Deivathin Kural Series - 31

Om Namah Sivaya.
Deivathin Kural # 31 of 20 July 2006.


1.These e-mails are translations of talks given by the erstwhile Pontiff of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, over more than sixty years, published by Vanady Padippagam, T.Nagar, Chennai, India, in ten volumes, in the Tamil language. The english version is likely to be available very soon. These e-mails are simply an effort on the part of the sender, to share some of his bliss, as it is said, 'Yam perra peru peruga ivvaiyagam'.

2. To-day's e-mail is the translation of what is given in pages, 130 to 138, in volume I, under the heading, 'Ulagam Paraviya Madam', ie., 'The Religion That Covered The Whole World'. (As you know, Man herein includesWoman and vice versa.)
3. This Religion that is called The Hindu Religion was once, the only Religion throughout the World. There was no need to name it, since it was the only religion. That is why there is no such name available, in any if the basic-root-literature- books of this religion. This is my humble opinion.
4. When we look into the archeological finds of many other Nations, we find many evidences connected to our Vedas. For example, archeologists have discovered in Egypt, evidence of an agreement between two Kings, wherein it is said that it is made, as witnessed by, 'Varuna and Mithra'. This document is dated to about 1300 years before Christ's birth. Mithra and Varuna, are the Sun and Rain Gods of our Religion. Ramses as a royal name, seems to be evolved from, 'Rama'. In the cities of Madagaskar, the write ups seem to be based on the Sanskrit language, up to 75%.
5. In the Southern Hemisphere of the globe too, such evidences are found. In Mexico, during Navrathri in Sept-Oct, there is a festival conducted, which is called, 'Rama-Sita'. There, many 'Pillaiyar', statues have been unearthed. Before Spain was run over by invaders, the natives were known as, 'Aztecs'. This is derived from a Sanskrit word, 'Astigar', meaning, 'those who believe in God'. In Peru, on Tamil New Years Day, they conduct a Pooja to the Sun God, in the Sun Temple. These people are known as, 'Incas'. 'Inan', is a name for the Sun, in Sanskrit. Sri Rama of Ramayana, is also known as 'Ina Kula Thilakan', or foremost of the Sun Family.
6. I saw a book, written by Spencer and Killen, by the name Native Tribes of Central Australia, in which was depicted, the aborigines dancing naked. Pages 128 and 129, contained photos under which, it was written. 'Siva Dance'. I noticed carefully that everyone in the phptograph, had a third eye, drawn in the center of their forehead, between the eye-brows, as Siva is depicted in our mythology.
In the virgin forests of Borneo, a stone cutting was found, in which it was carved, in Grantha Lipi, that. so and so king installed a 'Yupa Sthambam', that he did a particular Yaga, that he gave a Karpaga Vruksham to Brahmins. It is called the 'Yupa Inscriptions of Mulavarman Koil.' It is the Britishers who make much fun of our religion, who have done this excavation and found all these facts.
7. More than all this, I will tell you about something very surprising and revealing. 'The sons of the King Sagara, having lost the Horse meant for Yaga, went in search of the animal. They dug the earth. The vast digging became filled with water and was called, 'Sagaram', or the oceon. Finally they found the Horse tied to a tree in Kapila Rishi's Ashrama. Thinking him to be the thief, they pestered him. By one look He burnt them to ashes.' This is a story in Ramayana. The equi-knox of India, is Americas. That can be taken as Pathala, to which, Sagara's sons dug the earth and reached. Kapilaranyam could be called California. On its side are the Horse Island and Ash Island. Another idea strikes me. They say that the Sahara desert was once an Oceon. Could be Sagaram became Sahara.
8. Like this, the indications are plenty, that this Religion was spread all over the world. The Researchers say that, 'some people went from here to other countries, and that others came from other countries here; and that a lot of changes took place'. To me, it seems that, in the olden times prior to known history, all over the world was one religion. When they come across some evidences, (in the time frame of, within two to three thousand years,) available in other countries, they say that, Indians went to those places and having erased the local culture, inserted their own civilization. But there are even older indications dating back to more than four thousand years. Wherever there was civilization, Vedas were already there, is my contention. Other religions came to hold sway in those places only much later. In Greece, an old religion came in to being, where many big temples were constructed for many Gods. There also Vedic influence is aplenty. Before Christ, in the semetic Hebrew religions too, Vedic influence is there, including, division of the society into four castes. The aborigines of Mexico had such a religion where, each and every aspect of nature, is revered as devine. They also had many rituals. Now all these have disappeared, including the Hellenic religion. It is Christianity that has spread in all of Europe and Americas. Japan and central Asia, East Asia, have Confusianism, Buddhism and Muslim religions. In South Africa, in the deep forests and deserts, some old tribal religions are there. In these too the Vaidic influence seems to be plentiful. I will give you an example of this.
9. Let me touch another related issue here. To explain principles, it has been an age old custom of human beings to give it in the form of a story. It is better understood by the common man then. Either make it a story or make it a ritual. Then the symbolic enables understanding. All rituals are symbolic. I am not saying that all Puranas are only symbolic. Ramayana and Mahabaratha are real events only. But stories make principles and concepts, easily absorbed. Out of real events, what is quoted in literature, cannot be of hum-drum / monotonous material. Day to day words used in conversation, cannot become, 'Quotable Quotes'! Similarly rituals, impart some immediate benefits, enable understanding of subtle ideas and take you to a stage beyond, the need to look for benefits. Over a long period however, both stories and rituals, may lose their inner meaning and go far away from the original intentions.
