Deivathin Kural # 23 (of Vol 2 ) of 01 Sep 2007.

Om Namah Sivaya.Deivathin Kural # 23 (of Vol 2 ) of 01 Sep 2007.(Continued from, Deivathin Kural # 22 (of Vol 2 ) of 31 Aug 2007.)19. 'Kapi' means monkey. 'Hrudaya kapi' means, the mind that is a monkey. We do not have to get anything new from God. We do not have to get anything, that we do not have already, that we have to get from Him newly! We have not become aware of our true self. Our real self is total happiness. It is Paramatma itself. Having hidden from ourself our true being, by our own mind, we are endlessly on a futile search for our true being. 'Enable me to become aware of my true identity. It is this mind of mine that is playing this monkey trick. It is enough, if you tie this up by love. You take away from me this villainous mind, which is preventing me from seeing my true self. You are my protector, who has to give me back to me.' That is our prayer.20. We do not have the maturity of even the baby~cat, which entrusts itself completely to its mother's care. Our mind is vacillating like a monkey. Neither have we the maturity of atleast the baby~monkey! Being a monkey, we seem to desire the protection as given by the mother~cat! So, let us adopt the third path of Sankaracharyal and pray to God to control our minds.21. Initially such a prayer will not be a constant all-time-prayer, as after all we have not imbibed the 'markata~kisora~ nyaayam'. Some time, we feel some need to pray. Some times for a minute or two, we intensely feel the necessity to control our minds. Then let us follow Sankaracharyal' s lead. "I am not totally a monkey, though most of the time, it is 'atyanta chapalam', meaning, 'extremely cranky!' When it comes to firmly catching hold of the Mother, it is not behaving as the monkey does." Where it should behave like a monkey, it is not. This is like saying, 'that eligible bachelor has all the qualifications to marry your daughter, except being short of manners and morals!'22. So, as far as I am concerned, You should do as the Mother~cat takes care of it's young. But, when I am not fully behaving as a monkey, it is not correct on my part to request you to behave fully as the Mother~cat, either. I do not deserve that big a favour from You! Still I have somehow controlled my monkey-like behaviour for a short interval and come to You to pray, is it not so? For this attitude to get strengthened, You tie me up by the leash of Love and Bakthi. I will run away from you as far as that rope permits me. You also enjoy my antics. But do not let me get away from You completely.23. Thus, though I am not sticking on to You completely, if You give enough rope while simultaneously keep me in check, that is all I can expect from You at this stage. When this relation between You and me develops to a stage in which, either I totally catch hold of You like a 'markata~kisoram' or totally leave everything to Your care, like a 'marjhara~kisoram' ; let such a stage develop when it has to happen. Till then bear with my misbehaviour and enable me to develop my Devotion and Love for You. This is how we should pray to God, shows Acharyal!24. In the stage we find ourselves in, let us pray, asking for devotion. Then once the Bakthi matures, we will see, whether it is the attitude of, 'markata~kisoram or marjhara~kisoram' . For both, as the foundation there is necessity for us to be devoted to God; is it not so?25. From Acharyal's slokam, it seems that both the attitude and response, are mixed and tentative. To the extent that we do make a prayer to God, it means that, we are catching hold of the Mother. But the firmness of the grip is not satisfactory. We are afraid that, we may let go any time. We are not trusting enough of God's hold on us either. We still need to be assured of that. So that I may not slip off, tie me up by the rope of Love - 'drudam bakthya banthva bavath adinam kuru' - should be our prayer.26. Acharyal did not say, tie me up by the rope of Your Grace. If He says so, it would be very similar to the Mother~Cat's action that, there is and will be, no role to play for the baby~cat / monkey / individual. Acharyal does not mean that. 'Bakthya banthva' and not by Your Grace. 