World of Philosophy

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

Page 17

Prof. Yajneshwar Shastri- a treasury of knowledge, love and humanity
Dr. Intaj Malek
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."-William Shakespeare
Dr. Shastri is a mingling of the three.
Dr. Yajneshwar Sadashiv Shastri, a white Indian with golden hair and a French beard is a man with myriads of ideas. It was during 1994, when my friend Siddhartha Swaminarayan took me to Dr. Shastri's home at Jas Apartment 'Ahmedabad, as I wanted to do PhD after my second post graduation in Philosophy. Actually my first but short meeting with Prof. Shastri took place when I ranked first at M.A. Dr. S S Sharma and Prof. Shastri both sent me a word to meet them at Department of Philosophy Gujarat University because in spite of being an an external student of M.A, I ranked first at University Examination. When I reached the Department of Philosophy Gujarat University, Prof. Shastri welcomed me very heartily. From that day onward, I decided to do PhD under his guidance. There was no vacancy with Dr. Shastri hence he told me to bring get permission from Gujarat University, which I received and then got myself registered as a PhD student in Philosophy under his guidance. It was during 1994 that the seeds of our intimate relations were shown. Considering my academic interest and knowledge of subject, he invited me to teach to the students of post graduate class.
The frequencies of my visit to Dr. Shastri increased day by day as each day on my visit I received warm welcome from the bottom of his heart. I became his family member very soon. He ignited in me a great passion for Indian Philosophy and comparative religious studies. I have studied modern western philosophy by my own but Dr Shastri diverted my flow to Indian and Vedantic Philosophy. In other words he was a Max Muller for me who has shown us a way back to Vedas. Initially I wanted to do PhD in modern western Philosophy, decided to do research on Upanishads and Semitic religions. Further it was too big a subject to do a research work for the doctoral degree. I then confined my study to Upanishads and Islamic Mysticism. I started my research with new topic. After registration as a PhD student I could not finish my research due to my job profile, and my social as well as familial circumstances. Dr. Shastri still did not discourage me. He continued to instill in me the hope that I could do my research work. Basically I hailed from discipline of English literature, I used to write poems and palys and translating plays into Gujarati language. Very often when I happened to visit Dr Shastri;s residence, I read my plays or poems to the Shastris. Dr. Sunandaji was very kind and generous. She listened to my plays and poems when I used to read and recite before her. She taunted me onece that instead of
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