DEIVATHIN KURAL # 22 (of Vol 3) Dated 29 Nov 2008

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 22 (of Vol 3) Dated 29 Nov 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 the last para of page number 95, of Vol 3, of the Tamil original. The readers are reminded that herein the word 'man' includes 'woman' too. )
(Note:- These e-mails are all available at http://advaitham.blogspot.com constantly up-dated.)
56. “na kaamaye (a)ham gathim easwarat paraam ashtarti yuktaam apunar bhavam vaa I aartim prapadye (a)kila deha bhajaam antas sthito yena bhavantyaduh:khaa: II”. Now let me give you the detailed translations of the two sloka-s. 'Ruddhi' is 'Siddhi. The eight Maha siddhi-s are those miraculous powers that one attains as one progresses in the spiritual path. The popularly known paths are, Raja, Karma, Gnaana and Bhakti Yoga-s. (KTSV adds:- There are more paths which are a mix of these four. In fact there are as many paths as there are people in this world. However they will finally merge into one of these paths, end destination being the same! Enroute, one is certain to be empowered with some or various combinations of these powers. Though they are great attainments, the Sadhak (that is the aspirant), is likely to go astray at any time, if he gets too carried away by his achievements. When the aim is to realize one's identity with the Ultimate Supreme power of God, any thing short of it is only peanuts!)
57. These eight siddhi-s together are what is being referred as 'ashtarti' in the sloka. If you have all these powers, you can evidently play around with the worlds and nature, replicating God's actions! What Rantideva says herein is that, paraam gatim = the high royal path of getting the eight maha siddhis; easwaraat = from God; na kaamaye = I do not wish for. Then what does he want? Is he praying for total inertia of Samaadhi? Is he asking for such nirvana or mukti in which he will not come back in to this cycle of repeated births and death? That is 'punar bhavam'. I do not want that, 'a- punar bhavam' either. He says, "na kaamaye (a)ham (a)punar bhavam vaa". Then what is that he is wishing for?
58. Whether you are born as a germ, insect, animal, bird or human being; for all of us, there seems to be some trouble, fear, pain, sorrow and danger, waiting in store to be issued as due. Put it all together and call it 'aarthie'. For all (akhila), embodied (deha bhajaam) people, there seems to be some deep sorrow (aarthie) pending, which is felt by the inner (antah stita:) heart. If I can somehow be there in all their hearts, all that sorrow can be felt by me and not by them! Give me that power of receiving all their sorrows and make them devoid of sorrows! By which (yena), devoid of sorrow (adu:khaa:), they will be come (bhavanthie); that is what I pray for!
59. Du:kha: is sorrow and du:khaa: is the plural sorrows. This happens only by one's own past ill deeds. To take over other's sins and suffering is known as vicarious suffering. It is said that Jesus Christ appropriated all our sins and let himself be put on the cross, so as to suffer on our behalf thus! That extreme sense of sacrifice is not unknown to our religion either! That is what Rantideva prayed for, when he said, "akhila deha bhajaam aarthim prapadye", meaning, 'I may take over all the embodied souls sorrows"!
60. In this, note the word 'prapadye'. In many Sri Vaishnava writings, you may have noticed the repeated usage of this phrase as, "saranam prapadye". In the Veda-s, in Sri Suktam and Durga Suktam, this phrase occurs. It means that one is declaring a 'total surrender'. When one has given up all connections and attachments; and has foregone all initiative, it is said to be "sarva sankalpa rahita: and sarva aarambha parityaagi". That is total surrender! That is, the person surrendering has to render oneself to a veritable zero, at which point the individual is filled completely by the divinity.
61. Various sloka-s talk about surrendering to Maha Lakshmi or Durga Devi, repeatedly saying, “saranam prapadye”. In the Upanishad Shanti Paata Krama, it is said that, “Me who being interested in moksha is a ‘mumukshu’, I surrender unto Parama Atma who makes our Buddhi, the thinking, analyzing, understanding and comprehending faculty to shine effulgently”.
62. Rantideva did not ask for this! He said, “aartim prapadye!”, meaning, ‘I surrender to the difficulties and problems’. Instead of saying ‘let me be absorbed by God’, he is saying, “Give me all your problems. I surrender to the problems of this world! Let me be totally absorbed by them!” I think that, Thiruvalluvar while writing his Kural Number 625, was thinking about Rantideva! That Kural means this:- “Behold the man whose heart sinketh not even at a whole host of troubles arrayed against him: the obstacles in his path have themselves met with an obstacle!”
63. Normally what will we all ask for, given a chance? ‘Let me be happy. Let me be rich! Let me have more and more wealth! Let me get all the pleasures of this world!’ Rantideva is totally different! He says let everybody’s unhappiness come to me. Let me relieve them of all their unhappiness! Through me let all their unhappiness come to an end! I am the end of the unhappiness of this whole universe!’ Then he said one more sloka. That we will see in the next e-mail as I seem to be running out of exclamation marks!!!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 21 (of Vol 3) Dated 27 Nov 2008

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 21 (of Vol 3) Dated 27 Nov 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 the middle of page number 91, of Vol 3, of the Tamil original. The readers are reminded that herein the word 'man' includes 'woman' too. )
(Note:- These e-mails are all available at http://advaitham.blogspot.com constantly up-dated.)
The Story of Ranti Deva
45. In old Saastraa-s there are two types of works mentioned. Some are 'ishti' and some are 'poorti'. Ishti Yaagaa-s are those done to fulfill a wish, like King Dasarata arranged to conduct a 'putra + kaama + ishti = putrakaameshti' yaaga., done with a desire to beget progeny. 'Poorti' is what many people think now-a-days as not being there at all in our religion, namely social service!
46. Digging a well or pond, making roads, construct temples, plant trees on either side of the roads and so on, were collectively called, 'poorti or poortam'. 'Ishti' can only be done by some entitled and materially well off persons. It was more difficult to conduct with too many rules and regulations. 'Poorti' was not like that. It is the type of work in which any and everybody used to participate. I will talk about this 'poorti' later in detail.
47. This King Ranti Deva hailing from the Chandra Vamsa lineage, did many Yaaga-s and gave a lot of donations. Though to start with, he was a King, by never refusing to give, he became a pauper himself. He was being tested by Maha Vishnu Himself. Not only was his treasury empty, there was wide spread scarcity and draught conditions in the whole country. Ranti Deva and his family was in the grip of utter poverty. He did not beg himself though. The whole family had gone without food for 48 days ! Looking at the pathetic condition of the King who was a great philanthropist; some people sent him some wheat porridge and water, for him, his wife and children.
