ALASINGA : An Illustrious Desciple of Swami Vivekananda

M.C.Alasinga Perumal was born in Chickmagalur in 1865 in an orthodox Vaishnavite family as the eldest of two brothers and a sister. His father, Chakravarthy Narasimhacharya, was employed with the local municipality. Alasinga Perumal had his 

elementary education at a local school. With his job being unable to sustain the family, Narasimhacharya left Chickmagalur in the 1870s and came to Madras, where he managed to get a job with the Customs Department with the help of a few contacts.

The family settled down in Triplicane near the residence of Yogi Parthasarathy, Alasinga’s maternal uncle. Alasinga continued his education at the Hindu High School and after completion, joined the Presidency College for his pre university course. It was around this time that his marriage was performed to Rangamma, a girl from an Iyengar family from Karnataka. Alasinga then entered the Madras Christian College for his graduation, where he caught the eye of William Miller, who was then the Principal of the college. Thanks to Miller, Alasinga got a scholarship, which helped him financially. He graduated with a B.A degree in Science in 1884. He then started pursuing the law course which he however discontinued due to family circumstances.

In 1885, leaving his family behind in Madras, Alasinga moved to Kumbakonam where he took up a job as a temporary science teacher at a school. He left Kumbakonam for Chidambaram in 1887, where he joined the Pachaiyappa’s High School as an assistant Master of Science. However, this stint too lasted only for a couple of years as he had to return to Madras in 1889 due to the death of his father, which left the family in need of support. On his return to Madras, he took up an opportunity to teach at the Pachaiyappa’s School in George Town. He was soon promoted to the post of Headmaster, a position he held almost till the end of his life. Just a year before his death, he was appointed as Professor of Physics at the Pachaiyappa’s College.

Alasinga Perumal was a patriot at heart. He was concerned by the many problems that were plaguing the motherland. The hoary past and heritage of the country was being forgotten with modern education taking shape. He started frequenting places like the Triplicane Literary Society and the Theosophical Society, where he and a group of friends discussed the various problems of the country and steps to stem the rot.

It was around this time that the news of the upcoming Parliament of World Religions reached Madras. Alasinga learnt of it through his uncle, Yogi Parthasarathy Iyengar who by virtue of his connections with the Hindu League of America and scholarly reputation had been invited to participate. Representatives from various communities except the Hindu community had been named. Alasinga and his friends saw the Parliament to be a good opportunity for the Hindus to represent their faith but the question of who would to travel to Chicago and represent Hinduism remained unanswered even after days of discussion. The answer came with the arrival of Swami Vivekananda in Madras in early 1893.

Alasinga Perumal and his friends went to meet Swami Vivekananda, who was then a guest of Manmathanath Bhattacharya, the First Indian Accountant General of Madras, at his residence at Santhome. They were deeply impressed with the Swamiji’s persona and were soon regular visitors to meet him. Swamiji’s introduction to the Madras public was at the Triplicane Literary Society, a place he was to later frequent and deliver many lectures. The Madras public were fascinated by this monk, who with his oratorical skills and command over various subjects drew huge crowds. Swamiji too was impressed by Alasinga Perumal, who shared his ideas and concerns about the motherland and was raring to doing something towards the rejuvenation of the country. Thus, Alasinga became a close confidant and disciple of Swami Vivekananda.

A thought then struck Alasinga that Swami Vivekananda could be sent to Chicago as the Hindu representative. On this idea being put forth before him, Swami Vivekananda readily agreed, having earlier been requested by various dignitaries such as the Maharaja of Mysore and the Raja of Ramnad to travel to the West and propagate the ideals of Hinduism. Soon, preparations started in full earnest for the travel of Swami Vivekananda to the West. A subscription committee was formed under the leadership of Alasinga to raise funds, which did not always come easily. Alasinga even had to resort to door to door begging at times to raise the money. Soon, a princely sum of Rs.500 was collected. However, this sum was redistributed as Swami Vivekananda had second thoughts about his participation in the Parliament, as he took as a bad omen the fact that the Raja of Ramnad had failed to pay up the money promised by him for the purpose. Alasinga was disheartened that his efforts had gone waste.

