Deivathin Kural Series - 175

Om Namah Sivaya.

Deivathin Kural # 175 of 29 Mar 2007.

1. These e-mails, are chapter wise translations of the lectures given by, Sri Chandra Sekharendra Swamigal, of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. Every day, after the daily Puja, He used to talk, on various aspects concerning Hinduism. These are published, in Tamil, by Vanady Padippagam, T.Nagar, Chennai, as Deivathin Kural, in seven volumes of a thousand pages each. To-day's talk is titled, 'Ambalin Swaroopam' that is, 'Image of Ambal's Self', in pages 811 to 816, of Deivathin Kural, Volume 1.

2. "You are Parameswara's body", says Acharyal to Ambal. There is life inside the body. In many bodies, many lifes are there. For all lifes, there is only one, 'common basic source'. That is Parameswara. Then all appearances, all bodies are Parasakthi or Ambal! The whole apparent world is Ambal, you and me, him and her, this and that, here, there and everywhere, included. All life forms, their mind, body, intelligence, buddhi, chittam, ahankaram are all Parameswara. The point about Parasakthi and Parameswara, is that there is no point. To differentiate is human nature. And then we try to differentiate what is already unitary one. Have you heard as to how, Karna in Mahabharatha, had an armour on his body, which was inseperable. If we imagine a body or form or shape to Brhmam, that is Parameswara, and Parasakthi is its 'Kavacham' or inseperable armour.

3. This inseperableness is expressed in another way as, Ardha- Nareeswara, of half male Siva and half female Sivaa. Can we seperate a word from its meaning? Maha Kavi Kalidasa says in the first sloka of his writings, starting with the words, "vak artha viva sampruktou", says, I prostrate before the world's parents, Parvathi-Parameswaras, who are united, integrated and inseperable, as is the word from its meaning. 'Pa' is only a sound and 'su', is another sound. But once they are uttered together, our mind immediately imagines a 'cow' and looks for it. The word and its meaning are so inseperable. Similarly, in the universe, in all the life forms and in their being and thoughts, if you ask, 'where is Brhmam?', though we may not be able to say where and how; but we know that, if they are all words, as their meaning, Brhmam is there.

4. If you ask as to what is Ambal's Swaroopam, answer is that, all that we see are Her shape or form only. Not only shape and form, but also all thoughts, actions, events, things, meanings rational and irrational, body, mind, life, everything is She. Without Her there is nothing. When Acharyal says in Soundarya Lahiri, "sareeram thvam sambho:", meaning, 'you are Parameswara's body', in the next slokam, he says that she is the subtle mind of Parameswara. From that subtle mind, the subtle space or 'akasam' evolves. Progressively, the subtle becomes gross. Thus from space, air; from air, fire; from fire, water; from water, earth; evolve. All this is You. Without You there is no other thing what so ever! "Thvayi parinathayam nahi param".

5. "Even while saying that, 'For the life of Sambhu, You are the body', without any difference between life and body, You are All in One. You Yourself metamorphed as the 'visvam', that is the Universe. Thvam eva swathmanam parinamayithum visva vapusha." Acharyal's this statement is very close to Ramanujacharyal's, 'all the world is Paramatma's body; the life in it and the indwelling spirit is also Him only'. Even then, there is seperateness as body and life - some Dwaitam. Then Acharyal goes on to say, "Even for the small bits of Gnanam and Bliss in us, you are the 'moolam', the root source of all Knowledge, Awareness and Bliss. To enjoy this Gnanam and Anandam, the 'One You' have seemingly become two and taken the 'bhaava' of 'siva yuvathi'. (The word, 'bhaava' can be translated as, 'becoming supposition'. The word, 'siva yuvathi', means, young woman Sivaa.) Still it is only a becoming supposition. In reality, the body - vishva and its life - Ambal; is all, one and the same with Siva and Sambhu. All one Adwaitam.

6. If one is everything everywhere, how can that one have shape or size or form? Air can go anywhere. Has it got any form? Ambal is subtler than air. People can create airless vacuum. But, they cannot create an, 'Ambal-less-vacuum'. She is in all space, mind and thought. Then how can there be a figure or form for Her? But this statement will not appeal to a normal average mind. If we have all evolved from Her, She is the Mother and we are all Her children, or like children. For us children, it is not enough to know that she is there. We should be able to see Her, talk to Her, play with Her and so on.