48. Emaciated and horribly weak, the porridge was highly welcome and was looked upon as manna from heaven! With their front skin of the tummy flat with that of the back side, when they were about to drink that porridge, there was a Brahmin beggar who came before them saying, "bhavati bhikshaam dehi", begging for alms!
49. When the tummy had already assumed that it was going to be fed, that too the stomachs of royalty which had known better days earlier; to be shocked at the nick of time; the disappointment was just too much. Ranti Deva looked at the beggar. Did he have any disgust? No. He looked at him as Lord Narayana in human form. He thanked him that he was stopped before putting the food to his mouth. His wife and children did not lag behind either!
50. They all gave their share to the Brahmin beggar quite willingly. When the royal family was about to partake the balance, there was yet another beggar. This time he was from the fourth caste. Hunger and compassion does not differentiate between castes. From the already reduced quota of the porridge in their hands, they pooled in once again! For the King this newcomer beggar was also Lord Narayana only in another form!
51. The other members of the family drank their share of whatever was left in their hands. Rantideva was the only one who had not yet partaken, possibly mulling over the turn of events! When he thought of eating, there was yet another human being, a hunter of the forests with a few dogs. In Rantideva’s eyes, the hunter and his dogs, were all Lord Narayana in yet another garb and make-up!
52. In the Veda, in Sri Rudram, it says exactly in these very words, “lord god is in the form of dogs; lord god is in the form of the hunter”. Rantideva saw God in the hunter and his dogs too! He had such a perspective. He told himself that, “This hunter is God in human form and in the form of dogs. He is evidently testing me and my sincerity of purpose. To feed him and his dogs is the best way to pay obeisance to God! Let me give this porridge to Him!”. As Sri Rudram goes on to say, “prostrations to the dogs and prostrations to the keeper of the dogs!”, Rantideva kept all the balance porridge in front of them and did ‘saashtaanga namaskaraa-s’.
53. Now! What is now? All that Rantideva was left with was a glass of water. Even that was a precious commodity in the draught like conditions obtaining then! After 48 days of fasting, this was the only thing that could have retained the connection between body and soul! That was the time when there was another very dryed up individual coming on the scene with the cry of “some water please!”.
54. Then there are two sloka-s said to have been uttered by Rantideva, occuring in Bhagawatam. Both two gems. For sacrifice and paropakaaram, there is no other mantra to match. I will tell you those in the same language that Rantideva used. Later I will translate them! “na kaamaye (a)ham gathim easwarat paraam astarti yuktaam apunar bhavam vaa I aartim prapadye (a)kila deha bhajaam antas sthito yena bhavantyaduh:khaa: II”.
55. Now is the translation of the two sloka-s. Detailed analysis of the couplets will follow in the next e-mail. “I do not aspire for becoming merged in the supreme power of Easwara. Neither do I wish to attain the eight maha siddhis of achievements. I am not even asking for putting a stop to repeated births and deaths. I only wish to surrender to the sorrows of the whole universe in all bodies! Give me all the problems of this world, so that I may not see anyone suffering any more!" Oh! Want wonderful sentiment! Is there any better definition than this for 'paropakaaram and social service'?
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 20 (of Vol 3) Dated 24 Nov 2008

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 20 (of Vol 3) Dated 24 Nov 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 the last para on page number 87, of Vol 3, of the Tamil original. The readers are reminded that herein the word 'man' includes 'woman' too. )
(Note:- These e-mails are available at http://advaitham.blogspot.com constantly up-dated.)
35. Now a days many people have a wrong notion that, the way Buddha, Jesus Christ and Mohammad Nabhi have emphasized Ahimsa, Love and Brotherhood; it has not been done in the Vaidik Religion. The Hindu Sanatana Dharma leans heavily towards, Karma Anushtana, Yagna-s, rituals of Divasam and Tarpanam and so on. Hinduism relies more on big festivals and idol worship. Fasting and abnegation, Yoga-s and esoteric gnaana vichara are all much labored with. But there is no mention of 'Jiva Kaarunyam', that is, love for all types of life forms. This is one charge leveled against Hindu Religion.
36. Then they say, "OK. Show me a good practicing Vedic scholar. What is he doing. He is most of the time telling some mumbo jumbo in Sanskrit. Keeping himself aloof. Not letting anybody come anywhere near. 'He is a touch me not!' They call it 'madi and aachaaram', as though he is too clean and all others are untouchably dirty! They show no down to earth keenness of a Christian missionary!" The criticism does reach the core of our hearts too! The uninformed Hindu is likely to cringe with a bit of self effacing shame!
37. In reality, in our saastra-s, before talking about individual Karma Anushtaana-s for each member of the four Varnas of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra; there are eight Atma Gunas mentioned. These eight ‘saamaanya dharma-s’ are commonly applicable rules meant for all human beings. In this the first one is ‘ahimsa’ that is, avoidance of cruelty to life forms. Vegetarianism is a part of that ‘ahimsa’. Even ‘satyam’ that is, truth as a principle comes after ‘ahimsa’ only! While defining ‘satyam’ it is said, “satyam bhoota hitam priyam”, that is, to tell or report exactly what happened is not the only thing about truth. What ever is comfortable and liked by people for their intrinsic convenience is truth!
38. Similarly, before the forty samskaaraa-s, are the eight fold Ashta-Gunaa-s. The first in that is, ‘daya sarva bhooteshu’, kindness and compassion for all life forms. Without practicing love and kindness in one‘s life, to hope for God’s blessings is nothing short of being foolish. When you do not have love for others of your kind, how can you expect kindness from God? When you do not have care and concern for others like you, what could be the basis for expecting care and concern from God?!
39. As I said earlier, one cannot progress spiritually without love, care, concern, compassion and kindness towards all living things. Paropakaaram, devotional activities, karma Anushtaanaa-s, functions and rituals, social service and festivals; they all go hand in hand with mutual complimentality, ennobling and cleansing each other.
40. In the interregnum East India Company arrived in India, slowly but steadily enabling introduction of the British rule, education, culture and way of life. In India, it has always been the tradition to copy the King, as the saying goes, "jaise raajaa, vaise prajaa". When everybody started copying the westerner in all walks of life, those who were more religiously oriented, possibly started being more noticed as being different. It is only after that, it seemed as though, Vaidik Aachara-s and Social Service as an activity, became estranged and divorced from each other. If you read the life history of renowned Vaidik scholars such as, Appayya Deekshidar, Govinda Deekshidar, Thiruveesa Nallur Ayyavaal and such, you realize how close they were to the common man including the slum dwellers!
