In the last three years, this Chartered Accountant has taken Bhakthi to the masses in a big way through his Namasankeerthanams
He is now planning to launch a Namasankeerthanam programme for students at the Vedic Patshala in Thandalam
Last year, this section featured a story on how Namasankeerthanam in his childhood days in Udumalpet was a big influence on the life of the now popular Upanyasakar Kidambi Narayanan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2023/09/kidambi-narayanan-upanyasakar.html). This story is about a Chartered Accountant who having begun his career at Infosys is now looking to spread the relevance of Namasankeerthanam to the nook and corner of TN Villages.
From the legendary temple town of Manakkal
K Sivakumar grew up in Karpagam Gardens, Adyar to the recital of the sacred verses during Rama Navami and Navarathri utsavams with his appa, a Sales Manager at M&M, having moved to the state capital from his home town after his graduation. His forefathers hailed from Manakkal (a town near Anbil Vadivazhagiya Nambi- https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/11/108-divya-desam-anbil-vadivazhagiya.html) famous for the great Vaishnavite acharya Manakkal Nambi, a disciple of Uyyakondan of Thiruvellarai. Interestingly, Sivakumar and his team presented the Namasankeerthanam on the Garuda Sevai evening at Thiruvellarai last month.
என்னுயிர் தந்த அளித்தவரைச் சரணம் புக்கு
யான் அடைவே அவர் குருக்கள் நினைவணங்கி
பின்னருளால் பெரும்பூதூர் வந்த வள்ளல்
பெரியநம்பி ஆளவந்தார் மணக்கால் நம்பி
நன்னெறியை அவர்க்கு உரைத்த உய்யக்கொண்டார்
நாதமுனி சடகோபன் சேனை நாதன்
இன்னமுதத் திருமகள் என்றிவரை முன்னிட்டு
எம்பெருமான் திருவடிகள் அடைகின்றேனே - அதிகார ஸங்க்ரஹம்
His amma (a graduate in music) and patti were devotional singers and that rubbed off on the young Sivakumar in the development of a devotional mindset right from a young age. He actively participated in the Sita Kalyanam celebrations during the Rama Navami utsavam at Karpagam Gardens. He was also a Mridangam player and presented many kutcheris but as was the trend in the 1980s and 90s, the focus through most of his early childhood was to focus on academics and to secure good marks at Sankara School. By the time he graduated in Commerce, he was already well on his way to becoming a Chartered Accountant.
Two decades as a high flyer in the Corporate world
He joined Infosys in Bangalore soon after his professional degree moving and was with them for close to a decade. Keen to come back to Madras, he quit the Tier 1 IT firm to join Payments Tech provider FSS, where he worked for well over a decade.
The Pandemic in a way came as a blessing in disguise for Sivakumar for it gave him the time to sit back and ponder over his future. Sitting in the prakara of the Anantha Padmanabhanaswamy temple in Adyar, he told this writer that he was keen to move away from a full-fledged corporate life to try and make a more meaningful contribution to the society “Until that point, I had spent over two hours each day commuting to my work place and back. The Work from Home model led me to performing Sahasra Gayathri regularly. That was a turning point in my life.”
Everyone in his family had an interest in devotional songs. “The Rama Navami celebrations that had been organised for several decades could not take place in 2020 due to the Pandemic. I was keen to revive the event the next year and consulted my Guru Panchapakesa Bhagavathar, who guided me through the entire process. I began presenting Ashta Pathi and performed Kalyana Utsavam at home.”
Gives up a full fledged corporate career to focus on Namasankeerthanam
This opened the doors for Sivakumar and served as a trigger for him to get out of the mad rush of the corporate world and its hard deadlines that he had been part of for the previous two decades. “I evaluated multiple options including working for large multinational consultancies and taking care of Mutt Administration. And ended up with founding CFO Bridge, a firm of around 30 partners that offers shared CFO services targeted at SMEs and start up firms. This decision led to a ‘balance’ in my life and that’s when we began presenting the Sampradaya Namasankeerthanam on a regular basis from early 2021”, says Sivakumar looking back at the transformational decision to let go off the corporate career.
