Chandrasekhar Saraswathi, known to the world as the Parmacharya. It is
not that I am arrogant or that I have no respect for sanyasis and
sadhus. In fact I respect many sadhus in this country for their
learning and social services. But my upbringing, first in an English
convent school, and then ten years in USA had created a distance
between me and traditional Hindu culture of bowing and prostrating
before any elder, or anyone in saffron clothes. Therefore, I was the
"modern" Indian, believer in science, and with little concern for
spiritual diversions.
In fact till the age of 30, I had not even heard of a god like human
being called Sri Chandrasekhar Saraswathi. It was a chance meeting
with an Indian student at Harvard in his room in the university
hostel, that I saw a picture of Parmacharya on top of this student's
TV set. I asked him: "Who is he? And why are you keeping his picture?"
The student just avoided the question. I also forgot about it, except
that Parmacharya shining smiling face in that photograph got etched in
my memory. Six years later, as my Pan American Airways plane was about
to land at Delhi airport during the Emergency, I saw that smiling
Parmacharya's face reappear before me for a brief second for no reason
at that time. I was coming to Delhi surreptitiously to make my now
famous appearance in Parliament and subsequent disappearance, while a
MISA warrant was pending for my arrest in the Emergency. At that
moment, as the plane landed, I resolved that whenever the Emergency
gets over, I shall search for Parmacharya and meet him.
In 1977, after the Emergency was over, and the Janata Party in Power I
went to Kanchipuram to see the Parmacharya. It was in sheer curiosity
that I went. Some friends arranged for me to come before him. It was a
hot June evening, and Parmacharya was sitting in a cottage, a few
kilometers outside Kanchipuram. As soon as he saw me, he abruptly got
up, and turned his back on me, and went inside the cottage. My friends
who took me there were greatly embarrassed, and I was puzzled. Since
no body including the other sadhus at that ashram had any idea what
went wrong, I told my friends that we should leave, since Parmacharya
was not interested in giving me "darshan".
From the cottage, we walked a few hundred yards to where my car, by
which I had come to the ashram, had been parked. Just as I was getting
into the car, a priest came running to me. He said "Parmacharya wants
to see you, so please come back". Again puzzled, I walked back to the
cottage.
Back at the cottage, a smiling Parmacharya was waiting for me. He
first asked me in Tamil: "Do you understand Tamil?" I nodded. In those
days, I hardly knew much Tamil, but I hoped the Parmacharya would
speak in the simplest Tamil to make it easy to understand.
He then asked me another question: "Who gave you permission to leave
my cottage?" The Tamil word he used for "permission" was of Sanskrit
origin, which I immediately understood. So in my broken Tamil with a
mixture of English words, I replied: "Since you turned your back on me
and went inside the cottage, I thought you did not want to see me."
This reply greatly irritated the priest standing in attendance on the
Parmacharya.
He said "You cannot talk like this to the Parmacharya". But
Parmacharya asked him to be silent, and then said that when he saw me,
he was reminded of a press cutting he had been keeping in store inside
the cottage and he had gone inside to fetch it.
"Here it is" he said. "Open it and read it. I opened the folded press
cutting, and with some difficulty, I read the Tamil question answer
piece printed in Dinamani Kadir, a magazine of Indian Express group.
The press cutting had a photograph of me and below it the question
asked by a reader: "Is the hero of the Emergency struggle,
Dr.Subramanian Swamy a Tamilian?" And the answer given was, "Yes he is
a native of Cholavandhan of Madurai District."
Parmacharya asked me, "Is this your photograph, and is the answer
given to the question correct?" I nodded. Then Parmacharya said: "Now
you may go. But in the future when you come, you cannot leave till I
give you permission to leave." Everyone around me was naturally very
impressed, that Parmacharya had given so much special attention
especially since in those days, he often went on manuvvat (silence
vow). As I left a sense of elation at the meeting with Parmacharya. I
wanted to come back again. I could not understand why a "modern"
person like me should want to see a sanyasi, but I felt the urge
strongly.
A month later, the Tamilnadu Assembly elections were on, and I was
passing Kanchipuram in the campaign rail. So I told the Janata Party
workers to spare me some time to pay a visit to the Parmacharya.
When I again reached the same cottage, a priest was waiting for me. He
said: "Parmacharya is expecting you." I asked: "How is this possible,
when I decided at that last minute to come, without appointment?" The
priest replied. "That is a silly thing to ask. Parmacharya is divine.
He knows every thing".
Sure enough a radiant smiling Parmacharya received me. I thought that
this time too, our meeting would last a few minutes, and after a few
pleasantries, I can continue on my election campaign. But not so.
Parmacharya spoke to me for 1-1 1/2 hours on all important subjects.
He gave me guidelines on how to conduct myself in politics and what
was necessary to protect the national interest of the country.
He told me that in politics, I should never bother about money or
position, because both would follow me whenever an occasion demanded.
But I should not be afraid to stand alone. He told me that all great
persons of India were those who changed the thinking of the people
from a particular set way of thought to a new way of thinking. "That
is the permanent achievement for a politician, not merely becoming
Minister or Prime Minister. Great persons, starting with Adi Shankara,
to Mahatma Gandhi dared to stand alone and change the trend of
people's thought. But did either hold a government position?" he asked
me. He said "If you dare to think out fresh solutions for current
problems, without bothering about your popularity, and without caring
for whether a government position comes to you or not, you will have
my blessings." When he said that I felt a strange sensation of
happiness. I suddenly felt very strong.
During the period since my first meeting with the Parmacharya, I had
thought a lot about him, heard his praise from so many people. From
what I learnt and what I saw of him, I began to feel his divinity.
There was no other human like him. If nothing else, he was one sadhu
who did not bless Indira Gandhi during the Emergency when in the
height of her power and at the height if the nation's sycophancy, she
came and prostrated before him. And yet when Indira Gandhi was down
during the Janata rule, he received her and gave his blessings to her
after she repented for the Emergency.
It is this thought, every time (that if I do something sincerely, and
for what is for the good of the people) that Parmacharya's blessings
will be with me and see me through the interim period of public and
media criticism and unpopularity, that has given me this courage that
today even my enemies do not deny that I possess. In such endeavours,
even though in the beginning when most thought that I was doomed, I
came out it successful in the end because of his blessing.
In the next few instalments I shall, without drawing the Parmacharya's
name into the controversy, reveal many such initiatives that I took
with his blessings. From 1977 to his day of Samadhi, I met the
Parmacharya so many times and received his oral benediction and
advice. But I never gave it publicity or got myself photographed.
During his life time, I did not boast of my proximity to him either,
although whenever I came to the Kanchi Mutt, always without
appointment, he would see me. If he was asleep, he was awakened by his
close helpers to whom he had obviously given instructions about me.
There may not be another god in human form for another 100 years, but
it was my honour to have known him and received his blessings. He may
not be here today in human form, but because of what he had instructed
me, I know and feel his is around.
To continue
परोपकाराय फलन्ति वृक्षा: परोपकाराय वहन्ति नद्यः।
परोपकाराय दुहन्ति गावः परोपकाराय इदं शरीरम्।।
"You can't climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets" 
( hari krishnamurthy K. HARIHARAN)"'' When people hurt you Over and Over think of them as Sand paper.They Scratch & hurt you, but in the end you are polished and they are finished. ''"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you too, can become great."- Mark Twain.
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