41. For the sake of world's well being, when the work load was traditionally shared between the castes, there was a certain amount of compartmentalization. Accordingly the respective karma-s differed and so the iterative work load of the castes called the 'Aachara-s' differed. those differences did not create abysmal unbridgeable gaps. Mutual help was not lacking. There was nothing lacking in co-operation and inter dependent co-existence! Without much fanfare and publicity, social service was done though not with that nomenclature! Temples were built, roads made, wells and ponds were dug. trees planted, yeti novas were run, 'a tend kurri niruvudal' was done; all without being called 'social service'!
42. Village life gave away to town and city life. Modern amenities increased. Every half brown Saheb started proving himself to be more modernized than the westerner. Casteless creedless society became the much trumpeted pass word. Those who were die hard conventionalists, had to steer a bit lonely path, leading to a situation that if you believed in your Saastraa-s and Karma Anushtaana, you could not help but stand apart! The common areas of joint efforts between the castes, just dwindled out of form!
43. The ideal state of the earlier days, when neither were they totally divorced nor did they thoroughly inter-mingle; was no more. To differ in the work oriented culture of their castes and work hand in hand for common ventures of mutual need; as common citizens of one King and one God; was lost for ever! The last straw on the proverbial camel's back of Indian culture was, the so called reformists' criticism of the very Karma Aachaaram Anushtaanaa-s! The traditional practicing believers of the saastraa-s could not help getting more and more isolated! Their social involvement got scaled down, next to nil. Isolation leads to lack of trust and mutual dis-trust! But if True Sanaatana Dharma is to be followed, Paropakaaram and social service are as important as the forty Samskaras and the eight Atma Gunaa-s. Amongst those 40 samskaaras and eight Atma gunaas, the first and fore-most is 'arul udaimai'. You may do any number of Yaagaa-s and Yagnaa-s, but you have to have the basic love, care and compassion in your heart; and that is 'arul udaimai', as exemplified by the story of Ranti Deva in Srimad Bhagavatam.
44. Ranti Deva was a king in the Chandra Vamsa lineage. He did many Yaaga Yagnaa-s. This information is mentioned in Maha Bharatam. Despite doing many such karma-s his basic heart was full of human kindness, is very well brought out in Srimad Bhagavatam. This will be covered in the next e-mail!
(To be continued)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 19 (of Vol 3) Dated 22 Nov 2008

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 19 (of Vol 3) Dated 22 Nov 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 84, of Vol 3, of the Tamil original. The readers are reminded that herein the word 'man' includes 'woman' too. I note that this subject of 'paropakaaram / social service' is already generating much discussion. I suggest that you reserve your doubts as they will get answered I am sure! The subject is being analyzed for another 200 pages and will possibly be covered in the next 50 e-mails! Do make your notes for eventual clarification. May be that the answer will occur to yourself eventually!)
(Note:- These e-mails are available at http://advaitham.blogspot.com constantly up-dated.)
24. I made a statement that Man is the most troubled of all the life forms of this universe. You visit the hospitals, jails, orphanages, widow homes, beggars homes and so on. Then you will know as to what all unimaginable difficulties that man is capable of putting himself to. But these are such problems that do not need Mahatma-s to play a part, but could be resolved by people like us. Visit to such places will bring to our minds as to in how many forms God has come and is waiting for help from common folks like us!
25. If you ask me as to what are we supposed to do, my answer in one word is that, wherever there is unhappiness, we should forcibly interpose ourselves there and try and do what ever we can to relieve the unhappiness, by money or by speech or by physical help. That is our 'kadan', 'kadamai', and duty!
26. This is what is called 'Dharmam' (or 'Aram' in Tamil). As I said earlier, by doing this, we cannot guarantee salvation or removal of unhappiness. We are not responsible for that either. By trying to help, our mind gets cleansed alright. Even Thiruvalluvar while defining 'Dharmam' says, "manaththukkan maasilan aadal anaithu aran", meaning, 'your own mind becoming cleansed is all the 'dharma' put together'!
26. If you ask me as to what is 'anaithu aran' that is 'sarva dharmam' ?, the answer is, 'manaththukkan maasilan aadal'. That is, to get our own minds spotlessly clean, is all the rules of morality put together! Traditional Vaidik philosophy too insists that through "Karma Anushtaana" each person is required to attain to 'chitta shuddhi'. This is what is said by the Thirukkural too. If somebody starts off to do social service, without this humble aim of cleansing one's self, it will be futile effort and end only in self propaganda!
27. 'I, me and mine' are the three entities which should be kept under strict control not only in speaking and writing, but also in the way we feel! With devotion to God, all social service should be done with the clarity of mind and heart that, we are not the doers, but only the instrument through which His is being done. Then only there will be the correct effect. Without that inner clarity, it will all be a show, further accentuating the so called social worker's ego. An action that is to be done with the purpose of getting rid one's own ego, if carried out without 'Adakkam', humility, devotion to God and Love for all; will have the opposite effect of further boosting one's head weight! It will be tantamount to go for a bath and end up smearing oneself in filth and grime!
28. To say that, 'to cleanse oneself is all the dharma!' seems too selfish. However this is not the worldly selfishness, that we are normally dealing with! This is the 'good' selfishness. The bad selfishness can be defined as, "the efforts taken to satisfy our sensual pleasures, while causing hurt to others!" Whereas in this, we may have to serve others even if we have to suffer deprivations and incur losses physical and or financial. This will facilitate salvaging our self from sensual pleasures and take us to the everlasting thrill of self-realization!
29. It is not enough to do 'Upakaaram' to others only. Having given us this body and life, God has also given us a mind, an entity never under our control. Like a monkey, it is independent, unreliable, unpredictable and plays equally in good and bad ventures, with random selection! Do we not have to help ourselves in controlling this mind of ours?
30. Our life is called 'Jivaatma' while God is called, 'Parama Atma'. Do we not have to help our this Jivaatma to control this mind so that, our powers of speech, thinking and action are all used for the purpose of taking this Jivaatma nearer to Paramaatma? Is it not our most important duty to train ourselves to give up the crass narrow minded selfishness of sensual pleasures, in preference of this greater self interest?
31. To achieve this, the best method is service involved in helping others! It is very interesting to note that Paopakaaram is effective only when we have no axes of our own to grind! That will happen only when our minds are clean! To get our minds cleansed, we need to do Paropakaaram! Does it not sound like 'putting the cart before the horse and or putting the horse behind the cart'! There seems to be an apparent contradiction here!
