Deivathin Kural # 55 of (Vol 2) of 02 Nov 2007.

Om Namah Sivaya.

Deivathin Kural # 55 of (Vol 2) of 02 Nov 2007.

( continued from Deivathin Kural # 54 of (Vol 2) of 30 Nov 2007.)

12. It was Sayanachariyar's Bhashyam which was much known and in use and quoted about. But, there was a clear threat that it may disappear. Whosoever was learning the Vedas were proceeding to 'Adhyaapana', without ever learning the meaning. Those who were studying the Kavyas and Saastras, were not even doing the Adhyayanam. This resulted in the the liklyhood of the total collapse of the whole edifice. That is the time the Shashti Abda Poorthy Trust came into existance. Initially when the Trust started conduct of exams, Veda Bhashyam was only in book form. Those who had printed the books were worried as to how they were going to recover the capital invested in getting the books printed! After creation of the Trust, since we catered for the stipend for those taking up study of bhashyam, and made the books available to them free of charges, the long unsold books found a market for themselves, causing us to go for a reprint! It is all God's grace that there was a demand for those books even amongst those not directly involved in the profession of Learning and Teaching Vedas.

13. If we are conducting a marriage or upanayanam or seemantham, a few days before the day of the actual event, we should call the Veda Pandithar and get briefed on the Mantras being used in that function and its meaning with reference to the context, which may not be possible on the day of the function itself. This briefing will make the Karma, and the mantras so much more meaningful and satisfying. In the marriages conducted now-a-days, there is no time. Whom to keep as the 'band'; whether to have reception before the marriage or after the marriage; which Kalyana Mandapam; what should be the route of Mappilly Azhaippu; should we arrange music concert or a dance programme; and such questions take up all our time, that we have no time whatsoever for the Mantras and Vaidika Purohit. We want to make some positive changes here. If there are some people interested and have time, we wish to meet their needs, for which some have got to be prepared. When we are spending a lot of money and calling all our friends and relatives; it is in the rightness of things to give due attention to this important aspect of the Mantras and their meaning.

14. It is said that, the Mantras are more effective when we understand the meaning. We have not reached the stage to completely renege on Karmas, but still doing it half heartedly. But if we now give attention to the meaning of the Mantras, the actions will be that much more fruitful. We are not giving up for reasons of some fear, is it not so? Once we know that to do the Karma without giving attention to the sense behind it, is equally bad and as good as not doing; may be that we will be motivated to give the Mantras and its meaning the attention they deserve. Saantokya Upanishad clearly says, "...yadeva vidyaya karoti...thadeva veeryavattaram bhavathi..."[Saantokya: I.1.10]. That is to say that, '...whosoever does the Karma with understanding, the mantras become that much more powerful...'.

15. One man is the Kartha in the Marriage ceremony getting married, or getting the 'Poonal' thread. He or his Father chants the Mantras. What is everybody else doing? Others are participating by, talking, eating, dancing, playing cards and so on. That is not how it was meant to be. When very respectable Veda Mantras are being chanted, they should be listened to. That will be some method of honouring the host and the Vedas. If you carefully listen to the meaning of the Mantras, though you are not the Karta, it will still be good and useful. Aswamedha Yaagam is done by one Yajamaanan. Not everybody has the power or authority and wherewithal to be able to do that big Yagnam. At any time there will only be one King, supreme enough in the whole world, to be able to do that Yaagam. But that one Yaagam is said to endow enormous amount of benefit. Are all those benefit meant only for that one Man? Do you mean to say, that when he does that Yaagam, there is no one other than him worthy at all in this whole world? Actually Vedam is not meant to be partial to a few. The general common benefit for the widest range of people, is always the purpose of the Vedas. If I install a light here, it will not only be useful to me. Many can and do benefit in the process.

16. Yes Karta will reap major benefits. But others could also gain as much as the Karta. The way for this is clearly spelt out in the Vedas themselves. Other Kings in attendance could get to know as to how to go about it, if nothing else. They could also give due attention to the Mantras and get to know the meaning. If he does all this, he gets the benefit of having conducted an Aswameda Yaagam. This is given in Aswameda Prakaranam. Exactly similarly, in whatever function including even obsequies, if the participants follow the meaning of the Mantras, they stand to benefit immensely!

My Duty.