His Guru’s son Neela Krishna, now a marketing leader, was Sivakumar’s junior at school and he too had developed interest in Namasankeerthanam “My Guru asked us to present together and we began this exercise to take Bhakthi to the masses spreading the message that Namasankeerthanam is an important way to achieve salvation. It is the one form of Bhakthi where there is no discrimination of caste and anyone can sing. All that is needed is a devotional interest and once they are into Namasankeerthanam, it is likely that the common man will realise as to how it helps transcend oneself to a different level in life.”
Sivakumar is particular happy that there are a lot of youngsters now getting into Namasankeerthanam. While the group comprises of singers, harmonists and mridangists and a couple of them to perform pooja krama, a flautist too has joined them recently and that Sivakumar sees as a positive development.
Sivakumar’s patti, who was into devotional music, had presented Bhajans in the name of Gaana Smrithi Bhajana Mandali. He was keen to revive that and his group of around 10 members have presented over 175 Namasankeerthanams over the last three years under this same banner. The group have been presenting the Namasankeerthanam almost every weekend in recent times and the frequency is only likely to increase, going forward.
Forms of Namasankeerthanam
While Sita Kalyanam, Radha Kalyanam, Parvathi Kalyanam, Sastha Kalyanam and Rukmini Kalyanam are the popular ones, he says that theme based Namasankeerthanam including Guru Keerthanai, Perumal based songs and general devotional songs are also a way to take this form of Bhakthi to the masses. Ayyappa Bhajans are also becoming popular these days.
Devotees are now inviting Sivakumar and his team for namasankeerthanam at home events and this he counts as a welcome move. “This leads to Sathsangam and a positive vibration at homes. Namasankeerthanam should become an integral part of all traditional weddings” says Sivakumar.
A surprise move- Two Sons take to Patshala Education
Most interestingly, his two sons gave up regular academics and have instead opted for Patshala education in a remote town near Sirkazhi. His wife Nandini who worked as a journalist with The Economic Times writing on retail and healthcare beats too has now become an integral member of the Namasankeerthanam team. “My elder son, now aged 12, came to me a couple of years back and expressed interest to take to formal Vedic Education at a Patshala. My younger son too has followed in his footsteps. It was a revolutionary and unprecedented step for no one in the family over the last 100 years or so had taken to Vedic Education in this way. The two have committed themselves to spending 8 years at the Patshala in Kadavasal near Sirkazhi”, says Sivakumar expressing great delight at this decision of his two sons.
“This extraordinary interest of our sons in traditional value based education spurred my wife to take an even more active interest in Namasankeerthanam and she now accompanies me at every event.”
Namasankeerthanam as part of Patshala Learning Programme
Like former World Bank consultant Ramkumar who has now taken to serving Kapaleeswarar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/07/kapali-v-ramkumar-world-bank-to-sanyasam.html), Sivakumar too is in that phase to slowly give up the corporate life. As part of his next phase in promoting a traditional way of life, he and his wife have taken to administration of the Kadavasal Patshala on the invitation of the Chennai based Trustee. The two are also helping out the students with communication aspects giving them the much needed confidence to express themselves to the outside world. Having now immersed himself almost full time into Namasankeerthanam and spreading Bhakthi through this model of presentation, Sivakumar is now keen for Namasankeerthanam to be introduced as a form of education in Patshala. He is hoping that very soon he will be able to launch a programme at Periyava’s Patshala in Thandalam. And when that happens it will be a big moment in his life for Namasankeerthanam would have received a formal recognition as an important Bhakthi instrument.
While the Pandemic has dealt a deathly blow to many in this world, for this couple from Adyar, it has brought about an unexpected transformation towards a traditional way of life. From coats and blazers at the top tech firms in the past, he has now moved full time into sporting a traditional attire. Even as hot sambar rice prasadam is served at the temple after the noon pooja, Sivakumar signs off with a message that this is only the beginning and there is still a long way to go to make Namasankeerthanam an integral form of Bhakthi in the life of the common people. He is confident that with Periyava's blessings and with the guidance of his Guru, he will be able to play a meaningful role in taking this form of Bhakthi to interior parts of Tamil Nadu and to getting people to embrace Namasankeerthanam as a way to reach God.