=Pt. ShriRam Sharma Acharya
There was a primary school in the village of my birthplace. From the
point of view of formal education, I studied only in that school. Sanskrit is
part and parcel of our family traditions. My father and brothers were
eminent scholars of Sanskrit. Giving discourses on ancient scriptures and
priesthood were our ancestral profession. I thus acquired adequate knowledge of
Sanskrit at home.
I have taught Sanskrit to students up to the standard of Acharya,
though I do not possess any formal degree. The story of studying other
languages is interesting. I started writing English words on a shallow iron pan
(tasla) by using pebbles as pencil. I could lay my hands on English newspaper
Leader in jail and started reading English.
I used to consult my colleagues and in about a years time, when I was released from jail, I had acquired fairly good knowledge of English. Every time during my journey to jail, my vocabulary of English increased due to mutual discussions and gradually I learnt grammar also. In return, I taught my jailmates Sanskrit and idiomatic Hindustani. Magazines, journals, dictionaries etc. of other languages have always remained my basic sources of learning other languages. Gayatri has been called Goddess of wisdom.
I used to consult my colleagues and in about a years time, when I was released from jail, I had acquired fairly good knowledge of English. Every time during my journey to jail, my vocabulary of English increased due to mutual discussions and gradually I learnt grammar also. In return, I taught my jailmates Sanskrit and idiomatic Hindustani. Magazines, journals, dictionaries etc. of other languages have always remained my basic sources of learning other languages. Gayatri has been called Goddess of wisdom.
I cannot say about others, but I myself have been miraculously
benefited by Her worship. Even professors of Hindi have received considerable
guidance from my articles in Akhand Jyoti, in which Sanskrit words have been
used profusely.
I have a feeling of inner upliftment and people are amazed to find that despite my remaining extremely busy in Sadhana etc. so much knowledge could be acquired.
The credit for all this goes to Mahapragya (the Supreme Divine Intelligence). Although I participated in satyagraha, launched by the Indian National congress, in compliance with the directions from Gurudev, in the beginning I did not understand its significance. When I was given one sankalp of doing Sadhana for twenty four years, why was it split into two portions of five and nineteen years? When thousands of persons were engaged in satyagraha, participation or non-participation of one more person should not have mattered much? Gurudev had guessed my dilemma at the time of my meeting with him and his divine voice had given the guideline. "Yug Dharma has its own importance. It should be considered as the need of the times and one should rush to fulfill it leaving aside all other work, just as water has to be rushed to the site of fire. In days to come you have to undertake several works of public contact and you will not get better opportunity than this to establish contacts with different strata of the society. You will also get an opportunity for rehearsal of the experience gained in previous births and of the lessons learnt in your early age.
I have a feeling of inner upliftment and people are amazed to find that despite my remaining extremely busy in Sadhana etc. so much knowledge could be acquired.
The credit for all this goes to Mahapragya (the Supreme Divine Intelligence). Although I participated in satyagraha, launched by the Indian National congress, in compliance with the directions from Gurudev, in the beginning I did not understand its significance. When I was given one sankalp of doing Sadhana for twenty four years, why was it split into two portions of five and nineteen years? When thousands of persons were engaged in satyagraha, participation or non-participation of one more person should not have mattered much? Gurudev had guessed my dilemma at the time of my meeting with him and his divine voice had given the guideline. "Yug Dharma has its own importance. It should be considered as the need of the times and one should rush to fulfill it leaving aside all other work, just as water has to be rushed to the site of fire. In days to come you have to undertake several works of public contact and you will not get better opportunity than this to establish contacts with different strata of the society. You will also get an opportunity for rehearsal of the experience gained in previous births and of the lessons learnt in your early age.
are not important from the viewpoint of personal gain but they
answer a need of the times. In practical life you are to be taught four lessons
of ......
(1) wisdom
(1) wisdom
(2) honesty
(3) responsibility and (4) courage.
These help in the inner growth of the soul and develop brilliance of
intellect. With a view to developing the talents required for execution of your
future plans of action and also to hone up the instruments needed for the
purpose, your participation in Indias freedom struggle is essential." It
is not pertinent to discuss what I did for the country, how much I suffered and
how I discharged duties and responsibilities which were entrusted to me.
Anybody interested to know about it may read the book Freedom Fighters of
Agra Division published by the information department of Uttar Pradesh
government. In those days I was known by the name "Shriram Matta". ( Countinue)
Thanks GOD, Thanks Sadguru,
Shiv Sharma
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