subbarao’s friend by the name of Saligrama Subbarao, was working as a Government Pleader^(^([2])). He was a famous lawyer. Saligrama Subbarao and Nanjangud Subbarao regularly visited M Srinivas Iyengar who served as the editor for the “Mysore Standard” newspaper. During one of those visits, Srinivas Iyengar introduced me to both Subbaraos. Since both I and Nanajangud Subbarao lived across each other’s house in 4th Main Road of Chamarajpet, this provided an opportunity for our relationship to grow and mature.
Now let us turn to 1909-10. Narasimha Murthy had given a discourse supported by some literary group.The discourse was about the [William Makepeace] Thackeray – foremost among english novelists. This was published in the “Standard” newspaper. I conveyed my appreciation to Murthy. That was the first time he spoke to me for a couple of minutes. He asked me:
Murthy: What do you do now?
Me: Whatever Thackeray did then.
Murthy: What do you mean by that?
Me: Thackeray had got a job as a correspondent in a Paris newspaper. He got married based on that. After a couple of months, the newspaper stopped. After that, he struggled to find a job. I started a family based on the job security provided by “Suryodaya” paper. The newspaper stopped. Now, I am struggling to find a job.
I still cannot forget Murthy’s laughter when he heard this statement. He repeatedly recalled this incident among his friends and laughed at it.
Friends’ Circle
I got enormous moral support from Narasimha Murthy when I started “Karnataka” - a biweekly magazine in 1912. He introduced me to his friends with a celebratory enthusiasm. His circle of friends was pretty large. The foremost among his friends were advocate MJ Varadacharya, advocate Suryaprakasham, Thiruvengadam Mudaliyar, CS Ananthapadmanabha Iyer, K Bhimrao, Dr. Kunhi Kannan. All these people had immense respect and love for Murthy.
Writings
By this time, Murthy had already authored a couple of erudite articles. One of the articles that I recall was titled “theory of sovereignty”, this was an essay in English. In that essay, he had consolidated the opinion of western philosophers such as [John] Austin^(^([3])), [John Stuart] Mill, [Thomas] Hobbes, [John] Locke, [Johann Kaspar] Bluntschli etc. He also had analyzed the arguments and counter-arguments of the aforementioned philosophers. This was published as a three or four part essay in “Mysore Review” – A top-tier monthly publication. I had fallen in love with the erudition, clarity of arguments, and conjunctive approach exhibited in that essay. I would be grateful if someone could give me an essay with such qualities.
Murthy was not a prolific writer. He did not speak too much either. When it came to public speaking, he experienced stage fear. People who wanted to benefit from his scholarship, had to be attentive and ask questions in an informal manner. Then he used to answer. He quoted various books that were relevant to the topic and suggested: “please read these books”. He also summarized the arguments and counter-arguments presented in these books. This way the question would be examined from different points of views and ultimately the person who had the doubt would arrive at the conclusion by himself/herself. This was Murthy’s mastery of exposition of “for and against” points of views. I would like to think that I was influenced by this mastery to a certain extent. Irrespective of the size of the lake, the amount of water that one can bring depends on the size of the pitcher one possesses.
This is the first part of the translation of the second essay in D V Gundappa’s magnum-opus Jnapakachitrashaale (Volume 7) – Hrudaya Sampannaru. Edited by Raghavendra G S.
Footnotes
^(^([1]))ರುಮಾಲು ರಸಿಕರು in original which would literally mean “turban connoisseurs”.
^(^([2]))Not too different from a lawyer, under section 2 (7) in Civil Procedure Code 1908, who is appointed by the State Government to perform all or any of the functions expressly imposed, by Civil Procedure Code 1908, on the Government Pleader and also any pleader acting under the directions of the Government Pleader.
^(^([3]))Not to be confused with John Langshaw Austin.
My Ātma-guru: N Narasimha Murthy (Part 2)
[[My Ātma-guru: N Narasimha Murthy (Part 2) Source: prekshaa]]
Guidance
Most of the major works that I can claim to have read in the areas of political science and economics were suggested by Murthy. He lent his personal copy of the book “Edmund Burke: A Historical Study” by the scholar John Marle and asked me to read it. He also told me that he would test my understanding in that. Similarly, he made me read the works of [William Ewart] Gladstone, [Richard] Cobden, and [William] Pitt (both father and son). For economics, he taught me the works of [Alfred] Marshall, [William Staley] Jevons, [Edwin Robert Anderson] Seligman, [John Stuart] Mill. Additionally, he also taught the works of [John] Austin, James Bryce.