32. But no! There is no contradiction. To start with, we may not yet have an excellent cleansed mind. Karma Anushtaanam and Paropakaaram over time will get us 'chitta shuddhi'. That 'cleansing of mind' will go on to make our Paropakaaram more and more effective! Initially, the mind will hanker after the absent sensual pleasures in Social Service. Repeatedly one is likely to think, "What am I wasting my time and energy here? I could profitably do something else and enjoy!" It is at those times, one has to be aware of the mind playing it's monkey tricks! That is the time to strictly hold the reigns tight! If this real concern not to go astray is there, over time things will work out alright!
33. This very concern for the need to control and cleanse one's own mind, and the effectiveness of our social service are mutually complimentary! Paropakaaram cleanses our mind. The action of social service with a clean mind becomes more and more effective. Thus this, 'quid pro co' arrangement mutually enables growth and goes from strength to strength!
34. All said and done, to correct this outer world is not our business and we are not capable of it either! There are as many minds as there are people in this world, pulling in so many different directions. So let us not think that the world is going to change because of our 'Seva'! But as we carry on without having our own axes to grind, it will make a dent! The question is, 'Where will this make a dent?' 'In your own heart and mind', is the answer! That is why Thiruvalluvar says, "Do not search for proof of whether your service has been effective or not, in the outer world. Just check as to whether you have been, 'manthukkan maasilan aanaayaa?' meaning, whether you have become cleansed in your own mind? This, no one can hide from you. If the answer to your self is 'Yes' that means that Your service is effective!" That is how beautiful he has made that Thirukkural! (To be continued.) Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 18 (of Vol 3) Dated 20 Nov 2008

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 18 (of Vol 3) Dated 20 Nov 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 the last para on page number 79, of Vol 3, of the Tamil original.)
(Note:- These e-mails are available at http://advaitham.blogspot.com constantly up-dated.)
14. When a person realizes that, 'all life forms are intrinsically one and the same and God the immanent life principle, exists in all of them', then he becomes a source of divine grace! Instead of loving others from the level of equality, he humbles himself to a lower level and loves the whole creation as a manifestation of God. With that attitude, he serves them as a 'Daasa', a servant of God! This is what the Vaishnava-s call, 'naichiyam'. It is only when this attitude instead of being only a spoken expression, moves in the realm of action, it becomes 'Arul' that is, 'Grace'. With no pride whatsoever, there is genuine Love towards all life forms as a manifestation of God! This is when preaching becomes practice of Social Service!
15. Thus by 'Jeeva Kaarunyam', while he does social service, he raises himself to the highest level spiritually as a by-product. What he does as a 'upakaram' for others may or may not be received in the correct sense. The receptor's ego may be boosted. He or she may be led into a life of exploitation of others beneficence in some cases. But the giver of 'upakaram' anyhow benefits immensely, by dissolving his own ego, which simply 'goes'!
16. Similar to ‘Jeeva Kaarunyam’ ’Paropakaaram’ is also slightly inaccurate as I was saying. By his ’Jeeva Kaarunyam’ he raises himself. Similarly ‘Para + Upakaram = Paropakaaram’, that is, his action of helping others results in helping himself towards self improvement and self realization! So we should be calling it as, ’swaya upakaram’ only. This is rather funny! Only when he has no notion in his mind that he is being kind and considerate, his compassion becomes divine grace! Similarly he benefits best when he is not at all motivated by selfishness. Thus by helping others you help yourself and 'Paropakaaram' becomes 'swayopakaram'!

17. Once you have developed the perspective of Adwaitam then this differentiation of ’swayam and param’ that is we and they, ours and theirs; disappear. Everything is seen as manifestations of God or self. Such a person will be happily helping others without any thought of me and mine or they and theirs! Here too the phrase, ’Paropakaaram’ is improper. He reaches the stage in which Appar one of the four leading of the 63 Siva Bakta-s known as Naayanmaar-s, said, “en kadan paNi seidu kidappade”, meaning, ‘my duty is to work’. This should be the motto of our life.
18. The moment you hear the word 'kadan', do not think of indebtedness and credit rating, giving a slant to the intention as though one did one's duty out of a sense of compulsion and recompense if you fail to do so! This is not what is meant. When you do your duty with love in your heart that you are doing something for the well being of all, then work becomes worship! We see in this world so many ‘sthavara’ (immobile), ‘jungama’ (mobile), animate and inanimate life forms. They are all fulfilling the needs of each other in some way or other. A river never questions as to hoe much water it had to give away. A flower never hesitates in imparting it’s fragrance to the wind. That some bees and honey suckle birds will be attracted by the fragrance and there distributing its pollen, just happens. A tree does not keep account of the fruits that it gave away. That the seeds were spread around is a natural corollary. Every cell in the individual human body co-operates and cares for every other cell.
19. In this set up we as human beings, receive a lot from birds, animals, plants and inanimate objects, to make our life possible in this world. But we are the only species who believe in doing business with all this and exploiting endlessly shamelessly. First of all we claim ownership on illegal grounds and then exploit! Actually we should be having a sense of gratitude and indebtedness towards everything we receive from nature, as directly occurring things such as, water, air, earth, minerals, and so on; and the products of nature such as fruits, grains, edible roots and milk. (Man makes food of the flesh of animals, fish and birds and eggs, there by being responsible for their slaughter! I am not touching this subject here.) That is why, in the Vaidik religion, there are many rituals for thanking the Nature and its component parts!
20. Plants have life, sense and feelings is not only a discovery of Jagdish Chandra Bose in modern times, but were well known to the Sages of the past. The tree Aswatham was known to have life and revered as the King of all static life forms. There are mantra-s to be chanted to thank them for their contribution in our lives. There is 'doorvaa sooktam' for expressing our gratitude for grass and 'mruttika sooktam' for thanking mud, in our Veda-s. In the daily 'Brhma Yagnam', there is 'Tarpanam' to thank the divine powers existing in all animate life forms and inanimate objects too.
21. There is a crow somewhere. It eats a fruit somewhere and drops its shit in our garden. That grows in to a neem tree, giving us shade, its fruits, branches as fire wood and air passing through it having medicinal value. That crow has benefited us. The dog guards our house and property. Horse gives us a ride and helps in carrying loads or pull the cart. There is no end to the usefulness of the Mother Cow! Thus having got the help and benefit from every part of Nature, what do we as human beings do in turn? Is it not a sin, not to respond to other's help in kind or kindness? Tamil proverb says, "nanri marappadu nanru anru", meaning that, 'it is not good to forget a good turn from others'. Valluvar says emphatically, "ennanri konraarkum uyvu undaam uyvu illai sei nanri konra magarku", meaning, 'ingratitude is an unforgivable sin!'. So have we been told by Veda Vyasa and Manu.