However, much to Alasinga’s joy, the whole idea was revived, as Swami Vivekananda, encouraged by the reception received from the people of Hyderabad during his visit there, showed interest in going ahead with the trip. The Nawab too offered a sum of Rs.1000 towards meeting the costs. Swamiji also had a vision of his Guru, Sri Ramakrishna, which he took as a divine command to make the journey. Alasinga then renewed his efforts to collect subscriptions and soon, nearly Rs.4000 was collected. He spared no efforts for the cause, even going as far as Mysore to meet with the Maharaja and getting contributions from him. Swami Vivekananda set sail to Boston from Bombay, where he arrived after a stay with the Raja of Khetri. Alasinga went to Bombay to send him off.

Throughout his stay in America, Swami Vivekananda wrote letters to Alasinga and his other close disciples, keeping them in touch with his activities. When he once wrote about running short of funds, Alasinga immediately borrowed Rs.1000 from a merchant, which along with his monthly salary and money raised from selling his wife’s gold ornaments, he sent by cable immediately.

What happened at the Parliament of World Religions is now a part of history. Swami Vivekananda became a hero and started drawing large crowds wherever he spoke. Many newspapers wrote about him and he was starting to become known to a larger audience. In the midst of all the good publicity was also some adverse publicity, mostly by the missionaries, who were taken aback by the tremendous response to Swamiji. The papers in India also seemed to give a lukewarm coverage to the whole event, thus sending Swami Vivekananda into despair. He wrote to Alasinga, exhorting him to convene a public meeting in Madras and pass a resolution expressing utmost satisfaction at his representation at the Parliament, and send the resolutions for publication to various newspapers in the USA. Alasinga convened the meeting on 28th April 1894 at the Pachaiyappa’s Hall. Present in the meeting were many dignitaries of Madras such as Rajah Sir Savalai Ramaswamy Mudaliar, Sir S.Subramania Iyer and Dewan Bahadur Raghunatha Rao. A resolution was passed, thanking Swami Vivekananda for the work he was doing. This event was widely covered in the press, with both The Hindu and The Mail publishing full page reports. Similar meetings were organised by Alasinga at various other places like Kumbakonam, Bangalore and Mysore. Swami Vivekananda expressed his utmost satisfaction at the work done by Alasinga and his friends and mentioned in a letter that he was only a figurehead and that all the work was done by the young men at Madras.

In 1894, Alasinga started the Young Men’s Hindu Association. His literary contribution started in 1895, when at the behest of Swami Vivekananda, he started the Brahmavadin, a journal dedicated to the Hindu religion. Assisting him in his efforts were fellow disciples of Swami Vivekananda such as Dr.M.C.Nanjunda Row and Venkataranga Rao. The first issue came out in September 1895 from the Brahmavadin Press, which had been setup at Broadway. Swami Vivekananda himself contributed articles regularly to the journal and also helped get overseas subscribers. The Brahmavadin Publishing Company was also established by Alasinga, through which he edited and published titles under the “Brahmavadin Series”. In July 1896, Alasinga was also instrumental in starting the “Prabuddha Bharata” or Awakened India, a journal that has been in uninterrupted publication ever since, making it the oldest magazine of its kind in the country.

Alasinga was actively involved in the various celebrations and meetings that were held across the city during the nine day stay of Swami Vivekananda on his return from the West. He kept in touch with the Swami even after his return to Calcutta, meeting him at various places and discussing plans for the two journals that were being published and also on the way forward. He also played an active role in the early years of the Madras Math that was established by Swami Ramakrishnananda in 1897.

