Of Sanskrit and perfect chanting

[suchandra 1]

Of Sanskrit and perfect chanting

Swahilya

First Published : 29 Jan 2009 11:29:00 PM IST

Last Updated : 29 Jan 2009 10:39:15 AM IST

Just as over the last 51 years, this year too, the M Ct M Boys School in Purasawalkam was ringing with the chants of the Bhagavad Gita from all its classrooms. The students who chant come from Pre-KG up to college and there are competitions for non-students and there is no age limit for those who wish to memorise the specific portions of the Gita and participate in the competition and win medals, prizes and certificates.

 

That is The Egmore Samskrt School's competition organised by its secretary PS Ramamurti and his wife Lalitha Ramamurti. I caught up with him on the second day of the competition where I was among the over 110 judges, to ask him what was spiritual about chanting the Bhagavad Gita. He says, ''The chanting of the Gita by itself produces such beneficial sound waves that can calm the mind. Besides that, this competition is a way of life according to the tenets of the Gita which proves that 2,600 participants, 110 judges and 200 volunteers can work together cheerfully and do their best without expecting rewards.''

 

At a time when people are being told that Sanskrit is a dead language with no scope at all, these competitions began in 1958 with below 50 participants, by Prof PA Subrahmanya Ayyar, who founded the Samskrt school in 1948. The competitions have been held uninterruptedly and the golden jubilee competitions were held in January 2007. During this last half a century, nearly 60,000 candidates have appeared and each year the numbers of students are increasing.Many among the participants have been Christian and Muslim girls and boys who have also won prizes.

 

There are no entrance fees and no two age groups are combined. Each year, 60 first prizes and an equal number of second and third prizes are given. Among the non-student category is an 84-year-old man who has been regularly participating. Once in four years, a special extra open competition is held in all the eighteen chapters of the Gita with a first prize of Rs 2,000. Institutions that teach Gita and schools that have the maximum number of prize-winning candidates are also awarded.

 

One of the regular judges is the former IPS Officer CL Ramakrishnan and he calls the competitions, ''A blissful experience — as usual year after year — to come here for the Gita Yagna. All kudos to the great PSR, madam PSR and all the boys and girls who form this spiritual brigade.''One of the other activities of the school is the Surabharati Samiti to encourage Sanskrit speaking. The group conducts monthly meetings in which speeches are made only in Sanskrit on various subjects. The Samiti established in 1969, has been holding its meetings every month, without a single break in the last 40 years.

 

Their Speak in Samskrt campaign is over half a century old now. The tenacity and punctuality with which the programme is conducted can be understood from this humorous encounter between a Sanskrit teacher who had to go to the Surabharati Samiti meeting one evening and her relative. At the mere suggestion by this relative that she could skip her meeting, the teacher retorted as she rushed to the venue, ''Oh no, that's impossible! Even if nobody turns up Mr Ramamurti will speak and Mrs Lalitha will listen! I can't afford not to go!'' There are also group Gita chanting s that are conducted on four occasions in a year — on January 30, August 15, October 2 and on the Vaikunta Ekadesi Day.

 

Over 235 such Gita parayanams have also been conducted without a single break. Sanskrit classes and learning of grammar through Sanskrit literature are also conducted on Sundays, besides recitation of Gita and other Sanskrit hymns. No fee is being charged for these classes.With a view to give enough time for students to prepare for the competitions which require memorising full chapters of the Bhagavad Gita, the School releases each year, the portions for the next two decades for all participants. Well the essence of the Bhagavad Gita is karma yoga - doing one's actions 100 per cent without expecting any reward in return and being unmoved by praise and trials and tribulations.

 

If there can be any single example for that philosophy, it is amply expressed in the conduct and organisation of the Bhagavad Gita chanting competitions of The Egmore Samskrt School. For details, contact: Secretary, 75/15, Vellala Street. Purasawalkam, Flowers Road Post, Chennai - 600 084. Phone: 2642 4721 / 4202 7151.