The Unknown Srivaishnava

“Pradaana pratitantra” in Vedanta Desika’s “Rahasya Traya Saaram”: Visishtadvaita and Quantum Physics

What is the fundamental principle of the “Indestructibility“? How is it elucidated in the Metaphysics of Visishtadvaita Vedanta?

In the 3rd chapter titled “Pradaana Pratitantra-adhikaaram” in the “Rahasya-Traya-Saaram” (RTS), a seminal work of Swami Vedanta Desikan on Visishtadvaita philosophy, this fascinating question is very briefly alluded to by way of (what one may using a present-day parlance call) a “sneak-preview” of the topic which in later Chapters (adhikaaram) of the text gets elaborately treated.

In an ongoing session of online lectures on the RTS (“granta kalakshepam“) conducted by a very learned scholar-Acharya for his group of disciples (about 35 in number), he set about lucidly explaining the gist of this Chapter (“adhikaaram“). He elaborated it by annotating Swami Desikan’s own statements on the Principle of Indestructibility :

The above passage in Vedanta Desika’s own words reflects the unique and core Visishtadvaita (qualified non-dualism) views on the Principle of Indestructibility.

What is conveyed here in the RTS Chapter is the inherent theme concerning Ishwaratva—the Overlordship of God—and it asserts the indestructibility and eternal existence of both sentient (chit, souls) and insentient (achit, matter) entities, as Brahman’s body.

Main Theme: Ishwaratva and the Body-Embodiment Doctrine:

• The central doctrine is “Sharira-Shariri Bhava”: All souls and matter constitute the body (Sharira) of Brahman, who is their indwelling controller (Shariri). This means Brahman is both immanent within and transcendent over every entity.

• This relationship is unique to Visishtadvaita, where the Supreme Lord (Ishwara, Narayana) is always the master and controller (“Sesha-Seshi”, “Adhara-Adheya”, “Niyanta-Niyamya” relationships). The doctrine affirms that everything exists by, for, and within God.

Principle of Indestructibility:

• The text asserts that both Matter and Souls (sentients) are real and indestructible. Souls are eternal, not created or destroyed, and matter also persists in its essential form, being transformed but never annihilated.

• This upholds a doctrine of satkaryavada (i.e. the effect is pre-existent in the cause)—all that exists is a manifestation of Brahman’s intrinsic nature, and the distinction between entities remains, even across cosmic cycles of Time.

Philosophical Gist:

• Rahasya Traya Sara emphasizes that the Lord alone is independent and all else is absolutely dependent, but then, everything is real: Ishwara, chit (souls), and achit (matter). The Lord’s control is absolute and benevolent.

• Souls and Matter form the Lord’s body (sharira), while the Lord pervades and governs them as the indwelling self. Their indestructibility is rooted in this eternal, inseparable relationship.

In summary, the RTS passage highlights Swami Vedanta Desika’s specific view: All realities are permanent, truly distinct yet inseparably united in the Lord, whose Ishwaratva is the central doctrine—and this is the defining insight of Visishtadvaita philosophy.

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One amongst the disciples, after the Lecture session (kaalakshepam) concluded went home deep in thought about the Principle of Indestructibility.

He began to be curious about it in the following way:

Is this Principle of Indestructibility as posited in Visishtadvaita Metaphysics — i.e to the reality of Ishwaratva — similarly or comparably speaking, also posited in classical Einsteinian and modern Quantum Physics scientific theories in relation to Matter (“achetana vasthu”) in the sub-atomic or quantum realms? Is there any convergence or even mild resemblance between the two?

After going home, the curious student-disciple, although not educated in modern Physics but yet possessed of a very general and broad layman knowledge of scientific concepts embedded in the contemporary theories of Physical Sciences, looked up the matter in a few text-book and online reference-sources. Below is what he came upon to his utter fascination:

In modern physics, the classical “indestructibility of matter” is replaced by a more general conservation principle: in an isolated system, the total energy–momentum (and, in appropriate contexts, conserved quantum numbers like electric charge, baryon number, lepton number) is strictly conserved, even though “matter” as particles can be created and annihilated.

From matter to mass–energy:
At the sub‑atomic level, what was once called “matter” is no longer fundamental; fields and their excitations (particles) are. Particles can appear or disappear in reactions, but only in such a way that total energy (including rest mass via E = mc^2), momentum and conserved charges before and after the process are exactly the same.

Quantum field viewpoint:
Quantum field theory treats each particle as a quantum excitation of an underlying field, and interactions are processes where quanta are destroyed and created, subject to conservation laws.

Thus the “indestructibility” is not of individual particles but of the invariant quantities that constrain all allowed processes (energy–momentum, charge, etc.), which never vanish or arise from nothing in a closed system. [wikipedia +1]

Relation to classical conservation of mass:
Classical “conservation of mass” (and Dalton’s “indestructible atoms”) is an excellent approximation for chemical processes, where nuclear and relativistic effects are negligible and the number and type of nuclei effectively do not change.

In nuclear and high‑energy processes, however, rest mass can be converted to other forms of energy and to different particles, but always in exact accord with the more fundamental conservation of energy–momentum and quantum numbers, which is the quantum‑level successor to the old “indestructibility of matter.”

Thus, the “indestructibility” is not of individual particles but of the invariant quantities that constrain all allowed processes (energy–momentum, charge, etc.), which never vanish or arise from nothing in a closed system.

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Thinking deeply about what he had found in and understood from the above passage, the student-disciple was convinced that although the respective vocabulary, technical terminology and jargon of ancient Vishishtadvaita Metaphysics and modern Quantum Physics were indeed vastly different and also were founded upon disparate abstract constructs, nonetheless, they both seemed to theorise upon one irrefutable fact in much the same and one fundamental way — the Indestructibility Principle or Ishwaratvam.

If one re-reads and contemplates both sets of passages quoted above — i.e. the “pratitantra-adhikaaram” of the “Rahasya Traya Saaram and the pithy conclusion of Quantum Physics on Matter — they both do seem and sound so much alike in what each is positing! Yes, the Quantum idea that the “fundamental invariant quantities” —such as energy, momentum, and charge —are neither created nor destroyed, does parallel the Vedantic concept of Ishwaratvam.

Thus, each Atma or soul in the “closed system” of the Universe is not dissimilar to what in Quantum Physics is a “particle“… And “each particle as a quantum excitation of an underlying field, and interactions are processes where quanta are destroyed and created, subject to conservation laws”... where such “conservation laws” are akin to the Laws of Karma.

In Visishtadvaita Vedanta, the Ishwara, thus, is the eternal, indestructible, and unchanging essence underlying all existence, persisting beyond the transformations of the material world. Just as in quantum physics there are conserved quantities that remain constant amidst particle transformations, Vedanta posits Ishwara as an immutable reality that transcends all physical changes.

This philosophical-scientific overlap, at the end, clearly highlighed to the student-disciple a profound resonance between ancient metaphysical insights and modern Physics’ understanding of continuity and conservation at the foundational level of all Creation.

Sudarshan Madabushi

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An AI-Assisted translation of the above blogpost into Tamil is given below:

அவ विनாசித்தువम् என்று சொல்லப்படும, “Indestructibility” என்னும் தத்துவத்தின் ஆதார தத்துவम् எது? விசிஷ்டாத்வைத வேதாந்தத்தின் metaphysicsஇல் அது எவ்வாறு விளக்கப்பட்டிருக்கிறது?

ஸ்ரீவைஷ்ணவ சம்பிரதாயத்தின் மஹா-கிரந்தமாகிய ஸ்வாமி வேதாந்த தேசிகர் அருளிச்செய்த ‘ரஹஸ்யத்ரயஸாரம்’ (Rahasya-Traya-Saaram – RTS) என்னும் நூலில், மூன்றாம் அதிகாரமாக உள்ள ‘ப்ரதான-ப்ரதிதந்திர-அதிகாரம்’ (Pradaana Pratitantra-adhikaaram) இதுபோன்ற அதிசயமான கேள்வியை மிகச் சுருக்கமாகச் சுட்டிக்காட்டுகிறது. இன்றைய மொழியில் சொல்வதானால், பின்னர் வரும் அதிகாரங்களில் விச்தாரமாக ஆராயப்படும் ஒரு விஷயத்துக்கான ‘sneak-preview’ போல ஸ்வாமி அவர்கள் இங்கு ஒரு முன்னுரிமை–சுட்டியை அளித்திருப்பார் என்று சொல்லலாம்.

இந்நாள்களில், இந்த RTS–நூல் குறித்து ஒரு பண்டித–ஆசார்யர் தம் சிஷ்யர்களுக்கு (சுமார் 35 பேர்) ஆன்லைன் மூலம் நடாத்தி வருகிற ‘கிரந்த–கலக்ஷேபம்’ உபந்யாசங்களில், இந்த அதிகாரத்தின் சாரார்த்தத்தை (அதிகார–தத்துவத்தை) அவர்கள் மிக அருளோடு விளங்கப் படுத்தினார். குறிப்பாக, ‘அவினாசித்துவ–தத்துவம்’ (Principle of Indestructibility) குறித்து ஸ்வாமி தேசிகர் தாம் கூறியிருக்கின்ற வாசகங்களை எடுத்துக் கொண்டு அவற்றை விவரிக்கும் முறையில், அந்த ஆசார்யர் திருவருள் விளக்கங்களை அளித்தார்.”

முக்கிய பாயிரம் : ஈஶ்வரத்வம் மற்றும் சரீர–ஸரீரி பாவம்

“சரீர–ஸரீரி பாவம்” என்பதே இங்கு முக்ய சித்தாந்தம். சகல ஜீவராசிகளும், சகல ப்ரக்ருதி வஸ்துக்களும் சேர்ந்து பரமபுருஷன் நாராயணனுக்கு சரீரமாக இருக்கின்றன; அவர் அவற்றின் அந்தர்யாமியாக உள்ளார். அதாவது, எல்லாவற்றிலும் உள்நிலையாக இருந்து அவற்றை ஆதரிக்கும் அவன், அதே சமயம் அவற்றின் எல்லாவற்றையும் மீறி நிற்கும் பரம-ப்ரஹ்மனாகும்.
இந்தப் பந்தம் — “சரீர–ஸரீரி, சேஷ–சேஷி, ஆதார–ஆதேய, நியந்தா–நியம்ய” என்ற ஸம்பந்தங்கள் — விஷிஷ்டாத்வைதத்தில் மட்டும் இவ்விதம் நிச்சயிக்கப்பட்ட ஒன்று. எம்பெருமான் ஈஶ்வரன், நாராயணன் — எல்லாக் காலங்களிலும் ஆதீன-ஸ்வதந்திரன், நாம் அவருக்கே சேஷபூதர்கள். எல்லாம் அவராலேயே இருக்கிறது, அவருக்காகவே இருக்கிறது, அவருள்ளேயே இருக்கிறது.

