As always the venue (Krishna Gana Sabha this time round) for Vijay TV's Bhakti programme, was houseful, with many standing outside the auditorium, watching the proceedings on the huge TV screen set up there. And the audience had a significant youth population.
The backdrop, which generally is aesthetic was not so on this occasion, with huge peacocks in gaudy colours proving a distraction.
The title of V.S. Karunakarachariar's discourse was “Seiyum, seiyathu.” An intriguing title, that kindled one's curiosity.
Handled with aplomb
Karunakarachariar handled the crux of the Gita's message with such aplomb, that he had the audience eating out of his hand.
With a series of questions, both straightforward and rhetorical, and with clever posers to the audience, he made the abstract seem within reach. Not one of his jokes was out of place, each serving to illustrate a philosophical statement.
The recondite was made to appear simple in the process, which is as it should be, for after all he was talking about the path to moksha as laid down in the Gita. He pointed out that the moment we realise that the body and the atma are not the same, we take the first step in the right direction. Considering the scope of the topic, it is to Karunakarachariar's credit that he wound up in the 45 minutes allotted to each speaker.
The same cannot be said of Damal Ramakrishnan, who exceeded the time limit by more than 40 minutes. Ramakrishnan had to explain the greatness of Hanuman in the context of the verse beginning with the words ‘Aindile Ondru petraan.' He continued although the compere indicated to him that he had exceeded the time limit.
The programme director should enforce the rule regarding time. Brevity is not merely the soul of wit, but the soul of any programme.
