World of Philosophy

Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan

Page 11

A Remembrance
- Christopher Key Chapple
In the winter of 1989, just five months after the birth of my daughter Emma on July 10th, I embarked on my second journey to India. The first journey was to "see India" and also speak at a conference of the world's religions and at Sankara's birthplace in Kalady in 1981. This second journey included two tasks: editing the Yoga Sutra co-translation being published by Sat Guru Publications in Delhi and to meet scholars of Jainism. While in Delhi, the proprietors of the press, when I asked whom to seek out in Ahmedabad, gave me the card for Y. S. Shastri, who recently had moved from the L.D. Institute of Indology to Gujarat University. Unfamiliar with India's late opening traditions, I arrived at the L.D. at 9 a.m., only to be told that access to the library would not be available until 11 a.m. Looking somewhat forlorn, I walked away, only to be greeted by a retired professor on his morning walk. When he asked if he could help, I showed him Shastri's card, he hailed a motor rickshaw, and send me on my way to the Professor's flat on the far side of the Gujarat University campus. When I knocked on the door, I disturbed a young family engaged in a familiar rhythm, though two hours later than that followed in the United States! Professor Shastri was helping eight year old Yogeshwar prepare for an exam while Sunanda was preparing breakfast. The graciously received me and I waited as they finished their morning routine and sent Yogeshwar, well prepared, on his way. Then we sat over bread and tea and talked. We soon realized that we shared so many interests: Vedanta, Yoga, Yogacara Buddhism, and Jainism. Sunanda had been assistant librarian at the L.D. Institute, and they many times have helped me obtain research materials there. She had since moved to the Nehru Centre for Environment and Education, and also helped me become familiar with the resources there, an important part of my ongoing research project on religion and ecology. I learned so much that morning about daily academic life in India, just two years before the liberalization policies revolutionized Indian life after the end of the cold war.
The rest is history: Dr. Shastri came often to the United States to teach students during the summer and for one semester was my sabbatical replacement at Loyola Marymount University. He learned how to cook rice and do the "American" routine of housecleaning and walking and self-reliant behavior. He has welcomed my now-grown daughter to his home where Sunanda has taken to calling Emma her "American daughter." His scholarship and passion have inspired our students and our community in Los Angeles.... all because life starts later in the morning in India, and thankfully
so!
The auspiciousness of welcoming Dr. Shastri to teach in America resulted in an important introduction. When he arrived in Los Angeles for the
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