அவினாசித்துவ ப்ரமாணம்

இந்நூலில், அசித் (ப்ரக்ருதி) மற்றும் சித் (ஜீவாத்மா) இரண்டுமே மித்யையல்ல; ஸத்ய, நித்ய, அவினாஷி என்று வியவஸ்தை செய்யப்படுகிறது. ஜீவாத்மா சகலப் பிரத்யவாயங்களையும் மீறி நித்யனாகத் திகழ்கிறான்; அவனால் ஆதரிக்கப்படும் த்ரவ்யமாகிய ப்ரக்ருதியும், ரூபவ்யத்தியாசங்கள் வந்தாலும், தன்னுடைய ஸ்வரூபத்திலே நாசம் அடையாதவையாகத் தொடர்ந்திருக்கிறது.
இவ்விதமாக, “सत्कार्यवादம்” (satkāryavāda) — காரணத்தில் விளைவு முன்னிருந்தே உண்டு என்ற சித்தாந்தம் — உறுதிப்படுத்தப்படுகிறது. எல்லா பலவகைப் பொருள்களும், பரமப்ரஹ்ம ஸ்வரூபத்தில் நிஹித ரீதியில் இருக்கின்றன; காலச்சக்கரத்தின் ச்ருஷ்டி–ஸ்திதி–ஸம்ஹாரங்களில் ரூபபரிணாமம் மட்டும் வருகிறது; பொருள்களின் தத்துவ–பேதம், ஸத்தா, அவினாசித்துவம் எல்லாம் இருந்து விடுவதில்லை.

தத்த்வ ஸங்க்ரஹம்

ரஹஸ்ய த்ரய சாரம் தெளிவாகக் கூறுவது என்னவெனில்: ஸ்வாமி நாராயணனே ஒரே ஸ்வதந்திரன்; அவரைத்தவிர மற்றெல்லாமும் — சித், அசித் — அவரைப் பற்றித் தாங்கியிருக்கும் பரதந்திரியங்கள். ஆனாலும், அந்தச் சித்–அசித் தத்துவங்களும் மித்யை அல்ல; அவற்றின் சத்யத்துவமே எம்பெருமானுடைய ஈஶ்வரத்வத்தைப் பூரணமாக விளங்கப் படுத்துகிறது.
ஜீவராசிகளும், ப்ரக்ருதியும், எம்பெருமான் திருமேனிக்கு சரீரமாக இருக்கின்றன; அவர் அவற்றில் அந்தர்யாமியாக, ஸரீரியாக, நித்தியரீதியில் விரிஞ்சி நின்று அனைத்தையும் நியமித்து நடத்துகிறார். உயிருக்கும், ப்ரக்ருதியுக்கும் வரும் அவினாசித்துவம், இவ்விதமான நித்த்ய சரீர–ஸரீரி பந்தத்திலேயே வேளளங்கப் படுகிறது.

சுருக்கமாகச் சொன்னால், ரஹஸ்ய த்ரய ஸாரம் காட்டிக் கொடுப்பது, ஸ்வாமி வேதாந்த தேசிகரின் விஷிஷ்டாத்வைதம் சார்ந்த தனித்துவமான தர்ஶனம்:

அனைத்து தத்துவங்களும் சத்யம்; அவை சற்றேனும் கல்பிதம் அல்ல. அவை ஒருமித்தமாக எம்பெருமானில் ஆதரித்திருந்தாலும், தனித்தனி ஸ்வரூப–பேதங்கள் உடையவையே; அவை எல்லாம் எம்பெருமான் ஈஶ்வரத்வத்தை விளக்கும் ஶரீரமாக இருந்து, அவனோ நித்த்ய, அவினாஷி, பூர்ண பரமாத்மன் என்ற நியாயமே விஷிஷ்டாத்வைதத் தர்ஶனத்தின் உயிராக திகழ்கிறது.

அந்த உபந்யாசம் (காலக்ஷேபம்) முடிந்து எல்லோரும் விரிந்த பின், சீடர்களில் ஒருவன் மட்டும் “அவினாசித்துவ தத்துவம்” பற்றிய யோசனையில் ஆழ்ந்தபடியே தன் இல்லத்திற்குத் திரும்பினான்.

அவன் உள்ளத்தில் இவ்விதமான விசாரங்கள் உதித்தன: “விஷிஷ்டாத்வைத மேட்டாபிசிக்ஸில் எம்பெருமானுடைய ஈஶ்வரத்வம் அடிப்படையாகக் கொண்டு நிலைபெற்றுள்ள இந்த ‘அவினாசித்துவ’ தத்துவம் — அதாவது, சித்–அசித் இரண்டும் நாசமற்ற நித்ய-வஸ்துக்கள் என்பதைக் கூறும் இந்த கோட்பாடு — இன்றைய காலத்தில் விஞ்ஞானிகள் பேசும் ஐன்ஸ்டீனியன் றிலேட்டிவிட்டி, அதற்குப் பிந்தைய குவாண்டம் பிஸிக்ஸ் முதலிய நவீன ஶாஸ்திரங்களில் சொல்லப்படும் ‘மாட்டர்’ (அசேதன வஸ்து) பற்றிய கோட்பாடுகளோடு எவ்விதமாவது ஒப்பிடத்தக்கதா? அங்கேயும் இதே மாதிரி ஒரு ‘அவினாசித்துவ’ நினைவு அல்லது அதற்கு ஒத்த ஒரு கோட்பாடு இருக்கிறதா?” என்று வியப்புற்றான்.

இவ்விதமாக உள்மனத்திலே கேள்விகள் எழுந்த நிலையில், அவன் தன்னால் இயன்ற வரையில் — தற்கால விஞ்ஞானப் பாஷையில் சிறு அளவு பரிச்சயம் இருப்பதால் — சில பட்டறை நூல்கள், இணைய வலைத்தளங்கள் முதலியவற்றை எடுத்துப் பார்த்தான். அதை வாசித்தபோது அவனுக்கு அபூர்வமான ஆச்சர்யமும், ஆனந்தமும் தோன்றின. அவன் மனதை மிகவும் கவர்ந்த வரிகள் சுருக்கமாக இவ்விதம் இருந்தன:

அறிவியல் நோக்கில், பழைய “மாட்டர் ஒருபோதும் அழியாது” என்ற கோட்பாட்டுக்கு பதிலாக, இன்று “கன்சர்வேஷன்” என்னும் பரந்த தத்துவமே அடித்தளமாக இருக்கிறது. எந்தத் தனிமைப் ப்ரணாளியிலும் (closed system) மொத்த energy–momentum, அதோடு பொருத்தமான இடங்களில் மின் சார்ஜ், baryon number, lepton number போன்ற குவாண்டம் எண்கள் அனைத்தும் கடுமையாகக் காப்பாற்றப்பட்டவையே; தனித்தனி “மாட்டர் பண்கள்” (particles) தோன்றி மறைந்தாலும், இந்த மொத்த conserve ஆன அளவுகள் எதுவும் ஆரம்பமின்றி, முடிவின்றி உள்ள நிலையானவர்களாகவே கருதப்படுகின்றன.

மாட்டரிலிருந்து Mass–Energy எனும் விரிவான கோணத்துக்கு:
கணசூட்ச்ம (sub‑atomic) அளவுக்கு சென்று பார்க்கும்போது, “மாட்டர்” என்ற ஒரு தனி தத்துவம் என்று பழைய காலத்தில் சொல்லப்பட்ட ஐடியாக்கு இங்கு இடமில்லை. புலங்களும் (fields), அவற்றின் குவாண்டம் அதிர்வுகளும் (field excitations) — அதாவது quanta — இவையே மௌலிக வஸ்துக்கள். குவாண்டம் வினைகளில் (interactions) particle-கள் தோன்றவும் மறையவும் செய்யலாம்; ஆனால் அந்த வினையின் முன்னும் பின்னும் மொத்த energy (அதில் rest mass உட்பட, E=mc2E=mc2 கொண்டு கணக்கிடப்படுவது), momentum, சார்ஜ் முதலிய conserved quantities அனைத்தும் அப்படியே சமமாக இருக்க வேண்டும்.

குவாண்டம் புல-தர்ஶனம்:
Quantum field theory-யில் ஒவ்வொரு particle-யும் அந்த particle வகைக்கு உரிய புலத்தின் ஒரு குவாண்டம் அதிர்வாகவே கருதப்படுகிறது. சகல interaction-களும் அந்த quanta உருவாகவும் அழியவும் செய்யும் செயலாகவே விவரிக்கப்படுகின்றன; ஆனாலும் அவை அனைத்தும் தொடர்புடைய conservation laws-களின் கட்டுப்பாட்டினுள் தான் நடைபெற வேண்டும்.

அதாவது, இங்கு “அவினாசித்துவம்” என்றால் தனித்தனி பார்ட்டிக்கிள்களுக்கு இல்லை; மொத்த energy–momentum, சார்ஜ் போன்ற invariants-களுக்கே. ஒரு closed system-ல் அவை எப்போதும் இல்லாமல் போவதில்லை; இல்லாத இடத்திலிருந்து திடீரென்று வரும் அவகாசமும் இல்லை.

முன்னைய கால “mass-conservation” என்ற கோட்பாட்டோடு உறவு:
ரசாயன வினைகள் மட்டுமே கருத்தில் எடுத்துக் கொள்ளப்படும் classical physics-இல், “mass ஒருபோதும் குறையாது, அதிகரிக்காது” என்ற சட்டம் மிகவும் நயமான துணை-அனுமானமாக இருக்கிறது; அங்கே nuclear, relativistic விளைவுகள் புறக்கணிக்கத்தக்கவை. Dalton போன்றோர் சொன்ன “அழியாத அணுக்கள்” என்ற கருத்தும் அத்தகைய ரசாயன அளவிலேயே பெரும்பாலும் உண்மைக்கு நெருக்கமானதாக அமைந்தது.

