Introduction to this Blog

Dear Friends,

This blog is entirely dedicated to Vasishtha Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni, the first and foremost disciple of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, a seer poet, philosopher, patriot, visionary who was born on 17th of November 1878 and left his body in 1936. This blog is maintained by me (Sampadananda Mishra, Director, Sri Aurobindo Foundation for Indian Culture, Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicehrry). You can contact me at <sampadanandamishra@gmail.com> for further information.

It was in the year 2002 that I came in contact with Sri Natesan. Till then I knew Vasishtha Ganapati Muni only as the author of Umasashasram and the guru of Sri Kapali Sastri, who later came and settled in Pondicherry as a disciple of Sri Aurobindo. I had also heard about the Muni as an Ashtavadhani who could simultaneously attend to eight different questioners and reply to them through extempore poetry. But I had no idea about any other writings of the Muni. It was only when I came into close contact with Sri Natesan, who had preserved all the works of the Muni by copying them in his own note books,  that I learnt about the other writings of the Muni. I found that the Muni has written extensively in Sanskrit on a wide range of topics. And his style, diction, language and use of various poetic devices are unique. 

For Sri Natesan it was a dream or life's mission to see all these works in print. So he had started giving thought to publishing all the works in several volumes. It was during this period that my contact with him took place. We then sat together to decide the layout and format of the volumes. The work which he had started much before he met me now began to take shape. This is how editing and publishing the twelve volumes of the 'Collected Works of Vasishtha Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni' took place. I was fortunate to be a part of this Divine work and it was an enriching experience for me to work as the associate editor of the Collected Works of the Muni. Sri Natesan was so particular about the accuracy that he would go through and verify each and every letter that was put into the computer. We used to sit together to proof read the texts and most of the time I found that when I was reading the text on the screen he was sitting with his eyes closed instead of looking at his note book. If there was any mistake he would immediately point out from his memory. It always seemed to me that all that has been published in the eleven volumes of the Collected Works of the Muni was committed to memory by Sri Natesan. That was his uniqueness. 

I remember when we were trying hard to bring out the first volume, one day Sri Natesan told me why the work was getting delayed, and he expressed his wish to see at least one volume in print before leaving his body. When he told me this in the year 2003, he was ninety years old. I then spontaneously told him, "Please do not tell me that Sir, you have to live and you will surely live to see all the works of the Muni in print form. Without your presence the work will not move at all." In the year 2009, six years later, when a copy of the eleventh volume was put in his hand, he asked, "How much work is left to be done?" When he was told that that was the last volume of Muni's original writings, he expressed the desire that since everything was over he should leave his body. It thus happened, that a month or so after he said this, in March 2009, he left his body. (Please ClickHere to read an inspiring note on Sri Natesan) When I think of Sri Natesan, I always feel happy and I also feel that I was fortunate to come in contact with him, a man who lived a complete life. 



This is how Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni Project came into existence and started working on editing the works of  Vasishtha Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni with Sri K. Natesan as the editor and me (Sampadananda Mishra) as the Associate editor. One by one we worked on it and brought out the entire work in twelve volumes. The entire research work and editing was done by the Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni Project, 8th cross, Tagore Nagar, Pondicherry and then the copyright was given to the Ramanasramam, Thiruvannamalai as the publisher. These volumes are available in book forms and one can get those from the book sales section of Sri Ramanasramam, Thiruvannamalai. The members of Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni Project are indebted to Sri Ramanasramam for all their help and support. 

The aim of this blog is to introduce the works of Vasishtha Ganapati Muni. In this blog I have given the links from which one can download the Collected works of Vasishtha Ganapati Muni, published in twelve volumes by the Ramanasramam, Thiruvannamalai.And again I am grateful to V.S. Ramanan, President of the Ramanasramam to give the permission to upload the Collected works of the Muni and share with others.

Time to time I will be posting many interesting information about Vasishtha Ganapati Muni's life and work. So please keep visiting the blog page.

I would appreciate if all those who are downloading the volumes can give me their contact details. This will help me networking people connected with Sanskrit and interested in the writings of the Muni. Also it will become easy for me to be in touch with them and inform about other activities conducted by us with regard to the life and works of the Muni.

Thanks

Sampadananda Mishra