Prof. Vempati Kutumba Sastry: Sanskrit Speeches and Poetry (audio)

Most of this website's content can be downloaded. Just right-click on "rm" or "mp3" link and select "save target as" on the menu.

Swami Vivekananda responding to a famous American agnostic Robert Ingersoll who said to him, "religion is of no use. Why bother our heads about other worlds?":

"...You think it is enough to live and eat and drink and have a little scientific knowledge, but you have no right to say that will suit all tastes... Such a conception is nothing to me. If I had only to learn how an apple falls to the ground, or how an electric current shakes my nerves, I would commit suicide. I want to understand the heart of things, the very kernel itself. Your study is the manifestation of life, mine is the life itself".
"My philosophy says you must know that and drive out from your mind all thoughts of heaven and hell and all other superstitions, even though they exist in the same sense that this world exists. I must know the heart of this life, its very essence, what it is, not only how it works and what are its manifestations. I want to know the why of everything, I leave the how to children."

Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan is the apex organization of the Govt of India to oversee the development and promotion of the Sanskrit language all over the country. The organization oversees all government-sponsored sanskrit learning activities in India. Maananiiya Prof. Vempati Kutumba Sastry is its former Vice Chancellor ('kulapati'). Sri Kutumba Sastry is a highly acclaimed scholar in the sanskrit language and literature with decades of experience in teaching Sanskrit to advanced students in several Indian universities.

On this webpage, we present some of his speeches and poetry. We are grateful to Sri Kutumba Sastry gaaru for giving us the permission to publish his works online for everybody's benefit.

Contents