Murthy had a deep understanding in analysis of literature and philosophy. MG Varadhacharya, Murthy, and I used to analyse the works of great english poets. Murthy showed me the beauty of Cardinal Neumann’s style. Similarly, Murthy also kindled my interest in the works of [Sigmund] Freud, [James] Hutton, [Henry Cuthbert?] Bazett.
Drama Troupe
In those days there was an organization by the name amateur drama troupe. Murthy was enthusiastic about that organization. Murthy was extremely excited whenever MG Varadacharya, Suryaprakasham, Raghavacharya, K Bhimarao, or V Venkatacharya wore the drama costumes. They used to enact english plays: majority of them were Shakespeare’s plays. Suryaprakasham grew a beard. He looked a bit scary with spectacles; Murthy joked that Suryaprakasham is by nature fit to play the Ghost’s part (Ghost) in Hamlet.
Murthy - Suryaprakasham
I recall a funny incident whenever Suryaprakasham’s name comes to my mind.
After working at the secretariat for some time, Murthy worked as the administrative officer^(^([1])) at the cantonment court. In those days, Thirumal Iyengar was the Cantonment district judge. The court building was being repaired. During the construction, amidst all the urgency of bringing down the walls, moving the bricks etc. workers shouted at each other. This caused a lot of disturbance for activities inside the court. Judge Thirumal Iyengar wanted to stop the disturbance and indicated this to Murthy. Murthy called the workers and literally begged with folded hands, “Please, I request you to stop…. “ .
Workers used to tell “No sir, it is almost complete” and continued their business as usual. After half an hour, Suryaprakasham who was arguing in the court came to Murthy’s office and complained about the noise.
“Sir, I have told them repeatedly – yet they do not listen” Suryaprakasham replied: “I will tell them” and he went to the construction site and in telugu he told
“Sons of bitches” and as he was mimicking kicking them, the workers ran away from the site.
“Did you see that Murthy, that is the way to tell them”
Murthy and Suryaprakasham used to recall this story many times and shared a good laugh.
Rejection of Promotion
Ramayya Punja was serving as the cantonment district judge. He had a lot of respect and affection for Murthy. Efforts were underway to promote Murthy to a Munsiff or Sub Judge post whenever there was a vacancy in Bellary or some other place. Ramayya Punja exclaimed “What a lunatic! He does not want to get promoted!” and he forced Murthy again. Following was Murthy’s response:
Will I be able to find a Varadacharya, Bhima Rao, or Gundappa in Bellary or Madikeri? My Happiness lies in their friendship and the conversations I share with them. Will I be able to get this happiness from a promotion?
When [Sir Stuart] Fraser was the Resident of Mysore, Murthy was working at the Resident Judicial Office. To arrive at a judgement for pending cases, Murthy’s job was to provide relevant documents for and against the petitions. These documents were very helpful to arrive at a final judgement. Fraser observed this and was appreciative of Murthy’s expertise in law. He also became aware of Murthy’s knowledge of English literature and biographies. When Fraser retired from work and he was leaving Bangalore, as a token of appreciation he gifted some books to Murthy. Among the books that were gifted, I recall that there were philosopher Mill’s invaluable books on economics and other invaluable books. Some of these books were eventually gifted to our GIPA library.
Interest in Music
One evening, Narasimha Murthy and I came near Ahmed buildings, located east of Chickpete. We had coffee in Appanna’s hindu restaurant. Within 20 yards from where we were, on the opposite side of the road, we saw a house decorated with pandals, buntings, and a gathering of crowds. Murthy went there and enquired someone:
“What is happening here”
“Marriage sir”
“Will there be music?”
“Yes sir, it will be there”
“Who is performing”
“Taayappa is singing sir”
“Can we also come?”
“Definitely, you are most welcome, we are very happy to have you”
At the same time, one of our acquaintances from Chamarajpet also came to that place. Murthy told them:
“Please inform my house and his house, both of them are located opposite to each other, that we will be late.”
We left our bicycles in Appana’s hotel, we roamed around for sometime and went to the marriage hall at 8 PM. People were still making their way in. We asked someone in the hall: “at what time the performance is scheduled to start”? He said: “Sir, we are businessmen. How can we come here before we close our business for the day?”