22. Whether we do it ceremoniously using Veda Mantra-s or go by traditional village customs, most of the inanimate objects' divine powers will be satisfied. In addition, plants should be watered. Animals should be treated with kindness and love. They are 'vaay illa jeevan-s', incapable of communication by word of mouth! We should never be cruel to them. In olden times, not only inside the village, outside where they used to go for grazing, people used to dig ponds for the animals to drink water. The cow feels like scratching its neck. It does not have hands like us. They cannot even ask you to do it for them, as they cannot communicate. Knowing this, it used to be the custom to erect tall scraggly stone pillars, here and there at odd places, for their benefit. This is mentioned as one of the important Do's in the books on 'Dharma Needhi', as, "aatheendu kurri niruvudal".
23. Then finally when you come to Man, the human being, he has more problems than all the other life forms put together. Most of them are self created by his own mind. Correcting this is the Paropakaaram done by the Saints and Mahatma-s of this world! (To be continued). Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 17 (of Vol 3) Dated 18 Nov 2008

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 17 (of Vol 3) Dated 18 Nov 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 75, of Vol 3, of the Tamil original.)
(Note:- These e-mails are available at http://advaitham.blogspot.com constantly up-dated.)
PAROPAKARAM
1. "Aswamedam as everyone's right." Can we all do 'Aswamedam' these days? You will wonder as to how can this be? Is the Swami in the right senses? What are we talking about? Doing Aswamedam that too these days, by all of us, as a birth right? Even in olden times, to our knowledge only one or two Emperors could dare to undertake such onerous tasks for themselves.
2. Having become a King of a State after due coronation, if he had the necessary power of a four fold army such as Infantry, Horsed Cavalry, Chariots and Elephants in sufficient numbers, to be able to challenge all other Kings of Near and far away States; then and only then he could endevour on such ventures. He let his Horse roam at free will in all directions known as, 'Digvijayam'. The might of the Army used to accompany the Horse. Anyone who had the temerity to challenge the free movement of the Horse had to fight it out or accept defeat and pay respects as asked for by the marauding forces.
3. The King was then crowned as the Chakravarty and is said to have conquered all those countries. This was a more decent way of extending one’s suzerainty over others without actually going to war, I suppose, in those days when war was part of the normal way of life! Then that Emperor sealed his venture with the conduct of an Aswamedam Yaagam. How can any one do this to-day? It sounds ridiculous even to myself, that I am saying that it is everyone’s birth right! Let us temporarily set aside the question whether we can or cannot and tackle the question as to why should we do Aswamedam at all? What for?
4. Is it because that it is a matter of prestige? Is it because that conduct of Aswameda Yaagam will enhance our power and position in the eyes of the world? Or is it for getting the Indra Loka in after life? If these were the gains, I will be the first person to say, ‘No’ to such a venture! Power, position, prestige and the comforts of Deva Loka; are all ways of feeding our ego and pride only. They are insurmountable hurdles in the way of attaining to ‘Atma Gnaana’. Then why should we be doing Aswa Medha Yagna?
5. In Lalita Trisati, there is a name of Ambal given as, “hayamedha samarchitaa”! Trisati is a list of 300 names by which Ambal or any other deity is praised, used in what is known as Archanaa, in which for each name in the Trisati, you offer a flower or leaf to God. ‘Rudra Trisati’ is taken out of the Veda-s themselves. Lalita Trisati, though not occurring in the Veda, is held in equal high esteem.
6. Agastya Rishi got Lalita Sahasranaama from Hayagriva, God in a form of horse head and human torso, an avatara of Vishnu. But he was not happy enough. Then he got Lalita Trisati, from the same Hayagriva with which he was quite satisfied. Adi Sankara has written a Bhashyam for this Trisati. Both Lalita Sahasranaama and Trisati are not only words of description of Goddess Lalita but each word has the value of a mantra by itself. So they have to be chanted only after due physical and mental preparatory cleansing and exclusive devotion!
7. In this Trisati as advised to Agastya by Hayagriva, there is a mantra, “hayamedha samarchitaa”. Hayamedha and Aswamedha mean the same. Hayam means horse. ‘Samarchitaa’ means well honored with obeisance. ‘Hayamedha samarchitaa’ means that Ambal is well revered by conduct of Aswamedha Yaaga.
8. That is by getting an Aswamedha conducted, the person doing it gets the benefit of paying special obeisance to Ambal. Through other devotional activities, one looks for getting a progeny or wealth or positions of power and so on. Conduct of a Yaaga like Aswamedha, on the other hand involves much detailed preparation and one-pointed concentration, which results in ‘cleansing of the minds of its unwanted cobwebs’. Once Ambal is pleased, there is no end to the range and quality of her blessings. Position, status, power, fame and name; She will grant us everything! More than all this, She will endow us with 'Atma Gnaana'.
9. There can be nothing more required, once we have attained to 'Atma Gnaana'. This is the answer to the question that I initially asked you 'as to why we should do Aswa Medam?' But, even for chanting Lalita Sahasranaama and Trisati, there are many 'Niyama-s' of Do's and Don't's. For conduct of a Yaaga of the scale of Aswamedha, there is likely to be too many rules and regulations with innumerable If's and Buts'! It is just impossible these days. So should we give up the idea of doing an 'Aswa Medha' at all? No. Saastraa-s themselves come out with an alternative equivalent, easily possible to be done by all of us!
10. Describing progressively step by step actions of compassion and kindness, finally the Saastraa-s say that such actions of 'Paropakaaram and Jeeva Kaarunyam' are equivalent to conduct of Aswa Medha! On deeper analysis, I do note that these two words, 'Paropakaaram and Jeeva Kaarunyam' are both slightly misleading! If you are kind to somebody or help others, you do assign yourself a slightly superior status as the giver and a little lesser position for the receiver of the act of kindness! This very thought is self defeating.
11. The moment we start thinking that we are being kind to somebody, we are only feeding our egoistic tendency! The effect we are interested is to inculcate humility, ‘adakkam’. Instead, we run the risk of giving a boost to our head-weight and that will result in a vicious cycle taking us down. Instead of the words such as kindness and compassion, let us use the word ‘Love’. Love does not see gradations of superiority and inferiority. It knows only oneness.
