Deivathin Kural Series - 178

Om Namah Sivaya.

Deivathin Kural # 178 of 05 Apr 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, 'Ambalai Upasippadin Palan', that is, 'Gains in Being a Devotee of Ambal', in pages 827 to 833, of Deivathin Kural, Volume 1.

2. The greatest advantage in being born as a human, is the opportunity to be a devotee of Mother Ambal. There can be nothing more pleasureful than to adore and rever Mother who is the tangible form of Love incarnate.
There are many religions of different shades and hues, with high sounding principled stands and philosophies. What ever you can gain by those methods and processes, one can attain easily by being devoted to Mother. Your prayer may be worded something like this:- "Amma! I am prone to all sorts of mistakes and blunders. Still, I have taken refuge in You. If You bless me, all my faults will vanish. You make me transform in to whatever You wish me to be". Repeatedly hand over yourself to Her like this. No other greater religion or rituals or ceremonies are required!
Once we are reconciled to the fact that everything happens by Her blessings, we become as light as a whiff of breath. No more tensions and heart burns. Then our natural self of 'Aanandam' becomes apparent.

3. To be able to pray to Ambal, is an end in itself. There is no need for further gain to be obtained. Still, since we are all victims of delusion of Maya, to forget the idea of 'me' and 'mine', and rever Her for Her sake, is not within our grasp and understanding, at least initially. Instead, we have many aspirations, expectations and ambitions. We start praying to Her for their fulfillment. She grants those prayers of ours, which are not against Dharma.

4. Acharyal knows very well about human nature. If He says at the very outset, that by praying to Mother, we will get Moksham, as the very purpose of our birth; though he may be very correct, no body will be interested. So while listing the advantages of becoming Ambal's devotee, in Soundarya Lahiri, initially he talks of education, wealth and physical well being. In the slokam starting with the words, "Saraswathya, Lakshmya.....", he gives a complete list of the gains accruing to the devotee. In such scriptures, 'Phala Sruthi', is normally the end portion. The reader will get the idea that by just chanting those slokas, he stands to gain the listed advantages. But Acharyal, who has not an iota of pride, while conversing with Mother says, "Amma, You give these gains to Your devotees".

5. The first windfall, in praying to Ambal is 'Saraswathi Kataksham', he says. That is good education. As a result of good education, our minds should become matured and balanced, leading to good character qualities. Then we will get 'Lakshmi Kataksham'. Generally, no one gives importance to good traits, as much as we give to more wealth! But, what is the use of more wealth, where good traits are lacking. Amma looking at a person praying for more wealth thinks, "Look at this child, it is asking for wealth, even before getting a balanced attitude. Mere wealth at this stage will only lead to going astray. Let me show him ways of learning, 'viveka' and teach him how to earn and spend the money so earned, in Dharmic ways." Like a mother feeds the child with what he wants, while simultaneously ensuring that he does not suffer by indigestion by giving him, the unasked for castor oil too, Ambal also first gives 'Saraswathi Kataksham, before Lakshmi Kataksham', to Her devotees, who are Her children.

6. Thaitreeya Upanishad similarly, talks of 'Medha' before 'Sri". Medha is what is, 'nalla buddhi', in Tamil. Acharyal while writing his Bhashyam to this Upanishad, says that, 'if a person gets wealth before getting Medha, such wealth will only create unmanageable problems'. In Bajha Govindam too, he says, 'daily once think that money can mean avoidable problems'. To Quote him, 'artham anartham bhavaya nithyam'!

7. Ambal's devotees, do not have to seperately pray to Lakshmi and Saraswathi. To pray to Ambal is, 'three in one'. They are standing on either side and waving the 'chamaram'. Lalitha Sahasranamam says so, "sachamara Rama Vani savya dakshina sevitha." All powers are based on Parasakthi. Saraswathi and Lakshmi are the two eyes of Kamakshi. K is Kartha, that is Brhma; M is for Mahavishnu. Siva is Parameswara. Add another 'a' to Siva, it becomes Sivaa, Siva's Patni. Similarly, 'Ka', stands for Brhma's Patni and 'Ma', stands for Vishnu's Patni. Ka + Ma + Eyes = Kamakshi. The one who has 'Ka' and 'Ma' as Her 'akshi' or eyes, is Kamakshi.

8. I said that, Saraswathi Kataksham and Lakshmi Kataksham are automatically available with Ambal's grace. There is a peculiarity in people's responses about these two things. Everybody long for Lakshmi Kataksham, while they all want to exhibit that they are already well endowed with Saraswathi Kataksham. That is, they want to project an image about themselves, as being very intelligent and knowledgeable. So no one seems to pray for Saraswathi Kataksham. But the real blessings of Saraswathi is not smartness and being clever. Gnanam and Viveka, are the two criteria. Gnanam is awareness of the Real and Eternal; and Viveka is knowing this Real and Eternal, as different from Unreal and Temporary. No one seem to care for these two qualities.

9. We are quite happy with our intelligence and our capabilities in duping others. Our prayers are always directed towards Lakshmi, since no one is ever satisfied with the wealth he or she has. Contrary to showing off our assets of intelligence and brains, we want to hide our material wealth. If some one says that we are smart or intelligent, we are flattered. If the comment is about our bank balance, we get annoyed. That is because, we are never happy with what we have. Actually dicontentment is poverty! Instead, we could be rich by being contented.

10. With brains and wealth, all of us desire that we should be beautiful. As we all think that we are intelligent, brainy and smart, we all have a notion that we are beautiful also. That is why we do so much of decoration. We spend a lot on dresses, and cosmetics. Daily fashions are changing. Even though we may be proccupied with bodily attractiveness, Ambal sanctions this too. In that slokam I mentioned earlier, starting with the words, 'Saraswathya, Lakshmya', the 99th sloka of Soundarya Lahiri, Acharyal affirms that, Ambal's devotee will be endowed with Saraswathi's Kataksham to the extent that Brhma himself will feel jealous; Lakshmi's Kataksham so much that Mahavishnu may feel discontentment; and will be so attractive that Rathi may wonder if that devotee is actually Manmatha?!

11. What is the use of all these endowments, without long life? That is also in store for the devotee. Acharyal says that, all this will accrue to the devotee, forever!

12. 'What else does one want?', you may wonder. Now only, the question of Ambal's supreme 'Anugraha' will be addressed. 'For so long, we have had all the blessings of health, wealth, brains and so on. But in all this when have we got satisfaction and wholesomeness? With all this too, one can still be flitting from one satisfaction to another to another. The question remains, 'then what?' Though often this question may raise its head, we have no time to listen to it. Next moment, Maya takes us far away. 'Money wanted, education wanted, beauty wanted, long life wanted, wanted, wanted', and so on. Thus each want, before its fulfillment, raises another and keeps us tied down, like cattle tied to a peg. Like cattle we keep going round and round, within a certain perimeter. Through the process of satisfying all our wants, Ambal enables us to raise above all the sensual and mind wise satisfactions. Ambal's devotee is enabled to transcend to the state of no more needs and no more wants. That transcendence is Ambal's real Anugraha!

Sambhomahadeva.