Part – II

Ire of gods and sorrow of souls

Section 2: Gods admonish

God Ved

Illogical pursuit

Desires have no end and we keep running behind them like headless chicken. I was no exception during the seventies.  Iraqi National Oil Company offered me a respectable job of a specialist in 1976 with a handsome salary. I did not join it because of an intense desire to complete my scientific report on Bombay Offshore region. Force of my wish drove me back to India, rejecting the offer.  The report   was over in 1979, to my satisfaction. 

I was a geologist, and gained nothing in additional education in my line after a Ph. D. degree.  I could write technical papers for the furtherance of my knowledge as also for the subject. But an unusual desire struck me in the summer of 1980. An undying craving arrived and kept stirring me for a degree in Sanskrit grammar.

“What’s the purpose of education or degree in Sanskrit?” I asked to myself.  No clear answer was available. Only ambiguous explanations related to better understanding of Vedic literature echoed in the mind. But how a Petroleum geologist will benefit from Sanskrit grammar and Vedic works had no satisfactory justification in my logical analysis.

 It was obvious that compelling innate craving within me was a forcing nonsense; but, there was no way out to write it off and feel free from an unnecessary itch in mind. Worse, a degree of the subject of my pursuance needed a basic qualification of Sanskrit in High School for admission. It was to be followed by five years of regular attendance in a Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya (Advance school) for the degree. Fewer people would be as mad as me, I thought while dropping the burgeoning idea. I neither had basic qualification nor time to attend classes for five years.

Forcing from within let me not sit with peace for long, however. Even after dropping my intension for a degree in Sanskrit grammar, it drove me to see the Principal of Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya of M.S. University, Vadodara with my problems. Dr. Jayanarayan Pathak, Principal those days, was very kind and accommodating. He certified that my knowledge in Sanskrit was equivalent to High School (Sanskrit); noble man admitted me to Vyakaran Visharad class; and, even permitted me to attend the classes only up to half past nine instead of all the periods.

I was in a mill of intensive engagement between five in the morning and twelve at midnight once again after submitting my report on Bombay Offshore. Now I was reading Sanskrit grammar besides attending office. There was break in the study in 1984 due to my transfer to Dehradun; but, I completed my final examination in 1993 during a long official assignment at Vadodara. Students seldom study Sanskrit grammar, and I was one appearing for its examination in M. S. University after 18 years. I passed out honorably. Thanks were due to Dr. Pathak who retired shortly after admitting me in Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya.

My study had no other relevance during 20 years excepting my personal enjoyment of reading Panini grammar between 1980 and 1999.