The death of Swami Vivekananda, who passed away on the 4th of July 1902, left Alasinga in despair, who felt handicapped by the loss of his Guru. A condolence meeting was convened by him at the Hindu Theological High School. The next setback for Alasinga was the death of his wife in 1905, the lady who had been his pillar of strength through all the difficulties he had faced due to his public spiritedness. His family, which now consisted of 4 children and an aged mother, came to depend on him fully. Alasinga however carried on gamely, managing both his personal life and his association with the Ramakrishna Math.

But the years of selfless public work and service had taken a toll on his health. He was diagnosed with the cancer of the jaw, to which he succumbed to it on the 11th of May 1909. His death was mourned by thousands in Madras and elsewhere.

However, Brahmavadin continued to be published until 1914, when it was finally wound up. It was succeeded by the Vedanta Kesari, a magazine that has been in uninterrupted publication ever since. In a remarkable act of conservation, the Ramakrishna Math has digitised all the issues of Brahmavadin and the Vedanta Kesari (Up to 2009) and made them available for sale. In a way, it is an act perpetuating the memory of Alasinga, the man who played a vital part in Swami Vivekananda’s mission. A biography of Alasinga Perumal has also been recently released

SILENCE YOUR MIND

There once was a farmer who discovered that he had lost his watch in the barn. It was no ordinary watch because it had sentimental value for him.

After searching high and low among the hay for a long while; he gave up and enlisted the help of a group of children playing outside the barn. He promised them that the person who found it would be rewarded.

Hearing this, the children hurried inside the barn, went through and around the entire stack of hay but still could not find the watch.

Just when the farmer was about to give up looking for his watch, a little boy went up to him and asked to be given another chance. The farmer looked at him and thought, "Why not? After all, this kid looks sincere enough. So the farmer sent the little boy back in the barn.

After a while the little boy came out with the watch in his hand! The farmer was both happy and surprised and so he asked the boy how he succeeded where the rest had failed.

The boy replied, "I did nothing but sit on the ground and listen. In the silence, I heard the ticking of the watch and just looked for it in that direction.

MORAL:

* A peaceful mind can think better than a worked up mind. *

*Allow a few minutes of silence to your mind every day, and see, how sharply it helps you to set your life the way you expect it to be...! *

Ancient Greatest Indians

ARYABHATT
(476 CE) MASTER ASTRONOMER AND MATHEMATICIAN

Born in 476 CE in Kusumpur (Bihar), Aryabhatt's intellectual brilliance remapped the boundaries of mathematics and astronomy. In 499 CE, at the age of 23, he wrote a text on astronomy and an unparallel treatise on mathematics called 'Aryabhatiyam.' He formulated the process of calculating the motion of planets and the time of eclipses. Aryabhatt was the first to proclaim that the earth is round, it rotates on its axis, orbits the sun and is suspended in space - 1000 years before Copernicus published his heliocentric theory. He is also acknowledged for calculating p (Pi) to four decimal places: 3.1416 and the sine table in trigonometry. Centuries later, in 825 CE, the Arab mathematician, Mohammed Ibna Musa credited the value of Pi to the Indians, 'This value has been given by the Hindus.' And above all, his most spectacular contribution was the concept of zero without which modern computer technology would have been non-existent. Aryabhatt was a colossus in the field of mathematics.

BHASKARACHARYA II
(1114-1183 CE) GENIUS IN ALGEBRA

Born in the obscure village of Vijjadit (Jalgaon) in Maharastra, Bhaskaracharya's work in Algebra, Arithmetic and Geometry catapulted him to fame and immortality. His renowned mathematical works called 'Lilavati' and 'Bijaganita' are considered to be unparalled and a memorial to his profound intelligence. Its translation in several languages of the world bear testimony to its eminence. In his treatise 'Siddhant Shiromani' he writes on planetary positions, eclipses, cosmography, mathematical techniques and astronomical equipment. In the 'Surya Siddhant' he makes a note on the force of gravity: 'Objects fall on earth due to a force of attraction by the earth. Therefore, the earth, planets, constellations, moon, and sun are held in orbit due to this attraction.' Bhaskaracharya was the first to discover gravity, 500 years before Sir Isaac Newton. He was the champion among mathematicians of ancient and medieval India. His works fired the imagination of Persian and European scholars, who through research on his works earned fame and popularity.

