Welcome to GRD Iyers GuruCool !
My wife's name is Gayathri (G), I am Ramesh (R) and Durga (D) is our daughter and Iyers is our community name. During the Sahasra Chandi 2015 held in Mississauga, my students started referring to me as a Cool Guru and we turned that phrase to Guru Cool to represent the concept of Gurukul or the name given to spiritual schools. And that 's how our Team became known as GRD Iyers GuruCool.
My wife's name is Gayathri (G), I am Ramesh (R) and Durga (D) is our daughter and Iyers is our community name. During the Sahasra Chandi 2015 held in Mississauga, my students started referring to me as a Cool Guru and we turned that phrase to Guru Cool to represent the concept of Gurukul or the name given to spiritual schools. And that 's how our Team became known as GRD Iyers GuruCool.
We have 2 Kula Deivams or Family Deities and they are Sri Swaminatha Swami (Swami Malai) and Sri Vaitheeshwaran.
Our gothram (lineage) is "Sankruti" and adhere to the "Apasthambha" Sutra. We are "Iyer Smartha Brahmins" and belong to the "Mazhanadu Brahacharanam" sub-caste.
Our gothram (lineage) is "Sankruti" and adhere to the "Apasthambha" Sutra. We are "Iyer Smartha Brahmins" and belong to the "Mazhanadu Brahacharanam" sub-caste.
Gayathri , Ramesh and Durga
Ours was an arranged marriage where we traditionally exchanged horoscopes and then met each other once. We had taken an immediate liking to each other when we met in May 1995. We got married in June 1995 by following all the required Vedic rituals and cultural traditions.
We were blessed with a daughter in February 1997. In fact, Durga is a Valentine baby as she was born on 14th February!
We live in Ontario, Canada. I am a Finance & Strategic Management Professional, while my wife Sridevi Gayathri is an IT professional.
Durga is in 4th year University and is pursuing her Psychology course and double major in Biological anthropology. She loves sports and has made it to her school team in basketball, volleyball and softball. She learned Carnatic music under Smt Akhila Balaji and is currently learning keerthanai. A sample of her singing at the Thiagaraja festival is available at the link below:
Durga singing at Thiagaraja festival at SVBF, April 17, 2011
She is learning Bharatnatyam from Smt Prabha Raghavan and is currently training for her Arangetram (first public performance) planned in the near future.
Gayathri excels in writing in Tamil and makes excellent savories (bakshanams) and is keen on trying out new recipes. She loves travelling and is a major force behind whatever successes our family has had. She is very spiritually inclined and has a very refined taste for arts and culture. She possesses a keen sense of hearing and learning and has picked up easily many of the spiritual texts just by listening to my practising them !
I completed by B.Com. (Honours) from Kolkata University and subsequently ICWA. Later on, I completed my MBA from Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University from UK (Scotland). After immigrating to Canada, I completed CPA,CMA,CFM from USA and then CGA from Canada and ACCA from UK.
I speak fluently in English, Tamil, Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam and can muster a pass in Urdu too. I love Hindi film music of the 60's and 70's with Mohammad Rafi being a personal favourite. I am in awe of Lata Mangeshar, especially her renditions of Madan Mohan's compositions. Cricket used to be my passion and have played it at 2nd division in Tanzania too. However, the two back to back series whitewash-losses by India to Australia and England (an amazing shameful statistic that no one talks about) and the tasteless IPL have cured me off my addiction to cricket. Gayathri is one happy wife, I can tell you that! Early in my youth, I used to be a voracious reader of English novels. Watching Hindi and Tamil movies is a favorite pastime too and I am quite up-to-date with all the latest releases ! I love to cook, especially traditional South Indian items. I started oil painting in late 2012 and hope to keep that up. Teaching is my passion and what gives me utmost energy and satisfaction.
We migrated to Canada in 2001 and have settled down here with an excellent group of friends and are now Canadian citizens. Prior to that, we lived for 6 years in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, East Africa, from 1995 to 2001.
We were blessed with a daughter in February 1997. In fact, Durga is a Valentine baby as she was born on 14th February!
We live in Ontario, Canada. I am a Finance & Strategic Management Professional, while my wife Sridevi Gayathri is an IT professional.
