Deivathin Kural # 11 (of Vol 2 ) of 16 June 2007.

Om Namah Sivaya.Deivathin Kural # 11 (of Vol 2 ) of 16 June 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, 'Adwaitam', in pages 81 to 90, of Deivathin Kural, Volume 2. (Unless otherwise specified, 'He' herein includes 'She'.)2. What exactly is Adwaitam ? How can we use it ? Can we really benefit from it directly or through knowledge of it ? Is it all only at the level of some high esoteric principle, of no use in actual life ? Or can we bring it to some use in practice ? Let us think about these questions and try to find answers.3. What is the meaning of the word 'Adwaitam' ? It means, 'without a second'. This 'not having a second', is not our practical experience. We see everything in great numbers. We see everything in thousands, lacs and millions. Why should we say, 'no second'. What is the use, if there is no second ?4. Whatever we are trying to do, that can be achieved only by 'Adwaitam'. What are we trying to do ? We are all trying hard to get rid of our problems and be happy and comfortable. Is it not so ? That riddance of problems and discomfort, can only be achieved permanently by 'Adwaitam'. Poverty, hunger, disease, insult, hurt, disrespect, misunderstanding, fear, threat; are the sort of things, we are all trying to get rid of and persevering very hard for it. But is there any place on earth, where these problems are not there. Is there any city or town or country, where people are not faced with man-made or natural calamities ? If you overcome one major problem, another one seems just around the corner ! Of course, we can never expect to have ever lasting peace and happiness by our efforts. It would be foolish to expect such utopian existance. So we continue to persevere. We get some temporary relief and we celebrate. We give medicines for one disease and get cured. Another disease is in the pipe line. This happens at the individual level as well as organizational, corporate, national and human levels. The permanent solution for all these problems is only 'Adwaitam'. By that, we can arrange not to be affected by any of these problems namely, poverty, hunger, disease and death.5. Why do we suffer ? We suffer because we are subjected to, poverty, hunger, insult to self respect and prestige and or physical ill treatment. If we do not have these things, we may never know suffering. But they are there. Let us see as to how we are related to all these sufferings. Only till the physical body is there, we have to suffer, thirst, hunger, disease and death. Once this body perishes, another body comes and that suffers from, thirst, hunger, disease and death. This means that till the body is there, the suffering will also be there and there is scope for others to ill-treat.. So, if we can do away with the body, we can get rid of suffering too.6. We have many births. What causes those repeated births and deaths ? Why do we get a body ? What ever good and bad we have done in the past lives, we have to undergo and experience. Atma cannot experience 'Paapam and Punniyam', ( meaning, the effects of our good and bad deeds). Atma cannot be burnt. You cannot apply a thick paste of sandal-wood on Atma to cool it. So, to experience the resultant effects of our own Karma, (the Paapam and Punniyam), God gives us the body and makes us think that, we are that body. For the sins of the past, God gives us the body, as part of the 'Sikshai' (or corrective lesson). If the account does not tally and some negative balance is still pending at the end of this life, one more body and one more birth. If we do not add to the aggregate of Papam, it may work out in this life itself, then may be no more birth and no more body. Every day the thought that we should not do Papam, must come to our mind.7. What is the reason for Papam and Punyam ? We do want to stop it; but not able to. If we want a tree to stop growing, it is not enough to cut the branches. We have to cut it from the root. If the wooden beam in the roof is repeatedly being eaten away by termite, it is not enough to destroy one colony of termites physically, as it will come up with yet another. You have to locate the mother termite and destroy it. Like that we have to identify the root cause and destroy it. What is the root cause for Papam ? Papam is the effect of Sin. Why do we Sin ? We have desire for something. We want to attain it by whatever means. We are ready to commit sins for it. The main reason for sin, is desire. If something is beautiful, we desire to own it. If something is good, we want to have it. To satisfy this desire, we undertake actions. So, the reason for desire is, that the senses hve identified that thing as diserable to be obtained. 