165th Srī Nārāyana Guru Jayanti

This phenomenon of an individual left us 92 years ago this month in 1928, his 73-year lifetime having magically transformed the socio-cultural landscape of Keralā & its neighborhood, putting a check on the euphemistic ‘carrot & stick’ religious conversion rampage & restoring equilibrium with dignity for all. 

And all of this was accomplished just through the highest knowledge, tact & peace. Indeed, he was an incomparable alchemist of society. We need to understand the background for the arrival of this & every other true dispeller of darkness <Gu-ru>. For this, we don’t need to go far beyond the soulfully-rendered title song of Srī B. R. Chopra’s magnum opus on small screen, Mahā-bhārat! 

I’m sure you’ve heard of the infamous phrase ‘bathroom 🚿 singing 🎤‘ even if you’ve been lucky enough not to hear 👂 such a song 🎶 or unlucky enough not to have sung 🎵 one ☝️ yourself! As my co-yātrī on katham, I’m sure you’ll lemme indulge in amateur ‘bathroom 🚿 poetry,‘ inspired by a couple of popular stanzas of the evergreen Srīmad Bhagawad Gītā:

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य 

ग्लानिर्भवति भारत।

अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य 

तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम्॥ ४-७॥

Over every age 

of mad 😡 rage, 

out in every cage 

of sad ☹️ savage, 

our eternal visage 

owes us a forage, 

of clarified courage 

& onus to re-engage, 

on a brand new page!

परित्राणाय साधूनां 

विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् ।
धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय 

सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥४-८॥ I 

As an inner carriage 

of vintage plumage

for the wise sage, 

unsurmountable barrage 

of terrible miscarriage 

for those in carnage,

I shall re-arrange 

forever my image, 

see it as a mere badge 

or perceive it as a mirage!

Srī Nārāyana Guru was one such fabulous page 📝 in the hefty divine book 📖 of the 19th & 20th century India; a book  which rediscovered & redefined Bhārat 🇮🇳, a nation which had confused both its identity & spirit in an invasive socio-political & abusive theo-cultural pandemic lasting an entire millennium. 

Other brilliant pages 📝 of that book 📖 of life included Srī Rāmakrśna Paramahamsā, Srī Aurobindo Ghosh, Srī Rāmalinga Adigalār, Srī Swāmi Śivānandā, Karnād Sadāśiva Rao et al. A precursor to all of them, at the very first sniff 👃 of invasive dogmas, was Srī Basavannā, 700+ years before Srī Nārāyana Guru. No wonder then that Srī Nārāyana Guru is often referred to as “Kerala Basavannā“ & “Karāvalli Basavannā!” 

Originating in the outskirts of Tiru-ananta-pūram, on this very Pournami 🌕 of the infinite ♾ <Anantana Hunnime> to gently remind us about the Vedic injunction of our one ☝️ universal 🌌 family <Vasudheiva kutumbakam>, was a Sanskrit, Thamizh & Malayālam scholar 👨‍🏫 & teacher exemplar. 

Genetically 🧬 inheriting, effortlessly expanding 🎈 & experientially realising 🧘🏽‍♂️ the wisdom of oneness & unity 1️⃣, Srī Nārāyana Guru was a practical embodiment of the non-dual <a-dvaitic> existentialism, a supreme body of knowledge revived several centuries before him by Srī Ādi Śankarāchāryā, also begotten by ‘God’s own country,’ Keralā. 

Though demanding similar social reforms in neighbouring states, the violently aggressive route adopted by Erode Venkatappā Rāmaswāmy Naicker <Periyār> in Thamizh Nādu, calling the language Thamizh as “barbaric,” & their speakers, the Thamizhians as “barbarians,” was in total contrast to the peaceful, intelligent & visionary approach of Srī Nārāyana Guru. 

In fact, Guru engaged in a silent revolution <mouna hartāl> to express displeasure at Naicker exhorting people to follow his own demonstrations of literally 🔥 burning up Vedic texts, pictures of Hindu Gods, the Indian map, flag 🇮🇳 & even the constitution, while forcibly promoting the myths of atheistic belief systems amongst the gullible. Time is testimony to whose approach truly flowered in the long run: परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् indeed!!!

Srī Nārāyana Guru Jayanti is celebrated every year immediately after Tiruvōṇaṃ when our wholesome mind <manah>, represented by the Full Moon <chandrā>, 🌕 is perceived in the back ground of γ Aquarii nakshatrā <शतभिषा/śatabhiša or ചതയം/chathayam or சதயம்/sadayam> & our soul <ātmā>, represented by the Sun <suryā> 🌞 is in its own royal 👑 palace of Leo ♌️ <simhā>. Amongst the many Sanskrit treatises of Srī Nārāyana Guru is the Muni-chārya Pancha-kam written in praise of Srī Ramana Maharši while visiting Him in Tiru-anna-malai in 1916! 

Here’s an excerpt sample of the truly secular, genuinely spiritual & masterly literary genius. Just the sixth & seventh amongst his ten-stanza composition on compassion <Anu-kampa-daśakam> are sufficient to mesmerise the seeker in me: 

Parama-ardham uracchu 

taer-vidum Porulo,

bhūta dayā khsama-abdhiyo?

Sarala advaya bhashya-karanām,

Guruvo yiee anu-kampa āndavan?

Purusha-akrti pūnda Daivamo?

Nara divya-akrti pūnda dharmamo?

Paramesa pavitra putrano?

Karunāvan Nabi muthu ratnamo?

To loosely & not losslessly translate, in these stanzas of utmost compassion, the Guru enquires, is THE Reality 

1. the chariot driver proclaiming the Supreme Truth (Krśna)? OR
2. the Ocean of Compassion & patience (Buddha)? OR
3. the Guru who wrote lucid expositions on non-duality (Srī Ādi Śankarāchāryā)? OR
4. this Compassion embodied one? OR
5. the Almighty, appearing in human form? OR
6. the righteousness, manifesting in divine human form? OR
7. the holy Son of God (Jesus Christ)? OR
8. the merciful (Prophet) Nabi, the pearl, the gem?