Durga is in 4th year University and is pursuing her Psychology course and double major in Biological anthropology. She loves sports and has made it to her school team in basketball, volleyball and softball. She learned Carnatic music under Smt Akhila Balaji and is currently learning keerthanai. A sample of her singing at the Thiagaraja festival is available at the link below:
Durga singing at Thiagaraja festival at SVBF, April 17, 2011
She is learning Bharatnatyam from Smt Prabha Raghavan and is currently training for her Arangetram (first public performance) planned in the near future.
Gayathri excels in writing in Tamil and makes excellent savories (bakshanams) and is keen on trying out new recipes. She loves travelling and is a major force behind whatever successes our family has had. She is very spiritually inclined and has a very refined taste for arts and culture. She possesses a keen sense of hearing and learning and has picked up easily many of the spiritual texts just by listening to my practising them !
I completed by B.Com. (Honours) from Kolkata University and subsequently ICWA. Later on, I completed my MBA from Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University from UK (Scotland). After immigrating to Canada, I completed CPA,CMA,CFM from USA and then CGA from Canada and ACCA from UK.
I speak fluently in English, Tamil, Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam and can muster a pass in Urdu too. I love Hindi film music of the 60's and 70's with Mohammad Rafi being a personal favourite. I am in awe of Lata Mangeshar, especially her renditions of Madan Mohan's compositions. Cricket used to be my passion and have played it at 2nd division in Tanzania too. However, the two back to back series whitewash-losses by India to Australia and England (an amazing shameful statistic that no one talks about) and the tasteless IPL have cured me off my addiction to cricket. Gayathri is one happy wife, I can tell you that! Early in my youth, I used to be a voracious reader of English novels. Watching Hindi and Tamil movies is a favorite pastime too and I am quite up-to-date with all the latest releases ! I love to cook, especially traditional South Indian items. I started oil painting in late 2012 and hope to keep that up. Teaching is my passion and what gives me utmost energy and satisfaction.
We migrated to Canada in 2001 and have settled down here with an excellent group of friends and are now Canadian citizens. Prior to that, we lived for 6 years in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, East Africa, from 1995 to 2001.
My kindergarten teachers including my mother (2nd row, extreme left)
My parents hail from Nellichery village of Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu but they migrated to Kolkata soon after their marriage. My father (Late Nellicherry Swaminthan Natarajan, alias "Nalli") expired in 1972 at the age of 37 and my mother Smt Shanbagavalli Natarajan, alias "Jambi" brought up the family of 4 children single-handedly.
(Note: In the photo, my mother has sported a "Namam" instead of the usual vibhuti/kumkum as she had a dear Iyengar friend called Ranganayaki, who wanted to see her with a "Namam on the day the photo was taken !)
My mother is well-known as"Narayanayeem Mami" as she learnt and then used to teach Narayaneeyam in Kolkata and in Cochin. (Very recently, at the age of 72, she has recorded Narayanayeem in a professional studio and they have been uploaded in youtube).
She earned Rs.50 per month working as a school teacher (at Ganju Hope Hall Academy in Lake Gardens) which she used to augment by taking tuitions, by walking from one home to another home for Rs.10 month per month. She used to wake up at 3am and return home at 9pm. She had 5 brothers but no help, financial or otherwise, was forthcoming and she was advised that she had to face her "fate". (The "karma" theory, in my personal opinion, has been the most misused, misunderstood and misapplied philosophy by many - due to little understanding of it or deliberately to selfish ends and purposes to avoid doing one's duty. This will be discussed later separately in my musings). In view of the circumstances, she made an amazingly brave decision to stay in Kolkata rather than return back to Tamil Nadu as she felt from her experience that she would receive more support from the local Bengali population than from her family in Tamil Nadu, which proved to be true. My father had earned handsomely but had not saved any money. Overnight, we had to move from a big house to a small one room home. The owner of that place, fondly called "Masheemaa" did not charge us a single paisa for rent for 10 years - for a home in the heart of South Kolkata in Lake Gardens. Sounds amazing doesn't it? There are very strong reasons for our/my bonding with Kolkata and the Bengali people. None of us paid a single paisa for our school education as all of it was free due to merit scholarships. Our mother did not force us to study. She would simply tell us "If you don't do well, you can't go to school as we cannot afford the education" and hence we had to study well ! I remember my elder brother Raja once sighing and remarking "If only I can get to know how it feels to fail in an exam !" Strange are the longings of some human beings !!
