Innerview Kintimadddi Sadananda

Innerview Kintimadddi Sadananda

October 2024

Innerview
Born in 1944, is a scholar and teacher  of Advaita Vedanta in the lineage of  Adi Sankaracharya. A materials scientist by  profession, he worked at the US Naval Research  Laboratory (NRL) as Head of Deformation  and Fracture. Since his retirement in 2005, he  has been working as a private consultant for  six months for the US Navy and spending the  rest of his time in Chennai, India, preaching  Vedanta. A visiting professor at IIT Madras,  in 1978, he became a disciple of Swami  Chinmayanandaji, whom he met for the first  time in Washington, DC. Soon, Dr Sadananda  founded the Washington Regional Centre of  the Chinmaya mission and the Sri Siva Vishnu  Temple in Lanham, and became the secretary  and treasurer of SEVA, Inc., a philanthropic  organisation formed in 1980 under the direction  of Swami Chinmayananda to fund projects in  India and elsewhere. In 1988, at the instance  of his guru, he started teaching Vedanta in  Virginia. In 1997, Swami Tejomayanandaji gave  him the title of ‘Acharya.’  

Sada Sir, as he is addressed, is actively engaged  in the dissemination of Vedanta through  webcasts, talks on YouTube, articles on Advaita  websites, and his books, Introduction to Vedanta;  Journey Beyond: A Non-Dual Approach (three  volumes); and Transcending Science, which are  very popular. So far, he has answered more than  700 questions on Vedanta, on the question-and answer platform, Quora. 

On the appointed day in September 2023, as  soon as my wife and I stepped into the spacious  drawing room of his Chennai residence, Sada  Sir and his wife, Smt Miralini Sadananda,  a well-known Kuchipudi dancer and  choreographer, warmly welcomed us. The two  hours spent in their presence are still etched  in our memory. Sitting on a cosy sofa, wearing  a red T-shirt, Sada Sir patiently answered my  questions, unravelling different dimensions of  Vedanta. His calm demeanour as well as his  prompt, logical, and simple way of explaining  complex topics were very reminiscent of that of  a yesteryear guru. 

Excerpts from the exclusive interview with  Pradeep Krishnan: 

Sir, could you kindly elaborate on your  spiritual journey? 

My late father, Shree Kuntimaddi Seshacharlu,  a staunch Vishishtadvaitin and a Sanskrit  and Telugu scholar, when offered to head the  Parakala Mutt, a famous Vaishnava ashram,  declined it for some reason. He wrote over  100 books in Sanskrit and Telugu. My mother  Smt Jayalakshmi, a firm bhakta (devotee), used  to teach us slokas while doing her household  chores. She formed the Devi Satsang, a ladies’  group that recited the Puranas when their  husbands were at work. As a child, I was  taken by my grandmother to listen to spiritual  discourses. Thus, at home, we were all brought  up in a devout Vishishtadvaita atmosphere.  

While studying for my 12th grade in Kakinada,  I stayed with my uncle, who was a member of the  Theosophical Society. There, I started reading  the books of J Krishnamurti and was impressed  by his logic. I was sure that, to be free, one has  to ‘uncondition’ the mind by observing it while  in meditation. So I started observing the mind,  although in vain. However, pretty soon, I found  that it is impossible to observe the mind having  countless thoughts, travelling all over the world.  I realised that taming the mind by observing  the mind is like asking a thief to catch a thief. 

Being vexed, I gave up all spiritual pursuits  and concentrated on my science studies. I was  a gold medallist BSc graduate, did my BE at  the Indian Institute of Science and my MTech  at IIT Kanpur, and got an assistantship from  the University of Pittsburgh. Later, I joined the  University of Maryland as a postdoc and then  joined NRL as a scientist. Meanwhile, I got  married.  

In 1978, learning about Swami Chinmayandaji’s  talks at the American University, at my wife’s  insistence, we went to listen to him. Being a  scientist, I was overwhelmed by the logic in  Swamiji’s talk on the ‘Logic of Spirituality.’  Impressed by his arguments and analysis, I  attended Swamiji’s 10-day-long Kenopanishad  class, commencing my Vedantic pursuit.  

Subsequently, one day, I wrote a lengthy letter  to Swamiji, raising several questions and  criticising some aspects of Vedanta. I wanted  to know how Vedanta would help the Indian  poor, who require more schools and hospitals.  Surprisingly, Swamiji wrote back, requesting  me to meet him at the University Of Pittsburgh,  where he had planned a series of talks. When I  met him, he said, “So, you want to help India?  We will do it. We will form an organisation to  fund those projects you mentioned. But you  will be in charge.” He also told me to take the  correspondence course on Vedanta to clear my  doubts.  

