Tribute to Shri Narayan Rajamani: selflessness personified

There are occasions in life that compel us to pause and reflect on the very meaning of existing as sentient beings in this world. Death is a phenomenon that unsettles even the most spiritually-inclined person. When someone with whom there exists a deep, layered bond suddenly departs for the heavenly abode, it invariably leaves one disoriented. The passing away of my maternal grandfather Shri Narayan Rajamani on the 13th of January 2023 placed me in such a situation. Ever since I was informed about his demise, I have been saturated with thoughts- ranging from the numerous interactions I had with him to the lessons that I constantly derived from his art of living. I desperately have been wanting to write a tribute for my grandpa, but even before I started, I realised that grandpa’s life cannot easily be captured in an article or two. According to Smt. Vijaya Pushkarna, former Deputy Chief of Bureau for The Week magazine and closely associated with Shri Rajamani, my grandfather's life is worthy of a biography. This tribute can be considered as a precursor to something far more comprehensive in the times to come. In other words, this is a humble attempt to capture the life and legacy of my grandfather based chiefly on my association with him over the last couple of decades. I write this not from a state of bereavement, but out of great solace, knowing that grandpa died a death befitting a saint. I genuinely hope this brief tribute shall be able to illumine some aspects of his saintly legacy, and I admit upfront that I am bound to fall short, because I am writing about a man whose achievements were truly monumental.

Nararayan Rajamani
(1940-2023)

As grandchildren, the simple logic of biology assures us of unconditional love from grandparents. However, with grandpa things were different. Of course, he was immensely fond of all his grandchildren but there was a mystical element that overshadowed this filial love. He demonstrated his love by amplifying our moments of happiness, and ensuring that our achievements (howsoever ordinary) were acknowledged beyond the domain of the family. As I shall elaborate later, to him the society was an extension of the family, and therefore he ensured that we received the blessings of several eminent individuals spanning various fields. This perhaps stemmed from the several dimensions to his personality that made him relate to us not merely from a position of seniority but also as a genuine well-wisher deeply invested in our future. 

Grandpa had an extremely successful professional career, as he worked closely with eminent industrialists and corporate leaders in his days as an engineer. This is a facet to his life I am rather unfamiliar with, and hence would refrain from describing at length. But, having spent a great deal of time with him over the last decade or two, I certainly feel well-equipped to describe some of his compelling traits that endeared him to so many people around. These include his life as a social servant, an activist and towards the end, a memoirist. Incidentally, all these traits largely came to the forefront after his retirement. It is precisely an amalgamation of these identities that made him such a special grandfather and a splendid human being.

Grandpa was first and foremost a staunch workaholic. He detested staying away from work, and always kept his mind occupied with something or the other. Towards the fag end of his life, of course things were different, but for the longest time, he remained a true karmayogin. I received a ring-side view of his work ethic while assisting him with his final project: 'A Pious Soul’. Recency effect does kick in while discussing about this book, because he departed just a few months after releasing its printed copies. Discussing the process of writing this book is significant to get some insight into his remarkable personality traits. For starters, the book presents a few memoirs on his iconic grandfather, Shri Seshadri Iyer, a polyglot and prolific scholar associated with the Ramakrishna Mission. It always rankled grandpa how this legendary figure from our own family had almost been totally forgotten five decades after his death. He sincerely wished to rekindle the fragrance that his grandfather left behind with several decades of stellar scholarship and public service. But a secondary and more critical purpose was to collect funds for the Ramakrishna Ashram in his village Haripad (Allepy district, Kerala). Though he started working on this project about seven years ago, it was only following the Covid-induced lockdown that he began in right earnest. He happened to be 'stuck' (in his own words) in Pune, and roped me in to help him with this project. The Secretary of Haripad Math, Swami Virabhadrananda, and Dr. V.S. Sharma from Trivandrum (the only surviving student of Shri Seshadri) provided invaluable support during the course of this project. 

He prepared a document by August 2020 and circulated it among a few family members. The encouraging feedback triggered in him this idea of writing a full-fledged book on his grandfather. This is when he got down to sorting out all the material he had collected. He would regularly send me drafts of his book that I modified to the best of my abilities. In fact, my inbox is flooded with emails sent by grandpa regarding this book. I will especially treasure the long-winding conversations I had with grandpa about some of his lasting memories from childhood. Each time, the discussion would begin with his grandfather and soon veer into a whole-lot of characters who played a role in shaping his life. As a student of history, these discussions provided me a wonderful perspective to understand the conditions that prevailed in the decades following India’s independence. I recall visiting his house regularly in Pune and getting to hear a new story each time I entered his abode. The book was professionally edited before being published as A Pious Soul in October 2021.

The one thing that struck me about the way he went about researching and compiling this book was his spectacular willpower. Despite partially losing sight in his right eye, he always amazed me with his relentless spirit to pursue excellence. A few months back, a pace-maker was installed in his heart and his health did take a beating in the process. It took him a few months, but he recovered with aplomb. When I visited him in the month of September to finalise a list of recipients who needed to be sent copies of the book, I was stunned to observe the amount of work he had completed. He had prepared an elaborate document, with nearly hundred names, along with their contact details. This must have been a pain-staking exercise, but he did it to perfection. He requested me to check for errors, and I was stupefied to find none. This incident just strengthened my belief that notwithstanding all his predicaments, grandpa always remained deeply motivated towards fulfilling his goals. In this case, he was determined to help the Ramakrishna Mission in Haripad regain its vitality. Furthermore, he would always emphasise on performing tasks to perfection. Even while sending cover letters, he spent a lot of time deliberating on the choice of words as well as the format of the letter. This just shows that even while his physical and emotion well-being could have fluctuated, his motivation never sagged.