12. However, in reality we find it very difficult to consider others as our own. Many things come in the way. Our mind invariably assesses others and classifies them as ours and not-ours, based on looks, dress, physical and other relationship, language, caste, place of origin, and so on and so on! All the problems of narrow minded favoritism, nepotism, regionalism and religious intolerance arise from this only! To uniformly Love all without any conditions and differentiation is possible, when you think of Love as a natural out-pouring of Grace. Thiru Valluvar says, ‘arul ennum anbin kuzhavi’. Arul can be translated as grace. He calls it the ‘child of love’.
13. Now we love some people because they are our kith and kin. Then we include people of our village or city. Keep expanding this process to include humanity as a whole. Then go on to include all life forms within the ambit of your Love. Jesus Christ says, ‘do unto others as you would like to be done unto you’. This is more easily possible when you perceive the immanent divine principle in everyone’s existence!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 16 (of Vol 3) Dated 13 Nov 2008

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 16 (of Vol 3) Dated 13 Nov 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 the last para of page number 69, of Vol 3, of the Tamil original.)
(Note:- These e-mails are available at http://advaitham.blogspot.com constantly up-dated.)
32. Ekalaivan's story is rather off beat. He was a prince of a tribe of hunters and not from the organized social milieu. He approached DroNa, the BrahmaNa Acharya, for learning archery. Not knowing his antecedents, DroNa refused to accept him as a disciple. Ekalaiva went back to the forest and made a statue of DroNa and learnt archery pretending as though his Guru was sitting there under the tree. By dint of his sincerity and practice, he had learnt many tricks.
33. One day brothers Kauravas and Pandavas, all students under DroNa had gone to the forest for game hunting. Their dog which was leading, came across Ekalaiva and started barking at him. He immediately shot off seven arrows which did not kill the dog but effectively shut his mouth. The cousins were flabbergasted with wonder. They asked Ekalaiva as to who his Guru was. Promptly came the answer, ’Acharya DroNa’! This was too bitter a pill to swallow for them. Their own Guru had taught this sprite of an urchin such mastery of the art of archery, while not teaching themselves anything like that!
34. When DroNa heard about this, he was shocked beyond belief. He went to the forest to confront Ekalaiva. Then he realized that it was the same boy who had approached him years earlier! Ekalaiva told him that he had learnt all the tricks by keeping a likeness of the Guru in sand and stones, which he proudly displayed to his Guru! Now DroNa asked the boy Ekalaiva to pay him Dakshina. When Guru asks Dakshina, it has to be whatever he asks for. Possibly to mollycoddle his princely disciples, DroNa asked him to offer the thumb of his right hand! Which meant that Ekalaiva could never be adept in archery anymore! DroNa did not exactly cover himself in glory, by asking for this Guru-Dakshina! But Ekalaiva did cover himself in everlasting glory with an awesome display of implicit obedience! Without a second’s hesitation, he promptly cut the thumb of his right hand nonchalantly and offered it to his Guru! Long live Ekalaiva’s Guru Bhakti!
35. Amongst Aazhvaar-s there was one Madura Kavi. He had sung only one Paasuram of eleven lines. That is also not about The God Vishnu, but his Guru, Nammaazhvaar. It is simply his Guru Bhakti, which has raised him to be accepted as an Aazhvaar! In Ramanuja Siddhantam, all Aazhvaar are held at the same high level as a Guru. Amongst them too, Nammaazhvaar has a place of pride as, ‘prapanna jana kootastar’, meaning, 'some one who attracts people who wish to surrender'!
36. Nammaazhvaar was a non-brahmin. Madura Kavi was a brahmin. When he was visiting various places of religious importance in North India, he saw a powerful source of light, deep down south. He followed that light for more than thousands of miles, and reached Kurugoor in Thirunelveli district (now known as Aazhvaar Thiru Nagari). There the light source was inside a cavern of a huge tamarind tree.
37. Inside that hole Nammaazhvaar was in Samadhi for many years. Madura Kavi woke him up from Nishtai and asked him questions in the sign language. Nammaazhvaar also replied in sign language. Do not ask me as to what were the questions and answers. Because that will go into too many subtle areas requiring detailed explanations, which in turn may create more doubts. We were mainly discussing Guru Bhakti. Let me go back to that subject. Whatever were the replies by Nammaazhvaar in the sign language, gave Madura Kavi the complete Gnaana.
38. He did total surrender to Nammaazhvaar then and there. That is the time when Madura Kavi sang the one and only ‘Paasuram’ of eleven lines, which raised him to be called an Aazhvaar himself! He says, “devu martru ariyen”, meaning, ‘I know no other God than yourself’! That one song on his Guru could give him an equal exalted place of eminence in the pantheon of Aazhvaar-s. That one song on his human Guru, was considered good enough to be included in 'Naalaayira Divya Prabandam', (which is a collection of 3,999 songs by 15 other Aazhvaar-s + one Paasuram by Madura Kavi, making a total of 4,000)!
39. As Madura Kavi says that he does not know of any other God than his Guru, Vedaanta Desikar has also said, "achaaryaat iha devataam samadikaam anyaam na manyaamahe", meaning, 'I do not respect any other Gods other than my Guru'!
Guru Bhakti Amongst the Sikh-s
40. 'It is enough if I have my Aacharyaa; even God is only secondary and not equivalent to my Aachaarya,' is a line of thinking in Guru Bhakti, reflected elsewhere in other traditions too, especially amongst the Sikh-s. The very name of the Sikh religion evolved out of this need for the existence of a Sishya or disciple who has to learn from a Guru.
41. Guru Govind Singh was the tenth Guru in that religion. When he created the Khalsa organization, he wanted to test their integrity of purpose and intensity of devotion. He called for volunteers who were ready to give their life for the cause. One person came forward as a volunteer. He was taken behind the screen and after some noise, Guru Govind Singh emerged with his sword held high, dripping blood! Four others volunteered one after the other, to undergo the same ordeal. Later it was revealed that they were alive and the blood was that of a goat! The five were collectively known as, "panj pyare" and made the office bearers of Khalsa!
42. Like this there have been disciples who adored and revered their Guru-s above all, implicitly in total surrender. Such Sishyas have been there in all religions, who have attained to the highest spiritual status and continued to have the same respect towards their Guru, as the sole reason for their attainments!
(That brings to an end our discussion on Guru Bhakti.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 15 (of Vol 3) Dated 11 Nov 2008

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 15 (of Vol 3) Dated 11 Nov 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 the last para of page number 64, of Vol 3, of the Tamil original.)