During the next year, when Swamiji gave talks  in Norfolk VA, an organisation called Seva, Inc.  was formed to provide funds for projects in  India, with me as the secretary and treasurer.  These developments were a result of my letter  to Swamiji a year ago. Those days, whenever  Swamiji was in the US, I used to attend his  discourses and spiritual camps, and being part  of the Seva work, I constantly corresponded  with him, not only providing him updates on  the Seva work but also raising questions about  Vedanta. 

Meanwhile, I formed study groups and  organised several talks for Swamiji as well as  camps in different parts of the US. Once the  camps were done with and we had surplus  funds, as requested by Swamiji, I founded the  Chinmaya Mission Centre of Washington DC,  and a Brahmachari was sent from India as a  Vedanta teacher.  

When we needed a teacher of Vedanta in  Virginia, Swamiji directed me: “Now you start  teaching Vedanta.” Addressing my puzzlement,  he told me, “Do not worry; it will come to you  easily.” Thus started my Vedanta teaching  journey, and it was the best way for me to learn.  

How do you view the transformation from a  materials scientist to a Vedanta teacher?  There is no transformation because Vedanta  is also a science. While most of the objective  sciences only deal with objectifiable entities  using objective tools, Vedanta addresses  the subject ‘I,’ the knower, which cannot be  analysed using objective tools.  

Before exposure to Vedanta, I was interested  in peer recognition and was getting the best scientific-paper awards every year. After  exposure to Vedanta, as a scientist, my emphasis  changed to finding the underlying truth or  solving the problem at hand instead of desiring  recognition. I opted for retirement in 2005 to  devote more time to the study of Vedanta.  

Can you please share a memorable instance  of your close association with the late Swami  Chinmayanandaji? 

Once, my wife complained to Swamiji that I was  not inclined to send our daughter Keerthana  to learn dance at the Kuchipudi Art Academy,  Chennai, under Dr Vempati Chinna Satyam.  While my wife argued that the girl had to first  learn from an authentic teacher before she  could learn from her mother, I contended that  

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the girl had to be with her mother. Listening  to both sides, Swamiji said to my wife, “You are  right; she has to learn from a traditional authentic  teacher.” Then looking at me he also affirmed  that my argument that the girl should stay with  her mother at that age was right. After a pause,  he declared, “Since she cannot stay with her  mother, she will stay with my mother in Chennai  and learn dance.” Though puzzled, we left the  matter there. 

The next day, Swamiji’s secretary informed us  that he had sent a cable to one Nambiar Amma in  Chennai, stating that Keerthana would be coming  to learn dance and music, and would be suitable  company for her granddaughter Deepa. We came  to know that Swamiji addressed Nambiar Amma,  then president of the Madras Chinmaya Mission,  as ‘Amma.’ Soon, Keerthana flew to Chennai.  Thereafter, every year, she used to visit Chennai  till she reached the 11th grade.  

I have narrated several other incidents of my  long association with Gurudev in the book Self  and Supreme. 

It is often said that rituals help one purify  the mind by getting rid of vasanas, or karmic  imprints. What is meant by purification of the  mind? Several realised masters, though they  themselves do not follow any rituals, advise  disciples to practise them.  

A mind free from the pressure of vasanas is a  pure mind. Purification of the mind means  neutralising the vasanas from egocentric actions  and desires that involve the ‘I’ and ‘I want,’  or ‘I am the doer,’ claiming the ownership of  the action. Thus, projecting egocentricity in  actions, with kartrutva bhavam, or the sense of ‘I  am the doer’ and bhotrutva bhavam, or the sense  of ‘I am the enjoyer,’ causes vasanas. 

Vedanta says any action performed with the  ego will bind that individual. In the Bhagavad  Gita, it is mentioned how Karma Yoga can  

Swami Chinmayanandaji 

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Vedanta says any action performed with the ego  will bind that individual. In the Bhagavad Gita,  it is mentioned how Karma Yoga can help reduce  vasanas. Krishna says, “Do all the actions for the  sake of yagna, otherwise they will bind you.” 

help reduce vasanas. Krishna says, “Do all the  actions for the sake of yagna, otherwise they will  bind you.”  

