Deivathin Kural Series - 14

Deivathin Kural 14 of 26 June 2006.
Om Namah Sivaya.
1. Atma is the basis of everything. But it is also beyond all things. There is a confusion here. How can the basis also be beyond ? In Bhagawath Geetha, Bhagawan Sri Krishna, talks of so many such apparent contradictions. Having confused us with many such apparent paradoxes, finally he clarifies and makes things crystal clear. He says, 'I am in all things, and everything is in me', he says in one place. ( Yo mam pasyati sarvatra, sarvam cha mayi pasyathi.) If eveything is in Him, He is the basis. OK. If now, He is in everything, the things become His basis. How can both the previous statement be correct ? What is correct ?
2. God or Atma is the basis. Though, He is in all, they are not the basis of His existance. By Him they have name, shape, life and logic of existance. They cannot be without Him. He pulls the string and the world moves. He himself says so. ' All life forms are like the puppets only. From inside them God, enlivens them {...eswara sarva buthanam hrddese Arjuna thishtathi! Bramayan sarva bhuthani yantra rudani mayaya............}
3. Having given these confusing statements, and then clarified, He agains puts us in a quandry. Having said that, He is in all, and then that, everything is in Him, He goes on to say that, I have nothing and I am in nothing. [..........nacha math sthani buthani, na cha aham teshu avasthithaha........] If you say, 'Oh God ! Don't confuse me'. He further says, ' I am not understood by all because of being covered by Maya'. ( Na aham prakasaha sarvasyaha, yoga maya samavruthaha). One is likely to feel confused and say, '..What is this ? Who wants this sort of advice ? What does He mean really'.
4. Some deliberation is required here. He said, that He won't be understood by all. He did not say that he will not be understood by anybody. Had He said so, it would mean that if there were a thousand people, He will not be understood by the thousand people. But what He said, means that, if there were a thousand people, even if not understood by 999, he may be understood by at least one. He did not use the word, 'kasyapi', but 'sarvasya '. So it means that, though not understood by all, He may be with in the grasp of some. Who are those some ? They are the Gnanis, who are not affected by the, ' Yoga Maya '. They can give an explanation to His statement such as, " I am in everything; there is nothing with me."
5. There is a flower garland lying on the road. It is semi darkness. Some one who passes that way, steps on it and shouts, ' Oh, snake, snake', in fear. The same garland, once seen as Snake, creates fear or 'Bramai'. The moment he gets to know that it is only a garland, the fear of Snake, vanishes. What was the basis of the snake initially? It was the garland. Similarly as the garland is seen as the Snake, the ignorant, see the Only Brhmam, as various materials of the world. The basis of all these materials of the world is Brhmam. When He says that, " I am in all and all things are in Me ", It is sometning like saying that the Snake is in the Garland and the Garland is in the Snake. To the man shouting about the Snake, the Snake has swallowed the Garland. In his view, the Snake is the basis. To the Realised Saint, the Garland hides the Snake and The Garland is the basis. Though the entity covered by Maya, ( i.e., the ignorant), sees the World as Real and True, where as, in Truth, God is the basis of the world's existance. To the person who has set aside the Scenery of Maya, every thing is God including Himself. To the Gnani in Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the Scenery is not seen. When there is nothing as the World, to say that the World is in God or, that God is in the World, is a stupid statement. Is it not so ? In a state of ignorance, body, life, mind, knowledge, and so on, are seen. When in the Bliss of Awareness, body-mind-intelligence, are all surpassed. This is Transcendance.
Sri Krishna Bhagwan, in that state of endless-end, says, " ...neither anything is in me, nor, am I in them..". Just because, some ignorant person thought a garland to be a snake, it can not be said that, the snake is in the garland or that the garland is in the snake.
6. Kambar, the poet, who wrote Ramayanam, in Tamil, says the same thing, in Sundara Kandam:-
'a l a n g a l i l - t h o n r u m - p o i m m a i
a r a v u - e n a - p b u t h a m - a i n d u m
v i l a n g i y a - v i g r a p p a t t i n
v e r u p a d u r r a - v e e k k a m
k a l a n g u v a t h u - e v a r a i k - k a n d a l
a v a r e n b a r - k a i v i l - e n d i
i l a n g a i l - p o r u t h a r a n r e
m a r a i g a l u k k u - i r u d h i a a v a r'.
7. ( Some literal translations:- alangal = garland; poimai = untruth; aravu = snake; butham aindum = the five elements of space, air, water, fire and earth; verupadurra veekkam = differentiated swelling).
Similar to seeing a snake in a garland, the differentiated swelling of the five elements are seen to be the world through Maya; That Maya shivers by seeing Him, who fought in Lanka with bows. Kamban says that Sri Ramachandra's presence makes the Maya disappear. The Kambar who, as a Vaishnava sang, 'Sadagopar Andadi', has written about the Paramatma Swaroopa, in very clear Adwaita Language !
Sambhomahadeva.