Taayappa’s Singing
It was 9 PM by the time Taayappa came and started the concert. We went out again and satisfied our hunger. That night’s performance was unforgettable. Around 12, when Taayappa sang “tera tīyaga rādā” in “Gauḻīpantu” raga, we forgot the world around us. We were completely immersed in the raga. We were completely absorbed by the emotions invoked by the raga. That is the real experience of raga. Even if such an experience lasts only for ten minutes, it lives on forever. We describe our worldly experience as fleeting, and as though they are worthless. But, those who listened to ten minutes of that gauḻīpantu raga, to them the experience will last a 100 years. In that Kṛti, Tyāgarāja pleads and prays: “Oh god, blinded by ego and jealousy, I am unable to see the truth. Can you not remove those curtains?” This is the beauty of great art forms.
This is the second part of the translation of the second essay in D V Gundappa’s magnum-opus Jnapakachitrashaale (Volume 7) – Hrudaya Sampannaru. Edited by Raghavendra G S.
Footnotes
^(^([1]))Sheristadar (ಶಿರಸ್ತೇದಾರ್).
My Ātma-guru: N Narasimha Murthy (Part 3)
[[My Ātma-guru: N Narasimha Murthy (Part 3) Source: prekshaa]]
Amaldar^(^([1])) Sitaramayya
Another instance.
Both of us were walking on the 3rd cross road of Basavanagudi. We heard someone singing when we came near a house. We stood there for a second and listened to the song. We do not know whose house it was. As I was looking around to ask someone, Murthy knocked on the door. Someone opened the door and asked
“Aren’t you Srirangapatna Subbarao’s son?”
Murthy then recollected that the person who opened the door was Sitaramayya, a former amaldar of Srirangapatna. Both of them recalled some old memories. Both of us were seated in the hall. The person who was singing was Sitaramiah’s son Gangadharayya. One of his brothers was playing the violin and the other was playing the mridangam. Two other relatives were also present. They were Sanketis. Sitaramayya had great interest towards music. He used to organize music concerts every week by naming it “bhajans”. That day, he sang well.
For sometime, we used to go there every week. I narrated this story to show Murthy’s love for music.
A Vidwan
Once, I had been to Mysore during the Dasara festival season. One afternoon, I went to Murthy’s home. I stood near the main door and called out his name, “Murthy!”. At the same time, someone else came to his house too. I had worn my dhoti appropriately. He stared at me from head to toe and vice versa a few times and asked
Him: Are you a singer (in Tamil)
Me: No
Him: Why not, don’t you have a throat?
Me: Is it sufficient to have a throat?
Him: You have also worn your dhoti properly?
By this time, Murthy came out and opened the door. Both of us went and sat on the platform^(^([2])). There was a veena (a string instrument) on the platform. That unknown person sat in front of the veena and told:
Him: You sing, I will play the veena.
I pleaded “Please believe me, I do not sing.”
As the conversation was underway, Murthy was laughing to himself, closing his face with his dhoti. Then, that unknown person told “I will sing, you listen”. He started singing in Rīti-gauḻa. By mistake, I appreciatively uttered “Bravo!”. He said
Did you see how you dodged?
I turned to Murthy and asked him “Somehow I am unable to recognize this person”.
Murthy (Smiling): He is NV Raghavan, Auditor General of India.
I was taken aback. During those times, the auditor general job was the highest post in which an Indian could be employed. There was such a post only in three cities. NV Raghavan was one of those three Auditor Generals. It was well known that he was proficient in fields such as English literature, Sanskrit, Philosophy, and Mathematics. He was deeply, madly in love with music. Raghavan and Murthy were close friends, I had heard about Raghavan many times from great scholars such as Srinivas Shastry, Venkataram Shastry.
Murthy’s Music Lessons
Murthy’s interest in music cannot be exaggerated. He was learning veena for a very long time. He never played it independently because of shyness. He was hesitant to utter a single word or a single tune. Vīṇā Vishwanath Shastry and Vīṇā Gopala Rao were his teachers for some time. He was very hospitable towards them when they came to teach. When they told “Let us resume the lessons”, he closed the windows and doors of the room. He did not want to be seen learning music. Not only that, he did want his practice sessions to be audible to others. If there were holes/cracks when the doors were shut, he used to cover it up with clothes – I have literally been a spectator to these events.
He barely used to touch the strings for a few minutes before requesting the teacher:
“Can you please play today, you play very well – I will listen”. The scholar would play a Kṛti and later would have a chat. Murthy would end the class by saying “Let’s study the remaining parts tomorrow”.
Maḍi^(^([3]))
Along with being shy, he was also prudish. Topics related to Śṛṅgāra was unwelcome.
“Sārasa”
“Sarasuḍa”
Whenever such words appeared, he would ask me the meanings. It was Music’s good luck that he did not understand Telugu. Whenever he asked me, I immediately said
“These words are used to praise the gods. Sārasa means Mahā-lakṣmī: One who is beloved to Lakṣmī, that is Mahā-viṣṇu. Sarasuḍa means divine in the form of a connoisseur.
