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Friday, Nov 19, 2004

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The challenges before Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi

By V. Jayanth

CHENNAI, NOV. 18. There can be no doubt that the Kanchi Sankara Mutt is going through a rough patch and its followers are totally upset with the developments climaxing in the arrest of the Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi. The silver lining, however, is the return of the junior Acharya, Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi, to Kancheepuram, bringing life back into the mutt's headquarters. But the challenges facing Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi are many and daunting.

Insiders say there is no question of "installing" the junior Acharya— he is already there. He may not be the "madathipathi" — the head of the mutt — but he is empowered to perform all the duties of the Sankaracharya in the absence of Sri Jayendra Saraswathi. Thus, he needs no special ceremony or anointment to assume charge, though he is clearly "unwilling to wear the crown." There is no question of installing anybody else now and it is entirely up to the present Sankaracharyas to identify and groom a successor if they have not already done so.

The first and major challenge is to restore the image of the Sankara Mutt and the confidence of its vast following. Having been trained and mentored by the Paramacharya, most followers believe that Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi may be ideally suited to do this. He is known to prefer the academic, scholastic and vedic aspects of the activities, not being very comfortable with administrative and financial management.

Core committee

This will necessitate the putting together of a young, talented and professional team of managers who can look after the day-to-day administration of the mutt and its activities. At this stage, both Sankaracharyas have their brothers and relatives involved deeply in the mutt's administration. It has been suggested that from among the followers, the younger Acharya can pick a team of retired bureaucrats and professionals to voluntarily assist the mutt in its administration. A core committee can meet once a month to provide a broad direction and also review its functioning. This will also obviate the need for nepotism at all levels.

A second task is to define the role of the mutt and outline its policy framework. There is a feeling that Sri Jayendra Saraswathi took on more than what the mutt could tackle and expanded its activities to an extent that even monitoring became difficult. It may be useful to identify the core areas that cannot be given up — like Vedic education, teaching, training, education and the popular health services, which have provided a new dimension to the activities. There has to be a re-think on the other programmes and movements, including Jan Kalyan.

Another central issue that needs to be addressed is financial management and accounting practices. Apart from the funds available to the Sankara Mutt itself, there are a number of trusts that function under the direction of the Sankaracharya. These may be independent and autonomous, with specific objectives and a board of trustees. They have to be seen acting independent of the mutt and there should be no flow of funds from one institution to another. Financial discipline and transparency are imperative for any public or service institution.

There appears to be considerable relief among the followers that the State Government does not entertain any thought of "taking over" the mutt, though this has been sought by some groups. There is no case for a takeover, but the responsibility of the mutt authorities to keep all transactions above board increases in the light of the recent developments and allegations. Authoritative mutt sources insist that despite reports in a section of the media, pointing to the huge assets of the mutt, it is "actually cash-strapped."

There may be funds with the trusts, but to manage the daily needs of the mutt and its administration, "there is a serious resources crunch." It was supposed to be the resourcefulness of Sri Jayendra Saraswathi and his capacity to identify donors and sponsors that led to a proliferation of projects and programmes. But they do not bring in cash flows to the mutt, which is highly dependent on individual donors to carry on the daily functions.

Above all, Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi must gather the courage to purge the mutt of problematic elements and relatives of both the Acharyas, so that it can be managed professionally and without any vested interests. The traumatic arrest of Sri Jayendra Saraswathi has provided the mutt with an opportunity to carry out far-reaching reforms that can restore the honour and prestige of the mutt.

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