ICAI Motto (contd.)

The motto 'ya esha suptheshu jagarthi' has its origin also in 'Aditya Hridayam' verse 23, which is a part of Yudha Kanta of Valmiki Ramayana. This source is quite apt. Sage Agastya is advising Rama to worship the Sun, when he is about to face Ravana in the battle. He says about the Sun, as 'ya esha suptheshu jagarthi', 'one who is awake while others sleep'. The Sun is the symbol of all pervading conscious knowledge. We CAs are the 'watchdogs', who are always on the watch, awake. Hence the Motto is so apt in the context of the source, Valmiki Ramayana, rather than Kathopanishad. According to me, expansion of the Motto, basing it on Kathopanishad, went overboard with the kind of commentary etc., totally ill matching with the profile of the ICAI.

The song - ok, I am aware of the sound, voice, tune and echo effect, which, for most of us, are good enough and awesome. But this is not light music or some background score. This is the motto song of the ICAI. This being so, all CAs shall be able to sing it in chorus in a simple manner with straight tune and matching music. Hence, the pronunciation has to be correct and clear and the words given in the text shall not be meddled with jarring repetition, thus marring its import. Only 'kamam' is given twice in the text. But in the song each word or phrase is repeated to give an echo effect. In the motto, the word is 'jagarthi', but all along the word is uttered as 'jagrathi', which is unfortunate indeed - the meaning is changed from 'wakeful' to 'warning'! the utterance of the other words in the text is not at all up to the mark, since, as is evident, the singers are not good in sanskrit diction. But the final nail is at the last phrase which is repeated towards the end. Actually these words, 'etad vai tat', a sign off, which demands clear emphatic utterance, prompted Eckhart to give his cryptic remark, quoted at the end. But the singers spoiled the conclusion with a kind of bizarre utterance of those words, which I am unable to figure out how it happened! And in some version being played in conferences, the song ends with a thunderous reverberation, definitely, not a solemn note for a motto song! Anyway, that is how it is, our ICAI motto song.