ஆனால் nuclear / high‑energy physics வரையிலான உயர்ந்த அளவுகளில், rest mass மற்ற energy வடிவங்களாக்க மாறலாம்; பலவகைப் particles ஆக மாற்றப்பட்டு வெளிப்படலாம். இருந்தாலும், எல்லா இந்த மாற்றங்களும் அதிகமோ, குறையோ இல்லாமல், மொத்த energy–momentum மற்றும் அடுத்தடுத்து வரிசைப்படுத்தப்பட்ட conserved quantum numbers கற்க குன்றாமை என்ற அடிப்படை conservation principles-களுக்கே முழு விசுவாசத்தோடு நடக்கின்றன. அதாவது, “matter-இன் classical indestructibility” என்ற கருத்துக்கு பதிலாக, “invariants-களின் indestructibility” என்ற quantum-level successor வந்து நிற்கிறது.

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இந்த இரு கோட்பாடுகளையும் — ரஹஸ்ய த்ரய ஸாரத்தின் “ப்ரதிதந்திர அதிகார” உரையும், குவாண்டம் physics கூறும் இந்த conservation principles-களையும் — மனத்தில் வைத்து தீவிரமாகத் த்யானித்தபோது, அந்த சீடன் ஒரு ஆழ்ந்த உட்கருத்தை உணர்ந்தான்.

அவனுக்கு தெளிவான உணர்வு வந்தது: இவை இரண்டு வேறு உலகங்கள் போலத் தோன்றினாலும் — ஒன்று விஷிஷ்டாத்வைத மேட்டாபிசிக்ஸ், மற்றொன்று நவீன குவாண்டம் ஶாஸ்த்ரம் — இரண்டிலும் பேசப்படும் அடிப்படை உண்மை கோட்பாடு ஒன்றே: “அவினாசித்துவம்”. விஷிஷ்டாத்வைதத்தில் அது ஈஶ்வரத்வமாக, பரம்பொருளின் சரீர–ஸரீரி பந்தமாக வெளிப்படுகிறது; physics-இல் அது invariants-களின் conservationlaws ஆக வெளிப்படுகிறது.

ரஹஸ்ய த்ரய ஸாரத்தின் இத்தகைய உரைகளையும், குவாண்டம் physics-இன் “fundamental invariant quantities” — energy, momentum, charge போன்றவைகள் — “ஒரு closed system-ல் எப்போதும் neither created nor destroyed” என்ற கோட்பாட்டையும் ஒரே சாந்தமாக மீண்டு மீண்டு வாசித்தால், இரண்டிலும் ஒலிக்கும் ஓசை ஒன்றே போலத் தோன்றுகிறது.

விஷிஷ்டாத்வைதத்தில் “இஶ்வரத்வம்” என்று சொல்லும் நிர்மல, அசங்க, அவினாஷி பரம்பொருள் — அதாவது உயிரும், ப்ரக்ருதியும் உண்மையாக இருக்கும்படியும், அவற்றை அண்டங்கட்டும் சட்டங்கள் (கார்மிக நியதிகள்) எம்பெருமானிடத்தில் உறுதியாயிருக்கும்படியும் செய்யும் தத்துவம் — குவாண்டம் ஶாஸ்திரத்தில் invariants-களின் conservation-களுக்கு நெருக்கமாகவோ, குறைந்தது ஒத்த ஒசை போலவோ உணர்த்துகிறது.

எப்படி குவாண்டம் ஶாஸ்திரத்தில் “ஒவ்வொரு particle-யும் underlying field-இன் ஒரு quantum excitation; உருவாகி மறையும் interactions conservation laws-களுக்கு உட்பட்டு நடக்கின்றன” என்று கூறுகிறார்களோ, அதுபோலவே விஷிஷ்டாத்வைதத்தில் பிரபஞ்சமே ஒரு “closed system” போல ஸமஸ்டியாக எம்பெருமானுக்கு சரீரம். அந்தப் பிரபஞ்சத்தில் ஒவ்வொரு ஜீவாத்மாவும், தனித்தனி கார்மிக-வாசநைகளோடு நித்யமாக இருக்கும் சித்-தத்துவம்; அவனது birth–death என்று நாம் சொல்வது, அந்த கார்மிக நியதிகளின்படி வரும் அவஸ்தை-பரிவர்த்தனைகளே. அங்கே conservation laws-க்கு இணையாக, இங்கு கர்ம நியதிகள் மற்றும் எம்பெருமானுடைய நீயமனம் (நியந்த்ருத்த்வம்) துணை நிற்கின்றன.

விஷிஷ்டாத்வைத வேதாந்தம் சொல்லும் படி, எம்பெருமானுடைய ஈஶ்வரத்வமே — ஒரே சத்தியம், நித்திய, அவினாஷி, ஸ்வதந்த்ர ஸ்வரூபம் — சகல ரூபவ்யத்தியாசங்களையும் மீறி நின்று அனைத்தையும் தாங்கிக் கொண்டு நிற்கிறது. குவாண்டம் physics சொல்லும் conserved quantities, particle transformations-களின் நடுவிலும் மாற்றமில்லாமல் தொடர்ந்து இருப்பதைப் போலவே, விஷிஷ்டாத்வைதத்தில் பரமாத்மாவின் ஈஶ்வரத்வம் — ஜீவராசிகளும் ப்ரக்ருதியும் எத்தனை பரிணாமங்கள் அடைந்தாலும் — ஒருபோதும் சிதையாது தொடர்கிறது.

இந்த வகையில், அந்தப் பண்டிதர் உபதேசித்த metaphysical உண்மையும், physics நூல்கள் காட்டிக் கொடுக்கும் conservation principles-களும், அந்த மாணவன் மனத்தில் ஒன்றாக அமைந்து போனது. அவன் மனத்தில், பழைய ஆழ்ந்த தர்ஶனங்கள் சொன்ன உண்மைகள், இன்றைய நவீன விஞ்ஞானமும் ஒரு வேறு மொழியில், வேறு வாத–மார்க்கத்தில், அதே “நிலைத்தன்மை” மற்றும் “continuity” பற்றி பேசுகின்றன என்ற அனுபவ பூர்வமான உணர்ச்சி தத்ரூபமாக எழுந்தது.

இவ்விதம், ஆன்மீக தர்ஶனமும், நவீன ஶாஸ்திரமும், படைப்பின் ஆழ்மட்டத்தில் நிலைத்து நிற்கும் continuity மற்றும் conservation என்ற ஒரு சம ஸூத்திரத்தில் ஒன்றியிருப்பதைத் தனது உள்ளத்தில் அந்த சீடன் தெளிவாக அனுபவித்தான்.

சுதர்ஶன் மதபூஷி

சம்ஸ்கிருதம் – சில கேள்விகள்: A Few Questions about the Sanskrit language

சம்ஸ்கிருதம் – சில கேள்விகள் https://tamilhindu.com/2009/07/sanskrit-few-questions/

The above article written in Tamil contains many detailed historical, cultural, and political arguments supporting the philosophical, linguistic, and cultural integration of Sanskrit and Tamil, refuting claims of Sanskrit as an exclusively Brahmin language or a threat to Tamil. It highlights the coexistence and mutual enrichment of these languages in Indian society across regions and religions.

It is a brilliant refutation of the canard spread by Tamil language-chauvinists and Dravidian fanatics calling themselves “Tamil purists” and ideologues in Tamil Nadu who make the case that the survival of the Tamil language hinges upon the destruction of the Sanskrit language. This toxic and perverted bias forms the fulcrum of their larger racist construct about the Aryan Vs Dravidian and Northern-Southern India divide.

The article ought to be read by even non-Tamil speaking readers. Hence below I have provided an AI-assisted English translation of it in the hope that many will disabuse themselves of the poisonous propaganda about Sanskrit to which even educated sections of our society I know fall victim.

Sudarshan Madabushi

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Is Sanskrit against rationality?

“Whatever I say, examine it carefully and then act according to your wish,” says Lord Krishna.

He did not reprimand Arjuna (Bhagavad Gita 19.63). This is a book for those with self-respect to appreciate. Sanskrit contains many passages urging us to test knowledge through experience.

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen says Sanskrit carries many atheistic ideas compared to Indian languages.

The book Yogavasitam says even if sages give irrational advice, intellectuals need not accept it; the common folk can accept advice that aligns with understanding (11.18.2.3).

Adi Shankaracharya, who wrote a commentary on Bhagavad Gita, says despite hundred statements in the Vedas that fire does not burn, one should not accept them; experience is the evidence.

This is true rationality.

Some Tamil Nadu politicians disrespect Hindus after consuming Ramzan ganji; that is not rationality but “same side goal”.

Is Sanskrit a northern language?
Mu. Varadarasan who wrote Tamil literary history says northern languages wrote literature, religious thoughts, and art principles extensively. Many northern scholars were from southern Tamil regions. The northern scholar who wrote Kavya Darsanam was Tamil from Kanchipuram named Thandi.
The advaita scholar Shankara was from south India. Ramanuja who explained Vishishtadvaita was a Tamil from Kanchipuram. There are many northern language books on Bharatanatyam, Carnatic music, cooking, and culture, authored by scholars who studied Tamil arts and lifestyles.

The Tamil separatist movement flooded by Paraiyar caste leaders is a pit dug by missionaries. Ma Ramaalai Adigal led the singular Tamil movement, supported enthusiastically by communists like Jeeva. But when Jeeva met Ramaalai Adigal, he was shocked.
Jeeva, who loved Tamil intensely, had changed his name to Uyir Inban (Joy of Life). Ramaalai Adigal asked Jeeva the reason for his visit, and when Jeeva asked the meaning of the word reason, Adigal replied it was not yet decided if it was a Tamil word. Jeeva left the house and renounced his name Uyir Inban.

The incident shows the Tamil separation movement’s hostility to Sanskrit and Tamil’s bond. Pandithamani Kathiresan Chettiar and Ramaalai Adigal clashed over Sanskrit words in Tamil.