Thus, I would put him at ease.
Murthy’s favorite Kṛti was the rendition in Ānanda-bhairavī:
Mānasa guru-guha-rūpaṃ bhajare
māya-māruta-jani-hṛt-tāpaṃ tyajare
Mānava-janmani santṛpte sati
Paramātmani niratiśaya sukhaṃ vrajare
He loved to listen to this. He made me sing this repeatedly
One day, we had a music concert in my friend Advocate D Raghavacharya’s house. Kolar’s Nāgaratnā-sāni was singing. Murthy, MG Varadhacharya, and a few other friends were present. Thanks to my ill-fate, I was seated right in front of her. Since she was from Kolar, we also knew each other. After introduction, elaborating a few ragas etc, in raga Śaṅkarābharaṇa she sang:
man-da-hā-sa
va-da-na he-kṛ-ṣṇa ॥
She started with that stanza. Out of habit, I was counting the beats. She was happy about it. In between all the singing, she made eye contact and smiled a little. I was scared – because Murthy was next to me. Finally, Murthy couldn’t help but ask –
“Why is she seeing you and smiling?”
“Murthy, that is Bhakti. Krishna is smiling. She is indicating it through her acting.”
“Phew! You asked the right person!” Varadacharya, sitting on the other side, made fun of it.
I had been to Murthy’s house during the Navarātra festival. His family members were at his wife’s maternal home. I asked:
“Murthy, what snacks have been prepared at your home for the festival?”
“Come, let us see”
Thus he took me inside the kitchen. On the way, I could see the dolls arranged in the hall. He saw me standing and repeatedly slapped his forehead with regret. Because, among the dolls present there – one of them was a couple. A small doll was on the bed. Accordingly, the setting summed up the context.
Murthy: “What is this: even the gods aren’t spared in this game!”
This is the third part of the translation of the second essay in D V Gundappa’s magnum-opus Jnapakachitrashaale (Volume 7) – Hrudaya Sampannaru. Edited by Raghavendra G S.
Footnotes
^(^([1]))Generally revenue collector.
^(^([2]))ಜಗಲಿ.
^(^([3]))No exact equivalent word in English, in this context, prude, puritan would be close enough.
My Ātma-guru: N Narasimha Murthy (Part 4)
[[My Ātma-guru: N Narasimha Murthy (Part 4) Source: prekshaa]]
Abode of Snacks
Meeting with friends was among Murthy’s favorite pastimes. He was not the one to chitchat. Others needed to chitchat. He listened to them and laughed. Whenever the friends met up different kinds of snacks, coffee etc were arranged. He never was a person to consume large quantities of any of the snacks. He used to name several tasty snacks enthusiastically. However, he never ate more than a pinch of them. When he was working in Cantonment court, during the time of deepavali, Marvadis, Multanis, Gujaratis etc used to give him a variety of snacks. Our stomachs became the ultimate destination for all those snacks.
An example of his magnanimity
One evening, four or five of us had got together for light refreshments. On top of a carpet, several snacks such as laddu, jalebi, ghevar, soan papdi, chivda, bondas, bhajjis were packed in newspapers. We consumed all of them in abundance and we started feeling thirsty. Murthy asked:
M: “Acharya”, can I get some water?
Acharya got him water and by that time, all the papers in front of us were emptied and Murthy said:
Acharya, can you throw these papers to a dustbin?
Acharya happily took those papers to throw it into a dustbin. Murthy started repenting his actions. He told me – “I should not have done that”.
Me: What did you do?
Murthy: I asked Acharya to clean the remains! I should have done it myself.
Me: Forget it, Murthy. It is not a big issue.
Murthy: It is incorrect and it is not Acharya’s “duty”. I asked him to do so by mistake. I didn’t do it deliberately. Now I have to seek atonement for my actions.
He thus apologized to Acharya. Acharya was laughing at Murthy’s actions and responded – is it not common for all of us to do this?
Murthy was not satisfied. After three days, when Acharya arrived, he took Acharya in a carriage cart to a tailor shop and got a coat stitched.
Acharya was proud of the fact that he was working for such a great person. He recalled this incident several times.
Folk Culture
Murthy was very curious to learn about the lives of common people. If we study the history and culture of folklore, we will get a good understanding about the natures of our people. He used to repeatedly state that – “any attempts to uplift them without first hand knowledge of their pains and hardships is similar to holding a lamp to a hurricane.” An incident related to his enthusiasm towards folk literature comes to my mind.
