यमुनोत्री २०११ - संस्कृत भारती शिबिरम्

Click here for English version.

बृहत् वृक्ष: एकेन अङ्कुरेन । महती ज्वाला एकया विस्फुलिङ्गया । कार्य सफलम् एकया साधु चिन्तया । अपि च अनुरागेन ॥

वर्ष पूर्वम् वसुवज् महोदयेन सूचितम् Austin नगरे संस्कृत शिबिरम् करणीयम् इति । तदा मम किञ्चिदपि विश्वासः नासीत् यत् तत् साफल्यते इति । Austin नगरे तु एक: एव वर्गः प्रचलन् अस्ति । यथा अन्येषु क्षेत्रेषु वर्गाः प्रचलन्ति तथा अत्र कदापि न अभवत् । अहम् "आम्" इत्युक्तवान् अपि कथम् एतत् साधयेत् इति स्वप्ने अपि न चिन्तितम् ।

जनवरी मासे पुनः यमुनोत्री शिबिर-विषये चर्चा उत्पतिता । Austin, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, College Station, Arkansas संस्कृत भारती केन्द्र कार्यकर्तृभिः बर्साना धाम् मध्ये शिबिरम् चालयेत् इति निर्माणम् कृतम् । बर्साना धाम् मध्य Texas राज्ये Hill Country प्रदेशे न अनति सुन्दरे क्षेत्रे अस्ति ।

मया इतः पूर्वम् कोऽपि शिबिरं न गतम् । अत: मया किम् अपेक्षितव्यम् इत्यपि न ज्ञातम् । मधु पिल्लै महोदयस्य साहाय्यकेन यमुनोत्री पञ्चीकरण-जालपुटः निर्माणः कृतः । पौनपुन्य-परीक्षानन्तरम् जालपुट: पञ्चीकरणाय सिद्ध: अभवत् । न अहम् पञ्चीकरणाय प्रथम: परन्तु अजय: Raleigh नगरत: ।

तत: परम् नि:स्वप्नरात्रय: आरब्धा: । ५० जनेभ्य: न्यूनम् भवति चेत् किम्? किमु १५० जनेभ्य: अधिकोऽस्ति चेत्? किमु व्यवस्था न रोचते जनेभ्य:? किमु शिक्षक-छात्राणाम् अनुपातम् न समीचीनम्? किमु Austin नगरत: एव न अधिकाः जनाः आगमिष्यन्ति? किमु तस्मिन् सप्ताहन्ते वर्षम् भविष्यति? किमु अत्युष्णम्? वर्श चतुष्टय पूर्वम् एवम् एव April मासे १०२ गतम् खलु । किमु भोजनस्य अपर्याप्तम्? किमु भोजनस्य अरुचिकरम्? केवलम् प्रश्ना: न तु उत्तराः ।

हरिहर महोदयेन युक्तम् उक्तम् यत् यद्यपि जनाः संस्कृतम् न पठेयु: सम्यक् भोजनम् खादित्वा गच्छेयु: इति । रामकृष्ण परमहंसस्य सुभाषितम् स्मारयति एतत् ’ज्ञानम् न शुष्कोदराय’ । अपि भोजनार्थम् अनेके नियमा: । ननु केवलम् शाकभोजनालयत: आनेतव्यम् । न पलाण्डु, न च लशुनम्, सात्त्विक-भोजनरूपम्, रुचिकरमपि, ततो न बहु मूल्यमपि । हरिहर महोदय: अहम् च उभौ किञ्चित् चर्चयित्वा रोटिकाः, पराठाः, ढोक्लाः, गुलाब् जाम्बोलनानि, मिश्र रुचिप्रदानि, जहाङ्गिरानि, अन्यानि पदार्थानि च आदिशतवन्तौ । दक्षिण-भारत भोजन पदार्थानि न लब्धानि, ततापि भानुवासरे उप्मा (लवण पिष्टम्) आदिशतम् । वसुधा भगिनी भक्षणानाम् संस्कृत अनुवादम् कृतवती ।