Adigal claimed Sangam literature was pure Tamil with no northern loan words. Pandithamani replied Sangam literature itself contains northern words like “Sadha” and “Thripuram.” Adigal got angry and thumped the table; Pandithamani said lawyers use strong evidence or thump tables when they lack evidence.

Many notable Tamil personalities have Sanskrit names. Political leaders, film stars, musicians, and writers with Sanskrit names are prominent in Tamil Nadu even after a century of Tamil separatism.

Many Tamil Nadu town and village names have Sanskrit origins, even if it is not recognized — such as Tiruchozhalam, Mahabalipuram, Kanchipuram, and more.
Leading Tamil newspapers like Dinamani, Dhinamalar, Dina Thanthi, and Dinakaran have Sanskrit-derived names.

Will Sanskrit growth help BJP?
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, founded by a Congress leader K. M. Munshi, has served Indian culture and Sanskrit for many years.

Jawaharlal Nehru said without hesitation that Sanskrit is India’s greatest wealth.

Sanskrit development will help India’s rise, benefiting not only BJP but also Congress, BJP, and DMK.

Does supporting Sanskrit, a non-spoken language in daily use, have benefits?
Life is a blessing, says a TV artist Yogabhyasam. This blessing should be considered whether it is Tamil or Sanskrit.

Sanskrit is spoken simply and mixed with Tamil and other languages, so it is not perceived as a Sanskrit craze.
In Karnataka near Shimoga, a village named Madur has 3,000 people who speak Sanskrit in their homes, schools, offices, fields, and markets, and 150 work in IT fields.

The Sanskrit Bharati movement made millions fluent in Sanskrit, with classes in India and worldwide, employing hundreds of full and part-time teachers for 25 years.

Over 100 Sanskrit magazines exist, including Santamama for children.
Scholars like Dr. V. Raghavan have written Sanskrit dramas and short stories. Sanskrit dictionaries exist in Thailand, and Sanskrit movies by G.V. Iyer are watched by millions.
Sanskrit news is broadcast on TV.
An American space scientist at MIT teaches Sanskrit. Harvard, Yale, Chicago, and Oxford universities offer Sanskrit courses.

Thus, the claim Sanskrit is not spoken is false; no linguist says Sanskrit has lost vitality.

The English national anthem “God Save the King” metered “Santhatham Bahimam” is composed by Srimuttuswami Dikshitar from Thiruvarur; his Sanskrit compositions are enjoyed by thousands.
Sanskrit is still vibrant; because of this, a major Tamil Nadu leader’s book is translated into Sanskrit — by Kannan, grandson of Tamil separatist leader Ki.A.Pe. Viswanathan.

Kamarajar said, everyone in this country should learn Sanskrit, the cradle of Indian culture.
What is Sanskrit’s role in Tamil life?
The Tamil tradition considers Tamil and Sanskrit harmoniously divine. Tamil poets and writers find Sanskrit a source of inspiration.

Sanskrit influences sculpture, dance, literary theories, logic, linguistics, botany, lexicography, mathematics, history, Ayurveda, and astrology.
Sanskrit books helped create statues of Valluvar in South Kumari district.
Poet Bharathidasan used the Sanskrit loan word “pathrika” (newspaper) in his poem instead of Tamil alternatives.
In Tamil Nadu temples, Sanskrit worship is explained as uniquely sonic and powerful, making Sanskrit suitable for worship.

Some demand removing Sanskrit from temples, but Sanskrit deeply influences Tamil life.

Is Sanskrit only for Brahmins?

Sri Sringeri Shankaracharya says this idea is against Dharma.
In Karnataka, 30 Sanskrit schools are run by non-Brahmins.
In 2006 Tamil Nadu plus two exams, Muslim girl Selvi Musibira Maimoon scored 198/200 in Sanskrit.
Labourer Kaurisankar is pursuing a Sanskrit PhD at Chennai University; he is not Brahmin.
Lubna Mariam from Bangladesh came to India to study Sanskrit; she is Muslim.
A priest won Sahitya Akademi award translating a Sanskrit Jesus poem.
Last year in Chennai, Stella Mary College students won prizes in Valmiki Ramayana quiz.
An Islamic scholar wrote a Tamil poem on Adi Shankara’s spiritual teaching.
Swami Vivekananda, who popularized Upanishads in the West, was not Brahmin.
Epic leaders Rama and Krishna were not Brahmins; Rama was Kshatriya, Krishna was Yadava.
Maharishi Vyasa compiling Vedas was not Brahmin; Valmiki and Kalidas were not Brahmins.
Many foreign Sanskrit scholars were not Brahmins.
Ambedkar, the non-Brahmin who drafted India’s constitution, resolved to make Sanskrit India’s official language; due to politics, this was not accepted.
Socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia supported Sanskrit and was non-Brahmin.
Beethoven, the Western classical maestro who wrote symphony on Gita’s themes, was not Brahmin.

Thus, the Brahmin/non-Brahmin divide is artificial.

Does Sanskrit threaten Tamil?

The threat to Tamil is not from Sanskrit but English and satellite TV. English infiltrates Tamil through cartoons; protecting Tamil requires awareness and activism against TV influence.
Sanskrit is the golden vessel that carries Tamil nectar.

Sanskrit has no place in Tamil literary tradition?

Tolkappiyam calls itself “grammar rich in northern dialect.” Ancient Tamil grammar discusses Sanskrit connections. Ilango Adigal knew Valmiki Ramayana. Tamil classical literature has Sanskrit words.
Sangam literature contains Sanskrit.
Scripts call poets like Tiruppan Azhwar Sanskritized names.Sanskrit and Tamil languages should support each other.

Is Sanskrit education religious?

The 1994 Supreme Court ruled Sanskrit teaching is not against secularism.
Sri Sringeri Shankaracharya says Sanskrit is not Brahmin-only. Before foreigners came, Indian scholars were proficient in their mother tongue and Sanskrit. Tamil scholars excelled in Sanskrit and led India culturally.

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ADANI GLOBAL INDOLOGY CONCLAVE 2025 : “Lifetime Achievement Award” conferred on “Veda Vaaridhi” Sri.U.Ve. Sohathur Dr.P. Ramanujacharya (Asthana Vidwan of Sri Ahobila Mutt)

It is a matter of great pride and delight that U. Ve. Sri Sohathur Ramanujacharya Swamin , the renowned ubhaya vedantin scholar has been recognised for his monumental contributions in Sanskrit to preserving and propagating Vedic and Sampradaya knowledge, philosophy, literature and scriptures through the Institute he himself established in Bangalore.

The Institute named “Parankushachar Institute of Vedic Studies” (PIVS) was formed in 1996, by Vedavāridhi Dr. P. Ramanujacharya, to promote research and study of Vedic topics. The Institute is imparting traditional Vedic knowledge in the maukhik paramparā and is actively engaged in research ever since in ancient Vedic texts for bringing out the treasures hidden in them for the benefit of all. A library of all the books and manuscripts and subsequent collections was set up at the Institute and its detailed cataloguing (computerized database) has progressed by leaps and bounds. Currently there are approximately 4500 titles in the library.

About Veda Varidhi Dr. P. Ramanujacharya:

Profession and Education: He is an accomplished electrical engineer with degrees, including an M.Sc. from IISc, Bangalore. Concurrently, he achieved renown as a distinguished Vedic scholar who has mastered several branches of the sacred texts through the traditional Gurukula system.
Recognition: He received an honorary D.Litt from the Lal Bahadur Shastri Vidyapeeta, Delhi, and the title of “Asthana Vidwan” from Sri Ahobila Math. He has also served as the President of the Computers and Sanskrit section of the All India Oriental Conference.
Location: Discussions related to his work have taken place at the Desika Vidhya Bhavanam in Mylapore, Chennai.

As one who has great respect and admiration for Sri Sohathur Swami, as he is popularly known to his students and admirers, I hereby wish to offer to him my humble “dandasamarpanam” and my heartfelt congratulations for this great honour and accolade conferred upon him. He is truly an exemplar for the entire Sri Vaishnava community both in India and abroad . 💐🌟🏆🙏🙏👏👏👏🙏🙏

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It is with utterly humble pride that I now recall how in April 2022, Sri Sohathur Swamy himself bestowed upon me a little appreciation if not honour (of course, though marked with compassion and great indulgence still laced however with a certain degree of reticence and reluctance) by consenting to be one of the speakers reviewing my just then published book. The Swamin told me he was not accustomed nor ever inclined to reading books on Sampradaya authored in the English language but would make a one-time exception in my case. He however sternly advised me to start learning Sanskrit and start writing only in Sanskrit if I wished to write on Vedic subjects. (It is a matter of personal shame and regret for me that I still have not heeded his exhortations … and continue to write in English).

My book in English, “The Nondescript God: Abstraction or Paragon?” was held at the Sri Ahobila Mutt in Bangalore under the benevolent auspices and “anugraham” of HH the 46th Srimad Azhagiyasingar Srimathe Srivann Satagopa Sri Ranganatha Yathindra Mahadesikan.

https://amzn.in/d/0Qhg9yM

Sri Sohathur Swamy spoke for about 20 minutes at the event in the August presence of HH Srimad Azhagiyasingar. His review of my book was absolutely brilliant and so very insightful . He appreciated my effort taken to popularise Vedanta through the English language but at the same time he pointed out to several risks and challenges that are inherent in trying to translate concepts and tenets of Vedanta through a medium other than the Sanskrit language or vernacular.

In 20 minutes Sohathur Swamy covered the entire main theme of my book in all its dimensions with a scholarly sweep and flourish that took my breath away and also further enlightened the learned audience present.

The speech of Sri Sohathur Swamy on the occasion can be viewed through the YouTube video-clip below ⬇️

https://youtu.be/w5fJmiE8Wb4?si=VSS_FjMJjOD9DPXG

With deep gratitude felt now by me for the kindness he showed to me then in April 2022, once again today, on the happy occasion of his being conferred Lifetime Achievement Award , I offer my humble dandasamarpanam and congratulations to Sri U. Ve. Sohathur Ramanujacharya swamin.