(Note:- These e-mails are available at http://advaitham.blogspot.com constantly up-dated.)
22. Nayanmar-s statues are installed in the Prahara-s of the Siva temples. But there is no special pooja or deification except the yearly festival of 'Arupattumoovar', meaning the 63's. Amongst them also, it is only Manikka Vaasagar who is venerated and deified in Thirup-perum-thurai as is done for the Azhvars. The Saiva Siddhanta Acharyal-s namely, Sri Kanta Acharyar, Mei Kanda Sivam and Umapati Sivacharyar etc., are not much fussed about either, though they have done vast amount of work in terms of codification and pioneering conceptualization.
23. When it comes to Adwaita Acharyal-s, the devotional procedures about them is almost next to nil! For Adi Sankara, there are some statues installed in some rare temples around Kaanjipuram, in Maankadu and Thiru Vortriyur. I have seen a marble statue of Adi Sankara in the room on the North-West corner of the Prahara, in the Badrinath temple, that too more as a decorative piece. If we are to assess the level of influence by taking note of the number of statues in the temples, we will have to conclude that Adwaitam has no relevance as a concept in the Hindu religion! The reason is that the Adwaitins are neither Saivites nor Vaishnavites but those who accept all perspectives to a certain extent as 'Smaartaa-s', that is, adherents of the Smruti-s.
24. I was describing as to how amongst the followers of Ramanujacharyar the devotion exhibited towards the Acharya-s is rather exceptional. Amongst his direct disciples, the devotion they had for their Guru is extreme. Koorathu Aazhvaar was ready to even give his life, for his Guru. In Tamil while mentioning names of people, if you add an 'r' instead of an 'n', at the end of the name, it is more respectful. For example to say, 'Ramar, Krishnar', is more respectful than saying, 'Raman, Krishnan' and so on! This is the normal method. But in some rare cases the opposite method is true. For example, 'Vedanta Desikar' held at the highest level of respect, is simply 'Desikan' only. Similarly, Koorathu Aazhvaar is only 'Koorathu Azhvan'. Even without mentioning the place name, if you say, 'Aazhvaan', you are referring to Koorathu Aazhvaar only!
25. Those days the Sozha (also known as Chola) King was an ardent devotee of Siva. Ramanuja advocated exclusive devotion to Vishnu only. So the King assembled a Vidvat Sadas, an assembly of very learned exponents of Saastra-s, so as to analyze the basis of Ramanujacharya's point of view. At that time Gangai Konda Sozhapuram was the capital of the Kingdom. The Sadas was to be held there. The King sent his emissaries to fetch Ramanujacharyar from Sri Rangam.
26. Looking at the Kings representatives, Koorathu Aazhvaar was much worried. He thought on the following lines. "The King is a confirmed devotee of Siva. Our Guru is of the opinion that only Vishnu is worthy of being prayed to and does not approve of Siva Aaraadanaa. You never know as to where this King is taking our Guru. There is a distinct possibility that our Guru may even be killed! After all he is a King. No body can even question him. Under this situation, it is best that I play act as though I am Ramanujacharyar myself. Whatever fate is awaiting him may come to me."
27. He took his Acharya's permission for this ruse. He arranged for his Guru to wear white clothes instead of his normal ochre and go away to a place known as Melkottai Thiru Narayanapuram in Karnataka. There till date they celebrate his visit. Koorathu Aazhvaar wearing ochre dress went to the capital of the Sozha Kingdom, Gangai Konda Sozhapuram. The Vidvat Sadas was held as planned. As expected, he lost the argument. But he was not punished to be killed but caused to become blind. He gladly accepted what would have befallen to his Guru. Ramanujacharyar came back to Tamil Nadu only after that King was dead and gone!
28. Later, Ramanujacharyar while living in Sri Rangam, continued to have a special attraction to Varadaraja Swami of Kanchipuram. He told Koorathu Aazhvaar to pray to God Varadaraja for getting his eye sight back. Koorathu Aazhvaar, was not interested in getting his eye sight back. He believed that all the five sense organs should be strictly controlled, if he were to make any progress spiritually. He was happy that as a punishment from the King, he had to be deprived of his eye sight. Still, he prayed to God for getting his eye sight back, just so as to obey his Guru's wishes. So, his prayer was, " Oh God! Please restore my eye sight, not so as to let me see all the worldly sceneries, but so as to enable me to see your's and Guru's divine forms only!" So was his wish granted and eye sight restored, it seems!
29. Before Ramanujacharyar, there was Aalavandaar. His death was delayed because of pending effects of ‘praarabda’ had to be worked out. ‘Death’ in their flowery language was ‘thiru nattai alangarithal’, meaning ‘to decorate the sacred land’. It was one of his disciples who took his Guru’s balance ‘karma’ and enabled his Guru ‘to decorate the sacred land’. The disciple got a very painful ulcerous abscess!
30. There is another humorous story of the disciple’s devotion to the Guru. One of Ramanujacharyar’s disciples was heating milk inside the house. On the street was a procession carrying ‘Perumal’ in a decorated palanquin, accompanied by lights and other paraphernalia. The Guru kept shouting for the disciple to come out and witness the divine procession in vain. Finally, the disciple came out only after the procession had passed on to the next street. Guru took the disciple to task for not having obeyed his orders. The disciple’s reply was this, “It is alright for you to be keen about your Perumal’s visit! For that why should I cut short my service of heating up the milk for my Perumal?”
31. For the sake of the Guru, the disciple could happily bear any pain or tribulation because of the love and devotion for the Guru! Parasurama hated all Kshatriya-s. Karna in Maha Bharata enrolled as a student under Parasurama, for learning archery, claiming himself to be a Brahmin boy! One day, the Guru was sleeping resting his head on the disciple’s lap. There was a beetle which was trying to make a hole in his lap by biting into it. Karna did not move or flinch, so as not to disturb his Guru, despite the tremendous pain! The open bleeding wound was a clear give away of his not being a Brahmin. His deception caused the Guru to curse him that, when most needed, he will forget the mantras, as it happened in the Kurukshetra battle later on!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 14 (of Vol 3) Dated 08 Nov 2008

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 14 (of Vol 3) Dated 08 Nov 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 60, of Vol 3, of the Tamil original.)
(Note:- These e-mails are available at http://advaitham.blogspot.com constantly up-dated.)