Swami Chinmnayanadaji defines ‘yagna,’  as cooperative action performed in a self sacrificing way for the benefit of the totality.  Here, since the action is being offered to the  Lord, it has to be the best that one can do using  their body, mind, and intellect. The spirit of  yagna is that everyone should be completely  involved in the action, doing their best for  the benefit of the totality, which is also called  Iswara, or God. Then, the profit from the action  should be distributed to all who contributed to  its success in proportion to their contribution.  In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, “Whatever  you do or whatever you eat, offer it to Me with  devotion.”  

In the process of offering to the Lord, the ego  slowly gets dissolved, and the mind becomes  purified. Knowing that Arjuna’s mind is not  pure enough to meditate, Krishna advises him  to fight against injustice although he wants to  run away to the Himalayas. At the same time,  

in the Bhagavatam, He advises Uddhava, who  has been serving Krishna all his life, to go to the  Himalayas and meditate.  

In essence, purification of the mind means  unconditioning the mind. Karma Yoga and  Bhakti Yoga are meant to purify the mind and  prepare it for Jnana Yoga. In the Bhagavad Gita,  it is compared to making all efforts to climb a  horse until one can sit on the horse comfortably  to ride.  

A purified mind that realises what Krishna  says—all actions are done by Prakriti only and  that one is never the doer—is wise. In essence,  rituals undertaken with a proper frame of  mind purify it, and that involves recognising  one’s role that is being played. Hence, Krishna  says, “Skill in action is yoga.” Whatever one is  doing, in the house, office, or anywhere else,  doing one’s best is yoga, and one must consider  it as a ritual to sanctify the action. Therefore,  a ritual is not merely doing something in the  puja room. Considering the whole universe  as a temple, every rightful, or dharmic, action  becomes a ritual, helping to purify the mind.  If already purified, these actions become loka  

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kalyanam; they benefit the whole of Creation, as  was done by Avataras in the Puranas.  

As long as one is wearing the costume of body,  mind, and intellect, and is on the stage of Life,  one cannot but play the roles that destiny has  assigned. I am playing the role of my life and  have nothing to do with others playing their  roles properly or not. 

One cannot realise the Self by reading books  or by listening to talks. Then what are the  benefits of doing so? How can one make  intellectual understanding experiential? How  can one put into practice what is heard and  read? 

To make the intellect understand the Truth by  clearing the wrong notions, the scriptures advise  the seeker to learn from a teacher. Learning,  being an intellectual process, eliminates all  misconceptions as well as makes the mind  free from all wrong notions, which indeed is  the purification of the mind. As the mind gets  cleansed, the intellectual understanding will  sink in as aparoksha jnanam, or jnana gained by  transcending the senses, thereby revealing the  Truth: You are That, or Tat tvam asi.  

The critics of Vedanta, like the Neoadvaitins,  considering it an intellectual exercise, are of the  view that one has to only meditate to realise the  truth. However, Vedanta instructions are clear.  In his Karika on the Mandukya Upanishad,  Goudapaada exhaustively discusses the  obstacles to realisation, saying, “shrotavyaH,  mantavyaH, nididhyasitavyah [‘tavyaH’ means  ‘one should do it’]. It means that first one  should undertake shravana, or listening to the  teaching for a prolonged length of time under  a competent teacher [a competent teacher is  one who has studied under another competent  teacher]. Then one should proceed to manana,  discussing with peers or reflecting on the  

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teaching until no doubts are left. And if one  has not yet realised it, then the final step is  nididhyasana, or meditation on the teaching  received till the mind abides in that Knowledge.  The truth is defined in mantra seven of the  Mandukya Upanishad, and, in the end, it says,  “Tat vijnasasva, tat braheti.” That has to be  enquired using the intellect only, to discover  Brahman. Thus, reading books and listening to  talks are helpful tools. 

Do I really have free will? 

The Bhagavad Gita says that you have a choice  of action. You always have three choices: to do  it, not to do it, or do it another way. Not to do  when doing is needed is also a choice of action,  and you are accountable for such actions.  Krishna further says that you do not have a  choice in the results. You act hoping that the  results will be what you want. Here is a simple  example: I have a stone in my hand, and I  can throw it to the left side, right side, front,  back, or up in the sky. These are my choices.  However, I cannot control its trajectory once I  throw the stone. It is determined by the laws of  Nature: gravitational force, frictional forces, or  some obstacles that suddenly come in its path. I  must accept the results and act better next time  so that the stone goes where I want.  

