This morning, I realised that I am missing someone....the person is one of the finest Vedic scholars that our country ever produced- Acharya Sri Ratnananda, fondly known as Pitaji by The Art of Living family worldwide and the illustrious father of H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
Acharya Ratnananda was the pioneer of VISTA (Value Integrated Services To All) India, a charitable trust engaged in uplifting poor rural women and children in Karnataka, and the Ved Vignan Maha Vidya Peeth, a well-known educational and charitable trust that operates over 150 free schools in some of India’s remotest tribal villages. His special field of research was ancient Indian heritage and it’s practical application in modern time as well as ancient sciences of Medical Astrology, Yoga and Ayurveda. Pitaji is also the author of several books such as 'Tales for the young and the old' and a series of books called 'More light on less known.' which are a compilation of entertaining and educative stories from the scriptures.
Whoever met him could not miss Pitaji's keen intellect and sense of humor. And I am one of the lucky ones who got a chance to personally meet him at his house in Laxmi Gardens, located at the Art of Living Ashram premises in Bangalore.
As I entered his house, Pitaji welcomed me warmly and graciously accepted the lotus flower I had carried for him. We were sitting at the dining table and I sat listening attentively to his gentle and loving words. He suddenly asked me if I like having milk. I said ‘Yes!’ and thought he would be giving me some health related tips on milk, as we were discussing Ayurveda and Health at that time. I was really surprised when he called for his residential staff and told him to make a cup of Bournvita for me! I was really moved by this simple yet loving gesture as I was just a random first-time-visitor to him. I felt so grateful to be in his comforting presence and was in awe of his humility.
I had a notepad and pen in my purse and I guess it was my characteristic impulsive instinct that propelled me put forth a childish request to him to write something for me in it. My happiness knew no bounds when he readily obliged, much to the amusement of his staff member, who told me "You are very lucky. He doesn't usually write an autograph for people."
I have attached a scan of what he wrote for me and till date it is one of the most precious piece of writing for me. He wrote "Have Trust in the Divine and Guruji. He will save you from all troubles. Do Seva to the needy and the poor. Wish you all success in LIFE," and then signed his name and wrote the date.
He then went on to the next page of my notebook to elaborate on the meaning of LIFE. He wrote thus:
LIFE Means
L for LOVE
I for INTELLIGENCE
F for FELLOWSHIP
E for ENDURANCE (Tolerence)
I sincerely hope to follow the noble principles he inspired me to incorporate in my life. I am indeed grateful to God for giving me a chance to spend sometime with this benevolent soul and great educationist.
hmm this reminded of my meeting with pitaji as well i met him at the amphi theatre with bhanu maa... and what he said still sticks in my life: He said one hould not divide life into different parts , life is like a multi topping pizza rough and overburnt sometimes on the edges and sometimes the toppings are spicy everyone has good times and bad times but one can mke the bad also good by doing seva and helping others and he also said one thing: even smiling at someone random or say something nice to someone even if a stranger is also a seva... his ability to boil down profound techings to the level of the youth was just simply amazing... miss him a lot....
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