DEIVATHIN KURAL # 113 (of Vol 2) Dt 29 May 2008

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 113 (of Vol 2) Dt 29 May 2008

(This is continued from Deivathin Kural # 112 (of Vol 2) of 27 May 2008. These are translations of talks given by Periyaval of Kanchi Kamakoti peetam, over a period of some sixty years while he was the pontiff in the earlier part of last century. These have been published in Tamil by Vanadi Padippagam, Chennai, in seven volumes of a thousand pages each, as Deivathin Kural. To day we are proceeding ahead of Page 838 of volume 2, of the Tamil original. )

43. Having been born as a Brahmin, he is required to maintain a very high level of physical, mental and spiritual purity in, thoughts, speech and action! He has more restrictions than anybody else. His body is not meant for sensual pleasures. It is meant to protect and maintain the Vedas, through learning, practicing and spreading of the Vedas. It is meant to go through rigorous privations of Tapasya and long periods of abnegation. Vasishta Smruthi says, “brahmanasya sariram tu na upabhoghaaya kalpate! Iha klesaaya mahate”! So that he may learn the Vedas and chant them for the benefit of the humanity at large, is he given the Yagnopaveetam through Upanayanam. Thus he is supposed to protect the Vedas and thereby protect and take care of the welfare of all the living beings. He is to think of his own livelihood only after having completed his duties. He is not to look at others and feel jealous that they are doing a comparatively easier job
and getting sufficient remuneration. In turn, the whole society also thought that, as long as the Brahmin was doing his duties of Nitya Karma Anushtana, Adhyayanam, Adhyapakam and Yagnas it was good enough; and that the society itself should take care of his material and monetary requirements. That is why Kings and regional leaders of other castes, endowed the Brahmins with Manyams, excused payment of taxes, enabling them to work uncaring for income. Now, since the situations have drastically changed, it has become necessary for the Brahmin to look for a regular source of income, either through Purohitam or otherwise. But, he is not to look for becoming too wealthy still. He is not to look for making money through degrading methods of moral turpitude. Brahminhood and poverty go hand in hand. He is to live a life of denial and abnegation, if he is to attain to the effulgence of Gnaana. So he is not to forego his methods of not running after
money. He does not need all that wealth, if it entails that, he has to forego his way of life. His main duty is to protect, sustain and propagate the Vedas and Veda mantras. Earning an income is only a secondary requirement.
44. If he protects the fire of Mantra-Sakti, that automatically caters for the welfare of the whole world. Whosoever may be troubled by any problems or trials and tribulations; the brahmin’s mantra sakti, should be powerful enough to alleviate and ameliorate. When approached by others in periods of difficulty, if he were to say, “Sorry! I can do nothing, since I am also sailing in the same boat”, then his being born as a Brahmin itself is a sheer waste! Mantra Sakti of the brahmin is almost extinguished, now-a-days. The body of Brahmin is gone crude and out of shape. It is polluted by addition of many avoidables and detestables! Only some embers or sparks are still there. That has to be nurtured so that it may catch up to a powerful glow, at some future date may be! That spark is the power of Gayatri Mantra, carried over the generations traditionally.

45. Power of Gayatri Mantra. For three generations, if Gayatri has been ignored, they are not to call themselves as Brahmins any more! The street in which such people live cannot be called an ‘Agrahara’ anymore, as it used to be known. Three generations have not come to pass yet! Till a generation back, at least in South India, except in rare cases, Gayatri Mantram had not gone by default. For three generations if they have not been doing their Yagnas, they are bad and spoiled Brahmins. Still they could claim themselves to be Brahmins at least ‘name sake’. But if Gayatri has been ignored for three generations, they loose their right to call themselves a brahmin any more. There is no ‘Prayaschittam’ or expiation any more. He can only claim to be related to Brahmins, that is a ‘brahmina bandu’. Kshatriya or Vysya who has not chanted Gayatri similarly for three generations, becomes a Kshatriya/Vysya bandu.

46. So, that spark has to be blown into a raging fire! It still has that potential. So at least on Sundays, those who have Poonool / Yagnyopaveetam, should chant the Gayatri mantra 1,008 times. They should bring in self control in restrictions in food and other habits. For the sake of enhancing the mantra power, they should aim to keep their mind, heart and body at a high level of cleanliness. For not doing one’s duty for so long, they should do the necessary expiation. “…sahasra parama devi sata madya dasavara…”, is the mantra of ‘Taitriya Aranyaka’, which states that, ‘to chant a thousand times is best; hundred times is just OK, and at least ten times’. The ‘sandya’ in the morning, at noon and evening ‘sandya’, at least ten times the Gayatri japam should be done, however busy one may be. Morning sandya, is the time of day break, when the world is still not yet fully woken up. Birds are chirping in the trees. There is
peace and quiet in the atmosphere. At 12 noon too, people are a bit tired with the heat of the day. Evening sandya again is a time of transition, when the whole world is turning home bound from their work load! These three occasions when Gayatri should be meditated as Gayatri, Savitri and Saraswati. She should be thought of, in the morning as ‘Brhma Roopini’, in the after noon as ‘Siva Roopini’ and in the evening as ‘Vishnu Roopini’.
47. All the Mantra Sakti of the entire Vedas are potentially in the Gayatri Mantra. The power to those other mantras accrues from this Gayatri. If this is not chanted, other mantras will not have any effect. People use hypnotism for many purposes. Think of Gayatri mantra as the hypnotism for attaining to Moksha. At the cost of forgoing all other worldly involvement, we should take it up as the most important task in front of us. This spark has to be blown back in to life!
48. In Sandyavandanam, ‘argyam’ and Gayatri mantra, are the most important. Other parts of the Sandyavandanam have only a supportive role. Those who are physically unwell or disabled for some reason may have a short cut of doing only argyam and a minimum of ten gayatri mantras. But everyone is not to use the short cut routinely. It is best done with all its parts as far as possible at all times. More critical the conditions of Existance, more the reason for sticking to the schedule of Sandyavandanam. It is said that during the Maha Bharata war, when the soldiers could not get water, they gave argyam with dust!
49. This argyam is to be given in the time just before sun-set, sun-rise and at noon. There was one Siddha by name Idaikkattu siddhar. Siddhas are such saintly persons, who have attained to God realization or self realization or Moksha or Nirvana; which all mean the same thing. It also means that they have attained to the eight siddhis. Actually they do not attain to something new. From the wrong notion of themselves to be a mortal with limited capabilities, they get the realization that they are one with the all the powers of Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence and so on! In their being aware of their oneness with the universal power, they are not even aware of their own greatness and other powers accruing to them! Their talk or actions can never be easily understood. Idaikkattu Siddhar used be a shepherd like Thirumoolar. He said, “kaanaamal konaamal kandu kodu. Aadu kaan poguthu paar poguthu paar.” ‘Kaanaamal’ means, before the
Sunrise. ‘Konaamal’ means, before the Sun crosses the zenith. ‘Kandu’ means, while the Sun is still visible, that is before Sunset. ‘Kodu’ means, give argyam. ‘Aadu’ means take bath in rivers such as Ganges. ‘Kaan’ means see places of spiritual ennoblement such as ‘Sethu darsanam’. ‘Poguthu paar’ means, ‘see your sins being washed away. Put all of them together and you know that he says, that by doing Sandyavandanam three times a day, do Ganaga Snaanam and see the Sethu constructed by Sri Rama. Bring the water from the river Ganges and do Abishekam to Ramalinga Swami in Rameswaram and see all your sins being washed away! This is not a statement made up just now! This is the tradition of what is India!!!

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva.