Menoculayshunal; The Main Game

There must first be a correction. Last week's post ended with a statement suggesting a lengthy break between chanting class and breakfast. This was not correct. The menosoup mugged me. It struck me during full moon gazing a couple of days later that 'when did Vedanta class happen?' My poor storage banks tried to make it fit into after breakfast, but that just wouldn't do, for where did that leave time for Sanskrit prep?  Sigh...

In a way, this was a little bit of a giggle (of the cold mirth type, not the hilarious). Remember, this blog began due to my being dead centre of this 20-year journey in 'menoplyxinaemia', and menosoup was and remains the most unforgiving symptom. Anyhoo...

We would have something in the order of half an hour after chanting to return to rooms, take water, gather our thoughts and books before heading to the first of twice-daily classes on the 'main game' subject of Advaita Vedanta. Seven a.m. to eight, when the bell would ring for breakfast. Thankfully, I was never one for eating immediately on rising, always preferring to take fluids first. Thus the ashram regime quite suited me. Others did struggle a bit and were permitted to take a banana or other fruit if they felt they could not last till breakfast proper.

AV classes, Sanskrit class and various functions were all held in Saraswati Nilaya. Saraswati is the deity assigned the care of all who study; nilaya means 'dwelling place' - 'home'.

Inside, the brahmacharinis (f) sat to the right and the brahmacharis (m) to the left. (To be brahmacharya is to not only be celibate but restrained in one's language, eating, and general habits of life.)  

For the first 60+ weeks, there was a roster for ensuring the appearance and care of the murti (sculpture of deity) was performed by us all. After this, those who wished the extra blessings of Saraswati would volunteer to perform seva of washing and dressing her each morning. Let me say that pressing and draping a sari on a deity is exponentially more demanding than placing one's own dress! Extra folds, double drapes. Nothing but perfection was permitted - and gladly performed.

The AV classes were mostly taken by our aachaarya, Swami Advayananda. A man of immense compassion and possessing the ability to reach into each and every listener's heart. I say mostly because there were a few guest aacharyas for certain texts over the entire course, but also, there were just a few occasions where Swami-ji's own health was compromised. He has ankylosing spondylitis and walks with a cane. (This was to  my advantage insofar as any other course leader may not have understood my arthritic challenges - there is no doubt I was blessed to be under his tutelage and care.) 

The majority of our batch had already been studying with CM for quite some time and progressed through the prakarana grantha (foundation texts) already. However, we were to cover several again in the first few months as we were not only here to further our own knowledge but to learn how to present and teach these texts in our own right. Plus, there were lessons learned about repeated readings of such subjects. There is always more depth to plumb!

Thus, for the first week of AV class, we barely touched the first page of the Sadhana Panchakam, as Swami-ji was setting the scene for not just a batch of eager shishyas but potential aachaaryas. This text also is the basis of how to live vedantically. It is, if you will, the condensed handbook for easy reference.

We learned quickly, though, that there was no quick learning. There was thorough chewing over each element of a pada, how it was placed in the shloka, and how, in a different arrangement, it could alter the picture from a little to a surprising lot, also highlighting the danger of mistranslation. Swami-ji was not going to let us simply read and regurgitate. Whilst there is learning by repetition in gurukula, it is not the same as straight rote learning. There are formulae and 'poems' to be memorised... but more than that, there are theories and questions, and experiments all to be pondered over and digested and tried out for oneself. A practical application had to be made. The very first line of this first text enjoins the seeker to "read shruti daily and enact its instructions"... and goes on through forty such injunctions, each designed to take one higher if practised accordingly.

The goal was not there simply to be attained but reached through experience as well as knowledge.

If there was a point to be fully explored and the breakfast bell rang... Swami-ji kept on going. The food of the mind was way more important than the food of the body! He could be mischievous - quite often those extended points would happen to fall on a Wednesday morning - the day of idlis and sambar, every student's desire. Oh, wicked, wicked desire...

On the other hand, we were encouraged to do something that certainly I and all of us from regular schooling backgrounds would have been reprimanded for by other teachers; we were to write in our textbooks, underline, highlight, scribble notes - anything to aid the learning. I loved this freedom!!!