An IAS officer of 1958 batch, S Sundararajan had his superannuation on February 28, 1993. During his chequered administrative career, he climbed the hierarchical ladder as Collector, Sundargarh; Revenue Divisional Commissioner, Northern Division; Director land Records & Surveys; land reforms Commissioner; Commercial Tax Commissioner; Special Relief Commissioner; Secretary Forest, Fisheries & Animal Husbandry; Secretary Industries; Secretary Planning & Coordination; and Secretary Public Enterprises. He has also served as Development Commissioner. He was Member, Board of Revenue before retirement. He had also chaired a committee which prepared the perspective plan for power development in Odisha. He has been composing verses in Sanskrit since he was 12 and has been blessed with the title “Balakavi” by HH Shri Chandra Shekarendra Saraswati Swamigal, the then Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. One of his recent publications is ‘Anyapadesa Kavyas’. An anthology of his poems captioned “Sri Sundararajan Rachanavali” was published in 2005 with financial assistance from the Rashtriya Sanskrit Samasthan, New Delhi. He was a member of the high-power committee constituted by the State Department of Education for celebration of Sanskrit Year during 2000. He has been awarded the Valmiki Samman for the year 2002 by the Orissa Sanskrit Academy. The Rashtriya Samskruta Samsthanam bestowed the award of “Samskruta Mithram” on him in 2003. The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development conferred the Presidential Award of Certificate of Honour for his contribution to Sanskrit language for the year 2005. In March 2008, he was awarded Honorary Degree of Vidya Vachaspati, i.e, Doctorate of letters by the Rashtriya Smaskrita Vidyapeetha, Tirupati.
Well-versed in the Indian myths, legends, Puranas, Itihasas like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana and steeped in the Vedas, the Upanishadas, he is a virtual storehouse of ancient Indian wisdom. The kinetic reliving frozen moments of the hoary mythological antiquity comes vividly alive when one begins to discuss with him about the glory of India’s past. He wishes that the generations of Indians yet unborn should be inculcated with a spirit of inquiry and a thirst for intellectual adventure so as to be imbued themselves with “Samskruta and Samskruti” which would act like the systolic and the diastolic movement of their hearts. That would be indeed the key to build a vibrant India with the granite rock of culture as its foundation. The future of India lies in according Sanskrit language its sublime status and by making it a spoken language of the masses, asserts Sundararajan. In an interview to The Pioneer, he spoke to Sugyan Choudhury from his 21, VIP Colony Residence, Bhubaneswar, where he leads a contented life of scholastic studies with his inspiring wife Sudha Sundararajan.
What made you to opt for a career in IASIJ
After my graduation in Presidency College, Madras, I appeared for IAS examination and was selected in the first chance. I wanted to serve humanity, i.e., society and a career in civil service would provide me ample opportunities to serve the society. That is why I chose a career in IAS, which besides providing me a means of livelihood also gave me the opportunity to serve people. I joined the job remembering my father’s words “join the job but remember to choose the path of dharma or the law of piety.”
People know you as an exponent of Indian culture. What according to you is the future of this cultureIJ
Indian culture is Sanatan, i.e., eternal and abiding but not ephemeral. No one can destroy this culture. If any injury has been made upon this culture, this was only a temporary eclipse. But ultimately, Indian culture shall always prevail. That is my strong conviction.
Will the strong Western cultural winds of change threaten Indian cultureIJ
Indian culture is not a culture of yesterday. It has withstood the shocks of the centuries but has remained firm. There may be a conflict, but that would only last for a temporary period. We have to accept the best of the West with the best of India without sacrificing our basic tenets.
Do you think that the Vedas and the Upanishads are relevant todayIJ
The Vedas are born out of Sabda or big sounds. The big bang theory propounded by the scientist also unmistakably points to one big sound when the universe was created. That sound is the other name for Vedas. These sounds could not be deciphered by anyone. Hence, God sent His arch-angels or the “Gotra Prabar Rishis” or like the Saptarishis who took the clue from lord Shiva’s analysis of the sound called the Vedas. Then, these Rishis went on explaining these sounds and ultimately got their expressions through Panini’s grammar. These explanations or the analysis of the sound by the Rishis or Vedic scientists were later codified and are known as the Vedas. These Vedas are nothing but the commandments of the Divine, e.g., “Matrudevo Bhaba”, “Pitrudevo Bhaba”, “Acharyadevo Bhaba” or “pay your obeisance to your mother”, “pay your obeisance to your father”, “pay your obeisance to your teacher”. If you do not follow these commandments, you will not be happy. The Vedas preach truths and nothing but truths. The Upanishads are the questions by the questioning intellect of man to an un-answering universe through the Vedas and the Vedic Rishis, who have mastered the secrets of the universe. Thus the Vedas and the Upanishads are emphatic and eternal, scientific and not superstitious.
How can our people imbibe the spirit of the Vedas in a scientific and consumerist world of ours todayIJ
Probably, today’s people are getting perplexed owing to many inventions and discoveries like the various gadgets like cell phones, Iphones and other innumerable scientific instruments. But according to a Vedic scholar, nothing is invented or discovered. Everything was there before and only God’s things are unravelled. This unravelling of this mysterious nature is confused as discoveries and people believe that anything new is correct and something old is wrong. This is the vice of a vulgar mind.
The Westerners have tried to understand and appreciate the Vedas. Maxmuller has translated the four Vedas. You can call him “Moksha Mula”. You must know that the UN has accepted the Rig Veda as the most important heritage of mankind. Thus, the whole world comes to know the paramount importance of the Vedas and our people will not be divorced from it ultimately.
What is the most important contribution of the Sanskrit language to our nationIJ
As a journalist you must take note of the fact that national integration was really done by our Rishis much before your leaders of India claim it to have done. Our Rishis sang “Gangecha Yamuneschaiva, Godavari Saraswati, Narmede Sindhu Kaveri, Jalesmin Sannidhim Kuru”, i.e., I am taking my bath in the holly waters of the rivers of the Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswati, Narmada, Sindhu, Kaveri. By uttering this mantra by anyone who takes a bath feels the entire geography of India in his mind’s vision. Who has done thisIJ Your Netas or your Rishis of the ancient past since time immemorialIJ You should know that the great Adi Shankaracharya had established four monasteries at Ramnath in the south, Dwarakanath in the west, Jagannath Puri in the east and Badrinath in the north by propagating his Adwaita philosophy in Sanskrit and by travelling on foot throughout India. There is one hill called Shankaracharya Hill right at Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir which is held in high esteem today. Thus, the great seer from Kerala is being reverentially held in Srinagar and throughout India for having completed the onerous and the uphill task of national integration which holds India together. That is the greatest contribution of Sanskrit to our people.
What should be done for the upliftment of the Sanskrit languageIJ
Sanskrit, in spite of being the language of the elite, should become the language of the common mass of India. The Persians tried to eclipse the language, but it emerged triumphant later on. The British wanted to destroy the language, but eminent scholars like Jones understood so much so the richness of the language that they became votaries of this language. It is heartening to note that the Uttarakhand Government has announced to make Sanskrit as the State’s official language. Ninety per cent of the Tatsam and Tatbhaba of Odia language are linked with Sanskrit. Similarly, Tamil also has many Sanskrit coinages. Most of the languages of the Indian States owe their origin to Sanskrit. The future of India will be bright if Sanskrit is given its due status nationwide. There is a poem that I have composed in Sanskrit which means “the animals after their evolution reach the stage of man. But the animal like man gets Sanskar or reformation after learning Sanskrit only”.