The Holy man and his tryst with 'not so holy' deeds Sunday, November 14 2004 14:04 Hrs (IST)
On Aug 22, 1987, Kanchi seer Sri Jayendra Saraswati hits the headlines! He suddenly disappears from the Math. Unauthorized travel is forbidden according to the rules of the Math. The police of four States were involved in a high profile search. He was spotted in Talakaveri of Coorg district in Karnataka. The mystery is still un-revealed.
Shankarraman, the manager of Varadarajan temple in Kanchipuram was an active member of the Shankar Math. He had the reputation of being very straightforward. And he was murdered on September 3, 2004. An honest Shankar Raman had reportedly disapproved of the misuse of funds of the Math. His end came soon after he declared that he would make the "issues" public.
Jayendra Saraswati was always a part and parcel of controversies. The Shankaracharya of Dwaraka, Swarupananda Saraswati was a critic of Jayendra. Seventeen years ago, when Jayendra disappeared, Dwaraka seer said, "Jayendra Saraswati should not be referred a Shankaracharya. As Kanchi is not in the four maths as established by Adi Shankaracharya. Its only a branch of the Shringeri Math." In spite of this, Kanchi Kamakoti Peetha is one of the foremost Maths in the country. It saw its best in the period of Jayendra's predecessor Chandrashekarendra Saraswati.
Jayendra was born in 1935 in a small village of Irulvikki of Nagapatnam district in Tamil Nadu. He mastered the 'Vedas' at the age of thirteen and joined the "Jagadguru Vidyapeetha". It was there he was spotted by Chandrashekarendra Saraswati and decided that he merits to head the Math.
Jayendra was strongly criticized when he suggested the tripartite solution to the Ayodhya issue and that he should be a "part" of it. The Swamijis of the North were cross at this idea. He was condemned that he was polluting the sanctity of the Math with "dirty politics". He got into a terrible row with the Chinajiyar swami on a mantap issue in Tirupati. He is also labelled as "close" to AIADMK and BJP.
Irrespective of what post he holds and how much popularity he garners, he is ultimately a citizen of India; bound by its massive legal framework. But its not right to "use" any person for political vendetta either!
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