Daasoham 🙏

Sudarshan Madabushi

A Dialogue on the Veda, the self-existent, uncaused revealed scripture un-authored by human agency: the Visishtadvaita “darsana” (Part 2 of 2 CONCLUDED)

The Acharya and his student continued their dialogue as follows:

The Swami:
Dear one, your question is subtle and worthy of deep reflection. You say that calling the Veda “apauruṣeya” seems like a human attribution, a mental concept applied by human intellect. But hear me out carefully:

The Veda is not an object of mere human speculation or imagination. It is eternal and beginningless, without origin. It is the very breath of the Brahman or Bhagavan, existing inseparably with Him as His eternal knowledge and will.

Just as you cannot say the sun is “dazzling bright” because your mind decides so, but because the sun itself shines and dazzles by its very own nature, similarly the Veda’s divinity too is not imposed by human thought or agency.

Student:
Swami, then how do we reconcile this with the fact that to understand or describe something as divine, some human act surely must be there?

Swami:
Yes, recognizing the divine nature does involve your intellect. But intellect, when purified and guided by true knowledge and grace, does not create the divinity; it merely perceives what is already perfectly real and self-existent.

The intellect’s role is like a mirror reflecting the sun’s rays—it does not create the light, it simply reveals it.

The Veda’s status as apauruṣeya is an objective truth revealed through the sampradāya and the authentic teachings of realized beings, not a subjective label applied arbitrarily.

Student:
Is it then the recognition of the Veda’s authority itself fallible as it is being linked to human intellect?

Swami:
In the case of the realm of ordinary empirical knowledge (vyāvahārika jñānam) of worldly matters, human intellect is fallible.

But revealed knowledge embodied in the Veda transcends the fallibilities of ordinary cognition. It comes from the supreme source, and the scriptures themselves affirm their own eternality and infallibility. What holds good in the former domain does not hold good in the latter realm of ultimate or revealed knowledge (śāstrīya jñānam).

Student: Swamin, what did you mean by “sampradāya and the authentic teachings of realized beings”? Could you please contextualise it?

Swami: Viśiṣṭādvaita distinguishes between constructed knowledge (kalpita-jñāna) and revealed knowledge (śruti-jñāna).

The example you gave — calling or “attributing” to an object “divine beauty” — belongs to the former, where the mind synthesizes impressions.

The apauruṣeyatva of the Veda, however, is part of the latter, which transcends mental construction.

The human intellect, when guided by śraddhā (faith) and ācāryopadeśa (instructions from an Acharya), becomes a transparent instrument for that higher revelation to be manifested, not manufactured.

Thus, the Veda is not a human composition, but the eternal divine utterance through which the Lord’s will is eternally expressed.

Student:
So, Swami, the Veda’s divine origin is not a mental attribution but an ontological reality?

Swami:
Exactly! In the Viśiṣṭādvaita view, all that exists has Brahman as its inner reality. The Veda is a mode of Brahman’s perfection and knowledge.

When your intellect comprehends this, it is participating in that supreme reality, not inventing it.

To summarise, know this that to call the Veda apauruṣeya is not our act of conferring divinity upon it for it is an act of recognizing the Lord’s eternal word, shining through the ages. The intellect, cleansed by grace (anugraha), mirrors the truth; it does not manufacture it.”

Be assured, dear one, the doubt you have raised is the doorway to deeper realization. The path of surrender and study, under the guidance of the Guru and through unshakable faith in the Veda’s divinity, will remove it entirely.

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Swami Vedanta Desikan himself in one very profound shloka in a Sanskrit hymn composed by him as “Sri Hayagreeva Stotram” (Verse 6) , expresses with utter humility his own sheer fascination for the concept of “apaurusheyam” of the Veda:

“apauruṣēyairapi vākprapañcaiḥ
adyāpi tē bhūtimadr̥ṣṭapārāṁ
stuvannahaṁ mugdha iti tvayaiva
kāruṇyatō nātha kaṭākṣaṇīyaḥ”||

Gist :

Even with the utterances of the Vedas — which are apauruṣeya (not of human origin) and boundless in expression — even today, O Lord, Your glory remains unfathomable and beyond their reach.

As I, simple and ignorant though I am, attempt to praise You with their words, but it is by Your compassion alone (Karunya) that I may become worthy of Your gracious glance”.

The word apauruṣeya in the shloka above refers to the Vedas, considered not authored by any person. The poet contrasts the Vedas’ inability to fully describe the Divine’s majesty with his own humble attempts to understand, implying that divine grace (kaṭākṣa — a merciful glance) alone can make even the smallest act of devotion of the spiritual seeker meaningful and bestow true understanding.

“Sarvam Sri krishnaarpanam”

(Concluded)

Sudarshan Madabushi

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Here below is the full dialogue rendered into Tamil:

ஸ்வாமி:
கணியாணவனே, உன் கேள்வி மிகவும் நுணுக்கமானது மற்றும் ஆழ்ந்த சிந்தனைக்குக் கூடியது. நீ கூறுகிறாய், வேதத்தை’அபௌருஷேயம்’ என்று கூறுவது என்பது மனித அறிவின் ஒரு பண்பாகவே உள்ளது என்று. அதை உணர்ந்து கொள்ள இங்கே கவனி:

வேதம் என்பது சாதாரணமான மனிதர் ஆராய்ச்சிக்கோ, கற்பனைக்கோ உட்பட்ட பொருள் அல்ல.

அது நித்தியம் மற்றும் அனாதி, பிறப்பற்றது. அது பரமானந்தஸ்வாமியின் உயிர் நுட்ப ஆழத்தோடு இணைந்திருக்கும் நித்திய அறிவும்)(நியாமகத் தன்னிடமும் ஆகும்.

உன் மனத்தால் சூரியன் “ஒளிர்வதாக” நான் சொல்லினால், அது ஒளிர்வது அல்ல, ஆனாலும் சூரியன் தன் இயல்பினாலே ஒளிர்கிறது. அதுபோல், வேதத்தின் தெய்வீக தன்மை மனித சிந்தனையால் அமைக்கப்படவில்லை.]

ஆசாரியர்:
ஆமாம் ஸ்வாமி, ஆனால் எந்த பொருளையும் ‘தெய்வீகமாக’ அறிவதும் சொல்லுவதும் மனித அறிவால் நடக்கும் செயல்களே அல்லவா?

ஸ்வாமி:
ஆம், தெய்வீகமான பண்பைக் காண்பது உன் அறிவின் செயல் தான். ஆனால் அந்த அறிவு தூய்மையடைந்த, சிரத்தா (நம்பிக்கை) மற்றும் ஆசாரியர் உபதேசத்தால் வழிநுட்பப்பட்ட நேர்மையான அறிவாகும். அது தெய்வீகத்தை உருவாக்காது; உள்ளதையே தெளிவாகப் பார்ப்பதே ஆகும்.

அறிவின் பணி சூரிய ஒளியை பிரதிபலிக்கும் கண்ணாடி போன்றது. ஒளியை உருவாக்கவில்லை; வெளிப்படுத்துகிறது.

வேதம் அபௌருஷேயம் என்ற நிலை உண்மையாக இருக்கும்; அது சம்பிரதாயம் மற்றும் உயிர்த்திருவாளர் உபதேசங்களால் வெளிப்படுகிறது; மனிதக் கருத்து ஒன்று அல்ல.]

ஆசாரியர்:
பிறகு, வேதத்தின் அதிகாரத்தை அறிவது, அது மனித அறிவால் தொடர்புடையதெனில் அது பிழையானதா?

ஸ்வாமி:
வ்யாவஹாரிக அறிவு, அதாவது உலக விவர அனுபவ அறிவு, எப்போதும் பிழைகளை கொண்டிருக்கலாம்.

ஆனால் வேதத்தின் சுருதி ஜ்ஞானம் இந்தப் பிழைகளைக் கடந்து நின்று, பரமேஸ்வரர் மேற்கொண்டதாய் நிரூபிக்கப்பட்டது. இவ்வித அறிவின் நிலை முற்றிலும் வேறுபடுகிறது.]

ஆசாரியர்:
“சம்பிரதாயமும் உயிர்த்திருவாளர் உபதேசங்கள்” என்றால் என்ன? அதனை விளக்கமளிக்க முடியுமா?

ஸ்வாமி:
விசிஷ்டாத்வைதம், ‘கற்பித ஜ்ஞானம்’ மற்றும் ‘சுருதி ஜ்ஞானம்’ என்று அறிவவை வேறுபடுத்துகிறது.

நீ எடுத்துக் காட்டியது, “அழகில் தெய்வீகமானது” என்று கருத்திடுவது “கற்பித ஜ்ஞானம்” ஆகும்.

ஆனால் வேதத்தின் அபௌருஷேய தன்மை, மனதின் கல்பிதங்களைத் கடந்தும், சுருதி ஜ்ஞானத்தின்பகுதி.

அதனை உணர்த்தும் அறிவு மாற்றார்ந்தது அல்ல; அது தாயாரான சிரத்தா மற்றும் ஆசாரியர் உபதேசங்கள் வழியால் காப்பாற்றப்படுகிறது.

வேதம் மனிதன் உருவாக்கியதல்ல; அது பரமானந்தரின் நித்திய சிருஷ்டிசொல்.

ஆசாரியர்:
அதனால் ஸ்வாமி, வேதத்தின் தெய்வீக தோற்றம் ஒரு மனதாராக வெளிப்படுவது அல்ல, ஒரு உண்மையான நிலையே?

ஸ்வாமி:
சரி! விசிஷ்டாத்வைதத்தின்படி, அனைத்தும் பரமானந்தனுடைய அந்தரங்கப் பொருள். வேதம் அவருடைய பூரண அறிவின் வெளிப்பாடுகள்.

உன் அறிவு இதைப் புரிந்து கொண்டால், அது உருவாக்குவதாக இல்லை; இன்ப நிலையைச் சேருவதாகும்.

இப்பொழுது தெரிவித்துள்ளார்: வேதத்தை அபௌருஷேயம் என்று அழைப்பது, அதற்கு தெய்வீகம் சேர்ப்பது அல்ல, அது இறைவனதுஎப்போதும் ஒளிரும் வார்த்தையை அங்கீகரிப்பதாகும்.

அறிவை அனுக்ரஹம் தூய்மையாக்கும் போது உண்மையை பிரதிபலிக்கும்; உருவாக்காது.]

