Paddayana - 5 (As narrated by Vasu Kaka)

His Faith & Belief System

Born and brought up in a traditional environment in a small town with orthodox Brahmin background but given a liberal science education, he had to carve out a new way of life without compromising the two apparently opposite points of view. At first, it appears to be an impossible task but he evolved a happy blend of the two. Personally, he believed in myths and mystics but his science background meant he would question them. His faith in God was absolute but the approaches were varied. What was prevalent in Tamil Nadu in those days had influenced him a lot as he was a voracious reader of samskrit literature with a bias towards non-dualistic theism Adi Sankara’s works had become part of him during his childhood. When he started to understand them he was impressed. But the practice of rituals at home was on the lines of dualistic principles. Compounding these differences was the science education which relies on experimental verification of theories and to accept only what was verifiable and to reject the rest as dogmas. Growing up under these environments he found a via media, not the one that will be accepted universally but that gave comfort for a happy living.

Stated simply, while he himself believed in some non-verifiable theories (including some auspicious time etc.) he scrupulously kept it to himself and was vocal against practices which were not part of the verifiable theories when it came to discussions and sharing his ideas. In fact he never imposed his ideas on others including his own children, brothers and sisters but those who closely observed him found out he was leading a sort of double life so to say to avoid confrontations with the purists. Thus when he fell ill with typhoid before his final examination, the family resorted to ayurvedic treatment through Mayura vaidyasala in Trichy for an illness for which allopathic treatment was known even in those days (1951 February) – the germs that caused the enteric fever streptococci and staphylococci were long isolated and drugs like chloromycin and streptomycin were available. This meant prolonged treatment and more prayers and vows to fulfill but the family braced themselves with all the eventualities but the note of unity in the family was at its best with one aim – the recovery of the genius in time for the exam. When he slowly but surely recovered the family had gone through a small transformation believing in Tennyson’s words “More things are wrought by prayers than this world dreams off.”

A more testing time of his belief system was the time when he was suspected of jaundice and he got himself admitted in Durgapur Steel Plant Hospital। Left in isolation of the wards of the hospital, he would read and recite Kaliya Mardana Dashakam from Narayaneeyam which describes the cleansing of the pollution (visha) of the river Yamuna. It worked and he recovered with belief in medicine and his faith system in tact. We had several rounds of discussions on the parallel between the river and the blood stream and pollution and Hepatitis infections and the treatment in general meant removal of the pollutant – infection. Would he recommend a Prayer for a treatment than medicines under similar circumstances? No. He had no recommendations but his own faith as guidelines for himself and his own life as a model for those who cared to follow him. Later when Chakkarai was diagnosed with kidney failure (both), he was recommended faith therapy in addition to dialysis weekly-twice and he benefited as he had a new lease of life normally much longer than similar cases of failure of both kidneys.

Another startling experience was his keen interest in learning Astrology through none other than the great Astrologer Shri L Narayana Rao who was our father’s cousin and under his tutelage he mastered the subject while he was in NPL. He memorized almost the entire treatise on Astrology by Varahamihara and that was a great asset as an Astrologer was required to recall all relevant passages to corroborate evidences before the prediction can be made. Astrology has two components – one that dealt with exact mathematical calculations of the positions of planets which corresponded with Astronomy, the modern science and the other intuitive part which dealt with predictive part. Here in the second part interpretations varied from one astrologer to another and it was tricky and subtle business. His science background could accept the former calculative part but doubted the veracity of the other. He went a certain distance and then distanced himself from the predictive part, particularly when it came to predicting the future. His dilemma was evident the way he would avoid the subject.

It was customary in those days when infant mortality was high to invoke the blessings of Goddess Indrakshi and every one of the children born in the family was given the stothra, a baptism to ward off evil spirits and Padda’s children and grand children were also treated with the same slokas. The lullaby in the family was Raasakrida from Narayaneeyam .

In later years, he would read more literature which often meant memorizing first and chew the cud leisurely evolving new ideas. He strongly believed in Madvacharya’s dictum “kuru bhungsvaca karma nijam niyatam Hari Pada vinamradhita satatam” – “Enjoy the wealth / resources you create but with a constant mind to the Giver"