Eternal pranams to the internet and the blessed sites like archive.org and the site of archaeological survey of india

Eternal pranams to the internet and the blessed sites like archive.org and the site of archaeological survey of india which provide full access to thousands of great texts and materials on Indian Culture and spirituality..

Pranams to Facebook and social media too..

For the first fifty years in my life, although I was an avid follower of Indian Cuture and Hinduism and its philosophy, the material available for its study was rather limited..

Reading periodicals, and available books from libraries, or just recapitulating what great Upanyasakaras like Sengalipuram to Sundarakumar, Anjam and other great souls said was the only path of knowledge..

Time and resources for tapping even on these sources was very limited..

Remember having lived in a bachelors quarters at Triplicane Madras for six years from 1977 onwards..

In the nearby Hindu High School ground, behind the Ganapathy temple, there would be upanyasams for almost five to six months during the year..

And happily the timing would be adjusted in such a way that the upanyasams concluded by 9 PM.

I really do not know how many upanyasams have I attended.. The number is huge.

But after close of office, whenever it was possible I would go and be present for these sessions..

Often all alone.. there can be hardly any friends or company for these odd pursuits.

Even before that, even as a boy of six or seven to about 18 or 19 I used to attend all the upanyasams anywhere in Palakkad Agraharams.. these would happen for about 30 to 90 days per year those days.. be it in Vadakkanthara, Nurani, Kalpathy Kundu temple or anywhere...

Often it would invovle late night alert and walking a long distance..

My father and my mother's uncle were the persons who would take me to these upanyasams when I was a child..

Pranams to them. Pranams to their hallowed memory

Yes, I have been attending upanyasams even when I was a student pursuing the tough exams like SSLC to MSc.. but that did not affect my performance in acdemics.. thank god..

Avid interest in the mythology and philosophy of India whetted my thirst for study of Sanskrit and the beauty of Sanskrit prodded me to listen to more and more of Puranas and Itihasas..

But all these experiences put together added very little to my knowledge when compared to what happened in the past fifteen years or so.

The free books and materials avaialbe for download in the web was a real boon.. True, the takers for the type of books I download are not many.. no one would grudge my using those books free..

But even access to the basic material was an impossiblity for me in my first fifty years of life..

And work in the Service of the government just for eking out a bare livelihood, did not add any comfort or encouragement for me in this pursuit of Indian Culture and Hinduism, which was always my deepest passion..insatiable yearning....

And discussion and sharing in social media of things which I study or read or skim through gave me an opportuity of properly documenting and putting to words at least part of what I learnt .

That way my thoughts and fingers found proper rhythm and proper outlets too..

This sublimation and expression of what I read and thought, was afforded great support and fulfilment through my posts here and in my blogs..

So it was not a big concern for me as to who read me, because I was just and am writing for my heart, my soul..

And the internet and social media have indeed supported my heart, my soul..

Pranams to them..