Kanchi - Letter of Support

Letter of Support
Hari Om,
The recent trail of events surrounding the arrest of the Honorable Sri
Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal has caused a lot of hindus pain and
grief. Bharat is land of religion and spirituality from time immemorial.
The spiritual culture of Bharat has been cultivated painstakingly by the
great rishis through their supreme sacrifices. It is their hard work that
has given Bharat the fortitude and tolerance to survive many centuries
of cruel domination at the hands of misguided foreigners. While many
countries enjoy the fruits of abundance of material resources, it is
Bharat that has been the sole beacon of spirituality and religion.
Despite a sheer diversity of cultures, people, languages, food habits,
dress codes and belief systems, the common thread of spirituality
unites us all as a single entity. Knowing the value of such knowledge,
the self-realized rishis of this ancient country have toiled to imbibe it
into our blood. And thanks to tireless efforts, they have succeeded. It
is from such eminent history, coming down from the age of Sri Adi
Sankracharya to the current day Peeths that have bequeathed this
great heritage, that the selfless service of society continues. The
Kanchi Matha represents a shining example of Bharat’s spiritual
tradition in practice. It is amongst the oldest and most pious of
spiritual and social service organizations in the country. The current
pontiff of the Kanchi Matha , the Honorable Sri Jayendra Saraswati
Swamigal, has continued with the tradition of excellence, as was given
to his holiness. In the past few decades, it is Swamiji who has been
instrumental in spreading the light of Hinduism across the country. His
holiness has also worked at breaking the traditional shackles current
Society like caste barriers, poverty and illiteracy. His Holiness
represents the foutainnhead of the Knowledge of Advaita and Vedanta.
Given His Holiness’ important role in Society and Country, it causes
extreme pain and anger at the treatment that has been meted out to
him in the past few weeks. It is a cause of grave concern, as to why
such a leading light of Hinduism is being persecuted and treated with
disrespect. The sensitivities of all hindus has been disregarded when
His Holiness was taken away by the police in the middle of the night,
by lying that His Holiness was needed for some questioning. All
throughout this process, His Holiness, the Kanchi Matha, as well as
devotees have acted with exemplary patience and civility. To date, as
is well known, not a single case has stood up in court so far, despite
desperate attempts to malign His Holiness. The mysterious ways in
which new allegations are being thrown from all directions, smacks of
a revenge motive against His Eminence. While the original allegation of
sankaraman’s murder has crumbled in front of the court, new
allegations keep getting thrown. In the meanwhile a broad assault on
all of Hinduism continues. It appears that anybody close to Swamiji
will pay for their devotion. Witnesses are being tortured to "confess"
about a plot being hatched in the Matha to murder sankaraman. Such
are the travesties of the Indian Law "following its own course".
Meanwhile, quite cruelly, the majority of the Tamil media has taken up
the role of Judge, Jury and Police on itself with uninhibited glee. In a
world where media circulation is king and political affiliations bring
easy money, a "juicy" titbit like His Holiness being persecuted, is
reported with at most abandon and prejudice. Knowing very well that
the matha is powerless to stop such caustic attitude, the media is bent
upon squeezing the most copies out of each development in this case.
The people of Tamil Nadu are being misled by the "Flights of Fantasy"
the media is taking. The matha is new to such rough handling by the
media.
While the "Law takes one course" for Swamiji , it seems to take a
different course for Jayalalitha, whose Financial scandal cases were
summarily dismissed by the Supreme Court. The one crucial question,
the Jayalalitha govt. doesn’t want anyone to ask, the media has
carefully ignored and the people have obviously missed was: How
could Jaya, who was known to be a devotee of Swamiji, be helpless
while the police arrested the Ascetic on mere allegations?
The Answer is obvious to the people who are willing to accept it. The
persecution and revenge is not happening inspite of her.
We, the devotees of the Kanchi Matha continue to pray for the safety
and justice of hindus. Our belief in Hinduism in general and The Kanchi
matha in particular has strengthened. The struggle for getting justice
for swamiji and the Kanchi matha will be renewed. Let not the civility
and tolerance of hindus be mistaken for cowardice. We pray that God
grants justice, peace and happiness to all of us and hope that Indian
Law is not hijacked in the hands of the few who are vengeful.
With prayers,
Karthik Iyer
USA