 He received a second degree, a Master of Letters in 1982, writing a thesis comparing John Donne's poetry to that of Kalladanar, a Tamil poet of the 10th Century.Pillai recollects that the period of living with University wizards, planted the seeds of unquenchable thirst for knowledge and spirit of investigation which deeply impacted his personal teachings.In 1983, he left for the US to pursue his PhD at the University of Pittsburgh.