ஸ்வாமி:
கணியாணவனே, உன் சந்தேகம் ஆழ்ந்த உண்மையை அருளும் கதவு. ஆசாரியரின் அருளோடு, மிகுந்த நம்பிக்கையுடனும், வேதத்தின் தெய்வீகத்திலும் தளராமலான பக்தியுடனும் நீ பயணத்தைக் கொடுத்து, இந்த சந்தேகம் முற்றிலும் அகற்றப்படும்.

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ஸ்ரீ ஹயகரீவ ஸ்தோத்திரத்தின் ஆறாவது பாடலில்…

விதி பேரருள் பரப்பும் பரம்பொருள் வேதங்களின் அபௌருஷேய இயல்பு பெருமை, இன்பம் பரிந்து உயிர்க்கும் ஆராதனையாகி உள்ளது. அந்த வேத அறிவின் ஆத்மார்த்தம் உன்னை, ஓ தண்டகர்ணனே, இன்னும் சொல்ல முடியாதது; நான் அந்த வேத வாக்குகளால் உன்னை சிர்ஞ்சொழிய முயல்வினும், ஆனாலும், என் இகழ்ச்சியற்ற பக்தியிற்க்கும் உன் பரிசுத்தக் கருணைத் தானே விழித்தளிக்கும். அதுவே என் மனதின் தாரகையைமை. உன்னால் மட்டுமே என் நன்மை சூடம் பெருகும்.

சர்வம் ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம்

(முடிவு)

Sudarshan Madabushi

A Dialogue on Veda…self-existent, uncaused revealed scripture un-authored by human agency: the Visishtadvaita “darsana” (Part 1 of 2)

An imaginary dialogue has been conceived and recorded below between a student and a Sri Vaishnava Acharya being held during the course of a traditional “kaalakshepam” (small intensive study-group class) session conducted by the Master for his band of disciples on the sacred Vedanta text, “Rahasya Traya Saaram” written by Swami Vedanta Desikan (1268-1368CE)

The Dialogue seeks to recapitulate the Vedantic concept of “apaurusheyam” — that describes the Veda as revealed scripture having no authorship.

The student wishes to have his nagging doubt about the concept cleared. He is uncertain about the nature of the Vedas being Revealed Scriptural Authority and “anaadi” and “apaurusheyam” as well i.e. eternally self-existent, eternally valid and infallible and having no human authorship or agency. It simply stands self-luminous and self-evident.

The student is fascinated by such an intriguing concept but is unable to fully grasp the reality of “apaurusheyam” although it is known and accepted universally to be a Vedantic axiom. Hence he badgers the Acharya with a few questions that are reproduced below (in both English and Tamil) in the format of a Master-Disciple conversation in class. Their dialogue thereafter continues.

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Swami , salutations to you .🙏

In the ongoing “kaalakshepam” on Rahasya traya Saaram , you had explained a certain section in it that deals with the matter of how Veda-Sastra alone is the only infallible “pramaanam” for a seeker in his or her inquiry into “adhyaathmikam” or “aamushmikam” questions leading to ultimate realisation of “parama purushaartham”, the summum bonus of all existence.

At the same time, it was also explained by you that Veda Pramaanam is “anaadi” and “Anantham” … i.e. It has no beginning and no end . It is eternal and co-existent with the Creator as if it were his own eternal life-breath.

Thus , the Vedas are scriptures said to have no human authorship. They are “apourusheyam”. This makes the scripture cosmic and divine in origin. It is also infallible.

Now, a few nagging questions arise in my mind for which I very humbly seek your clarification, Swamin :

1. Attribution itself is a an act of the human intellect, isn’t it? If I say , “this thing is so divine in beauty”, I’m myself attributing to the object a certain quality that I myself have conceived as being divine . So, Divinity itself is a conception of a quality which human agency then attributes to the Vedas, is it not ?

2. So, similarly , if it is said that this Scripture is “apaurusheyam” and has no human authorship … that quality of being “apaurusheyam” too by itself is again an act of intellectual attribution, is it not ?

3. So, how can then one say that the Veda is a scripture that is of non-human origin or that it has no authorship ?

Swamin, I will be grateful to you if you could please remove my doubt.

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(Tamil translation)

ஸ்வாமி, ஆடியேனுடைய பணிவான நமஸ்காரங்கள்.

நடந்து கொண்டிருக்கும் காலாட்சேபம் இல் [ரஹஸ்யத்ரயசாரம்] குறித்து ஸ்வாமி அருளிச் செய்தபோது, அதிலுள்ள ஒரு பிரபந்த பாகத்தைத் தெளிவாக விளக்கினீர்கள். அந்தப் பகுதி, ஆத்யாத்மிகம் அல்லது ஆமுஷ்மிகம் தொடர்பான விசாரணையில், சாதகருக்குப் பிரமாணமாக, மாறாதது, எப்பொழுதும் தவறுக்கிடங்கில்லாதது — பிரமாணம் — எனப்படும் ஒன்றாக வேதம் மட்டுமே உறுதி செய்யப்படுவதாகக் கூறுகிறது.

அதே சமயம், ஸ்வாமி அருளிச் செய்தது போலவே, அந்த வேதப்பிரமாணம் அனாதி-யும் அனந்தம்-யும் ஆகும் — அதற்கு ஆதியும் இல்லை, அந்தமும் இல்லை. அது நித்தியமாகப் பிரபஞ்சக் கற்பித்தவனான [பிரம்மன்] உடன் இருப்பதாகவும், அவர் சுவாசம் போன்று நித்தியமாக நிலைத்திருப்பதாகவும் கூறப்படுகிறது.

இதனால் வேதம், மனுஷரால் இயற்றப்படாத, [அபௌருஷேயம்] — தெய்வீக ஆதாரமுடைய நூலாகவே விளங்குகிறது. இதனால்தான் அது தவறில்லாத, அசேத்யமான பிரமாணமாகப் பெருமை பெறுகிறது.

அடியேனுடைய மந்தமான புத்தியிலே சில சந்தேகங்கள் எழுகின்றன ஸ்வாமி; அவற்றைப் போக்கி அருள் செய்யுமாறு மிகவும் தாழ்மையுடன் வேண்டிக்கொள்கிறேன்.

பொருளாதாரக் கண்ணோட்டத்தில், [அதிப்பயம்] அல்லது [அடையாளம்] கொடுப்பது தானே மனித புத்தியின் செயலா? “இந்தப் பொருள் தெய்வீக அழகை உடையது” என்று சொல்லும்போது அந்தப் பொருளை “தெய்வீகமானது” என்று கூறுவது என் மனத்தில் தோன்றிய ஒரு சிந்தனைதான் அல்லவா? அப்படியென்றால் “தெய்வீகம்” என்ற அம்சமே ஒரு மனுஷ பாவனை அல்லவோ?

அதேபோல் “இந்நூல் [அபௌருஷேயம்]” — இது எழுதியவர் யாருமில்லை என்றால் — அந்த “அபௌருஷேயம்” என்ற பண்பை கூறுவதும் ஒரு மனுஷ சிந்தனையின் வெளிப்பாடே அல்லவா? இப்படியாக இருக்கையில், வேதம் “மனுஷரின்மை” அபாவத்துடன் கூடிய தெய்வீக நூல் என்று நாம் கூறுவதில் எப்படி உறுதி செய்யலாம் ஸ்வாமி?

அடியேனுடைய இச்சந்தேகத்தை ஸ்வாமி தயவுசெய்து நீக்குமாறு அருள்புரிய வேண்டுகிறேன்.
🙏

அடியேன்,

(To be continued)

Sudarshan Madabushi

The DMK’s Evolution and THE HINDU’s: by Darwinian principle of (un)natural selection of species

Today’s THE HINDU front-page news report above caught me really by great surprise. Reading the above column set me wondering about how the DMK , an avowedly anti-Hindu Party “traditionally associated with atheism and anti-Brahminism”, suddenly decided to elevate Dr. V. Maitreyan, a Tamil Brahmin, who sports his caste-mark and Hindu identity upon his forehead prominently at all times, within its hallowed Dravidian fortress.

In the past, since 1967 when it first came to power in the State, the DMK occasionally did make positive or appreciative remarks about individual Brahmins, although such statements were very rare, far and between, compared to the party’s critical and toxic rhetoric that its leading ideologues like A.Raja, Ponmudi, T.R.Balu and other used to regularly air in public about Brahmin dominance as a class or institution. Yet, M. Karunanidhi, former DMK chief and family patriarch, was known for his professional relations with Brahmins in government service. Testimonies from senior bureaucrats—such as S. Malathi and K.S. Sripathi, both Brahmins—affirmed that Karunanidhi never showed administrative bias against Brahmins and valued competence regardless of caste. Karunanidhi once pulled up a DMK MP for criticizing a Brahmin official and made the MP withdraw the remarks, demonstrating respect towards the individual official.

Karunanidhi also wrote a successful television serial on the Vaishnavaite saint Ramanujacharya, which was well received by the Iyengar (Tamil Brahmin) community. It reflected his willingness to appreciate important Brahmin figures and cultural contributions after his 2011 election defeat.

The DMK had, in fact, also received public support from Brahmin organizations, such as the Tamil Nadu Brahmins Welfare Sangam, which extended support during the 2016 state elections—a sign that DMK occasionally whenever electoral expediency demanded it, did engage in positive dialogue with certain influential sections of the Brahmin community.

But by birth and by religious practice, Dr. Maitreyan is a Hindu Sanatanist. And it was only as recently as in 2023, that the Yuvaraja of the DMK, Mr. Udayanidhi, grandson of M.Karunanidhi, had declared publicly that “Certain things like dengue, malaria and corona need to be eradicated and not merely opposed. Likewise, Sanatana should also be eradicated”.

So, what then is one to make of all this breaking news reported today by THE HINDU on its front page?!

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We could ask ourselves: Is this DMK’s moment of metanoia? Or is it a sign of the Party’s evolution by the Darwinian principle of “selection of species”? After all, it is well known that the DMK, founded by the legendary C.N.Annadurai, is only one of several species of the Dravidian stock whose natural habitat extends far and wide in Tamil Nadu (the others being its lesser cousins the DK, AIADMK, MDMK, DMDK, VCK and their respective smaller scions).