7. We are not able to become aware or know, that She is all shapes and forms and figures. We are not able to meditate on the formless, as we lack the maturity and wisdom. It is for people like us, for our love sake, She comes as, 'divya mangala vigraha' of supreme beauty, compassion. love and benevolence. The shapeless melted cow's ghee, when frozen becomes solid. As per the logic of 'ghrutha ghatinyavath' similarly, in the very cool and pleasant atmosphere of the devotees heart, Ambal takes many shapes and forms. Once assured that Ambal is in the devotees' heart, the next question arises, 'how will that 'roopam' be?'

8. If you look at someone doing, 'anna danam', to some poor hungry people, you see the pleasure in the face of the man donating the food. Do not think of business 'give and take' wherein, the one throwing the party may be grumbling inside, cursing the invitees, with a facade of a smiling face. In giving 'annadanam' or alms, the giver feels more thrill than the reciever. There is pleasure in giving than recieving. Many of us may not be aware of this. (KTSV adds:- Some years back, a simple human being like us, looking at the pathetic state of the poor people in Trichy, in Tamil Nadu, one day decided that he should do something about it. He started in a small way, to give Annadanam, at 7 pm, near the temple pond, in the center of the city, once a week. This is going on everyday, till date. When the decision is noble enough, all the powers of Nature assists you.)

9. But if there is thrill of doing 'annadana', one day; (even though we may not deserve to be fed even once, for our sins of commission and omission, done actually or in the mind;) think of Her doing 'Annadana', to zillions of life forms, for millions of years; that is 'Annapoorneswari Ambal'. Think as to, how full of bliss and kindness she must be! Can we measure that level of kindness and grace? Beauty and loveliness of unsurpassed grace and compassion, becoming tangible is Her form. The bodily beauty is too fleeting. We can become ugly with a touch of fever or even anger. To satisfy individual devotee, in the way he looks forward to; She takes many forms as, Durga, Kali, Bhuvaneswari, Rajarajeswari, Annapoorneswari and so on and so on!

10. If you want to review all Her forms yourself, like in an album, for each form there is a 'mantra'. 'Mantra', is a combination of letters of particular sounds. She is of the form all the letters of the alphabet and all sounds of the phonetics. Mahakavi Kalidasa, who bloomed into poetical brilliance because of Her blessings, says in Syamala Dandakam, "sarva shabdatmike, sarva nadatmike, sarva varnathmike, sarva mantrathmike". Varna here does not mean colour or caste, but letter of the alphabet, 'aksharam'. The letters as a shape of sound and form as a shape of colours; are all from the same origin. They are closely related. Experts of Science agree on this. Different sound vibrations, create shapes on the surface of water, like a signature for that sound. A particular sound can create a particular shape.

11. There are sounds such as, one big wave, becoming gradually successively smaller and smaller waves, which is known as 'veesi tharangam'. One sound getting scattered in a blast as many smaller sounds, is known as, 'mukulam'. Like this, a variety of sounds, have been identified and classified into 51 Aksharas. They are known as 'Matruka Aksharas'. All the sound world are derivatives of these Mother sounds. So Ambal is in the shape of sounds and letters too. Amongst these when some combination of letters are chanted, their shape or form becomes visible. These combination of letters is what is known as 'Mantras'. All Mantras are Her form and shape only. When these mantras are chanted with unidirectional concentration of mind, body and intellect, Ambal will give us 'darshan' with all decorations, ornaments and weapons, as 'Sarva alankrutha bushitha'.

12. 'Pranavam' is the spring or source of all Mantras. From it came in to being, the entire universe of names and forms. 'Nadatmike' Ambal is Pranavam. Pranavam is the name of a combination of 'a' 'u' and 'm'. It is chanted as 'aum'. 'a' is creation, 'u' is maintenance and 'm' is destruction or 'samhara'. So Pranavam, 'aum' stands for the job of Brhma, Vishnu, Maheswara. This itself if started with letter 'u', Ambal's main concern of looking after Her children, it becomes, u...m...a. That is 'Uma'. Upanishad calls Her 'Uma Haimavathi'.

Sambhomahadeva.