There was[sic] a Dharmaraya temple in Kalasipalyam. The devotees of that temple were mainly “Tigaḻas”^(^([1])). During a Karaga^(^([2])) event of that temple, Tigaḻas had organized a drama and invited Murthy and a couple of other friends. The drama was supposed to begin at 8 PM. The drama was supposed to happen in an open field. I was not too eager to go. Murthy wanted to go there as a matter of duty consciousness. When I refused to come, he made fun, criticized, ridiculed, and forced me to join him. Finally I went with him too. Tens of thousands of people had gathered there. We were seated on a “stone platform”. Around 10 PM, the drama started. That too in crass tamil. There was a chariot near the entrance through which we entered. By 12 Midnight, we were tired. We decided to return home and when we came near the chariot, the person who was playing Srikrishna’s part was seated. His complexion was dark and to go with it even his moustache was jet black. He had a club in his hand. As soon as he saw us leaving, he stood up and asked, “Swamy – you are leaving without seeing my acting?” Murthy, scared of his thunderous tone, said “Let us stay here for some more time”. We came back to our respective seats. Murthy laughingly recalled this experience every now and then.
Periya-purāṇaṃ
We were invited by Mudaliyars or Pillai community for a discourse on “Periya-purāṇaṃ” (or may be Tiruvaimozhi) in cantonment. Murthy and I left in a carriage cart. It was drizzling that evening. It took us time to find the right street. It took us more time to find the right house. We reached the place around 9 PM. When we reached, only ten to twelve people were present. Some person was giving a discourse by referring to the text. About half an hour after we reached there, they distributed kaḍale-kālu guggari^(^([3])) and I uttered that this is the fruit for our efforts that day. We did not even eat the snacks offered to us. We were troubled by maḍi^(^([4])). Murthy responded to me:
“What do you mean – did we not get to know about this community? How else can we understand them?
I was living in a house that was close to the house facing Narasimhamurthy’s house in Chamarajpet. During those days, I used to go to his house almost everyday. Whenever I was at his place and grandmother Giriyamma was absent, I would eat the dry coconut, jaggery, sugar or other snacks that were available in the kitchen or their storehouse. One day when I was “looting” their storehouse, Giriyamma returned from a purāṇadiscourse. Murthy jokingly complained against me:
“Giri, this person goes and touches all the vessels in the kitchen and storehouse when you are not in the house”
She said: let him go – what is wrong? He is just a boy. Moreover, what will he get – dry coconut, jaggery, and flattened rice. There are no Musure^(^([5])) items. Murthy said: “You prohibit me from going there?”
Giri: “You do not follow any rituals. See him – he wears the vibhūti, chants mantras and follows all the rituals.”
Both of us burst out laughing.
This is the fourth part of the translation of the second essay in D V Gundappa’s magnum-opus Jnapakachitrashaale (Volume 7) – Hrudaya Sampannaru. Edited by Raghavendra G S. We thank Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh for his help.
Footnotes
^(^([1]))A caste/group of people found in South Karnataka, mainly in and around Bangalore, and Tamil Nadu. They claim their origins as Vahnikula Kṣatriyas. Their main deities are Dharmarāja and Draupadī.
^(^([2]))A festival dedicated to Draupadī celebrated on the day of Caitra Pūrṇimā, the first full-moon day of the lunar calendar year.
^(^([3]))Bengal gram boiled,seasoned with grated coconut..
^(^([4]))No exact equivalent in English, something like purity.
^(^([5]))No exact equivalent in English, something with water and salt as ingredients being boiled or cooked, deemed as less “pure” compared to food not satisfying these constraints.
My Ātma-guru: N Narasimha Murthy (Part 5)
[[My Ātma-guru: N Narasimha Murthy (Part 5) Source: prekshaa]]
Interesting puranic exposition
Giriyamma came home after a discourse on Purāṇa. Murthy asked:
Murthy: Giri, which story was the topic of the discourse today?
Giri: The story was about lord Hanumān making fun of Rāvaṇa in Laṅkā.
Murthy: What is that story?
Giri: Murthy, don’t you even know this story? Hanumān used his special powers to convert his tail into a throne that was thrice bigger than Rāvaṇa’s throne. Did he not?
Murthy: Oh yes, yes!
Giri: Rāvaṇa then asked: “what kind of a monkey are you?” Hanumān said “Do you ask me who I am? I am the person who has come to destroy you – who are you?” Rāvaṇa answered: “I am a person with ten heads – I have fought and won against all the Dikpālakas^(^([1]))”. For that Hanumān replied: “So you are the person with ten heads? and you are the person whom the king of Kiṣkindhā, Vālī crushed with his arms? And you are the one who was wailing in pain?” Did you see, Murthy, what a befitting reply was given by lord Hanumān to Rāvaṇa?