8. The crux of what I have spoken for so long is this. The punishment for all our Papam is the body. The root of Papam is sin. The reason for sin is desire. If we tackle desires, we can do away with the cause for all pains and sorrow. How to do away with desires ? Upanishads which are the effulgent peaks and commanding heights of Vedas, show us the way. Love and hate, desire and dislike, arises towards the second and third person and not the first person. With ourselves, we have neither love nor hate. We neither approve of ourselves, nor are we highly critical. If we make the second and third person, into the first person; then there is no place for love or hate; desire or dislike. We passionately desire something now, because we think that it is different than us, or it belongs to somebody else. If we think of it as ourself, or everything as ours, then the problem is solved. There is nothing other than us, in the whole world. Everything in some way is our-self only. Once this realization sets in, no more misplaced desires, no more papam, no more need for another birth, another life time, another body ! No body means no sorrow born of deprivation, hate, greed and envy. What we could not achive by our efforts over many life-times, namely 'getting rid of problems and sorrows', is achieved simply by changing our perspective ! In realising or even imagining, that there is nobody and nothing other than ourselves, 'no- second', it has become possible, to get rid of sorrow permanently ! 'Adwaitam' affirms that there is no second !!9. If there is a second and if it is more powerful than us, it creates fear. If it is beautiful, it creates attraction and desire. If there is no second, the reactions of fear, desire and hate; are not there. Upanishad says that, when there is no second, fear vanishes. Adwaitam, insists that the second is non-existant. If you think of anything as 'second, i.e., something else', you have instantly sown the seeds of fear says, Brhad Aranyaka Upanishad, "dwiteeyatvai bhayam bhavathi" ! (KTSV adds:- Remember the answer given by Dharmaraja to the Yaksha, in Maha Bharatha, (when four of his brothers, who had come to the pond to fetch water, could be seen lying apparently dead; ) to the question, " What is fear due to ?". His answer was, "It is due to the second !") There are many millions of humans, life forms, things and millions of each variety, in this world. How to make the second disappear ?10. Vedantam says that all the variety of things we see in this world are false, really not there. It says that everything is, an assumed form of the same, one, Parabrhmam or Easwara. If you exclaim that, it does not seem so to you, the answer is that, 'either what seems to us must be a 'lie' or Easwara, is imagined' ! If what seems to us is true, Easwara is a lie ! If our vision is true, then we are real and we should not suffer. But we do suffer. Those great thinkers and philosophers, swamis and rishis, who have made vedanta anubhava their way of life; do not suffer. They are happy all the time ! They do not experience any problems and even when experiencing the difficulties, they are able to keep a cheerful attitude. So, I believe that, what Vedantam says is correct. If so, 'that anything and everything is an expression of God', should become clear without a doubt.11. 'Adwaitam' says that all that we see in this world, including the world itself, is a lie. They appear to be real. The basis for all this, the back-ground, the back-drop, that foundation on which this whole edifice rests; is real. It can be called the Brhmam or Atma, says Adwaitam. In worldly parlance, we say Easwara. Brhmam has no character qualities, since it is not qualified or conditioned, by any adjective. (I am not coming to the aspect of Easwara being Saguna and Brhma being Nirguna in this analysis.) If everything is Easwara, are we something else ? No. All the differentiation will have to be dissolved. Then there is no second. 12. Think of what I am talking about, setting aside the concepts of Time and Space ingrained into you over the years. We are now seeing everything as so many different things. To see them all as Easwara is the real vision ! Without a second, if we dissolve ourselves, good happens. Sorrow vanishes. In the day-to-day affairs too, if two minds join, conflict ceases. Like that, if everything becomes one Easwara, no problem, all peace. Then everything and everybody, becomes 'us'. No more desire, lust, anger and hate. No more Papam. No papam means no need for assuming a body. Gnanam happens. Another body will not come. No body means no sorrow. Pure, secondless, singular bliss occurs. No 'Deham' means no 'Duhkam'. Adwaitam does away with the second. To see everything as God is Adwaitam. To see the Truth as it is, as true, is Adwaitam.13. We sleep; wake up from sleep. While asleep, some times we dream. The wakeful state is called, 'jagrat' awastha. Dreaming is called 'swapna' awastha. Sleeping deep without a dream is 'sushupthi' awastha. There are three such stages. 'Jagrat' is meant for doing all the work. 