The experiences bestowed by Kanchi-Mahaswami — Part 18 : Darsan of the Elders, Earned Experiences
(A humble translation of the original article by Sri S.Gurumurthy , as it had appeared in Thuglak Tamil Magazine) —
https://www.thuglak.com/thuglak/main.php?x=curissue/ninaithu_paarkiraen_30_12_2020.php
We were the first hand witness of how selfishness & fear had made both the commoners & prominent people to genuflect before the authoritarian Indira during the emergency period. That very sight demotivated us. But, the encouraging words of fearless noble people & elders continue to drive us. The list of our interactions & the experiences that we gained is too long; Let me try to share some here.
Darsan of Kanchi MahaSwami : Are they the ones, who create trouble in Bihar?
In the initial days of emergency, members of Sangh parivar were getting arrested. Chennai ABVP convener Madandas and my partner (in anti-emergency struggle) C.Gopalan went underground and stayed in the same house. When the house owners visited Kanchipuram to get the darsan of Kanchi Mahaswami, we also went with them.
Blessings to the embattled RSS
Kanchi Mahaswami was in his quarters and the crowd was waiting outside. Since, immediate darsan was ruled out, we reached out to his assistant Srikantan and said, “We have come to discuss about emergency with him. Please inform him”. We were about to leave that place. Then Srikantan told us to wait and take the darsan of the saint. We were positioned 50 feet away from the saint and other devotees were there in between us. Srikantan informed about our arrival and he enquired about us. Gopalan explained him the situation and the details. “Gopalan, you are campaigning a lot, hope, there is no problem for you; Let me understand the details about the series of arrests”, enquired the Saint. Since, he was familiar with many RSS leaders, he was able to grasp the situation in its entirety, immediately.
Srikantan introduced Madandas (from ABVP) in louder voice. Saint’s question stunned Madandas — Is it the same organization that creates ruckus in Bihar? That loaded question revealed the relationship between state of emergency and the trouble in Bihar. Both Madandas & Gopalan struggled to answer. Immediately, the famous love & karuna of the Swami manifested. “Madandas, what is your family name?”, asked the Saint. Madandas replied, “Devi, Madandas Devi is my full name”. The Saint gave him his full blessings. After that, we offered our Namaskarams and left the place. Those blessings were instrumental in kick starting the campaign. This had happened in July 1975 (Part 1).
No Blessings for Emergency heroine, Indira
In 1976, Indira had come to take the darsan of Swami at his hermitage in Kanchipuram (near the Lord Varadaraja temple & adjacent to Sivasthanam temple. Now, that place is called Thenambakkam). The Saint was performing his Tapas in his dwelling. He did not come out for 2.5 years. Indira had reached for darsan. There was a “Well” between him and the devotees. Indira sat in meditation for 90 minutes in front of him. Then, she prostrated at his feet and sought his blessings. The Saint kept silent with his eyes closed. Later, it got revealed that the blessings was not given, because of the emergency imposition on the country (Part 2 — The Radical Humanist July 2018, https://lohiatoday.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/rh-2018-07.pdf) . Only, if I elaborate the next part then only we can understand the importance of this part.
Blessings for attacked Indira
Indira was squarely defeated in 1977 elections. She had come to TN on 31st Oct, 1977. When she was travelling from Trichy to Chennai by train, 1000s of DMK members had resorted to murderous attack on her (few were punished in the subsequent trial). She was on-route to Kanchipuram for Saint’s darsan. On the way, one had to witness black flag protest, violence, road block, bus burning , police shoot out etc. In the shoot-out, 2 had died and many were injured. Again, Indira was visiting the same hermitage in a roundabout way from Chennai. She had the darsan of the Saint. The same “Well” was between them. Then also, the Saint was silent. Indira was asking him, “What shall I do? Should I step away from politics or fight against the injustice?”.
The saint continued to remain silent. She had waited for one hour and about to leave. Then the Saint Blessed and said, “Continue to do your duty”. Indira had offered her Pranaams and left the place. The same hand that had blessed her became the election symbol of her party in 1980, after it underwent a split in 1979. This was written by Pupul Jayakar, who was a close friend of Indira and disciple of J.Krishamurti (Part 3 — Indira Gandhi: A biography by Pupul Jayakar, Penguin books 1992, P.348).