My mother is a very tough person and I do not remember a tougher and more determined person in my life. Her hard-work and sacrifice represent the very essence of a mother's nature as celebrated since time immemorial in our Hindu culture. My experience, unknowingly, had commenced with Shakti from a very young age ! (The experience continues with the 2 other Shaktis in my life - my wife and daughter !)
So much for the flashback !
We are 4 brothers and sisters. Our eldest sister is Ganga Devi (MBA, BA, college gold medalist) who expired in May 2009 in Kolkata. My eldest brother is Raja Natarajan (Venkata Subramaniam) is a senior finance professional (FCWA) and lives in Gurgaon with his wife Saroj and 2 boys, Anand and Abhisekh. He is a gold medalist at school and stood first in West Bengal in B.Com. I am the middle one and my sharma nama is Rama Subramaniam. My wife is Sridevi Gayathri and our daughter is Durga. My younger brother is Ganesh Natarajan (Ganesha Subramaniam) and he lives with his wife Suchitra and son in Qatar. He too is a gold medalist at school and is a Metallurgical Engineer from Benares Hindu University (BHU). We brothers studied in Andhra Association School, Kolkata, while our sister studied in National High School, Kolkata.
Sridevi Gayathri's father is the famous Tamil novelist Sri TK Balasubramaniam (alias "Maharishi") who has written more than 250 famous Tamil novels like "Bhuvna Oru Kelvi Kuri", "Bhadra Kali", "Nadiyai Thedi Vanda Kadal", "Sainthadamma Sainthadu" etc. The ones quoted above were novels made into successful movies later. Superstar Rajanikanth's villian image changed with this career-defining role in the superhit "Bhuvna Oru Kelvi Kuri". Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Late.Selvi Jayalalita starred in "Nadiya Thedi Vanda Kadal" while Sridevi starred in "Sainthadamma Sainthadu". and the super-hit movie "Bhadrakali" starred Shivkumar.
(Note: In the photo, my mother has sported a "Namam" instead of the usual vibhuti/kumkum as she had a dear Iyengar friend called Ranganayaki, who wanted to see her with a "Namam on the day the photo was taken !)
My mother is well-known as"Narayanayeem Mami" as she learnt and then used to teach Narayaneeyam in Kolkata and in Cochin. (Very recently, at the age of 72, she has recorded Narayanayeem in a professional studio and they have been uploaded in youtube).
She earned Rs.50 per month working as a school teacher (at Ganju Hope Hall Academy in Lake Gardens) which she used to augment by taking tuitions, by walking from one home to another home for Rs.10 month per month. She used to wake up at 3am and return home at 9pm. She had 5 brothers but no help, financial or otherwise, was forthcoming and she was advised that she had to face her "fate". (The "karma" theory, in my personal opinion, has been the most misused, misunderstood and misapplied philosophy by many - due to little understanding of it or deliberately to selfish ends and purposes to avoid doing one's duty. This will be discussed later separately in my musings). In view of the circumstances, she made an amazingly brave decision to stay in Kolkata rather than return back to Tamil Nadu as she felt from her experience that she would receive more support from the local Bengali population than from her family in Tamil Nadu, which proved to be true. My father had earned handsomely but had not saved any money. Overnight, we had to move from a big house to a small one room home. The owner of that place, fondly called "Masheemaa" did not charge us a single paisa for rent for 10 years - for a home in the heart of South Kolkata in Lake Gardens. Sounds amazing doesn't it? There are very strong reasons for our/my bonding with Kolkata and the Bengali people. None of us paid a single paisa for our school education as all of it was free due to merit scholarships. Our mother did not force us to study. She would simply tell us "If you don't do well, you can't go to school as we cannot afford the education" and hence we had to study well ! I remember my elder brother Raja once sighing and remarking "If only I can get to know how it feels to fail in an exam !" Strange are the longings of some human beings !!
My mother is a very tough person and I do not remember a tougher and more determined person in my life. Her hard-work and sacrifice represent the very essence of a mother's nature as celebrated since time immemorial in our Hindu culture. My experience, unknowingly, had commenced with Shakti from a very young age ! (The experience continues with the 2 other Shaktis in my life - my wife and daughter !)
So much for the flashback !