Simple devotion
Initially, Murthy was chuckling to himself. Eventually, he burst out laughing. Despite laughing at his grandmother, his love towards his grandmother was second to none. Murthy’s mother passed away when he was young. Giriyamma shouldered the responsibility of bringing up Murthy. Murthy had immense respect for her genuine simplicity and devotion towards Purāṇas. His intention was to demonstrate her simple devotion to me.
Such `simple devotion’ is very venerable. That is submission to the divine. Such simple devotion is the root of all great accomplishments. If some of the losses incurred by the society because of over reliance on scientific miracles has to be reversed, then a progressive mind has to be tempered with such simple devotion.
I have previously mentioned Narasimha Murthy’s love for literature; I recall a couple of incidents relating to that.
A few of us had started an organization called “Book Club”. Balasundaram Iyer was the president of the club. MG Varadhachar, Kunhi Kannan, N Venkatanaranappa and some more of us were members at this club. The intention was that each one of us had to contribute one or two rupees per month. We used the money to buy good books. One of us had to read the book thoroughly and summarize the book in the form of an essay. The members met once a month and read that essay. This enabled the members to get acquainted with a new book. The book was then stored in the club’s library. The members were allowed to borrow any of the books in the library.
I recall the club functioning for one or two years. I am unable to tell how the club dissolved. People generally join such clubs with enthusiasm. Some people join solely as a matter of “prestige”. Some people join out of compulsion. The enthusiasm of people who join for “prestige” or due to compulsion, dwindles within a couple of months. The membership fee collection reduces. People start complaining about the lack of new books in the club. There will be criticism about the essay writer. Within a few weeks, the club dissolves.
B.C.C
Does our enthusiasm die down so easily? Definitely not! We started another club. We jokingly called it B.C.C. It could mean – Bangalore Citizens Club or Bangalore Cracks Club. We had the latter in mind! Crack here means “crazy” .
The schedule for this organization was as follows: One of us was nominated to give a discourse on a topic. On the day of the discourse, all the members met – there would be discourse on the preselected topic followed by discussion. After the discussions, we had lunch/dinner. The goal was to have at least one such meeting every month.
First Meeting
There were some changes to the rules when we met for the first time. Appanna was requested to bring the food. Irish press building was chosen as the place for discourse. That was Gundo Pant’s house in Siddhikatte^(^([2])). The discourse was arranged in a corner of a big hall where a carpet was spread out. They had also arranged for flowers and agarbattis. Nearby, the food was also arranged (its aroma was irresistible). The speaker was M G Varadhacharya. He was a great orator. As soon as he entered the hall, he took deep breaths and “savored” the aroma of the food. Someone pointed out – food will be served only after the lecture.
V: How can you do it – Food is an embodiment of divinity. How can one insult it? Lecture is not going to go anywhere. First, we should have the meal. This was a point of view that everyone liked. We had a sumptuous meal. After the meal, Varadhacharya spoke for approximately fifteen minutes as a formality. At any rate, this was an opening ceremony. We thought that the next session could be conducted in a rigorous way and departed. It was around 10 PM and everyone was sleepy.
Second session
We assembled the next month for the next session. Narasimha Murthy was the speaker that day. His topic was “Grotius, Father of International Law”. The food was again arranged by Appanna.
That day, there was a different argument. “Food is a trivial issue, whereas the lecture is a profound one. So let’s be done with the trivial thing first, then we can focus on the profound.” All the members unanimously accepted that. That day, the Sambhar consisted of onions and brinjals. Large papads, fryums made of the flesh of a banana plant. Ciroṭi, Pāyasam, Amboḍe etc were also part of the menu. After the meal, we sat down to partake Tāmbūla. It was around 10 PM. Murthy started reading the essay and by the time he finished two pages, among the fifteen members present there, five of them had already fallen asleep. Five more were even snoring. Varadacharya, Bhimrao, and myself were the only ones awake – thanks to our “determination”. After five more minutes Varadacharya said:
V: “We shall take it as read.”
Krishna Iyer: “We will print it in the ‘Karnataka.’ We may read it afterwards.”
This is the fifth part of the translation of the second essay in D V Gundappa’s magnum-opus Jnapakachitrashaale (Volume 7) – Hrudaya Sampannaru. Edited by Raghavendra G S.
Footnotes
^(^([1]))Deities of the eight directions.
