A letter to Mother

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Wow--a letter I found online...

 

Her Holiness AMMA MATA AMRITANANDAMAYI DEVI

Chancellor, AMRITA VISHWA VIDYAPEETHAM

Nannapaneni Narayana Rao

Edward C. Jordan Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

September 29, 2006

Om Amriteswaryai Namaha!

At the outset, please accept the garland of my eight books, the products of

my lifetime,

from 1972 to 2006, as depicted on the last page of this letter!

I am writing this letter as a consequence of my communications with Dr.

Venkat Rangan,

Vice Chancellor, AMRITA VISHWA VIDYAPEETHAM, following my return to the

United States in August, after teaching the five-week inaugural course at

Ettimadai over

the EDUSAT Network under the Indo-US Inter-University Collaborative

Initiative on

Higher Education and Research. During our five-week stay at Ettimadai, I and

my family

(wife and daughter) fell in love with AMRITA!

At Ettimadai, I have reached my destination, destination of science,

spirituality, and

service, my " station in life, " in my 60th year after high school, with 41

years of tenure as

a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 19 of which

have been as

Associate Head of the Department! In the faculty workshop I conducted at

AMRITAPURI on August 5, someone asked me how I, a scientific person, became

spiritual. I did not have a ready answer then. I simply answered by saying

that it is highly

unlikely that a person becomes spiritual all of a sudden from being a

nonbeliever, and

that I believed that spirituality already exists in a person; in other

words, the germ is

already there in the individual, and it germinates at the right time and

grows under the

right progression of circumstances. Later, after returning to the U.S., and

after some

reflection, I realized that it all began in 1987 with a statue depicting

Gitopadesa. Known

as the " Arjuna Wijaya " statue, it is located in Jakarta, Indonesia. It

opened for me in

1987 as the " spiritual door. " After passing through a number of doors, I

finally reached

my destination, after 19 years, at AMRITA, where I could pursue science,

spirituality,

and service (seva)!! Until then, it was either science or spirituality, but

not both!

At Ettimadai, I found a home away from home, that is, AMRITA in Ettimadai,

where I

can devote my time away from my home in Urbana, if not continuously, at

least in

lengthy periods. I found that that sun rising between the twin peaks is not

an ordinary

sun! There is some powerful force in it! That jumbo elephant behind the

campus, it is so

majestic! Watching the " young minds " getting off from the AMRITA buses in

the

morning and walking to the classes made me feel so proud! The Saraswathi

statue in

front of the main building, She is the most beautiful Saraswathi I have

seen, embodiment

of knowledge! Made me feel so proud of our heritage! When I left at the end

of the five-

week period, I left my heart there, at AMRITA in Ettimadai. As I was

traveling back,

and after I went back, I kept saying to myself, " I must go back to

Ettimadai. I must sit in

front of that Saraswathi and write my next book, to be dedicated to Amma

Mata

Amritanandamayi Devi! And that will be my most successful book! "

As a result of my experience at Ettimadai and all the above, soon after I

went back to the

United States, I made an important decision to give up my administrative

position of

Associate Head of the Department, which I have held for 19 years, out of my

overall

tenure of 41 years at the University of Illinois. Thus, effective October 2,

I will not be

Associate Head of the Department. I will still be continuing as the Jordan

Professor,

having connections to one of the top-ranked electrical and computer

engineering

departments in the world, as an active faculty member.

I have communicated extensively with Dr. Venkat Rangan, following the above

decision,

when we were both in the United States. We talked about establishing a bond

with

AMRITA though an honorary appointment as " Distinguished AMRITA Professor, "

which, in the words of Dr. Venkat Rangan, " designates the University's

highest level

Professorship and also celebrated as something that is given only to very

select cases for

Internationally Distinguished Scientists/Leaders, and handed down directly

from

AMMA. " It is also consistent with one of his statements: " It is amazing how

much you

are respected both here in the west and in the east. "

As though it was destined to happen, a gold bracelet that was put on my

wrist by

Viswayogi Viswamjee Swamiji of Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, as a symbol of the

Gnana

Ratna Award he conferred on me at the time of his 60th birthday celebration

on March 5,

2004, in Viswanagar, near Guntur, bonded itself to AMRITA by dropping off of

my wrist

unknowingly to me!

Yes, I have reached my " destination, " my " station in life! "

At AMMA's Vishwa Vidyapeetham in Ettimadai!

Where AMRITA SURYA shines brightly and magnificently!

Where AMRITA SARASWATHI reigns majestically and gracefully!

Where AMRITA GAJA graces the background majestically!

Where the beautiful " young minds, " AMRITA SISHYAs, strive for knowledge!

Where " OM NAMAH SIVAYA " is the greeting for one and all!

Where the gold bracelet of my Gnana Ratna Award bonded itself!

By dropping off of my wrist unknowingly to me!

There, I have reached my Destination of Science, Spirituality, and Service!

By the Grace of the Divine Mother, AMMA MATA AMRITANANDAMAYI DEVI!

And from there, I shall " WORKSHIP " with " GRATTITUDE! "

That is, with the principle of " Work is Worship, " and with an " Attitude of

Gratitude! "

Om Amriteswaryai Namaha!

Finally, I have read somewhere that destination is a journey and not a

success in

itself. Yes, destination is a journey; at AMRITA the journey begins to chart

a new

course where the sky is no limit and the destination is only one's

imagination!

I now humbly request you to grant me the appointment as " Distinguished

AMRITA

Professor, " to do seva for You and Your cause at AMRITA, with American

passport

but Indian blood, as an IndiAmerican; with American-cultivated mind and

Indian-

born heart; with Jordan Professorship from the west and AMRITA Professorship

from the east; and with the passion of the Jordan name and the compassion of

the

AMRITA name!

Om Namah Sivaya!

Nannapaneni Narayana Rao

A Garland of My Books for

AMMA MATA AMRITANANDAMAYI DEVI,

By Whose Grace I have reached my Destination,

Destination of Science, Spirituality, and Service!

Nannapaneni Narayana Rao

September 2006