Press Reviews
rî Mâtrupanchakam is a five verse hymn composed by Sacchidânanda Tîrtha Swâmigal known popularly as Bhâshya Swâmigal, as ordered by his guru in a dream. The Latter half of the book has Âdi Sankara's five verses, also bearing the same name on his mother Âryâmbâ, prefaced by KK Sankaran's own Êka Slôki on Mother. The greatness of mother, being the theme, these two pentads bring out the essence of the relationship with a mother as the supreme, right from the day one's janma, occurs in the womb. Sri KKS gives exhaustive explanation of the five verses of both poems on Mother giving references from various Vêdic scriptures apart from the Mahâbârata, Râmâyanâ etc, highlighting the unparalleled love a mother alone can give.
[Interestingly KKS points out that both Bhagavân and Âdi Sankara did liberate souls at the time of death. He quotes Sir CP Râmaswâmy Iyer as saying "Maharishi of Tiruvannâmalai whilst in this world, most unmistakably dwelt with the 'unseen' (p9). On the subject of passing away of the Maharishi's Mother Alagammâl, KKS quotes AS Panchâpakâsa Aiyer (p68) recalling the feelings of the latter's orthodox friend who was "scandalized on hearing that Maharishi would not eat until his Mother died, ate to full (without purificatory bath etc. - our words) the moment she died". ASP, the author goes on to say, opines that the friend's "conventional mind could not understand the feelings of the sage who could not eat while his mother was suffering in agony, but could eat the moment her soul was freed from the body". Really, it is not a mundane matter of feelings here. Kunju Swâmi, an eye-witness related that upon that soul's Moksha, it was back to the routine for the Jnani, having gone beyond sorrow and contamination.
The photographs of the precedent âchâryas and Bhâshya Swâmi nd the associated stuti-praises point to the author's deep devotion to the Guru-Parampara.
There is a great bonus in the inclusion of poems by (i) Âdi Sankara: His bhunjangas on Siva, Sakti and Vishnu and his Ganêsha Pancharatnam (ii) some Sringerî Math âchâryas and Râjâ Vallabha Sâstri on Aryâmbâ and (iii) the commentator KKS' own poems on recent Sringerî âchâryas. -J.J].
-- The Mountain Path* 2003 issue
'Lathâ'
Review # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