As a regular and loyal reader of The HINDU now for many decades, I must confess that lately, say, in the last 10 years, I read it with my morning coffee more out of sheer force of habit that got formed irreversibly over many years than out of willing choice… and here I am not meaning meaning the coffee.

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Before I go on to elucidate the Darwinian principle of “natural selection“, first I must allude in the same context to THE HINDU’s own evolution through “unnatural selection” inside the ecology of the journalistic world of India.

Many knowledgeable friends of mine I know — they are all loyal readers too — tell me that the HINDU in the last 10-15 years has morphed unrecognizably from what it once used to be. They say, today it is no more than the unofficial national-media mouthpiece of the DMK, and as much a Party propaganda-organ as the latter’s very own Tamil daily, Murasoli.

The Hindu, started in 1878 as a weekly, became a daily in 1889 and from then on it kept steadily growing until today, nearly upto its 125 years anniversary, it earned the right and proud claim to be called the “Mount Road Mahavishnu” amongst all National Newspapers in South India. Now, nearly, 150 years since inception, it has lost much of its divine sheen.

The HINDU’s evolution had been hailed in 1965, in The Times which listed it as one of the world’s ten best newspapers. Discussing each of its choices in separate articles, The Times wrote:

“The Hindu takes the general seriousness to lengths of severity… published in Madras, it is the only newspaper which in spite of being published only in a provincial capital is regularly and attentively read in Delhi. It is read not only as a distant and authoritative voice on national affairs but as an expression of the most liberal—and least provincial—southern attitudes... It might fairly be described as a southern newspaper. The Hindu can claim to be the most respected paper in India.“

In 1968, the American Newspaper Publishers Association awarded The Hindu its World Press Achievement Award. An extract from the citation reads:

“Throughout nearly a century of its publication The Hindu has exerted wide influence not only in Madras but throughout India. Conservative in both tone and appearance, it has wide appeal to the English-speaking segment of the population and wide readership among government officials and business leaders… The Hindu has provided its readers a broad and balanced news coverage, enterprising reporting and a sober and thoughtful comment… It has provided its country a model of journalistic excellence… It has fought for a greater measure of humanity for India and its people… and has not confined itself to a narrow chauvinism.”

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The evolution of THE HINDU from its inception in 1878 to 2025 can be best understood by looking up its website https://www.thehindu.com/aboutus/ and glimpsing at a snapshot, as it were, of the historical journey of this great newspaper house. Once upon a time, THE HINDU itself says, on that same page:

“The greatest asset of The Hindu , founded in September 1878, is trust.”

“Everything we do as a company revolves, and should continue to revolve, round this hard-earned and inestimable long-term asset. The objective of codification of editorial values is to protect and foster the bond of trust between our newspapers and their readers”.

Then on another page on the same website, under the caption: “CODE OF EDITORIAL VALUES”, THE HINDU goes on to explain how it goes about “protecting and fostering the bond of trust between our newspapers and their readers“. It is classic case of Orwellian Doublespeak. Why? Because that is the conclusion anyone would draw by reading carefully and in between the lines of the following three very revealing statements in the CODE which clearly dilute and displace Trust and replace it with Commercial Success.

QUOTE:

Alignment of Editorial and Business

The Company is fully committed to these values, so that the business and editorial departments and actions, while operating by their own distinctive rules, are on the same page. The two sides must work together closely on the basis of mutual respect and cooperation and in the spirit of living these values in a contemporary sense.

Business Focus

The Company recognises that good journalism cannot survive, develop, and flourish unless it is viable and commercially successful.

No Wall but Firm Line

There is no wall but there is a firm line between the business operations of the Company and editorial operations and content. ……etc.

UNQUOTE

It does not require any great intelligence or wisdom for readers to understand that any time when Editorial Policy gets written by Shareholders, it is extremely rare that Trust and Commercial Success can ever hang together and survive on the same page.

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Picking up THE HINDU this morning, and reading the column printed so boldly and brazenly, front and centre, upon its very first page, made me at once begin thinking how closely the newspaper’s evolution marches virtually lockstep with the DMK’s own political evolution.

The HINDU in printing the news about a Brahmin being anointed Vice-President in the DMK appeared to me to be the most “narrow chauvinistic and provincial” news report and a downright casteist news-analysis that I have ever before come across on its pages.

The DMK Party bosses wanting the news of Dr. Maitreyan’s coronation of dubious sort to be carried as front-page news in the HINDU — i.e. about an Aryan of Tamil origin being conferred, as it were, the “KNIGHT COMMANDER OF THE STAR OF DRAVIDIAN PRIDE” — must surely rank as the most egregious example of the most cynical of political stunts ever performed in its history. One could even say it betters the (late) Karunanidhi’s wily, curry-favouring attempt to garner the Ayyangar votes of Tamil Nadu with the scripting of a TV-serialized, specious soap-opera on the life of the great Sri. Ramanujacharya.

By the way, and very ironically, the family that owns THE HINDU is one of the oldest and most respected Ayyangar families in Chennai.

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Dr. V.Maitreyan too perhaps has greatly evolved through the process of Darwinian “selection of species” in his long, chequered political career that one would hesitate to characterise as being just about a little picaresque.

This Brahmin politician has so far switched or job-hopped between four major parties during his political career: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, his ideological starting point), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), with multiple stints in both BJP and AIADMK before joining DMK most recently in 2025.

The HINDU report above hints that Dr. Maitreyan has now “relinquished Aryan Brahminical traits and ideas and embraced the culture of the Dravidian land”. The price of a very significant “organisational post in the Dravidian Party” for a Brahmin is, one reckons, tacit apostasy if not public recanting of Brahminhood.

The HINDU news-report above, published obviously with the DMK’s blessings, goes on next to recount a bit of recent history. There is undisguised triumph in the undertone of the narration. It implies and gloats over the fact that the late legal luminary, Mr. V.P.Raman, also might have, through the same route as Maitreyan’s, procured his appointment to the Office of the Advocate-General of the then DMK government — thanks to secret and effective parleys amongst M/s. A.V.Raman, Annadurai, C.Rajagopachari…. What an insult indeed to the memory of Rajaji, V.P.Raman and his revered father!

The general message that this HINDU news-analysis appears to aim to convey from its front page today is only this:

The DMK has evolved so far from its fledgling days in the pre-1967 era that today it is willing to blur the mythical Aryan-Dravidian dividing line if electoral vote-bank and identity-realpolitik calculations demand it.
The most enlightened of Tamil Brahmins are commodities. They can be purchased by blandishing loaves of office or Party positions.

**********

Finally, let me turn to the subject of Darwin’s theory or principle of “natural selection of species” which applies … unnaturally and contextually … to everything we know now from the foregoing narratives on the DMK, The HINDU and Dr. V.Maitreyan. All of them are true representative species, indeed … of the political, journalistic and Brahmin worlds, respectively.

Darwin's Theory of Evolution: Definition & Evidence | Live Science

Here below is a quick and easy gist of what is the Darwinian principle of “selection of species”. Once you have read it, I have no doubt that you should be able to easily put two and two together and understand how the DMK, The HINDU and Dr. Maitreyan have each evolved in their respective ecospheres all these years in their own ways.

Darwin’s principle of evolution by natural selection states that individuals with heritable traits better suited to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing those advantageous traits to their offspring.

Over long periods, this differential survival and reproduction leads to the gradual accumulation of beneficial changes, causing species to evolve and adapt to their surroundings.

This process relies on three key components: natural variation within a species, the inheritance of these variations, and a struggle for existence where not all individuals survive.

Variation: Individuals within a species have slight, heritable differences, often due to random genetic mutations.
Inheritance: Offspring tend to inherit the traits of their parents.
Struggle for existence: More offspring are produced than can survive, leading to a competition for resources.
Natural selection: Individuals with traits that provide an advantage in their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. This “survival of the fittest” means those advantageous traits become more common in the population over generations.
Adaptation and speciation: Over vast amounts of time, the accumulation of these beneficial adaptations can lead to the formation of new species.

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Sudarshan Madabushi

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Sudarshan Madabushi

Ageing, “Kama” as “purushaartha”, “Chamaka Prashna” and Andaal “Tiruppavai”

A very well-read and dear relative of mine — himself who just recently turned an octogenarian— forwarded to me this morning via WhatsApp a very interesting and insightful message on what is “GROWTH in OLD AGE” and really what it means with reference to the famous Vedic passage known as “CHAMAKA PRASHNA” (Krishna Yajurveda, specifically in the Taittiriya Samhita (4th Kāṇḍa, 7th Prapāṭhaka or Prasna). This is a Vedic hymn that forms the second part of the Shri Rudram chant. It is a prayer seeking both material and spiritual blessings, where the devotee requests for abundance, well-being, knowledge, strength, prosperity, and ultimate fulfillment. The chant emphasizes the holistic fulfillment of human aspirations, seeking a balance between worldly prosperity and spiritual elevation.

After I had read the forwarded WhatsApp post , I could not help the rapid thoughts that flew through my own mind on the subject. I felt that my own impressions on Old Age and Growth ought to be recorded here since I’m myself on the cusp of turning all of 70 years in 2026 … and who knows? … if I too lived to be 80 years like my dear relative , I might one day then perhaps rediscover this blogpost and be again able to recollect the importance of this forwarded message and refresh and rejuvenate my octogenarian mind with it.

You can first read the full text of the forwarded WhatsApp message below . Thereafter, if you scroll further down, you can also read my own thoughts and the impressions I expressed immediately upon reading the message.

I wonder if both the WhatsApp forward and my ruminations on it will also elicit the responses of other senior citizens who happen to read this blogpost.

Sudarshan Madabushi

*****************

This writing about “Old age” by Sri Gollapudi Maruti Rao superbly describes the interpretation of getting older:👇🏻👇🏻

In the sacred Sri Rudram of the Yajur Veda, there is a section called Chamakam. Hidden within its rhythmic chants lies a curious prayer:
“Vr̥dham cha me, vr̥dhiś cha me” — “Grant me growth, and grant me old age.”

At first, it sounds strange. To ask for growth makes sense — but why ask for old age? Why invite what most people fear?

The answer lies in its spiritual wisdom.
The seeker, who cannot easily free himself from the web of desires and pleasures, is praying not for more life, but for liberation from it —for that sacred stage of mind where longing ends, where the restless heart finds stillness.

