My Memories with Prof. M. A. Lakshmithathacharya

Floral perfumes in a garden walk are always transient. Yet it feels pleasant and gets into subtle layers of memory and at every recall it invokes a desire to have the experience once again.

Real Gurus do not teach but lead us to feel the depth of knowledge by experience. These two realities of life narrate my experience with Guru, Prof. M. A. Lakshmithathacharya. I was fortunate to interact with him only on three occasions. Those memories are stored in subtle layers. And at every recall, I wanted to meet him once again.

I asked him about knowledge of Conservation (of biodiversity) contained in Vedic literature- in my first interaction. His reply was crystal clear. “We have many scholars exposed to Vedic literature with their command on Sanskrit language. But they do not have domain expertise in the modern scientific fields. And the domain experts don't know Sanskrit language to explore, comprehend and decipher the contents of Ancient Knowledge Systems. This is a valley of gap in our approach to Vedic literature.”

During my subsequent interactions, he guided my precisely, navigating through a path unknown to me. He encouraged me to get through the moolapathas and understand the context. My intention was to do superficial work- sufficiently enough to write few pages in my Doctoral thesis. But his influential guidance made to explore little more than my initial thoughts.

And I have been trying to publish an article on the subject. But I realized my own limitation of my own learning. Whenever I try my hands on it, I fear that my learning is too little to do so. I attribute this self-realization to the profound influence of my revered Guru.

I know too little about him to describe the depth of Vedic knowledge systems he dived into and his multifaceted talent. I have no words to narrate about his sobriety and kindness. All I knew about him is his commitment to deliver the brilliance of Ancient Knowledge Systems to current generations and allow its integration into modern sciences. I personally witnessed his age-less zeal for work.

Finally, I have no tools to measure the level of influence he exerted upon my way of learning.

My grateful and heartfelt tributes to Prof. Lakshmithathacharya and my Compliments to his brainchild, Samskriti Foundation – on the occasion of its Sliver Jubilee.