Muralidharan Saravanamuthu

Those of you who are wondering what the title signifies, do listen to this song: அன்னை தந்தையே அன்பின் எல்லை   This year, I shared a few things about my parents on their birth anniversary with my engineering friends and their families. I choose to share the same with all of you: September 11, 2024: Today is my father's 90th birth anniversary. On September 9, 2000, my parents along with my aunt's family went on a pilgrimage to the Murugan temple in Palani.  They had plans to attend a wedding in Salem and visit the Murugan Temple in Marudamalai, Coimbatore. The previous night, my father gave me a box of Jangiri and another box of Laddu to be handed over to my brother who had already gone to sleep.  We lived in 3 different flats within the same premises.  They were planning to leave at 4 am the next day.  I was alone in my flat as Aruna and children were visiting her mother.  I told my father to wake me up so that I can see them off. So, on his 66th birthday, ...

Those of you who have visited our home may have noticed the nameplate at the entrance - The Nest. NEST is the acronym for N urture, E nable, S ensitize and T ransform. I discovered this framework many years ago loosely based on my understanding of how birds raise their offsprings.  I don't claim to be an expert on birds and their living patterns.  I am using the bird's nest more as an analogy. While I have chosen to explain this framework in the context of a family unit, the same framework can be applied to any other type of organization - school, social, commercial, government and so on. Nurture Nurture is to provide a safe, secure and caring environment for the child to grow into an adult. To begin with, when do birds build their nest?   When they decide to lay eggs and raise their offsprings.   Why?  To ensure that their eggs and offsprings have a safe place to develop into fully grown birds. More often, birds build their nest high on a tree to prot...

Both my parents are no more. My father died in 2000.  On his 66th birthday, he went on a pilgrimage and died suddenly, two days later, due to heart attack.  It was a great shock to all of us.  As I was very close to him, it took me a long time to overcome his loss.  For years, I used to wake up in the middle of the night, shaking and crying, while dreaming about him.   I performed the last rites, being the youngest son.  During the 16 days mourning period, I read  The Bhagavat Gita by O.P. Ghai.  In Chapter XIV titled Discrimination of the Three Gunas, namely, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, it said, "When Sattva is predominant, there is happiness and goodness among the people."  It further said, "Shri Krishna explained that when, at the time of one's death, Sattva prevails one goes to heaven where all men of noble deeds go;" My mother and other relatives, who were with my father, mentioned that he was joking and laughing wholeheartedly th...

My last post on  Destination - Truth it is  may have been difficult for few of you to either accept or reject. This is understandable as " Being sensitive is to be aware of all those things that are happening within us and around us without taking a stand for or against them." After we had this discussion in our group, few of my friends applauded the views shared by me.  Few of them politely said that they were comfortable with their gurus and their satsangs.  One of them rhetorically asked, "Why should we reinvent the wheel when our gurus have already laid down the path and the processes?"  And then, NC, who initiated the original discussion, asked, "What is permanent?" I will share what my response was but, before that, let me share some of my reflections on permanence. This quest for permanence or immortality has been mentioned many times in our mythological stories: Individuals, who are on a quest to attain immortality, perform strenuous penances to in...

Recently, in our engineering batchmates group, we discussed about truth and destination! This whole discussion was triggered by NC, our globetrotting 'Swamiji', who frequently invokes 'the divine grace to light up our paths forever'.  During his rebuttal to my criticism about a WhatsApp forward message, he mentioned that the number of Gods grew as the population grew but the truth is one.  He also said that paths may be many, but the destination is the same. I, with all the innocence that I could muster, asked him what he meant by truth and destination.  He responded in a roundabout way with analogies which were not directly answering my questions and so, I requested him and anyone else in the group to provide direct responses. PNS, our 'Chinna Kal Siddhar', shared his life experience of that day which was his cryptic way of conveying his views which is, essentially, living life moment to moment. DJ, a born-again Christian, was forthright in communicating his vi...

My father was my first influencer. He was a registered medical practitioner.  When I was very young, apart from his private practice, he used to serve in the then Government General Hospital (Now Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital) in the diabetology department on a honorary basis.  Those days, I thought that 'honorary' meant some form of respect but later I discovered that it was 'voluntary' without any remuneration.  After a few years, he resigned from the hospital and became a full-time private medical practitioner. He was a self-made person and valued his independence.  He always used to tell us to be independent in life.  That, sort of, became the driving force in me. Till I finished my 12th standard, I always wanted to become a doctor.  Why?  Is it because I was good in Biology?  Not really.  In fact, I didn't enjoy studying Biology so much.  I was a natural in Mathematics as pointed out to me by my teachers.  But I stil...