'Sushupthi' is required for resting, when we become tired by doing all that work. These two stages are enough. Why do we need the third stage ? What is the 'Swapna' stage meant for ? I could not find any usefulness for the 'Swapna' stage, other than to make us understand that, Easwara is everywhere as everything. Swapna is as an example to prove the point that, as the world and chracters in the 'swapna' stage are unreal, so is this world and characters in it. Sometimes, the world looks like a dream. In the dream, we experience many difficulties and pleasures. When the dream finiishes or abruptly disturbed, the scenery disappears. There is no such world. Even our dream body vanishes. What seems so real when the dream lasts, is undoubtedly unreal in the 'jagrat' stage ! The only person who knows about the dream is the one who dreamt. It is his thoughts, which were seen as so many people and things and events ! Even the dreamer is not real. He knows that he dreamt. That knowledge or awareness is the only real thing, in the entire episode ! Similarly, if you wake up from this worldly dream, everything and every event and persons in it will disappear. Only the knowledge or awareness will remain in balance. That is true. That is Adwaitam. What thousands see is 'Dwaitam'. Though we believe in Adwaitam, we are seeing the dream of Dwaitam. If we wake from this dream, it is Adwaitam !14. At least if the idea of what i have spoken above, remains in the mind,may be one person in hundreds of thousands may make an attempt to fully realise that. The great Adwaita philosophers, wrote all that in the adwaita Sastras, to keep the door open for that one man in lacs, who may make an attempt. It is not enough, if we know that Ganga exists in Kasi. We have to buy the ticket and make the journey and make 'Ganga Snaan' as an experience happen !15. Veda says that the 'Adwaita', anubhava is one from which, the mind and speech return 'without reaching or without comprehension' :-" yatho vacho nivarthanthe aprapya manasa saha I " - Taitreeya Upanishad. If we cannot think with the mind, then how to know ? What does the Veda say ? What is the meaning of saying that, the Truth of Adwaita is not comprehensible or understandable by the human mind ?If Paramatma, can be thought of or knowable by mind, then Paamatma becomes a knowable thing. If we say the Parmatma is knowable, it means that the knower is another entity. This is patently wrong. Knowing Jeevatma, and knowable Paramatma, is not Adwaitam but Dwaitam. The knower and known are one in Adwaitam ! That is why it is said that, 'When someone says that he knows Paramatma, he does not know and the one who says that he does not know, knows !':-"yasya amatham thasya matham, matham yasya na veda sa : II" - Kenopanishad.16. What is the meaning of not known ? The knower has to be the subject and the known has to be the object. When the subject and object are one and the same, it cannot know itself. Let me explain with an example. You do not need a light to show the light. Brhma Gnanam is like that. It is self effulgent. By it's light everything is known, It cannot be known by Jeevatma, with its very limited capabilities. Easwara is knowledge itself. Thevaram, Thiruvasagam and Thayumanavar songs; are all at one place or another, refer to the Paramatma as 'Arive, arivin uruve', meaning, the form of knowing awareness. The Knower, Known and Knowledge, were, are and will be one. This cannot know that, in Adwaitam, because all seperateness has dissolved. 17. It cannot be thought of by the mind. Mind is able to think because of it. All that is thought of by the mind, is a lie. By whatever the mind is enabled to comprehend, is the only thing that is true:-"yan manasa na manuthe yenaahur mano matham I" - Kenopanishad. All that is seen in a dream is a lie. The seeing ability is the only truth. The Atma itself is all the things seen in a dream and also is the balance, residue, remainder. Can you know the dream character and ask for an introduction ? You can know something if it is different from yourself and can never know if not different. That is the reason that Adwaita Satyam is not within the grasp of the mind and speech.18. Let us sum up, what we have learnt to-day. Truth is one. That one is God, Easwara. That one is seen as many by Maya. We must see them as one, including ourselves, me, mine, myself, we, us and ours. For that we should read the Adwaita Sastras. The process and methodology includes, reading and abiding with the Sruthi, Smruthi, Purana, visit to temples, visit to holy places, paying obeisance to divinity, doing good to others, caring for the parents, guests, taking good care of aged, poor uncared for people and living upto high ideals of morality. We pay for the various things of life. For the Adwaita, which gives permanent everlasting peace and bliss, we can sacrifice anything ! When Yagnavalkya gave Upadesa to Janaka, he was so full of gratitude, that he gave his entire empire and finally himself, to Yagnyavalkya: -"videhaan dadaami maam chaapi saha dasyaaya" - Brihad Aranyakam.19. The wooden beams in the roof, will continue to be eaten away by the termites, despite destroying the termite's sand enclosures, till the Mother termite is located and removed. The basic reason for all the Kama and Krodha and related problems; is the idea of seperateness - that is Dwaitam. Once that is overcome, the reason for repeated life - death cycle will come to an end. The easiest, initial path for Adwaita, is through devotion, says Appayya Deekshidar. You may all kindly follow his advice and attain to Adwaita Anubhava.Sambhomahadeva.