But where did he derive this unreal motivation from? This is where we enter another facet to grandpa’s personality- his deep-seated concern for the evils plaguing our society and as a corollary, an unceasing spirit to learn from others.

More than anything else, it was his activism that aroused admiration from so many people. He was deeply concerned about grinding issues such as poverty, malnutrition and corruption. But he wasn't among those who simply lamented about these problems that beset our nation; he did his bit to help eradicate them. As the president of Kaushambi Resident Welfare Association (KARWA), he took some path-breaking measures to improve the cleanliness in this region as well as stimulate collective efforts such as organising football matches. He didn't mind challenging politicians, and ensured that work was done swiftly. Even after his tenure got completed, he keenly followed all the developments in Kaushambi and remained intimately connected with current President of KARWA, Mr. Vinay K Mittal. His tenure as President re-shaped Kaushambi in many ways, and residents continue to benefit from some of his landmark initiatives. In the process, he also got acquainted with several renowned intellectuals and luminaries from Kaushambi, frequently giving them a platform to demonstrate their skills. His eclectic approach towards life and unceasing appetite to learn from others helped him forge close associations with people across ideological divides. I must confess having profoundly benefitted from his influence as he got me connected with many of these scholars, who remain in touch with me to this day. These include intellectuals like Dr. R.K. Bhandari, Shri Anil Bhatnagar and Dr. Dharma Sharma, who besides being extremely successful are also sublime human beings. Needless to say, they have helped me develop my skill-sets and enhance my perspectives about life a great deal. These accomplished individuals will always remind me of grandpa's affable qualities that helped him cultivate such an enormous amount of goodwill throughout his illustrious career.

In grandpa’s case, when I use the word ‘career’, it certainly does extend into his life post-retirement. To illustrate, let's move to a skill Grandpa (re) discovered only in the last phase of his life: writing. Grandpa may not have possessed a sophisticated or ornate writing style, nonetheless, those who have read A Pious Soul can attest that he wrote from his heart. A good writer, is after all, not merely a master of prose, but someone who offers novel ideas that can potentially transform our society. As he proceeded with each chapter of his book, he ensured that some of his deepest convictions were also articulated. In fact, I firmly believe that the book is as much an exposition on his value-systems as it meticulously presents a portrait of Shri Seshadri Iyer. In emphasising on the practice of feeding the poor (anna-danam), leading a spiritual life, respecting all faiths and cultivating a broad-minded (or even unorthodox) approach towards life; grandpa seemed to have inherited a number of traits from Shri Seshadri. It now falls on us to uphold such a fine legacy...

But for me, if there was one virtue that made him extremely special, it was his self-effacement. Swami Vivekananda wrote extensively about the need to practice nivritti, or sacrifice the mind and body for another being (or a greater purpose) without worrying about benefitting in any way. My experience with thatha suggests that he perfectly understood Vivekananda’s message and became a living carrier of Swamiji’s timeless spiritual ideals. Over the last few days, while sending mails, he would frequently attach a quote by Vivekananda alongside which read- “They only live who live for others”. This only reinforces his firm belief in selfless service. One of his closest friends and a noted geohazard researcher, Dr. R.K. Bhandari, while condoling grandpa’s demise rightly observed that he ‘had a deep concern for the welfare of the society often at the expense of his own health’. Grandpa’s whirlwind professional career did take a toll on his health and there were numerous instances when he only barely managed to survive. Despite all these setbacks, he continued serving society to the best of his abilities without nurturing any expectations whatsoever. Perhaps he understood the true value of life, and ensured that he lived it meaningfully. Who knows, with all his faculties intact, he could have scaled many more ladders in his retired life; but grandpa was not one to dwell on these counter-factuals. He embraced his problems and moved ahead in life with a profound sense of conviction. In fact, health remained of marginal importance to him, something that isn’t necessarily worthy of emulation, but it was his spirit that made him stand apart. The story of his life is a story of service towards his people, and that’s why he commanded a lot of respect from a wide range of people. 

All-in-all, grandpa’s demise is a huge loss, not just to our family, but to the society at large. By underlining his selflessness, resilience and devotion towards work, I have only presented a few traits that made him extremely special for so many people. I suppose if there is one overarching message from his life, it can be traced to something he realised after his retirement. He always classified his post-retirement life as ‘payback time’, or the phase in life to return the favours that society had bestowed on him. This is what drew grandpa to the Ramakrishna Mission and other spiritual activities, especially towards the fag end of his life. He always encouraged me to work for society even while moving forward in my career. That, in a nutshell, was his message. In other words, we must ensure that our actions are infused with a spirit of service and gratitude towards society. But for now, it is time to bow down and express our collective gratitude towards this Pious Soul, who has left an indelible imprint on this planet through his selfless actions and noble deeds! We will miss him. May his soul rest in peace.

Om Shanti!