17. My duty in all this is to keep repeatedly reminding you all that it is your duty to protect the Vedas. Whether you listen to me or not; whether I have power to make you work or not; to endlessly keep on telling you, pestering you, is my job. Acharyal has created this Matham for the purpose of protecting and propogating the Vedas. Whatever I may or may not do otherwise, in what ever way I may dupe you all otherwise, if I do this job somewhat sincerely, my all other faults will be compensated for. If I fail in this, and if I do not do justice to this task of mine; it will be unpardonable. That is why I am repeatedly talking about 'Veda Rakshanam'.

18. Iam not only telling you all about this very important need, but am also doing a lot of planning and executing those schemes. For this I beg you for funds. If not begging, think of it as an order from me. Take it as a request or an order, somehow the job has to be done. "vedam odiya vediyarkkor mazhai; needhi mannar neriyinarkkor mazhai; maadar karppudai mangayarkkor mazhai; maadam moonru mazhai enappeyyume", it is believed. It says that there will be three rains every month. One rain for the sake of Brahmins who chant the Vedas as required of them; one rain for the King who rules over the land without deviating from the path of justice; and one rain for the woman folk who do not stray from being devoted and faithful to their husbands; thus there will be three rains every month!

19. In these three conditions, 'the rule of the Government's being in the strict path of justice is not at all in my hands, being a sanyasi and that too apolitical'. In the other two areas, as the 'Samiyar of the Matham' I am thinking that I have a responsibility. If you ask me as to what could be my role in controlling the women's behaviour, It is only that, since there are a lot of things going against, 'Sthri Dharma', it does become my duty to keep on pointing out as to what is going wrong. Till 'Balya Vivaham' was there, the opportunity for men and women to go astray was rather limited. When already married, any thought of the opposite sex would mostly automatically bring before the mind's eye, the image of that one already existing, as a partner for life. But if that attraction towards the other sex occurs after a certain age, and if you are still unmarried, the chances of your going astray are more. Since the Government already has enforced the 'Sarada Act', our hands are rather tied. But I can always ask you to go into this aspect in more detail and study ways and means of obviating the likelyhood of young people going astray. So many Acts are amended or changed. This Act could also be amended towards which I would like to influence the public opinion. Though I am still talking about this, looking at the co-education in colleges further leading to equal employment to women in all sorts of professions; there does not seem to be any options for me, whatsoever. ( KTSV adds:- Actually, he says that he is losing heart and hope; and that he does not see any options other than inner blood-letting instead of tears! In his time, he did not see women being enrolled in Police and Army, Navy and Air-Force! In USA to-day, people are on an average four times married/divorced. The news is that, despite all his other pre-occupations, their President has announced a massive programme of so many billions for combating AIDS amongst the teen age population of that country! What is the state of affairs in India, I leave it to your imagination! )

20. For all the ills of the society, if the brahmins chant the Vedas faultlessly, the aberrations of the Government and the Women's behaviour and faithfulness(which includes Men's behaviour too), will automatically become alright, I believe. It is in this firm belief that, I am seriously doing my all, towards Veda Rakshanam. For this you have to spare your children. For this you have to give your financial help. Children of poor families to be able to do Adhyayanam, books, clothing, food, teacher's fees and so on has to come from you. We have kept the level really low, to enable more participation, at Rs.1/- per month per family. For this you will be recieving, in addition to the 'Punyam' you gain for helping out the Veda Mata, 'Vibhuthi, Kumkumam and Mantratchadai', of the Chandra Mouleeswara Puja, every month. If you let us know your 'birth star', your name will be included on that day's puja, when your star happens to be. The programme has been named, 'Nakshatra Kanikkai'.

21. Mentioning the name of Thiruppathy Venkatachalapathy, people send chain letters, with the instructions that, 'if you copy this letter and send it to 10 other persons, you stand to gain so much so much, blah blah blah, and if you do not send, you will lose your thinking brain and blah blah blah.' Many people do so, because they are afraid of the Swamy in Thiruppathy! Some times I even wonder as to whether I should resort to some such trick, for creating funds for this job of Veda Rakshanam. I am not asking for too much. One rupee a month only. Whether you like it or not, think that I have levied this tax. For my small government as big as a grain of mustard, this is the tax. For this, if you cut down a little bit on your exenditure on cinema or visit to the beach, it would be enough. Part of mine and your duty would be fulfilled.

Conclusion.

22. (This is the concluding part of Periyaval's talk on Vedas, going on for a number of days, since Deivathin Kural # 26 (of Vol 2) of 24 Sept 2007.) There is no end to the greatness of the Vedas. There is no other document in this world to match it in, logic, reason, justice, sense, morality or any other social and individual method of assessment or measurement. Let me complete this series by talking about how the greatness of Vedas is apparent in this worldly life itself.