ACHARYA KANAD
(600 BCE) FOUNDER OF ATOMIC THEORY

As the founder of 'Vaisheshik Darshan'- one of six principal philosophies of India - Acharya Kanad was a genius in philosophy. He is believed to have been born in Prabhas Kshetra near Dwarika in Gujarat. He was the pioneer expounder of realism, law of causation and the atomic theory. He has classified all the objects of creation into nine elements, namely: earth, water, light, wind, ether, time, space, mind and soul. He says, 'Every object of creation is made of atoms which in turn connect with each other to form molecules.' His statement ushered in the Atomic Theory for the first time ever in the world, nearly 2500 years before John Dalton. Kanad has also described the dimension and motion of atoms and their chemical reactions with each other. The eminent historian, T.N. Colebrook, has said, 'Compared to the scientists of Europe, Kanad and other Indian scientists were the global masters of this field.'

NAGARJUNA
(100 CE) WIZARD OF CHEMICAL SCIENCE

He was an extraordinary wizard of science born in the nondescript village of Baluka in Madhya Pradesh. His dedicated research for twelve years produced maiden discoveries and inventions in the faculties of chemistry and metallurgy. Textual masterpieces like 'Ras Ratnakar,' 'Rashrudaya' and 'Rasendramangal' are his renowned contributions to the science of chemistry. Where the medieval alchemists of England failed, Nagarjuna had discovered the alchemy of transmuting base metals into gold. As the author of medical books like 'Arogyamanjari' and 'Yogasar,' he also made significant contributions to the field of curative medicine. Because of his profound scholarliness and versatile knowledge, he was appointed as Chancellor of the famous University of Nalanda. Nagarjuna's milestone discoveries impress and astonish the scientists of today.

ACHARYA CHARAK
(600 BCE) FATHER OF MEDICINE


Acharya Charak has been crowned as the Father of Medicine. His renowned work, the 'Charak Samhita', is considered as an encyclopedia of Ayurveda. His principles, diagoneses, and cures retain their potency and truth even after a couple of millennia. When the science of anatomy was confused with different theories in Europe, Acharya Charak revealed through his innate genius and enquiries the facts on human anatomy, embryology, pharmacology, blood circulation and diseases like diabetes, tuberculosis, heart disease, etc. In the 'Charak Samhita' he has described the medicinal qualities and functions of 100,000 herbal plants. He has emphasized the influence of diet and activity on mind and body. He has proved the correlation of spirituality and physical health contributed greatly to diagnostic and curative sciences. He has also prescribed and ethical charter for medical practitioners two centuries prior to the Hippocratic oath. Through his genius and intuition, Acharya Charak made landmark contributions to Ayurvedal. He forever remains etched in the annals of history as one of the greatest and noblest of rishi-scientists.

ACHARYA SUSHRUT
(600 BCE) FATHER OF PLASTIC SURGERY

A genius who has been glowingly recognized in the annals of medical science. Born to sage Vishwamitra, Acharya Sudhrut details the first ever surgery procedures in 'Sushrut Samhita,' a unique encyclopedia of surgery. He is venerated as the father of plastic surgery and the science of anesthesia. When surgery was in its infancy in Europe, Sushrut was performing Rhinoplasty (restoration of a damaged nose) and other challenging operations. In the 'Sushrut Samhita,' he prescribes treatment for twelve types of fractures and six types of dislocations. His details on human embryology are simply amazing. Sushrut used 125 types of surgical instruments including scalpels, lancets, needles, Cathers and rectal speculums; mostly designed from the jaws of animals and birds. He has also described a number of stitching methods; the use of horse's hair as thread and fibers of bark. In the 'Sushrut Samhita,' and fibers of bark. In the 'Sushrut Samhita,' he details 300 types of operations. The ancient Indians were the pioneers in amputation, caesarian and cranial surgeries. Acharya Sushrut was a giant in the arena of medical science.
 VARAHAMIHIR
(499-587 CE) EMINENT ASTROLOGER AND ASTRONOMERA