10. Let me come back to the example, referred in the last line of Para 8 above. In the Hebrew religions, you must have heared of the story of Adam and Eve. There was a tree of knowledge. It was God's order that, the fruits of 'the tree of knowledge', was not to be eaten. Adam did not eat it. Eve ate it. Then, Adam thought, 'Come what may. Whether upliftment or down fall, let it happen to me too'.
So Adam too ate the fruit. This is the story in Genesis, in the Old Testament. There is a story in our Upanishads, which is similar, and which has become this story of Adam and Eve. With the change, it has lost the original symbolic connotations too. What is said in the Upanishad? 'There are two birds on the Pippala tree. One bird eats the Pippala fruit. The second bird is looking at the other without eating the fruit,' says the Upanishad. The human body is the tree of knowledge. In it, one thinking himself / herself / itself to be Jeeva is eating the fruits of sense-gratification; this is one bird. In the same body, the Paramatma, is another bird. He does not move. He is observing the other. He is the witness. He only looks at the Jeeva's actions. He neither eats the fruits nor undergo the effects of Jeevas actions. The one who eats is the Jeeva. The non-eating witness is Atma.
11. Jeeva in Hebrew parlance has become Eve. 'Jee', becomes 'ee', as it happens in Yamuna becoming Jamuna, and Yoginder becoming Joginder, and vice versa. Jeeva became Eve and Atma became Adam. Pippala fruit is the Apple. The tree of knowledge is the Bodhi tree. Remember, that Buddha got his Gnanam under a Bodhi Vruksha. Even before Buddha, the Arasa Maram of Tamil Nadu is known as Bodhi tree. The Upanishadic story, has changed shape and lose the original symbolic message too. The Atma which is not subject to sense-gratifications, as Adam is depicted as having eaten the fruit, in the story of the Bible. While the Bodhi tree is symbolic of Awareness, the subjective sense involvement, has been termed the tree of knowledge. Don't You think that there is enough evidence here, that all over the World, there was only this nameless religion? OK. I think I will have to give you yet another example, to prove the point that, despite all the wear and tear of Time and Space, the original will somehow out itself.
12. Our Thiruppavai and Thiruvembavai, are not as old as the Vedas. They are supposed to have originated within the past 1500 years or so. Andal and Manikkavachagar, are anyhow, people of much later times than the Vedas and Itihasas. After their times, many of the Hindu Kingdoms came into being across the oceons. Cholas did expand their sovereignity, abroad. More than that, the South Indians influence spread across the Bay of Bengal and Indian Oceon, due to trade and commerce. Impressed by these traders, Hindu civilization, religion and culture did spread in many of the East Asian countries. Pali became a Hindu kingdom. The influence spread to Cambodia, Thailand, Indo-china, Manila, Philippines, collectively known as the Vijaya Kingdom.
13. So, at Stage-1, in the past, all over the Earth, there was only one Religion based on Vadas; then Stage-2, when many new religions came into being in various places; then Stage-3, when Christianity, Islam and Buddhism spread all over the world, submerging the older beliefs; then is Stage-4, when Hindu civilization and culture again revived in South East Asia. This fourth Stage is the period, when (World History came to be recorded though still only haphazardly, and) big South Indian Temple complexes came into being, in places such as, Angkor Wat, Perabuthur, Prambanan, etc. This is the period when, our Thiruppavai and Thiruvembavai, went to Siam, now known as Thailand. Now I will give you that example I talked about in the last line of Para11, above.
14. In Thailand, every year, in the month of Mrigasirsha, they have a festival. In the Month of Margazhi in Tamil, (ie., Dec15 to Jan15), Tamilians do daily chanting of Thiruppavai or Thiruvambavai, or both, There are 30 songs in both Thiruppavai and Thiruvembavai, one for each day of the month. Young unmarried girls, go for a bath in the River or Pond, early in the morning, singing these songs. It is followed by a fast, and austerities. It is believed that the girls will find a suitable husband as a boon. In Thailand, the festival seems like a combined mix of Saivism and Vaishnavism. What they do is Dolotsavam, in which the Gods are depicted to Swing in a Oonjal, which is a Vaishnavite tradition. But the God depicted is Siva. If you asked them as to whether they know the Pavai songs, their answer is, 'No. Not a single word'. Then why am I connecting this, to the festival in South India? Because, this festival is known as, Tryambavai -Tripavai.
15. Now. Those who read the Bible, have a story fron the Upanishads, without any apparent access to the same. Similarly, in Thailand, where the chanting of Thiruppavai and Thiruvembavai has completely stopped, they have a festival in the Dhanur month, in which they decorate a man as Siva and conduct Dolotsavam and call it Triyambavai-Tripavai!! When such can be the aberrations, in a symbolic festival-tradition-ritual, within the period of recorded history, then imagine what can happen over three to four thousand years. But whatever the changes, Veda-sampradaya truths will come out, saying, 'here we are'.
16. What is the meaning of saying that, there are signs of our Hinduism in the Religions of the Natives of various parts of the world? I t is to say that, in times of hoary past, when most of the world was no where near being called a civilization, we did not go to those countries, on Expeditions of Adventure or Venture, and imposed our Religion or Culture, there. In the whole world, all over the Globe, it must have been Veda Madam only, a Religion Without a Name. Then they progressed or regressed in to local set of beliefs and traditions, wherein Christianity, Buddhism and Islam spread.
Sambhomahadeva.