We are 4 brothers and sisters. Our eldest sister is Ganga Devi (MBA, BA, college gold medalist) who expired in May 2009 in Kolkata. My eldest brother is Raja Natarajan (Venkata Subramaniam) is a senior finance professional (FCWA) and lives in Gurgaon with his wife Saroj and 2 boys, Anand and Abhisekh. He is a gold medalist at school and stood first in West Bengal in B.Com. I am the middle one and my sharma nama is Rama Subramaniam. My wife is Sridevi Gayathri and our daughter is Durga. My younger brother is Ganesh Natarajan (Ganesha Subramaniam) and he lives with his wife Suchitra and son in Qatar. He too is a gold medalist at school and is a Metallurgical Engineer from Benares Hindu University (BHU). We brothers studied in Andhra Association School, Kolkata, while our sister studied in National High School, Kolkata.
Sridevi Gayathri's father is the famous Tamil novelist Sri TK Balasubramaniam (alias "Maharishi") who has written more than 250 famous Tamil novels like "Bhuvna Oru Kelvi Kuri", "Bhadra Kali", "Nadiyai Thedi Vanda Kadal", "Sainthadamma Sainthadu" etc. The ones quoted above were novels made into successful movies later. Superstar Rajanikanth's villian image changed with this career-defining role in the superhit "Bhuvna Oru Kelvi Kuri". Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Late.Selvi Jayalalita starred in "Nadiya Thedi Vanda Kadal" while Sridevi starred in "Sainthadamma Sainthadu". and the super-hit movie "Bhadrakali" starred Shivkumar.
Her mother is Smt Padma, who is a retired librarian.
Sridevi Gayathri's brother Srivatsan Ramakrishnan is a banking and financial services professional and his wife Gayathri is also a financial services professional.
They are blessed with a son named Sri Krishna.
Sridevi Gayathri's brother Srivatsan Ramakrishnan is a banking and financial services professional and his wife Gayathri is also a financial services professional.
They are blessed with a son named Sri Krishna.
Social Contributions
I truly believe that it is our social contributions that define us after we have first achieved the basic but important duty of supporting our immediate family. There is no greater joy than to know that you have made a difference to someone's life or helped improve it in some way.
Spiritual learning :
I love teaching chanting and recitation of our wonderful scriptures and have shared my knowledge with those interested without any bias on gender or caste basis. I consider it my duty to share what little knowledge I have gained over the years. Sharing increases one's knowledge and the goal is reach 1000+ in the next few years.
I have not charged a single cent for any of my classes held till date. In my own way, I have tried to uphold the highest traditions of our Vedic Education system.
Sringeri Vidya Bharati Foundation Temple (SVBF) Kumbabisekham in Canada :
I was the Administration Chairman for the Kumbabhisekham of the SVBF temple in Canada in 2010 and with the help of a wonderful group of volunteers spent days and nights over 6 months to have a grand and successful Kumbabhisekham. I had developed a personal bonding with Adi Shankaracharya after reading his amazing achievements in resurrecting Hinduism and this was my small contribution to this extraordinary avatar of Lord Shiva.
You Tube Audio Recordings :
My audio recordings are freely available in You Tube. I have not "monetized" them or made money by approving the addition of any advertisements to my recordings in spite of several offers from YouTube. This is to keep the recordings clear of any unwanted and unsuitable advertisements and the goal anyway was never to make any money out of this but to share with our community. Whenever I receive an email from someone saying that one of my recordings helped them to learn or master a certain piece, I feel great joy and thrill that I could keep up my dharma of sharing whatever little I know
Vedic Vivah Ceremony - and an Antyeshti
In diametrically opposite but emergency situations, I have performed a Vedic wedding ceremony as well as an Antyeshti. In both cases, unfortunately a qualified Vedic priest's services were not available and I was requested to perform the required ceremonies. I was thrilled to take up the challenge of conducting the wedding ceremony but in the case of the Antyeshti, I was under great stress. The former was for the son of our family friend and the latter was for the father-in-law of a very close friend of mine. In the latter case, my friend had expressed his family's wish that I should help in guiding the performance of the funeral rites as they had full faith in me and this was very touching for me. It is in such emergency situations, that one's character and mental strength are tested to their limit and the thought of backing out never once crossed my mind. In both situations, I made elaborate research in a short time and built a quick reckoner and conducted the ceremonies. I also consulted experienced members of the community to understand the "laukika" (wordly) aspects of the ceremonies. Both the occasions were challenging in different ways and it took a lot out of me in terms of energy and focus. My wife and family friends fully co-operated and helped me in conducting the ceremonies and were a great source of encouragement and support. There are various queries and demands from relatives of the parties involved in such situations (unlike while performing a puja or homam) and the lack of experience is felt acutely in such situations. Believe me when I say that it is a great challenge in maintaining focus on the proceedings as one always runs the risk of missing a crucial step. With God's grace, I was able to complete both ceremonies on time and to the satisfaction of the families. Personally, I consider both experiences as invaluable and they left indelible prints and memories on my mind and soul. On both occasions, I felt that a great purpose had been served with the grace of God. Sri Chandru Gurukkal later informed that one who helps in conducting an Anyeshti in an emergency gets the full "punya" or blessings and benefits equal to that of performing an Ashwamedhya Yagna, which left me further humbled and blessed.