Indira was at top of her powers after the emergency and everyone was afraid of her. When she had sought the blessings, Kanchi Mahaswami was the only Saint who refused to bless her. But, she lost in 1977, was hounded by the Janata party govt but got the blessing from the Saint this time. This was shared by Subramanian Swamy (Dr.Subramanian Swamy. https://dokumen.tips/documents/swamy-on-kanchi-swamigal.html)
PS: Later, I was his blessings to manage the hermitage and the associated Veda-pata-Shala. You can see the renovated well (https://vandeguruparmparaam.wordpress.com/2016/11/18/indira-gandhis-prayers-to-kanchi/mayaperiyava/)
List of Noble people that we met
1. 80 year old freedom fighter & Constituent assembly member, K.Santhanam- Despite his old age, he did not kept quiet and continued to write letters to the MPs about the need to condemn Indira’s murderous attack on democracy. We got the letter from “Public Health Center” convener M.C.Subramaniam, who was a good friend of Cho. RSS Suryanarayana Rao was elated after seeing the letter, just like the jubilant Hanuman after seeing Mother Sita. Lakhs of copies of the letter was distributed through out the country. We were able to see the deep impact of the letter written by a selfless eminent personality
2. Santhanam’s noble act was inspiring many more elders, prominent personalities to act against emergency. At all India level, many joined a movement that was spearheaded by Ravindra Verma. First, Nanaji Deshmukh was playing the role of coordinator then followed by Dattopant Thengadi. It ran the the Satyagraha movement at national level. As briefed in the previous chapter, Santhanam’s contribution to the conference at Chennai was immense.
3. Our next boon was 80 year old freedom fighter N.S.Varadachariar. With youthful energy, he was visiting many places with us. He was a lawyer by profession. Upon hearing the clarion call given by Gandhi, on 12th Aug 1920 at Triplicane (Chennai), NCV discarded his western clothes and continued to be shirt less & shoe less through out his life and jumped into the freedom yagna (https://www.sparthasarathy.com/naunetnews/54-082009/0809padmanabhan.html). He was very fond of Gandhi and would recollect his experiences with Mahatma, very happily — how he taught him to eat mango, how he patted him on his shoulder etc
4. Next in the list is our acquaintance with Ira.Chezhian. We met him at Santhanam’s place. His world famous speech in Parliament exposed the lies propagated by Indira. He was an immense help in the conference on Fundamental rights and gave a rousing speech too.
5. Next one, Rajmohan Gandhi, grand child of Gandhi & Rajaji. We became very close to him. He encouraged us a lot. Though he could not speak Tamil, he embraced the youth who sang the rousing opening song (on Bharatha Matha) in the conference. That image is still fresh in our memory.
6. As mentioned before, Public Health Centre founder and Cho’s friend, M.C.Subramaniam continue to encourage. He was a freedom fighter and a brahmachari too. Always, he would sport a smile on his face.
7. Mettur chemical factory owner Ramani, then Sheriff of Chennai Ramakrishnan (later he became a Rajya Sabha MP), Lakshmi Krishnamurthy daughter of Sathyamoorthy, DB Jain college principal K.S.Nagarajan, Hindu newspaper group N.Ravi, Chitra Narayanaswami, Trade union leader Parthsarathi were some of the prominent personalities that we came into contact. Through them, we reached out to many. Some were not supporting us explicitly but gave moral support.
Experiences Gained
What could not have been covered in 18 years or lifetime, we were able to learn in those 18 months — about Politics, Society, Constitution, World politics. I was aged 26. I was able to meet legendary freedom fighters, political leaders, spiritual-religious leaders, brief them about the happenings in our Nation and discuss with them too. Praised by many and chastised by some enhanced our maturity and wisdom. Our self-belief and bravery increased. Without fear we were operating and that endeared us to the nay-sayers. The most precious gift that I had received was the blossoming of long-standing friendship with Cho Ramaswamy.
I started learning Indian constitution after moving with Santhanam, Ira. Chezhian. Then, I managed to gain expertise in that and helped me professionally in managing the cases at Indian Express. It paved a path into the esteemed group of lawyers Nani Palkhivala, Ram Jethmalani, Fali Nariman, Soli Sorabjee et al. They respected me and heard my view points. As stated before, I got the friendship of Goenka and that helped me to climb up the life ladder. One significant lesson was that if we serve selflessly and work for the public cause then it would expand our mental horizon and endear us to the societal cause. In my lifetime, I cannot forget the emergency period. It transformed me into a social worker and a complete Desh-bhakt too.
I am thanking C.Gopalan, who had helped me to rekindle those memories and sent me notes. At a young age he was deeply spiritual and was managing the TN chapter of ABVP