शिक्षक विषये अपि अस्माकम् सौभाग्यम् एव प्रतीक्ष्यते । शारदा वरदराज: महोदया, सौम्या भगिनी, विद्या भगिनी, गोविन्द, मुरली, अविनाश महोदयाः आगमिष्यन्ति इति निर्माणम् कृतम् । अन्ते तु नरेश महोदयः अपि आगमिष्यति इति श्रुत्वा हार्ष्यमेव अनुभूतम् । यदा अहम् श्रीकान्तम् उक्तवान् यत् एते शिक्षका: आगाच्छन्ति इति स: प्रत्यवदत्  ’गच्छतु रे । न मयि विश्वास: यत् ते सर्वे शिबिराय’ इति ।

शिबिर दिने आगच्छन्तान् जनान् सुधी महोदय: स्वकीयम् प्रकोष्टम् प्रति अनुप्रेषितवान् । बालकाः अधुना एव क्रीडामग्नाः अभवन् । स्थले सुन्दराः मयूराः अपि आसन् । रात्रिभोजनानन्तरम् (शिबिरे तु सर्वाणि कार्याणि भोजनानन्तरम् एव), सौम्या भगिन्याया: सप्रार्थनम् शिबिरम् आरब्धम् । गोविन्द महोदय: संस्कृत-भारती विषये उक्तवन् । अपि मया सर्वे जनाः यमुनोत्रीम् शिबिरम् प्रति स्वागतीकृताः ।

तस्मिन् समये एव केनापि बालकेन कोऽपि सर्पः दृष्टः। छात्राणाम् मध्ये काचित् भीति: दृष्टा । अथ किम् करवाणि? सर्प वा, नाग वा, सर्प-महोदय वा - यद्किमपि आह्वयतु - सर्पात् सर्वदा भीतिरेव ननु । यत्र मयुराः सन्ति तत्र सर्पाः सन्ति एव । तथैव जीवनम् । तदनन्तरम् भोजनकोष्टे एका स्थूला गोधिका दृष्टा । अनन्तरे दिने अपि श्रीकान्तेन त्रय: वृश्चिका: मारिता: । नानाविधा: गोधिका: पक्षिण: अपि दृष्टा: । वन्य प्रदेशम् एतत् खलु ।

शनिवासरे छात्रा: ५:४५ वादने एव उत्थितवन्त: । योगाभ्यासम्, स्नानम् च कृत्वा आगतवन्तान् भोजनालये काफी च continental breakfast अपेक्षितम् । तत्परमुन्मत्तमेव । वर्गाः, कथम् अस्ति भवान्, विराम:, काफी, भवान् कुत्र वसति, वर्गाः, माध्याह्न भोजनम्, काफी, छायम्, वर्गाः, अहम् कुशलिनी अस्मि, वर्गाः, अन्यच्च अन्यच्च । दिनान्तरे केनचित् उक्तम् श्रुतम् "मम नाम किम्?" इति ।

शिबिरस्य MVP - अन्मोल् महोदयेन भोजनालयत: भोजनम् आनीतम् । नरेन्द्र महोदयेन अपि साहाय्यम् कृतम् । पुस्तक-भाण्डारिक-रुपेन शर्मा महोदय: कार्यम् कृतवान् । श्रुति: बालकान् पालितवती । एतस्मिन् समये मया अपि एक: वर्गः गतः ।

सायङ्काले सर्वैः छात्रै: मनोरञ्जन-कार्यक्रमम् अतीव उत्साहेन कृतम् । बालकाः मृगान् अनुकारितवन्तः । का अङ्गुली श्रेष्टा इति एकम् लघुनाटकम् । "दोसा धाम्" इत्यपि एकम् लघुनाटकम् । हितोपदेशस्य "लुब्ध-ब्राह्मण-कथा" आधारीकृत्य नाटकम् अपि अस्माभि: कृतम् ।

