1924-2011. The hyphen marking the 87 years is indeed significant. It was a life fully lived.As I am standing before you all to pay this tribute, it is being heard even by the flora and fauna of this beautiful campus. We fondly remember that it was Pitaji who began the efforts to green the otherwise dry rocky landscape by planting hundreds of saplings. They are now bearing flowers and fruits and home for bees and birds. This time of the evening they are listening to this in silence.
Ancient Egyptians believed that upon death, they would be asked two questions. Their answers would determine whether they could continue their journey in the afterlife. The first question was, "Did you bring joy?" The second was, "Did you find joy?" There cannot a better tribute to late Pitaji with the answers being a rousing YES to both.
Easily approachable with a disarming smile on his face, Pitaji lived a full life with enthusiasm and a steely resolve to complete his mission. Kishoreda recalls “He demonstrated courage when the legitimately allotted land was being encroached. When we arrived at the undeveloped campus, stones were being hurled at all of us. Pitaji said – ‘fine, but we will carry on with our work! He was unstoppable; but for this courage, we wouldn’t be standing where we are today!”
Chitra Madhavan recalls an unforgettable gesture of Pitaji when he turned up with his vehicle at the City Railstation to fetch us when the entire Bangalore city went without public transport of any kind due to a bandh. We asked him why he took the risk – he just smiled with the words ‘you both are part of me!’
He remained undaunted amidst times of uncertainty and challenges whilst running projects that now find place in the many arms of The Art of Living today. His inspiration to me is captured and etched in the words – “An attempt may be a failure, but there should not be a failure to attempt.”
Our experience with him during AOL’s first Advanced Meditation Course in Bangalore was memorable. This was much before our present ashram was ready. Being a great lover of nature, he took a dozen of us on a journey to many adorable spots in Karnataka. There was not a dull moment as he would keep us enthralled with wisdom- filled anecdotes and legendary tales. An off shoot of all this can be seen in his most popular book –“More light on the less known”.
He always cherished projects that equipped girl-youth with skills and knowledge. He envisioned that in their role as future mothers, they would groom better children of tomorrow with values. Thus began his worthy project VISTA, a women empowerment project. Undeterred by lack of financial and human resources, he traveled far and wide to raise funds and sustain the project.
We remember once when he got back from Europe, he got the kitchen staff in Vista trained in the art of brewing Colombian Coffee. This item was soon to become part of his unforgettable trademark hospitality
His visionary passion was to combine Veda, the reservoir of knowledge and Vignan, the modern science so as to reap the benefits of both. Ved Vignan Maha Vidya Peeth is a standing testimony for this dream. He kept reminding us that the ultimate aim of The Art of Living should be to look with sympathy at those who are less fortunate rather than look with envy at those who are lucky, to go to serve rather than wait to be served. His commitment to Sidha system of medicine was known to all and perhaps this was one area where he wanted to create greater awareness amongst people.
A role model is hard to define, because it can be different for everyone. Often, it is someone you would like to be like when you get older, or someone who does something you find hard to do. Pitaji was someone who performed outstanding volunteer work. He was brave, strong, kind, thoughtful and fun.