'Tie me up by my devotion to You', is not exactly like what Manikkavachagar said either. He said, '...bakthi valayil paduvon...', as though, God is running away from us and will fall in our trap! Neither are we tying up God by our rope of devotion, nor are we catching Him in our bakthi-net. That would be tantamont to, 'markata~kisora~ nyaayam'.27. Neither of the two methods of 'markata / marjhara~kisora~ nyaayam' are applicable in what Acharyal is saying. He is delicately mixing both. We do not have the ripeness and maturity, to first of all have bakthi; let alone be able to tie up God in that bakthi! At the beginning, He has to give us that elementary devotion itself. Then, without our devotion, it is wrong to expect God on His own, to take us to the destination, also. So we should be praying to God to give us this tendency to be devoted, as Manikka Vachagar says, "Avan arulaale avan thal vanangi". Then, by the intensity of our devotion, He should grant us the 'Ultimate Anubhava'. This inter-mingling of 'human effort' and 'devine blessings', seems more just and appropriate, that is 'nyaayam'.28. Now, let Him give us initiation into devotion, as a subtle thread. Then later, our tying Him up by our devotion, is only a possibility in the distant future. For the present, let Him see to it that we do not go astray, and remain within limits. Thus Acharyal is finding a via-media, between the two 'nyaayas', in both the baby's and mother's, attitude and behaviour. In 'prapaththi' i.e., surrender siddhanta, we can argue about, whether we should be actionless like the baby~cat or catch hold of the Mother like the baby~monkey, and come to some conclusion. When it comes to practice, neither method seems easily adoptable. The third method of praying to God to give us devotion, is what Acharyaal is suggesting.29. For the present, by this third method, let us pray to God to give us a true sense of devotion. Then let us be devoted to God, to the extent possible, as much as we can. Then let it take us to the 'markata~kisora~ nyaaya' or 'Maarjhara~kisora~ nyaaya'; or Acharyal's Gyaana Marga. After all, all rivers have to reach the ocean one day and all waves have to reach the shore one day! We leave it to God.30. "Keep me on a leash under Your control", is Acharyal's prayer, by which our devotion is left as God's blessing. In His bhashyas and Adwaita Prakarana Granthas though, Easwara Aaradana is talked of as a means of concentrating the mind. No where is it said that, this devotion itself is to be earned as God's blessing. The reason for this is that, those books are meant for Sadhaks who are already far advanced in the path of Bakthi, capable of meditation and attaining the ultimate Gyana. There the sadhak is required to tie up his own mind on a tight leash. Here in 'Sivananda Lahari', He is showing the Path of Bakthi for the sake of the common lot of people. Here Acharyal prays to God telling Him, to tie the sadhak's mind by the rope of devotion.31. 'Hrudaya kapim athyanta chapalam', Acharyal says. Though God as the monkey tamer, initially will give a long rope, successively He will tighten the string so that, the monkey will be tamed to such an extent that, it would have completely stopped it's antics. When the mind has come to a stand-still and God is also not doing His job as the Tamer, such a stage is what is called, 'Mano Nigraha', which is the end state of Adwaita Anubhava. So it seems that, this sloka while being the initial step in devotion, could also take us to the ultimate.32. Later in another sloka, this idea comes out more clearly. There the mind of ours is equated to a 'rutting Elephant'. He says, "tie up this Elephant by the tool of Gnana, to the peg of your feet". "hrudaya madepam padana chityantrai: ". Having said 'bakthya banthva' [to mean 'tie me up by the rope of devotion to You'], in the earlier quoted sloka; here He says, 'padana chit yantrai:', [to mean 'tie me up by the instrument of gnana]. What is clear from all this is, whether it is Bakthi initially or Gnana in the end; it is all God's blessings only, at all times. He gives us all; the mind, devotion, gnanam and moksham.33. We know that we have a mind, since it is doing all the monkey tricks. So let us first ask for devotion. That will enable us for one of the surrender methods. Even the idea of 'surrender' of Bakthi Marg, is tantamount to 'not having a plan or sankalpa of our own', comparable with the 'mano laya: / naasha: / nigraha:', of the Gnana Marg. What is done, (to stop the mind from doing it's monkey tricks), by 'atma vichara' in one is done by devotion in the other. Anyhow the starting point is Devotion or Bakthi. So as Acharyal has taught us, let us pray to God, to kindly keep this monkey of our minds, nicely tied, under His control!:-"me hrudaya kapim athyanta chapalamdrudam bhakthya banthvasiva bhavath adeenam kuru vibho!"Sambhomahadeva.