^(^([2]))The present day city market.
My Ātma-guru: N Narasimha Murthy (Part 6)
[[My Ātma-guru: N Narasimha Murthy (Part 6) Source: prekshaa]]
Fruits of Scholarship
After a few weeks, that discourse was published in the magazine [Karnataka] . A person who was close to Murthy read that work and said: “Murthy the article that you wrote – what do you call it – Grotius – It is atrocious? How do we understand it?”
This is the fruit of scholarship.
We started three or four more such study groups. Murthy’s enthusiasm would join us in making fun of these groups. Murthy was among the persons to convince me to enter public life and teach me the ethics of public life. Apart from Murthy, Vajapeyam Venkatasubbaiah was also my teacher in this regard.
Murthy frequently asked me about the committees I was part of, groups I was a member of, and what part of public life I was interested in. He would insist that I should be on time for the meetings. He ordained me to carefully read all the documents pertaining to the meetings beforehand. He taught me about the etiquette of discussion. He would discuss the meeting issues and subtly talk about the pros and cons for a topic and leave the final decision to me. He repeatedly said “with any issue, there is definitely an ethical point of view, there is an opportunity to be magnanimous. One should never sway from ethics and truth under any circumstances” and he suggested appropriate reference books and magazines. This way he would make me examine both the supporting and opposing points of view related to a topic. I matured as a result of his influence.
Until Murthy went to Mysore University Library as an officer, there was not a single day when we did not meet at least once.
Public affairs
I do not remember the number of issues related to public affairs that Murthy and I undertook together. MG Varadacharya and KS Krishna Iyer were probably part of all those efforts. There was a small room that was attached to Krishna Iyer’s Irish press. It was outward facing and people could enter from the street. There, we started an institution named “Popular Education League”. There was a lecture hall; our discourses were held once in a week or two. Varadacharya’s elegant lectures were our go-to discourses. He was ever smiling, and made us laugh with his discourses. This activity ran for about six months.
‘Ramakrishna Service League’ was another similar effort. This was due to the overenthusiastic devotion towards Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Bhajans were also part of our programs. Anantha Padmanabha Iyer, who was one of the members of this league, was very encouraging of this effort: “Yes, we need to undertake all these efforts. We have to preach great ideals to enthuse our people” — we left no stone unturned”
Murthy was the backbone for all these efforts.
Finally, Murthy’s sense of humor was quite intense. He was well aware of the feasibility of our efforts. Despite this awareness, he was always enthusiastic so as to not dent our spirits.
Purandara-dāsa^(^([1]))for eternity
To speak of his magnanimity, it was as though his hands were porous, nothing stayed in it, money would always burn holes in his pocket. Thrift was unknown to him. Although his salary was high for those times, he was always short of money. He repeatedly said: “Without corporate societies and banks, where should people like me get loans, and how would I save myself from humiliation?” He used to wear old-fashioned clothes. His trousers and coats had wrinkles all over the place. I cannot begin to describe his coats. He himself laughed at them.
A doubt
One day, while Murthy was heading to the bathroom with a jug of water in his hand – he asked me the following doubt:
“According to dvaita, What are the differences between Leibnitz’s and Pascal’s opinions? Both appear the same to me?”
Me: “Does this question have to be resolved immediately or can it wait until you return from the bathroom?”
Until I told this he did not fully realize the situation. As soon as he heard my words, he dropped the jug and laughed uncontrollably.
This would happen many times.
He never fully resolved any question. Usually he answered, “Much might be said in support of either sides.” in the same vein as the essayist Adison’s heroes say. Then when one of us asked, “What would be your decision if you were the judge in this circumstance”? “Thank god, that I have not been put through such an ordeal or a moral dilemma”, he would say. He was not willing to take the responsibility of arriving at a conclusion.
Cooking
From time to time, Murthy had this urge to live alone.
viviktasevī laghvāśī
[Living alone and reducing the food intake]
he wanted to lead such a life. For this purpose, he was interested in cooking all by himself.
One day when Srinivasa Shastry had come to Mysore, both of us went to Murthy’s home. Shastry had deep respect and affection towards Murthy. We entered his house and did not find him in the hall. We entered his room thinking that he is probably studying in his room – what did we see? Murthy was sitting near the stove, cooking something in the vessel and was chopping potatoes. He was taken aback by our “sudden appearance” and stood up to greet us. But amidst all the commotion, the vessel on the stove fell down; the hot water spilled. I asked: “Murthy, what is this misery? Why this obsession of cooking your own meals? Can you really manage this? What if you get sick because of consuming half-cooked food?
