I was probably a 9th grader, when I bought a book on Lord Krishna during the visit/book exhibition by ISKCON at our “Sri Cauvery School”, Mysore. The book had a dark pink cover with a cute photo of Lord Krishna on it. I fell in instant love with that book from the day I got it. When I started reading it, I didn’t rush to read the book like a novel. Rather, I was reading one chapter at a time slowly, like how we eat our favorite dish or sweet - one small bite at a time. The only worry I had while reading the book was - I will be done reading the book sooner or later… what to do after that?
This book was actually my second unforgettable Krishna Experience. The first one happened way back when I was still in middle school (somewhere between 6th to 7th grade). Shri Ramananda Sagar’s “SRI KRISHNA '' serial was being telecast on National Channel every Sunday 9am. I still remember the first scene(photo) in that title song - Lord Krishna in His Shesha Shayana position (Sleeping on Serpent bed with Hand supporting the head). Such was my enthusiasm to watch that Serial that I sat in front of TV at the right time, making sure not to miss even the Title song (which was my favorite).
I have created another blog post before this, in which I narrated my Krishna experience that happened in recent times during Janmashtami of 2020 (Sharvari Samvatsara). In that post I tried to put down the logic behind deciding the Krishna Janmashtami date every year. I gained that knowledge from a very popular, humble and very renowned scholar who had mastered vedanta and had excellent knowledge of Sanskrit, Kannada & Tulu. A Guru who everyone lovingly referred to by his birthplace name. Yes, I’m talking about Vidya Vachaspati Shri. Bannanje Govindacharya. This Post is dedicated to him. Lord Krishna gave me my recent Krishna experiences through this Guru.
Lord Krishna says in Geeta that he ensures the survival and propagation of Spiritual knowledge by sending the Gyaanis & Gurus at the right interval. Several such esteemed devotees of the Lord have taken birth in the past and it will continue in future too. Shri Bannanje definitely belongs to that class of the Lord’s devotees. When the divine Swamiji of Udupi, Sri Vidyamanya Tirtharu himself bestowed the title of Vidya Vachaspati on his favorite disciple, one can imagine the depth of Knowledge that Sri Bannaje had gained from his devotion to Lord. He was certainly a walking encyclopedia. Though very late, I certainly don’t want to miss dedicating a post for this Guru of mine, who gave me Krishna experience in recent times, who illuminated the lamp of Krishna inside me, who made me a dasa of Sri Madhwacharya. I can go on…
Lord Krishna helps the lesser mortals like us to come in contact with these Gurus & get enlightened spiritually. Purandara Dasaru has rightly said - “Gurugala Gulama aguva tanaka Doreyadanna Mukuti” - One cannot attain Moksha without becoming a slave of a spritual Guru. The very fact that Lord helped me to know about this Guru and listen to some of his discourses makes me so happy and sends a divine shiver down the spine. Thus I categorize this divine experience as Krishna experience (Just like the book, the TV serial and the Krishna Janmashtami experience of 2020).
I must say that i was his digital Shishya. I got to know about him from youtube and listened to his discourses via Youtube channel only. Over the past couple of years that I listened to his discourses over youtube, I would list down a few unique qualities that I observed in him:
He never refers to any book during discourse. Whether it is Bhagavad Geeta or any Puranas, he has the relevant slokas on his tongue tip. Very rare to see any vidwans who come with no book in hand for giving discourse.
Straight-on-the face talk. Doesn’t sugar coat anything to please anyone. Never mind calling a spade a spade, no matter who the person is.
Blends science with Vedanta and explains the concepts of vedanta logically. Thus he was popular among all age groups. He never used to follow something just because “it is followed like this from the past”. Some interesting examples to quote:
“Can Females chant Vishnu Sahasranama?”
Why? Females don’t have mouths? Please do not follow advice of someone who cannot give you a valid scientific reason.“Can we chant Gayatri Mantra 12 thousand times daily?”
Better to limit it to 2k-3k per day. Your body cannot withstand chanting it beyond that.
(I recommend the readers to watch his discourse for more details on this)Though he belongs to the Madhwa Brahmin community and has mastered the works of Sri Madhwacharya, he had profound knowledge on the works of other 2 great acharyas of south india - Sri Sankaracharya & Sri Ramanujacharya.
He used to always come to discourses wearing Kurta and white Dhoti. He used to say that Vedanta is about removing the clothes that cover our Gnana. Why should one worry about the attire of the pancha bhautika body.
Due to all these unique qualities in him, he attracted many youngsters to his discourses which helped them to get right knowledge about our ancient scriptures. He always used to say in discourses that Knowledge is important. Lack of knowledge is the root cause of misery and confusion among people. That is the reason why Lord Krishna gave the Geeta to this world and later incarnated as Veda vyasa to further simplify the knowledge contained in the sacred texts. One of the favorite quotes of Acharya was ‘Iruva Sampattalla; Iruvina Arivu Sampattu”. Loosely translated, it means “Existence is not wealth; Awareness of existence is real wealth”. And the real awareness of existence comes from the knowledge.
For a person who has contributed so much to the spiritual world, this blog hardly tries to scratch the surface. What justice can a 2 page blog post give to such a towering personality who has delivered more 30,000 hrs of discourses (and many other un official discourses), has written several books, written screenplays and dialogues for movies on acharyas and made many other contributions to the spiritual world.
I feel very fortunate and happy to tell anyone that I was also one of the several youngsters that got influenced through his discourses. After starting my spiritual journey by listening to acharya’s pravachanas, for more than a year or so, I listened to only his pravachana. It was only after a year that I slowly started listening to other Pravachana Vidwans. But Bannanje acharya holds a special place in my heart.
Such a great personality passed away on 13th of December 2020 creating a void in the world of Sanskrit and Vedanta Vidwans. When Rekha broke the news early in the morning on 14th of Dec, I felt a pain pass through the core of my soul. For 2 days, all I spoke about was only about him. The sense of loss gripped me for a few days. But then I had one thing to console me - the treasure of his discourses available on youtube. Listening to his voice makes me feel that he has not left us. He is still around us imparting the knowledge of Vedanta. I read in the news that he was working on a book that reconciles the teaching of all the 3 great Acharyas on Bhagavad Geeta. He had completed working till 8 chapters. His death leaves that book incomplete. I felt really bad about this. This work would have bridged the gap in knowledge among the following of the 3 acharyas and would have helped bring all of them closer and work as one community.
I end this post with one small special note - just 2-3 weeks before the passing away of the Great Acharya, I had told Rekha that whenever we visit Udupi in future, it would be great if we come across Acharya there. I will definitely take blessings and photos with him! Never imagined that this wish will remain unfulfilled.