भानुवासरे अपि तथैव । योगाभ्यासम्, उप्प्मा (लवण पिष्टम्), उपसेचनम्, क्वथितम्, काफी च । बर्साना धाम: मध्याह्न भोजनम् संस्कृत-भारत्या प्रायोजकम् कृतम् । समारोपन-कार्यक्रमे शारदा महोदयाया: संस्कृतसेवा आराधिता । सर्वेभ्यः वन्दनार्पणम् मया कृतम् । तदनन्तरम् group-photo कृत्वा, भोजनम् समाप्य सर्वे स्वगृहम् प्रति प्रस्थानम् कृतवन्त: ।

शिबिरस्य अन्ते ८ वर्षीया: मनीषा माम् प्रति आगत्य उक्तवती "कदा भविष्यति अग्रिमम् शिबिरम्? अहम् आगन्तुम् इच्छामि" इति । शिबिरस्य सफलम् तदेव इति मम अभिप्राय: । भगवदनुग्रहेन सर्वम् सम्यक् अप्रचलत् । परन्तु मम पुन: रात्रौ नष्टनिद्रा एव । इदानीम् तु अन्यविचारात् । मनसि अविरतम् गीतम् एकम् श्रूयते ।

अविनतलम् पुनरवतीर्णा स्यात् संस्कृत गङ्गाधारा ।
धीर भगीरथ वंशोऽस्माकम् वयम् तु कृत निर्धारा: । वयम् तु कृत निर्धारा: ।

संस्कृताय अस्माकम् आवश्यकता, यथा स्वयं ज्ञातुम् संस्कृतस्य  ।

Yamunotrii 2011, Austin, Samskrita Bharati Residential Camp

One seed is all that is required for a tree. One spark is all that is required for a raging wild fire. One thought is all that is required for success. Yeah, plus ofcourse that thing called passion.

Almost an year ago, Apr 2010, when Vasuvaj-ji mentioned about holding a Samskrita residential camp at Austin during summer that year, I was very skeptical. We do not have a big group here, we have so far been conducting only beginners classes and we do not have a solid presence compared to other Samskrita Bharati centers like Dallas, Houston, East coast or West coast. Personal life improvements and other commitments took over and the July camp did not happen. The yet-to-be-fire remained a pilot.

Around January 2011, the spark came again and this time, time was ready. The Yamunotrii team was formed with the kartyakarta-s of Austin, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans and College Station. The place was decided to be Austin. There wasn't much choice except Barsana Dham, a picturesque setting in the Hill Country of Central Texas. We decided to check that place out. One unknown question among the Austinites was what to expect in a camp? Despite his extremely busy schedule, Dr. Venkat Raju from College Station came over and helped us set the expectations of rooms, classes, food etc. We were able to now somewhat visualize how the camp could be conducted there.

I had not been to any camps before and I just did not know what to expect. The Yamunotrii registration page was setup soon with several hours of work from Sri Madhu Pillai and his team of Sreyo. Yamunotrii was the first camp on the new version of Jhoomla. After several rounds of testing, the page went live on March 8th. I wasn't even the first to register, but it was Ajay from Raleigh. The registration started ticking on with a very slow progress.

Sleepless nights started with that. What if there are less than 50 people? What if there are 150+ people and there is no place for some to stay? What if we could not get enough teacher-to-student ratio? What if not many people from Austin itself come to the camp? What if it rains on that weekend? What if it is too hot? What if food is not enough? I had only questions and no answers.

One of the practical points that Hariharan brought up was even if people don't come to "learn" Sanskrita, they should atleast go back home saying that the food was good. Reminds me of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's saying - education is not for empty stomach. There were several rules: Food should be from a vegetarian-only restaurant, no onion, no garlic (mainly sattvic), tasty, a lot of variety and most important of all - not expensive. Curry n Hurry was the only restaurant that met all the requirements and its owner Jinesh Gandhi did everything what we wanted. Though we could not get a sumptuous South Indian food -- I would have wished for a finger-licking rasam -- but we compensated with Uppma for Sunday morning breakfast. We set a few rules ourselves - alternate with appetizers and sweets, ensure coffee was available always, juice, cookies and ice-cream for kids. Thus came dhokla, spring rolls, gulab jamoons, mixtures and jahangirs. Vasudha bhaginI helped with Sanskrit-izing some of the food names to be displayed next to each food item.