In the meantime, Murthy’s wife, Narasamma heard my voice and came to the room. “Look at this fellow, he doesn’t listen to me. Apparently he wants to follow some rules and regulations. Looks like he does not want the food that I cook under the same rules and regulations. If this is the case, why should I be alive?” She complained with such harsh words out of frustration.
Murthy was a very sensitive person. He immediately apologized.
Now I feel the need to write about Smt. Narasamma. She was from a well-to-do family. Her father was Government Advocate-general Narayana Rao. He was very famous. The name of her house: “Bhadrāśayā”. She was a down-to-earth person despite being born and brought up in a rich family. She was very particular about Ācāras (following all the traditions and customs). She devoted her life to maḍi, ācāra and bhagavat-sevā (service to god). It is a virtuous deed to remember such a devoted, loyal woman.
This is the sixth part of the translation of the second essay in D V Gundappa’s magnum-opus Jnapakachitrashaale (Volume 7) – Hrudaya Sampannaru. Edited by Raghavendra G S.
Footnotes
^(^([1]))Nitya Purandara-dāsa in kannada, To mean someone who has given everything away and has nothing left, and would continue to do so. Based on Purandara-dāsa giving away everything when he renounced and took dīkṣā
My Ātma-guru: N Narasimha Murthy (Part 7)
[[My Ātma-guru: N Narasimha Murthy (Part 7) Source: prekshaa]]
Moral Values
In those days, four or five of us met up every evening at the Century club in Sheshadri memorial club. We chatted, had discussions, and had light refreshments – this was our routine. One evening three or four friends joined us. That evening, at 6:30 PM there was a discourse arranged at the YMCA assembly hall. The discourse was given by a famous European woman from Madras. We planned to reach the assembly hall in time for the lecture from the club. After refreshments a couple of friends decided to part ways. Murthy asked them:
“Will you not come to the lecture?”
One of those two friends asked “which lecture”?
Murthy: “Don’t you know that? Mrs. XYZ is giving the lecture”
“Sir, please carry on – we have some other work”.
“You should all come and cooperate – it is such a good topic, isn’t it?”
One of them spoke mischievously: “I am willing to cooperate with her anytime.”
Murthy’s face turned red. He turned away. He stopped talking to the two of them. After they left, he said, “One should not engage in a conversation with such people”.
This was his nature, he did not tolerate even a hint of vulgarity.
Commentary on Literature
Once I was enamored by poet Swinburne’s bombastic style and vocabulary. During those days of my infatuation, I probably read all Swinburne’s works, letters. I discussed his works with Murthy with great excitement. Murthy poked fun at me and said “Yes – juvenile minds will get enamored by him”. This angered me and I responded rudely. “Yes, yes – all this is due to being emotional about Swinburne.” Around 20-25 years passed. I read an essay about Swinburne, written by the famous commentator Edmund Gosse. In that essay, his opinion reflected Murthy’s about Swinburne. I mentioned this essay to Murthy and expressed my admiration for his critical analysis of literature. He then asked me, “What is your personal opinion/experience.” I replied, “I have grown nearly a fourth of a century since then. My tastes are different now. Swinburne’s work is more about flowery language than showing the true human emotions. In many places, what I see is bombastic words, rhyming phrases, ostentatious use of figures of speech – but I do not see a solid core. If we want to improve our english vocabulary and want to experience the different ways to use these words, then Swinburne is the poet. I do not deny that there is beauty in it. But that beauty is not sufficient for me now.”
After listening to this, Murthy said “I had guessed long ago that this will be your eventual opinion”.
My Salutations
Narasimha Murthy was a great person who enlightened my life. There were no primary sources in English Literature, History, Economics, Political Science, Law, Science, Philosophy, that he had not studied. He never studied anything without internalising it. Despite being an expert, he never claimed to be one in those topics. For any topic – he always said we have to examine all the points – for and against, pros and cons, weigh the arguments and counter arguments. When I asked about his conclusion on the topic: he said “it is like your conscience – it is not supposed to be disclosed to others. Your conclusion is your own”.
This way Narasimha Murthy guided, corrected, and refined my knowledge and understanding to the best of my capabilities.
Courteousness, Magnanimity, and Honesty – he has always been an ideal and a guide for me when it comes to these three qualities.
punaśca bhūyo’pi namo namaste.
I repeatedly pay my obeisance to him.
This is the final part of the translation of the second essay in D V Gundappa’s magnum-opus Jnapakachitrashaale (Volume 7) – Hrudaya Sampannaru. Edited by Raghavendra G S.