Among countless worldly wishes,
he places one rare, luminous request:
“Grant me the blessing of old age —
the age that brings detachment.”

Perhaps, in no other faith, has any devotee asked a god for such a mature, profound gift — not wealth, not power, not youth —but the quiet grace of aging.

It is as if he is saying: “O Lord, this mind of mine is a monkey —leaping, chattering, never still. You may have to satisfy its whims; there is no avoiding that. But someday, please bless me
with the strength, serenity, and age
to let go of every whim. Grant me old age.”

Old age is not a curse; it is a destination — a station that everyone reaches, whether they wish to or not. It is the shaded rest house at life’s end, where one lays down the baggage of ambition, and gently revisits the faded memories of youth.

Old age is also a gift — a time to look back and smile at past mistakes, to take pride in the obstacles once overcome,
and to breathe a peaceful sigh, knowing there are no more mountains to climb.

Old age walks a step behind one’s son,
leans softly on a granddaughter’s shoulder, and learns to make peace with truths that life refused to bend.

When the son says, “You don’t understand, Dad,” there is no anger anymore. The old man smiles —
for he knows that his son, too, must someday trade his ignorance for wisdom.

He does not feel hurt when the young say, “You won’t understand.” Instead, he feels proud — that a generation has grown confident enough to question him. He understands, quietly and completely.

When his wife says gently, “Let him do what he thinks is right,” he bows his head in calm agreement. Criticism no longer stings; insults no longer burn.
For the one who has walked the full circle of life finds peace in simply being.

Old age earns respect — not for the achievements of youth, but for the grace of endurance, for the wisdom that time alone can bestow.

It is not the end. It is the summit —the final, serene height from which life looks beautifully complete..

— Sri Gollapudi Maruti Rao (Translated and Adapted in English)

*****************

The following is the appreciative response that M. K. Sudarshan (the “Unknown Sri Vaishnava”) thought it fit to send to Sri Gollapudi Maruti Rao):

Very true … and well articulated …

It also triggers a related train of thoughts within my own mind :

The Chamakam phrase that prays for “growth” — “vriddischa may”..— is for growth to be attained through cessation of all Desires in old age… except the one paramount desire that seeks freedom from all other petty worldly desires … Here, we must allude to Andal’s significant phrase (Tamil) in the Tiruppaavai: “mattrai namm kaamangal maatru”… (pray, put an end to all other desire)

The beauty of Nature is that it is naturally designed to diminish Desires and Passions in the inevitable and irreversible passage of time .

All Desires are desires of the Sarira or Body alone . They are collectively called “Kama”.

One of life’s principal goals ( purushaartha) is indeed the satiation of bodily desires, Kama . But Kama is only a transient, evanescent “Purushaartha”. It is not the ultimate one , not the “neengaadha selvam”(“the inexhaustible bounty”, in Tamil) that Andal in her Tiruppavai speaks about.

Kama is not the goal post. It is only a milestone on the path of life that Nature lays for the human being on earth. It the milestone beyond which the man whose Sarira is ageing must travel still further and beyond to the ultimate purushaartha… that Desire that permanently puts an end to all desires . That desire is “neengaadha selvam”.

In old age , we see that there is an irresistible urge to turn back, however, the clock somehow … To try and delay if not impede precisely this unique function of Nature.

Nature by design thus weakens the Body in order to ensure that Desires in time start to wane and eventually they will release too their iron grip on us. Our appetites will diminish. Our senses will not function efficiently. We will lose the old zest for so many objects and experiences which once used to thrill us and excite us ….

All these are not so much to be regarded as signs of incipient senility of the mind and body but are to be recognised and respected more as Nature’s way of signalling to us our soulful growth .. the Growth that the “chamaka prashna” too asks for through the prayer “vriddischa may!”. .. In metaphoric terms, it is from the chrysalis that the butterfly finally grows out … In other words , Nature is indeed telling us not to worry too much (Deha–vichaara) about our steady bodily degradation but to rejoice in the commencement of a new life in spiritual growth. Nature is telling us that finally in our old age , the journey of life is nearing its preordained destination: truly the only real permanent and joyous deal awaiting us … It is the spiritual deal called “parama purushaartha”, the same deal for which Andaal coined “neengaadha Selvam”, an exquisite Tamil phrase.

*******

Modern life, education and lifestyles, however, do not seem to understand or appreciate Nature’s subtle design for the Body and Soul, nor the dynamics of Growth or the Adhyaathmic experience when the Sarira begins to age and wither.

Modern life, we see all around us today, instead, only urges us to defy ageing … I.e. it encourages us to go on trying to reverse the natural course of Growth from going forward, and instead, to revert or regress to that state called Kama — hankering after transient or ephemeral goals in life such as creature comforts, sensual enjoyment and continuing obsession with all manner of bodily gratification (“preyas”, not “shreyas”, to use Upanishad terminology)

Thus, even in old age, we are all daily bombarded by social media and electronic media sermons and advisories , by health-care and beauty experts’ homilies, and by the brainwash-material offered to us by so-called “wellness life-coaches” and jet-age “gurus” and “mentors” to think of Ageing as something whose natural progress must somehow be retarded and delayed through all kinds of artificial and artful means : e.g. beauty care treatment, health and wellness spa retreats, Botox, breast uplift and facial plastic surgery, hair-implant for balding men’s scalps, exotic diet regimes, sweating it out daily in gymnasium and “yoga centre” work-out centres, running city marathons … and so on and so forth, — activities all prescribed and peddled to us as “anti–ageing (reversing) or age defying” new-age cures and techniques for the modern generation that refuses to acknowledge that there is Growth in Ageing.

The Growth of the Soul that Nature itself has designed through the process of Bodily Ageing is thus sought to be denied; sought to be desperately thwarted and resisted by these maniacal pursuit of Kama when the Atma itself residing within the ageing Sarira yearns only for the ultimate “purushaartha” called Liberation or “moksha”. Both the Chamaka Prashna and the Tiruppaavai hold it up to us as destiny in the eternal realm of Bhagavan.

**********

“Shubhamasthu”

Sudarshan Madabushi

“Were there Brahmins in South India 2,000 years ago?”… Why Devdutt Pattnaik is dead wrong .

Here is a column that Devdutt Pattnaik wrote in The Deccan Herald :

Were there Brahmins in South India 2,000 years ago?:

https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/were-there-brahmins-in-south-india-2000-years-ago-3726957?utm_source=mail&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=socialshare

Here below are a few “nuggets” from the above article;

QUOTE: We normally assume that Brahmins have been present in every corner of India for the last 5,000 years. But this is not true. The Vedic people lived mainly in the Ganga-Yamuna Doab about 3,000 years ago. Roughly 2,500 years ago, the Vedic practices began to be challenged by new monastic traditions that arose in the lands we now associate with Bihar and Jharkhand. This led to migrations of Brahmins to the south less than 2,000 years ago.

About 1,500 years ago, there is no doubt that Brahmin settlements were firmly established across South India. But can we say the same for 2,000 years ago? The evidence is thin. We must be careful not to project the later ubiquity of Brahmins back into the earlier centuries. UNQUOTE .

Devadutt Pattanaik is dead wrong and he writes more like a charlatan than a historian. This column of his is clear evidence of that. Personal bias and intellectual dishonesty are written all over this piece of contorted/ distorted speculative narrative which he is trying to pass off to the public as historiography .

There is ample inscriptional and textual evidence for the presence of Brahmins in South India much earlier than 1,500 years ago:

Brahmins are referenced in Sangam literature, including texts such as the Purananuru and Akananuru, conventionally dated by historians and Tamil scholars between the 1st century BCE and 3rd century CE.

The Tolkappiyam, potentially pre-dating the Common Era in its earliest strata, refers to Brahmins and their role in ritual and scholarship. Even conservative readings place it well before 500 CE.

Ashokan inscriptions (3rd century BCE) mention the presence of Brahmans across the subcontinent—a geographic scope consistent with pan-Indian networks.

Early Chola copper plates (e.g., Uraiyur and others, between 3rd and 6th century CE) mention Brahmin settlements and grants to Brahmins, though these become more common in later periods.

South Indian Buddhist and Jain sites occasionally reference Brahmin patrons or converts within their early inscriptions, suggesting a broader timeline for Brahminical presence.

Even Roman historians such as Pliny and Ptolemy make indirect references to Brahminical rituals and customs observed in South Indian ports.

The Pattanaik piece potentially overstates the “thinness” of evidence by focusing on settled, land-holding Brahmin “agraharas” alone, rather than all available evidence for Brahminical presence or influence. Archaeological data and literary evidence must all be read together, considering the mobility and multi-role functioning of Brahmin communities before their later village-settlement-focused form in “agrahaaram”. His assertions risk false dichotomy: lack of explicitly “Brahmin settlement” or “Agraharam” records does not equate to absence of Brahmins, especially given the nature of early documentation in South India.

Pattanaik’s caution against projecting later structures onto early times is sound; however, his ignoring early references or minimizing multi-source evidence reflects a bias toward the physical (settlement) over the intellectual (ritual-literary-epigraphic) presence.

Pattanaik fails to grasp a basic fact: that the cradle of Brahminical culture is not the “agrahaaram”. Instead it is rooted in a distinctive way of life … One that since the dawn of time was conceived as dedicated to human spiritual inquiry into truth and pursuit of knowledge.

A more balanced approach of a genuine historiographer would have acknowledged the transformation of Brahmin roles and visibility, from the times when they were itinerant scholars/priests to the time when they settled into village communities, a process which happened over centuries. Pattanaik the scholar has paid no attention at all the fact of fluidity within historical categories. Mr. Pattanaik ought to know better … He should not lose sight of History being less about geography and more about process .

Sudarshan Madabushi

YouTube videograph: Book launch event : Chennai International Centre : November 8, 2025 — Tagore Auditorium: “The Death of the Brahmin-Liberal”

Hello ! You can please watch on YouTube now the entire video of the book launch event of my book “The Death of the Brahmin-Liberal” held on Nov 8, 2025 under the auspices of the Chennai International Centre at the Tagore Auditorium , Chennai . Please do watch and send me your valuable feedback. Thank you. 🙏

https://youtu.be/uhy3RwjJau0?feature=shared

M K Sudarshan