We were lucky to have the best teachers visit the camp even though it was for only two days. Starting with Smt Shaaradaa Varadaraajan, Sowmya bhaginI, Vidya bhagini and then Govinda, Avinash and Murali mahodayaa: - we had an impressive list of teachers. And finally we roped in Naresh too (vaak.wordpress.com). When I mentioned this to Srikanth, he was like "Get outta here! I don't believe we are getting all those for the camp..."

The checkins went fine, most people arrived on time with Sudhee guiding them to rooms. After the dinner (everything starts after some food in the camp), the camp commenced with a prayer by Sowmya bhaginI. Govinda mahodaya gave the initial speech and later I welcomed everyone to Austin on behalf of Samskrita Bharati.

And then the first trouble started. Someone spotted a snake near the rooms. It was a bit of a flutter, but later it turned out to be a non-poisonous rat snake, but a snake is still a snake, whether you are going to call it sarpaH, nAgaH or even snake-mahodaya, it still scares you. But where there are peacocks, there are snakes. Such is life. And then we saw a huge lizard in the dining room. Later Srikanth killed 3 scorpions near the rooms. I did spot a few colorful lizards and birds. This place is wild!

On Saturday morning, students were up at 5:45 am, greeted by a very pleasant weather and a cool breeze. Morning Yoga with some recitation of Yoga sutras of Patanjali followed. After the bath, the smell of fresh coffee and a continental breakfast was awaiting in the dining room. And then it was just frenzy. Classes, breaks, vargaaH, katham asti bhavaan, bhojanam, classes, viraamaH, bhavaan kutra vasati, mixture, kakshyaa, jaangiri, aham kushalinI asmi, tea, more classes and finally at the end of the evening I could hear someone ask - "mama naama kim?". Whew.. what a crazy day it was!

The MVP (most-valued-person) of the camp, Anmol brought both the lunch and dinner for Saturday and Narendra helped with the arrangements. Meanwhile the bookstall was setup. Sarma became the official bookstore owner and with Sruti taking care of toddlers, I was finally able to sneak into one of the classes. Avinash mahodaya was teaching about chandas and gaNa. Binominal stuff, I mean, phenomenal stuff.

The evening manoranjana kaaryakramaM was presented by both kids and adults with several creative skits. Kids mimicking animals, a skit about which finger is the best finger, another called Dosa Dham, a dumb-charade in Sanskritam and finally an almost extempore skit adapting the Brahmin and The Tiger hitopadesha story to modern setting of Austin to Dallas, Rest Area, Google stocks, Chronicles of Narnia and Nigerian scam. That was total fun.

The next day began with a similar note, morning yoga followed by Uppma with chutney and sambar. The Barsana Dham lunch was sponsored by Samskrita Bharati for Sunday and quite a few volunteers came out and helped prepare the food. A couple of more classes and finally the closing ceremony honoring Smt Shaaradaa Varadaraajan for her years of service. She gave a wonderful speech ending with Samskritam rakShitam rakshati. It was already 12:45 and I could see the long queue for the lunch and I hurried a bit thanking every one. One final group photo, lunch and the camp was already over.

Just a few minutes before everyone were leaving, 8 year old Manisha came and asked me "When is the next camp? I would love to come again". And that I define as the success of the camp. Everything had went fine, well, except one thing. I spent yet another sleepless night after the camp, but this time it was due to a tune that was ringing in the background of my mind all night long --

avanitalam punaravatIrNa syaat samskrita gangaa-dhaaraa | dheera bhagIratha vamshosmaakam vayam tu kRuta nirdhaaraaH | vayam tu kRuta nirdhaaraaH |

Samskritam needs us, as much as we need her to know ourselves.