Renowned astrologer and astronomer who was honored with a special decoration and status as one of the nine gems in the court of King Vikramaditya in Avanti (Ujjain). Varahamihir's book 'panchsiddhant' holds a prominent place in the realm of astronomy. He notes that the moon and planets are lustrous not because of their own light but due to sunlight. In the 'Bruhad Samhita' and 'Bruhad Jatak,' he has revealed his discoveries in the domains of geography, constellation, science, botany and animal science. In his treatise on botanical science, Varamihir presents cures for various diseases afflicting plants and trees. The rishi-scientist survives through his unique contributions to the science of astrology and astronomy.

ACHARYA PATANJALI
(200 BCE) FATHER OF YOGA

The Science of Yoga is one of several unique contributions of India to the world. It seeks to discover and realize the ultimate Reality through yogic practices. Acharya Patanjali, the founder, hailed from the district of Gonda (Ganara) in Uttar Pradesh. He prescribed the control of prana (life breath) as the means to control the body, mind and soul. This subsequently rewards one with good health and inner happiness. Acharya Patanjali's 84 yogic postures effectively enhance the efficiency of the respiratory, circulatory, nervous, digestive and endocrine systems and many other organs of the body. Yoga has eight limbs where Acharya Patanjali shows the attainment of the ultimate bliss of God in samadhi through the disciplines of: yam, niyam, asan, pranayam, pratyahar, dhyan and dharna. The Science of Yoga has gained popularity because of its scientific approach and benefits. Yoga also holds the honored place as one of six philosophies in the Indian philosophical system. Acharya Patanjali will forever be remembered and revered as a pioneer in the science of self-discipline, happiness and self-realization.  

ACHARYA BHARADWAJ
(800 BCE)  PIONEER OF AVIATION TECHNOLOGY

Acharya Bharadwaj had a hermitage in the holy city of Prayag and was an ordent apostle of Ayurveda and mechanical sciences. He authored the 'Yantra Sarvasva' which includes astonishing and outstanding discoveries in aviation science, space science and flying machines. He has described three categories of flying machines: 1.) One that flies on earth from one place to another. 2.) One that travels from one planet to another. 3.) And One that travels from one universe to another. His designs and descriptions have impressed and amazed aviation engineers of today. His brilliance in aviation technology is further reflected through techniques described by him:
1.) Profound Secret: The technique to make a flying machine invisible through the application of sunlight and wind force.
2.) Living Secret: The technique to make an invisible space machine visible through the application of electrical force.
3.) Secret of Eavesdropping: The technique to listen to a conversation in another plane.
4.) Visual Secrets: The technique to see what's happening inside another plane.
Through his innovative and brilliant discoveries, Acharya Bharadwaj has been recognized as the pioneer of aviation technology.
 
ACHARYA KAPIL
(3000 BCE) FATHER OF COSMOLOGY


Celebrated as the founder of Sankhya philosophy, Acharya Kapil is believed to have been born in 3000 BCE to the illustrious sage Kardam and Devhuti. He gifted the world with the Sankhya School of Thought. His pioneering work threw light on the nature and principles of the ultimate Soul (Purusha), primal matter (Prakruti) and creation. His concept of transformation of energy and profound commentaries on atma, non-atma and the subtle elements of the cosmos places him in an elite class of master achievers - incomparable to the discoveries of other cosmologists. On his assertion that Prakruti, with the inspiration of Purusha, is the mother of cosmic creation and all energies, he contributed a new chapter in the science of cosmology. Because of his extrasensory observations and revelations on the secrets of creation, he is recognized and saluted as the Father of Cosmology.