{Correction One. In the previous e-mail, that is Deivathin Kural # 13 (of Vol 3) Dated 31 Oct 2008, in para 4, second line, before word 'talk', for 'Stale Purana-s' read, 'Sthala Purana'. Correction Two. In the last para 13, it sounds as though it was Sanandana, who later came to be known as Padma Paada, who got his life extended by 16 years! It was Acharyal whose life got extended from 16 to 32 years! Please make necessary corrections at the appropriate places. The errors are regretted!}
14. Sanandana was a Brahmin boy from Sozha Naadu of the Tamil Nadu. Before Acharyal was 16 years of age, Sanandana had joined Acharyal as a disciple, when Acharyal had started his work in Kaasi. By that time Acharyal had completed writing the Bhashyams for Bhagawat Gita, Upanishad-s and Brhma Sutra, known together as 'Prasthana Thrayam'. With that he had intended to put a full stop to his life's journey too. It was by that time that, Veda Vyasa had come to him, had extensive arguements with him about his ideas, concepts and writings. In the end, Veda Vyasa revealed his true identity. He exhorted Acharyal that in addition to writing the 'Prasthana Thrayam', he should challenge all exponents of other branches of Hindu Religion as well as other religions and defeat them in debates, so as to re-establish the Sanatana Dharma! Accordingly he extended Achryal's life by another 16 years! Let that be aside. We were getting along with the story of Sanandana, who became Padma Paada.
15. While Acharyal was living in Kasi, one day he happened to be on one side of the river Ganges and Sanandana was on the other side. Sanandana was drying the Guru's clothes. Acharyal had just completed his bath and was standing in his wet clothes. So, he told his disciple Sanandana to fetch the dried cothes. Disciple Sanandana's immediate reaction was to implicitly obey the Guru's orders! He noticed that Acharyal was standing with his clothes dripping wet. Out of sheer concern for his Guru, in all devotion, he just started walking towards the Guru with the dried clothes. There was no rational thinking to wait for a boat. On the spur of the moment, he did not see the deep river with a fast current of water at all! He simply started walking. He just did not give any thought to the possibility of his drowning or the Acharya's dry clothes getting soaked again, if he starts swimming!
16. When such was the intensity of his devotion, God had to give the necessary effect for such sincerity of purpose. The situation called for a miracle to happen and so it did! As Sanandana took each step, there was a big lotus which came up to bear his weight. Sanandana walked totally unaware of the miracle being enacted! Like when people run across burning embers of a char-coal spread on the ground, totally unaware of the burning under foot, during demonstrations of devotion in temple festivities; Sanandana was not conscious of the lotus flowers under foot and his crossing of the river. As others were witness to this spontaneous display of an exceptional ardour and devotion to one's Guru, he was across the river and had submitted to dry clothes to his Guru!
17. Acharyal asked him in jest as to 'how did he cross the river?' Sanandana did not even turn back to look at the river or wonder as to how could he cross the river. 'Guru had given the order and so, His will be done', was his confirmed conviction. He replied, "What is so great about my crossing a river Swami? Just thinking of you, this uncrossable ocean of worldy life becomes a shallow pond!" Then only Acharyal showed him the line of lotusses across the river marking his steps and named him 'Padma Pada'. Adi Sankara on the one hand was an Avatara of Lord Easwara Himself and on the other was called 'Bhagawat Pada'. It was very apt that his own disciple was named 'Padma Pada'!
Ramanuja Sampradaya.
18. Amongst the disciples of Ramanujacharya too there were disciples of extreme devotion to their Guru. Generally the Vaishnavas are famous for what is known as, "Naichya Bhava", that is an attitude of extreme subservience! They will interact with any and everybody with so much of respect as not encountered elsewhere. Instead of 'You' they are likely to address others as 'Your Highness' or 'Your devine self'. They will refer to themselves in conversations as, 'Your servant' or 'Your slave'! All other non-vaishnavites for them are, 'Swami'. If you happen to be a vaishnavite, you become 'Perumal'. That they use very high flown expressions of respect verbally is rather famous. There is a joke on this, not to be taken too seriously! It seems there was a disciple who was wanting to dispose of the Guru and take over the reigns himself. So he had dug a pit for the Guru to be put under the earth alive. When the Guru happened to come there, the disciple was supposed to have told him, "Will Your Exalted Highness kindly get into the pit by Your Noble Self or should this Your slave take the pains of making Your Greatness do it?!"
19. Amongst the Vaishnava tradition, we come across many incidents of evident devotion to the Guru, which touch our hearts. If you really want to witness the conduct of temple festivities, we should visit their temples. You go to a Perumal Koil and see the way they do even the daily Pooja in say, Aandaal Sannidy or Azhvar Sannidy; in Thenkalai temples the Manavala Mamunivar or Pillay Lokacharyar Sannidy or in Vadakalai temple, the Vedanta Desikar Sannidy. The intensity and elaborateness is something to be seen to be believed! Sri Perumpudur, the birth place of Ramanija, Perumal Himself is only secondary. They hold the Acharyar in such a high esteem, calling him repeatedly as 'Udaiyavar', daily pooja and ten-days festivity is all done in such minute details in such a large scale! The dome on top of the Sannidy is in pure gold!
20. In Sri Villiputhur, it is Aandaal who is important. She was a devotee of Perumal as you would know. She is adored as, 'Kodai or Kodai Nayaki'. Like in Madurai Meenakshi Koil, the prime importance is for Meenakshi Amman and not for Sundareswarar. Similarly here, the Ranga Mannar Perumal is pushed to the number two spot. The temple itself is called only 'Aandaal Koil'!
21. Nammaazhvar was born in a place known as, 'Kurugoor'. Since it is the birth place of their Guru, the name of the place itself has been changed to 'Aazhvaar Thirunagari'! The festival conducted in that place too is rather special. The Guru Parampara which came before and after Ramanuja namely, Naadamuni, Aalavandar, Manakkaal Nambi, Thirukkachi Nambi, Kooraththu Aazhvaar, Bhattar and Nanjeeyar; are all similarly adored and celebrated. We do not see similar treatment of the 63 Nayanmaar-s in Siva Temples except Manikka Vaasagar in Thirup-perum-thurai. In that temple on the sea shore, all daily pooja and yearly festival are for the Siva Bhakta Manikka Vaasagar only. However, it is a fact that the Nayanmaar-s in the Siva Temples and the Acharyal-s such as Sri Kanta Acharyar, Meikanda Sivam or Umapati Sivacharyar in Saiva Siddhanta tradition; are not being given the same pride of place as is done in the Vaishnava tradition.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.