Periyar - the source of his strength

Periyar

I finally got to see the movie about the most famous and controversial personality in the history of Tamil politics. Periyar, is indeed a great movie, with a job well done by actors Sathyaraj and Kushboo, directed by Gnanarajasekaran and music by Vidhyasagar.


Only when I saw the movie, did I understand the background that has been the basis of making Periyar what he was - a source of inspiration and support for all his intensity and actions. Not many may be aware that he grew up listening to Sanskrit chants and mantras, arranged at home by his devout Naicker parents.


The movie shows how the angry young man was driven out of the house by his father when the public complained to him about the son's iconoclastic activities. He then went to Hyderabad and joined a Brahmin twosome to Kashi. In Kashi he has a dip in the holy Ganga - a river that has inspired many a human who has turned a saint on the Indian soil. He has a small stint in a Mutt where he was invited to do some work and promised a meal a day. And what happened after his return to Erode is history. But his innate capacity to organise, question authority, to speak convincingly on issues close to his heart and be his own self at all times have all been a sequel to the divine inspiration that turn of circumstances chanced to give Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker. After all, both the theist and atheist fight about god and no god from the very consciousness of their being which is God!

A spiritual picnic

Camp Yelagiri

It was a spiritual picnic and my second trip to cool Yelagiri - just away from the sizzling heat of sweltering Chennai. The uniqueness of this trip with my Guru, Swami Akshara was that it was just the going, being and coming with the Master at Yelagiri was the experience. A walk around the mango orchards of the resort where we stayed, being in tune with nature, the lush prosperity of fruits and flowers, the trekking up a small hill behind the estate and the convivial talk with the few other members who went together. It was a trip where there was the time and space to be in silence and quietude and a memorable one at that.

Wisdom through silence: The Master at Yelagiri.

.soulmate.

.soulmate. launch

A thought that has been on my mind for a long long time, inspired by my Guru, Swami Akshara. It is .soulmate. a magazine that will report events happening in Chennai city to begin with and go national and international as time goes by. But, big projects have at first a soft and silent launch. And this is through .soulmate. It will be an online space covering events and people - touching all aspects of spirituality. It will talk of the different paths to a life of meditation, that leads to the one source of being in awareness. Your feedback, ideas and articles are welcome. They may be sent to swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com. Namaste.