In essence, one can act only in the present or  the Now. The results come after the action is  performed. Acting is my free will, and the  results are my destiny. Swami Chinmayananda  states, “What I have is prarabdha, or destiny,  and what I do with what I have is purushartha, 

or free will.” The future destiny or prarabdha is  past prarabdha modified by my present action.  Thus, I am a prisoner of my past but a master  of my future. That is the interplay of free will  and destiny.  

What to think is a choice of action. I am  

responding to your questions only after  thinking; they are not random thoughts. A wise  man also thinks but attributes that thinking to  the Lord. But for transactional purposes, he will  say “I thought and wrote.” He does not have to  use some strange language to communicate.  He also says, “I am hungry; I am sleepy; I  do not want that; I like this; etc., for worldly  communication.  

Acharyaji, what is your understanding of  God? 

A million-dollar question. All religions  say that God is omnipresent; He is present  everywhere. As per Vedanta, Creation involves  two causes: an intelligent cause and a material  cause. Many religions talk about God only as an  intelligent cause. Vedanta says He is not only  the intelligent cause but also the material cause  of the Creation.  

I want to create a pot. I may know how to make  

a pot (intelligent cause), but to make it I need  materials, tools, and skills. If God is going to  create the whole universe, he should not only  have the Knowledge of how to create but also  the material to create and the skills and tools  needed to create. He cannot go and get the  material from somewhere else; the material  for Creation also should come from Him. He  is all the causes required for Creation. Hence,  Vedanta says that He, Himself, became many.  Thus, the whole Creation is nothing but Him  only.  

Hence, where and how do I see him? I must  see Him through every created entity, since  everything I see or transact with is only His  expressions, starting from my body. I see His  presence in me; I see Him when I look at my  wife sleeping next to me. I see Him in the birds  that are flying around. I see Him in the plants  and flowers. Everywhere I look, I cannot but  see Him. There is no way I can avoid seeing  

Dr Kuntimaddi Sadanada 

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him. All I must do is remember all the time that  everything is nothing but His expressions. That  is how I see Him. Yet, while transacting, I must  differentiate between individuals, animals, and  plants.  

Krishna says that a wise man sees oneness that  pervades a scholar, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and  even a dog-eater. That vision is called samatvam,  or equanimity, in Sanskrit. Yet differentiation  is made at the transactional level. It is like a  scientist who knows everything is made up  of electrons, protons, and neutrons, but he  differentiates at the transactional level: garbage  vs delicious food. 

What are your prescriptions for one to lead a  happy, peaceful, and contented life? The Vedas provide that prescription: Earn as  much as you can in a dharmic way. First, fulfil  your obligations such as taking care of your  family, including your bodily needs. However,  what a family wants could be different from  what it needs. Try to fulfil their desires in a  dharmic way and if you can afford them. Fulfil  your obligation to society by paying taxes, etc.  Save some money for your future to ensure  that your dependence on others and society is  minimal. Donate as much as you can to the right  causes. Spend some time in the study of Vedanta  under the guidance of a teacher. Until you find  the right teacher, allot some time for satsang.  Perform all actions as Karma Yoga. Pray first  

thing in the morning and last thing before you go  to sleep. These help the mind to be peaceful.  

How are you able to reconcile your life as a  scientist and as an Acharya of Advaita Vedanta?  Vedanta is science, and science means Knowledge.  Science is derived from the Latin root ‘Scire,’  meaning ‘to know.’ In Sanskrit, ‘vid’ means to  know, and ‘veda’ means ‘Knowledge,’ i.e., science.  The objective sciences rely on objective tools for  analysis and, therefore, cannot analyse the subject  ‘I,’ a conscious entity. On the other hand, Vedanta  discusses the subject ‘I,’ its experience as a waker,  dreamer, and deep sleeper, and the absolute Truth  beyond the three states of consciousness.  

The more I studied Vedanta, the more I could  appreciate the depth of Knowledge concerning  the objective sciences, which Vedanta considers  as mithya, neither real nor unreal but needed for  transactional purposes.  

For me, working on the objective sciences is  fun, and I still write scientific papers and also  help young scientists who want some guidance.  Since retirement, I have devoted my time to both  Vedanta and science, switching back and forth on  a need basis, without any conflict.  

Sir, your message to the readers? 

Study Vedanta under a competent teacher and  follow them until you discover the Truth. That is  the very purpose of Life itself.  

Pradeep Krishnan is a student of consciousness, based in Kerala. A seeker by  nature, he is deeply attracted to the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri  Nisargadatta Maharaj.