Chakyar Rajan - A Visionary or a Luminary

All of us have congregated to pay homage to Sri.Chakyar Rajan.

Born in Trichur on November 8th,1932 ,Sri.Chakyar Koothu .K.K.Rajan rose up to become one of the most unforgettable,irreplaceable and illustrious souls in recent times,His parents were Sri.Kittu Iyer and Smt.Thangam.

Yet another historically divine day-Good Friday which fell on 6th April on 2007 saw the culmination of the mortal coil of this great great figure ,Rajan and what a pre-ordained timing indeed ,that was chosen for this journey to the heavenly abode ,between 12 and 3 noon while the whole world is at prayer for peaceHis entire hospital mates were regaled all throughout by this inimitable court jester and even the doctors were amazed how this man whose heart functioned to less than 15 % could be this vivacious and brimming with life for over 2 years!

.Later,Rajan too had had to be embalmed in a coffin and his last worldly rest at the hospital bed had been blessed by a photo of the Holy Messiah.It is not a mere coincidence again that Fridays are the usual judgement days for many thinkers,saints ,Gurus, and monumentally reflective philosophers to assume the sabbatical moment towards the highest realm.The examples are Soctrates,Plato,Mahatma Gandhi,Osho Rajneesh,Paramahamsa Yogananda,Swami Vivekananda and Sri.Ramana Maharishi!

As a lad from Trichur ,struggling to meet end of his family,he shifted base at the age of 17 to Mumbai,kept gathering his moorings and motivating himself to successfully complete his Cost Accountancy as one of the two only whp passed the exams in one of the first batches in 1962 in his first attempt itself.He had been in school days ,the pet genius of his Maths teachers and was often given the job of correcting answer sheets to assist them .Thus ,he could earn a reputation to reckon with as management consultant among leading business houses in cosmopolitan Mumbai,Chennai,Bangalore,Delhi,Kerala and so on.

Parallelly,on the artistic front ,he could make myriad strides towads fame,name and glory with blessings from his spiritual Gurus like Sri.Anjam Tirumeni,Sri.Haridas,Sri.Chinmayananda and Sri.Bhagavaty Swami.He ,as a kid of seven travelled to Ceylon and performed the Klaiya Mardanam dance as part of a cultural group.He wo laurels from the Divan of Kochi as a little boy.Born with an innate and instant sense of humour and a deeply devoted mind,he obviously wished to take up CHAKYAR KOOTHU later in order to fully explore the dimensions of Bhakti through the medium of Humour.Although initially he had been inclined more towards Malayalam drama,he extended this and took a foray into mono-acting theater and this was the start to a grand artistic career spaning over five decades in all.

As a child in Thrissur, Kerala's cultural hub, Rajan watched Chakyar Koothu at the famous Vadakkunathan temple and was inspired. Seeing the youngster's enthusiasm, Painkulam Rama Chakyar called him- Ekalavya, and presented him with a mizhavu, the percussion instrument used during the performance. Rajan could not go onstage initially as a non-Chakyar performing Koothu was unprecedented. However, he seized the moment when a troupe, invited to perform in Mumbai didn't turn up. He went onstage from the audience without make-up, and not only saved the day but also won the hearts of the audience that gave thunderous applause and accolade.Thus was the beginning of his ARTISTIC ERA with a beeline of programme requests.!

The going was tough initially, because the texts were difficult to come by, being the preserve of Chakyars. But his single-mindedness paid off ,he carved himself a unique niche and emerged as the most sought after exponent for this art in the cultural domain.

Chakyar has the liberty to poke fun at people and rave and rant at the ills plaguing our society, while delineating episodes from our mythology. Chakyar Rajan did it with a twist. While traditionally, Chakyars interpret the Sanskrit texts in Malayalam, he used Sanskritized Malayalam, and to involve people from all over without language ,regional or religious barriers ,he even narrated in English, Tamil, and Hindi, depending on the audience. Rajan became the first Kerala Iyer to unwind shackles and used the traditional garb through a dynamically contemporary presentation to bring home a socially relevant art form.His contributions are immense and howmuchsoever said seems inadequatein this context.The diversified techniques and variety of pun,similes and parodycould at the ned of it all convey a divine message of peace,brotherhood ,love and devotion.Society had benefited at lage by both enjoying and getting enlightened .

This magnanimity and magnetism was also shown in his everyday living where he could be a navigator,an architect,a frien,philosopher and guide to whomsoever had the fortune to meet him and know him.Many who considered him their Godfather,their Guru and have reached great heights and happiness and the first thing that touches one and all is his openness,smile and laughter,cheering nature and high dreams for everyones success.Perhapa one of the best vitamin pill and tonic possible among humans!Tears well up in the eyes of people who say-Such a loving and jovial person rarely exists and even the worst physical anguish and agony did not pull down his morale and intellectual execellence. His favourite verses from Puranas and the Geeta are-Name Bhakta Pranashyati-My devotee shall not perish,Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam-This world is One family,Lokam Samastam Sukhino Bhavanti-May all be in joy.etcHe reiterated the oneness of all religions and said-Christu and Krishna are the same ,even their names!There have been several incidents that seemed divine interventions in his life time. One such was during one of his visits to Sabaraimala when he could not move all of a sudden due to a spasm and lo and behold Two cowherds ,named Nanda and Gopa, offered to lift him up and that they did like one does to a kid and ran in a jiffy towards the sanctum sanctorum. Indeed ,through constant Namajapam, and Nadopasanam ,IT IS NO WONDER .As a humle Sadhaka and Upasaka,he considered every moment of life as precious to assemble knowledge and transmit positive energy and do good.Any moments time would seem insufficient o unearth his tremendous knowledge and wisdom on both mundane and ethereal subjects including accountancy and management,aesthetics and beauty,philosophy and occult sciences,clairvoyance and benediction.This encyclopaedic Rajan has to be described only with a separate branch of epistemology-or the study of his knowledge itself.May be, at the end of an it si time now to start the Chakyar Rajan path,the Chakyar Rajan movement and the Chakyar Rajan school.

Sengalipuram Anantharama Diskshithar, Anjam Madhavan Namboodiri and Maani Madhavan Chakyar have been sources of guidance and strength . Anjam Namboodiri advised me to combine the elements of Bhakti and Vedanta with the stories. It was Swami Haridas who gave the first opportunity to perform in Chennai, the cultural capital of the Southand Swami Chinmayananda egged on to attempt the programme in English . I feel that any art form can only be an integrating force and not otherwiseI have to be careful about the mixture in the audiences. I talk about education, lack of faith, consumerism. ". Besides worldly honours and titles from Great Acharyas, I had an unusual experience after one perfomance in Delhi during chilling winter. That day, a middle-aged man wanted to express something and still, he was hesitant to do so. After a lot of persuasion, he told me that it was after many years that he had laughed for once. In Kerala we are considered Tamilians. In Tamil Nadu we are Keralite brahmins, in Mumbai we are Madras.is. And to add to all this confusion I became a Chakyar So who am I at the end of it all? A "clown". ..And all the world loves a clown!

By PADMAJA SURESH [nee CHAKYAR RAJAN] April 2007