DEIVATHIN KURAL # 51 (Vol # 3) Dated O3 Feb 2009

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 51 (Vol # 3) Dated O3 Feb 2009
(These e-mails are translations of talks given by Periyaval of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, over a period of some 60 years while he was the pontiff in the earlier part of last century. These have been published by Vanadi Padippagam, Chennai, in seven volumes of a thousand pages each as Deivathin Kural. To day we are proceeding from page 223 of Vol 3 of the Tamil original. The readers are reminded that herein 'man' includes 'woman' too, mostly.)
(Note:- These e-mails are all available at http://advaitham.blogspot.com constantly updated.)
357. While helping in disposing off the body of an uncared for individual, we are doing our duty to a fellow citizen as well as saving ourselves from an avoidable sin! A Doctor of Medicine asked me a question. "When we get some unclaimed dead bodies, there is a Paropakaaram in it for the students of Medicine! We do the post mortem of those bodies and take various body parts for study and analysis in anatomy classes and exhibitions. If your people of 'Jeevatma Kainkarya Sangam' take away those bodies, what is to happen to the requirement of progress in medical science?" I replied that, if required, doctors could donate their bodies for such purposes after their death! They could put it in their Wills officially legally!
358. Though this is not exactly as per the Saastra-s, since there is an element of sacrifice for sake of usefulness to the society, I could say that their decision to offer their body as such, may not entail any Paapam! Rather such an act of sacrifice will be more of a Punyam! I will give you the reason why! I was advocating earlier that to offset the demerits inherent in one's profession, one should offer such services for free, to some deserving cases. Here, in the case of Doctors sacrificing their bodies for medical research and or transplantation to other patients, this will go one step higher in that, their sacrifice will not only benefit others but will benefit the very science of medicine.
359. Other religionists have made neat arrangements for the disposal of people of their religion being killed in accidents and or dead in jails or hospitals; and happen to be orphaned destitutes! Only the dead bodies of Hindus are disposed off by the workers of the local government in a secular manner! This Paapam and disgrace should now at least be off set by undertaking proper arrangements for the same.
The Lead Shown by Avatara Purusha-s Sri Rama and Sri Krishna.
360. God who incarnated as Sri Ramachandra Murthy so as to demonstrate living in step with Dharma, especially did this Preta Samskaaram in the case of Jatayu, a mere bird! Not only that, for Vaali and his arch enemy Ravana too, he got the Antim Samskaara conducted exactly as required, through Angada and Vibhishana respectively! Because, it is the mind in their bodies which misbehaved. The human body remains an excellent equipment, a 'Gift of God' in all of us! So, Sri Rama was rather particular that the correct Samskaara is done without fail for them.
361. Similarly, Sri Krishna too, at the end of Maha Bharata war, got the necessary Antim Samskaara and cremation done for Kauravas and all others who were dead, in the battle field of Kurukshetra. Then He supervised taking of Dhrutarashtra and Pandavas to the banks of the Ganges, to do the Tarpanam! {KTSV adds:- In the Indian Army, where I served for thirty years, we have very clear drills for disposal of ours as well as enemy's dead bodies, as per the customs and traditions of that religion! We soldiers are also required to salute the enemy dead bodies and are forbidden to do anything that would be tantamount to defilement of the dead bodies of the enemy forces!}
362. So, that we are being careless about this important affair of correct disposal of the dead bodies of uncared for orphaned destitutes, is a big blotch on the name of our Hindu religion! This is a totally in-excusable default. It is high time that we found a permanent workable solution to this problem and make amends for our past sins of omission! Once the fact of such a death is known, whatever caste he may belong to, using people from his community, necessary Samskaara is to be done. People should volunteer whole heartedly with money and kind for this. Rich people who can do this single handedly, identifying this to be a very noble act of Dharma, should willingly come forward to help. There are many organizations, trusts and such created by Hindus. This Preta Samskaaram has to be recognized as a needful gap and be liberally filled, by those organizations.
Some People's Problems are Other's Test.
363. Why are some people so badly off, from childhood? It is said in lighter vein that, God makes some people suffer so much, just to test if others do Paropakaaram to them or not! Each person suffers the effects of his own actions in the form of 'Karma Phala'. So when you help him, the 'Karma Phala' can still come in the way to prevent such help. But whether our actions are effective or not, to help is our Dharma of humaneness. So we should take it that, while some one is being punished for his past misdeeds, we are being tested simultaneously about how forthcoming are we with our help! The proof of this lies in the fact that while our help may fail, sometimes it is effective too. The fact that we are able to ameliorate the intensity of the suffering some times, is indicative of, our being tested by God!
364. Similarly to the problems being faced by individuals, on occasions we see a whole mass of people suffering, due to draught, floods, earth quake, erupting of volcanoes, tsunami or some such natural calamity! These are very much likely to have an element of God's examination of our intention to do Paropakaaram, whether you are directly affected by the event or an unaffected bystander! I had not so far touched this aspect of natural calamities. There was no need to mention especially about such large scale events and cause agony and embarrassment. When such things do happen, for which one cannot plan for, basically the intension to help physically or in kind or with money, should spring automatically in ones mind without any promptings from anyone! Either one can join hands with the government or organizations such as, the Red Cross, Ramakrishna Mission; or an ad-hoc get together of similar minded people; or individually on ones own! The important point is that on such occasions, the urge to help should be spontaneous!
365. As we hold that the cause for individual suffering is one's own past actions, though it is stylish to call major disasters as 'Natural Calamities', it is caused by the collective burden of the sins of a whole society, being punished by God, as per the Saastraa-s! It is not necessary that past sins have to be paid for only by suffering silently. Our spontaneous out-pouring of assistance to the suffering humanity, completely nullifies our past negative accounts of Karma! On such occasions to be like a granite rock and do nothing to help, itself is a Paapam. The punishment another man receives to-day as a general representative of the masses, will be due for us also in the immediate future!
366. In one man's suffering, thus there is another man's test of character! If you pass this test, you will get a prize. In some people suffering like this and dying uncared for, others are being evaluated and tested. God is testing the humans at large as to whether they are doing what they can while alive and are they correctly returning this wonderful machine of His creation to the source, in a proper manner? The Prize is Ambal's Grace. "...anaata preta samskaaraat ashwa medha phalam labhet..." Yes, you will get all the returns of doing an Ashwa Medha Yagna. Since Lalita Trisati clearly mentions that She is, "...haya medha samarchitaa...", you will become a beloved of the Mother of the Universe, by that one action of yours!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.