23. Amongst all places, Kaasi is considered as the greatest. When any other place is praised, it is as good as Kaasi. That is indicative of the fact that Kaasi is great. In South India, there is a place known as Dakshina Kaasi. In UP hills, there is a place known as Uttar Kaasi. Vruddachalam is Vruddakaasi. In Thirunelveli district, there is Thenkaasi. Kumbakonam is supposed to be slightly superior to Kaasi. There is a slokam about Kumbakonam:- "...anya kshetre krutam paapam punya kshetre vinashyati II Punya kshetre krutam paapam varaanasyaam vinashyati II Vaaranashyam krutam paapam kumbakone vinashyati II Kumbakone krutam paapam kumbakone vinashyati II..." This is not a licence to do Paapam / Sin, but to prove the point of Logic, that when you say that 'A' is as good as or better than 'B', it automatically means that B's greatness is taken for granted. Thus Kaasi is already known to be great! Similarly, Ganga is already known to be a great river. On the same lines when any book or Saastra or Scripture is praised, it is said to be as good as the Vedas!

24. Ramayanam is famous. Whether in Sanskrit or Tamil or Hindi or Telugu, amongst all epics, literature, poems, drama; Ramayanam holds its own place. While talking of its greatness, it is said to be 'Vedam': "Veda: praachethaaseet sakshaat ramaayanaatmanaa I", meaning, "through Prachetas' son Vaalmeeki, Vedas took rebirth as Ramayanam". Mahabharatham is considered to be the fifth Veda after the four Vedas, as, "...panchamo veda:...". Nammazhvaar was known as Sadagopan and Maaran. His 'Thiruvaimozhi', is highly praised by Vaishnavas as 'Vedam'. "...vedam tamizh seidaan maaran sadagopan...". In Tamil too, the famous Thirukkural of Thiruvalluvar is considered as Tamil Vedam. Thiruvalluvar wrote the Thirukkural. He took it to the 'kadaichangam' for approval by the Sangam, the Association of Poets! There was a 'Sanga Palagai'. It was a floating flat board. If approved, the board will float. If not approved, the board will drop you and your work as a, 'ton of bricks' in the water. (That was the only 'water boarding!', that we Tamilians were aware of. It was torture indeed if your work was not approved and let slip in to the water! Now-a-days, they are talking of some other 'water-boarding', here in US of A.)

25. Normally, these learneds are wary of any new comers. They will have many examinations and hurdles lined up for them. By doing so, the 'not so bright' can be kept under reigns. You cannot get away with sub-standard material. In one way such actions on their part is good. But such attitude should not be carried to rediculous extents too. Thiruvalluvar took his palm-leaf manuscript there. "If the 'Sangap-palagai' accommodates, then only 'Thirukkural' can be accepted", said the poets. His work was kept on the floating platform. It accepted the 'Thirukkural' and dropped the whole lot of poets in water. That is the Indian 'water-boarding'! At that time, they all realised the worth of 'Thirukkural' and were all praise for the same. One of those poets says:- "aariyamum senthamizhum aaraindu idaninidu / seeriadu enru onrai sepparidaal-- aariyam / vedam udaithu; tamizh thiru valluvanaar / odhu kurat paaudaithu". The poem means, "If somebody asks as to whether Sanskrit is great or Tamil great; our answer till date would have been that Sanskrit is great! But from to-day, they are at par because, if Sanskrit is great because of it's having the Vedas; Tamil is equally great, since it has 'Thirukkural'." That means, 1) Kural is as good as the Vedas, 2) Vedam gives greatness to it's Language Sanskrit, 3) Similarly, Kural gives greatness to Tamil! Thevaaram and Thiruvasagam are considered as Tamil Vedam by Saivaas. These are catches within our religion. Christians brought the Bible and called it as, 'Sathya Vedam'. Thus undoubtedly, Vedas stand apart at the zenith, at the pinnacle. What has been our greatest legacy from our ancestors from time immemorial, that has given birth to the culture that is flowing in every drop of our being, as the life force; cannot be permitted to become extinct due to our carelessness. There is no other duty than this, to whosoever is born, in this part of the Earth!

26. Veda Sabdam has to become audible. Meaning of Veda Mantras have to become known. Vaidik practices have to become revived. If this happens in this one country, it is enough. For a sick man, if his heart is strong enough, all other parts will mend. Like that all people will be happy all nations will benefit. That is the prayer of the Vedas too:- "...lokaa : samasthaa : sukhino bhavanthu! ...vaiyagamum thuyar theerkave!...let all the worlds be happy..."

Sambhomahadeva.