DEIVATHIN KURAL # 2 (of Vol 3) Dated 09 Oct 2008

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 2 (of Vol 3) Dated 09 Oct 2008

(These e-mails are translations of talks given by Periyavaal 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 from page number 8, of Vol 3, of the Tamil original. )
(Note:- All these Deivathin Kural e-mails are available in ‘http://advaitham.blogspot.com’, which is being updated every time this e-mail is sent. )
14. I said that these two words, ‘kombu(the semi circle) and kodu(the straight line), both have come to represent the tusks of Ganesha the Pillaiyar! He is called ‘eka dantar’, meaning single tusked, because as the story goes, He broke one and used it as a weapon. ‘Perumbarak-kodum’ means ‘the heavy line’, which again is talking about the tusk. When Avvai Patti says, ‘kOdu aayudattal kodu_ vinai kalainde’, she is talking about the same tusk. The first ‘kOdu’ is tusk, the second ‘kodu’ means ‘given’. She is saying that, ‘using his tusk as a weapon, He removes the given bundle of good and bad effects of our past Karmas, known as 'praarabdam'.
15. Avvai Patti wanted to avoid having to go through the rigmarole of falling in love, married life, child bearing and so on! She approached the forever young Baby-God Pillaiyar to give her instant-old age! So, at a young age itself she suddenly got the looks of an old woman. When you really come to think of it, you will observe that there is continuity between one birth and the next. Our present and future is dependent on our past deeds. The positive lesson that we can draw from this is that, by ensuring that our present actions are well measured and guided, we can eventually control our future! That refinement may come over many lives. The end point of this process is when, our individual will or ego becomes identical with that of God's. By then we have ourselves become a Mahatma or Realized Soul!
16. Till that happens, we are all like a piece of wood in the river current, with no control over ourselves. What happens to us is our fate or 'praarabdam', which is said to be written in our foreheads by Brhma, known as ‘thalai + chuzhi’, meaning the script in our heads! It is this script that would be suitably corrected by Pillaiyar Suzhi! So, Avvai Patti says, ‘kOdu aayudattal kodu_ vinai kalainde’.
17. Vinayaka’s Connection with Written Works. The small Pillaiyar Suzhi that we write indicates Vinayaka only symbolically. But in old time writings, it will be clearly written ‘Sri Ganatipataye Namaha’. Though it is customary to take His name before the start of any activity, I was wondering as to why, taking His name is so important in written literature. In that, I was wondering as to why, when He has many names such as, Vigneswara, Vinayaka, Vakratunda and so on; why Ganapati is preferred in written literature? When I discussed this with learned scholars, I got some understanding.
18. The word ‘gana’ has many meanings. Out of them, meanings related to written language are more. In Sanskrit grammar known as Vyakaranam, ‘gana’ means the root word from which many other words evolve. All the words from one root word, collectively would be known as a ‘ganam’. He is the Head or Leader of them all as, Ganaadipati or Ganapati. He is also the appointed leader of the, ‘Bhoota Gana-s’ the soldiers of Siva’s Army, and so known as Ganapati, Ganesar, Gananaathar and so on. Words are supposed to have emerged out of the sounds of Siva’s Damaroo or Udukkai, which He was holding in His forefingers and rotating alternately Right and Left, generating all the sounds. They are all Gana-s and Pillaiyar as their Leader is Ganapati. That is why, before writing anything, the custom is to write, ‘Om Sri Ganaadipataye Namaha’.
19. Vinayaka is the embodied form of Pranava. That Pranava is the basis of all sounds and words. So it is in the rightness of form to take His blessings before writing anything. There is one more reason too. He was the greatest copy writer Himself! The biggest book in the whole world is Maha Bharatam, as you will agree. If somebody talks too much, beating around the bush, do we not say, ‘cut out all that Maha Bharatam, come to the point straight away’! Maha Bharatam has One hundred thousand couplets divided into 18 major chapters.
20. The four Veda-s are 'ezhudak-kilavi', unwritten but continued to be remembered over tens of thousands of years by word of mouth! The Maha Bharatam considered as the fifth Veda was the first to be written down. Veda Vyasa who organized the Veda-s in to four parts, is also the author for this Maha Kavyam. He continuously narrated the text of Maha Bharatam and it was Pillaiyar who wrote it on the rocks of Mount Meru. We may consider Pillaiyar as the first known Writer of a major epic, though not the Author!
21. In olden times, not everybody knew writing. There were professional writers. Anyhow the Veda-s were not directly authored by any human being. Those were the times when, when even enormously huge original works were heard from the Guru and memorised by re-iteration. Even well read scholars, not necessarily knew how to write. There were some specially trained to write, like the calligraphists. These professionals used to think of Ganapati as their first.
22. He broke His own tusk and using that as the sharp instrument to etch, He wrote. Elephant's most valuable asset is it's ivory tusk. There is a saying in Tamil with a pun on the word, 'irandalum / irundalum' to mean that, 'the elephant is very valuable when living and equally so when dead too'! He was sincerely concerned that this book of Dharma should be known to the world. As an embodiment of the Pranava Mantra, as the foremost of Deities and Gana-s, as the first Son of the First Couple of Parvati Parameswara, this Maha Ganapati was ready to work as a mere Scribe, just for the sake of the spread of Dharma!
23. In another occasion, Lord Nataraja Himself is supposed to have written as Manikka Vaachagar poured out his heart in poetry. In Gita Govindam, Sri Krishna Paramatma Himself is said to have come in the garb of Jayadeva the author and wrote a few lines! But without a let or tiredness, it was Ganesha who wrote all the one lac couplets of the Maha Bharatam. So whosoever writes "Sri Ganaatipataye Namaha", gets the power to write without any interruptions! Having not been able to match the writing speed of Ganapati, Vyasa composed many complicated, intricate poems of very subtle interpretations, to delay Ganesha.
24. The contract between them was that Vyasa should dictate non-stop! The counter to this was that Ganesha should understand whatever is dictated. So, there was an intellectual war on! Vyasa interspersed at suitable intervals, Vyasa threw in a few difficult to understand poems, called Bharata 'Guttu'! When Ganesha stopped to absorb the meaning, Vyasa had his 'sort of commercial breaks'!
25. 'Guttu' in Kannadiga language means something secret, a tricky puzzle. Many of the words from that language have been absorbed in Tamil. There is an expression in Tamil that, when some hidden enigma has become revealed, they say, "the guttu has been broken!" We normally tap with closed fists, on our heads to show our subservience to Pillaiyar. That is called, 'Kuttu'. Vyasa kept the Guttu-s to put a break in Ganesha's speed of writing. Ganesha as the very essence of cerebral brilliance, would grasp the meaning in a flash! Instantly the 'guttu will be broken'. He will start writing again. By remembering Him, all our puzzles will get solved instantly and we will get the self confidence for progress.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.