One more thing ! ......

Guru Purnima ! .. The Guru's day

Remembering Sribhashyam Appalacharyulu Garu

Guru Purnima is day for remembering Gurus.

In Uddhava Gita the Aavadhuta lists 24 Gurus from the nature whom every one can identify with.

In real life every one of us have our own Gurus, who made an impression on us. It would invariably start with ones own mother or parents as the first Guru(s). Then you acquire Gurus as you grow up up from among your teachers, from the official circles , and the social circles. Like Avadhuta we can list our own 24 Gurus

The tallest of my Gurus is Sribhashyam Appalacharyulu garu who was my Sanskrit teacher at the Govt PR College Kakinada during 1960-61. I would not have been fortunate to have Sribhashyam Appalacharyulu as Guru but for another Sanskrit Guru Shri Garimella Annarama Sarma garu who taught us Sanskrit at the very young age as a nine year old in the PRC School Kakinada (53-57). With a thundering and at the same time mellifluous voice rendering Slokas mesmerizing students , he made Sanskrit class as some thing you look forward to and not bunk!

Having Sribhashyam Appalacharyulu garu as your guru meant, being given a personal attention. It also helps that we were only three students (two boys and a girl - a certain Ramanathan and a Lalita from Kakinada). I joined the PR college midway through the stream when my father was transferred from Rajahmundry to Kakinada. Amazing thing was that when he came to know that one of the topics Chandraloka was already completed for the existing batch but I was not taught in my previous college , he asked me to come to his home on Saturdays and Sundays and told me that he will teach me separately. The two months of going to his home sitting on the floor listening to him explain Chandraloka, made me his Sishya for life.

At that impressionable age he taught us Kalidasa's Abigynana Sakuntalam bringing out the inner meaning (Antarardham) of the events and outer shell of the story. At a stage when the distinction between the "inner message" and the "outer shell" of a story is not easily understood , the distinction he brought in his explanation, allowed us to say so and we excelled in our answers. Needless to say when the results came and I went to the Lecturers room, he was so thrilled that he introduced to me all the other Telugu, Hindi teachers proudly proclaiming “my” Sanskrit Student who came first in the college!

From then on every summer going and meeting him was a necessary event. When his public discourses started in Kakinada he became a Guru for our family too..

My mother was so fascinated by his lectures and writings that with his blessings parts of his books were re-printed for distribution (Ramudu- Sugunabhiramudu) . When we put together a “Sankshipta Sundarakanda I went to his home in Shiela Nagar in Visakhapatnam for his blessings and requested him to say a few words of introduction. He gave a one-hour oration on the inner meaning of Sundarakanda, which I took down in long hand and presented it as part of Kasarabada Kamaraju Charitable Trust publication of Sankshipta Sundarakanda.

For me and countless others Sribhashyam Appalacharyulu Garu remains a Guru for all time !

This week we are also starting Sundarakanda elaboration under "Ramayanam". As part of that we will add the Sribhashyam Appalacharyulu garu's oration on the inner message of Sundarakanda or "Antarardham" .

Incidentally the Telugu oration of Sribhashyam Appalacharyulu garu was translated into English by another Guruji Pandit Vijayraghavrao whose Telugu Sundarakanda in free Telugu verse form was also published by Kasarabada Kamaraju Charitable Trust.

 

om tat sat