I truly believe that it is our social contributions that define us after we have first achieved the basic but important duty of supporting our immediate family. There is no greater joy than to know that you have made a difference to someone's life or helped improve it in some way.
Spiritual learning :
I love teaching chanting and recitation of our wonderful scriptures and have shared my knowledge with those interested without any bias on gender or caste basis. I consider it my duty to share what little knowledge I have gained over the years. Sharing increases one's knowledge and the goal is reach 1000+ in the next few years.
I have not charged a single cent for any of my classes held till date. In my own way, I have tried to uphold the highest traditions of our Vedic Education system.
Sringeri Vidya Bharati Foundation Temple (SVBF) Kumbabisekham in Canada :
I was the Administration Chairman for the Kumbabhisekham of the SVBF temple in Canada in 2010 and with the help of a wonderful group of volunteers spent days and nights over 6 months to have a grand and successful Kumbabhisekham. I had developed a personal bonding with Adi Shankaracharya after reading his amazing achievements in resurrecting Hinduism and this was my small contribution to this extraordinary avatar of Lord Shiva.
You Tube Audio Recordings :
My audio recordings are freely available in You Tube. I have not "monetized" them or made money by approving the addition of any advertisements to my recordings in spite of several offers from YouTube. This is to keep the recordings clear of any unwanted and unsuitable advertisements and the goal anyway was never to make any money out of this but to share with our community. Whenever I receive an email from someone saying that one of my recordings helped them to learn or master a certain piece, I feel great joy and thrill that I could keep up my dharma of sharing whatever little I know
Vedic Vivah Ceremony - and an Antyeshti
In diametrically opposite but emergency situations, I have performed a Vedic wedding ceremony as well as an Antyeshti. In both cases, unfortunately a qualified Vedic priest's services were not available and I was requested to perform the required ceremonies. I was thrilled to take up the challenge of conducting the wedding ceremony but in the case of the Antyeshti, I was under great stress. The former was for the son of our family friend and the latter was for the father-in-law of a very close friend of mine. In the latter case, my friend had expressed his family's wish that I should help in guiding the performance of the funeral rites as they had full faith in me and this was very touching for me. It is in such emergency situations, that one's character and mental strength are tested to their limit and the thought of backing out never once crossed my mind. In both situations, I made elaborate research in a short time and built a quick reckoner and conducted the ceremonies. I also consulted experienced members of the community to understand the "laukika" (wordly) aspects of the ceremonies. Both the occasions were challenging in different ways and it took a lot out of me in terms of energy and focus. My wife and family friends fully co-operated and helped me in conducting the ceremonies and were a great source of encouragement and support. There are various queries and demands from relatives of the parties involved in such situations (unlike while performing a puja or homam) and the lack of experience is felt acutely in such situations. Believe me when I say that it is a great challenge in maintaining focus on the proceedings as one always runs the risk of missing a crucial step. With God's grace, I was able to complete both ceremonies on time and to the satisfaction of the families. Personally, I consider both experiences as invaluable and they left indelible prints and memories on my mind and soul. On both occasions, I felt that a great purpose had been served with the grace of God. Sri Chandru Gurukkal later informed that one who helps in conducting an Anyeshti in an emergency gets the full "punya" or blessings and benefits equal to that of performing an Ashwamedhya Yagna, which left me further humbled and blessed.
