DEIVATHIN KURAL # 64 (Vol # 3) Dated 09 Mar 2009

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 64 (Vol # 3) Dated 09 Mar 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 the second para on page 276 of Vol 3 of the Tamil original. The readers are reminded that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too, mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://advaitham. blogspot. com constantly updated.)
Fraud and Hipocracy
36. Leaving ones own job in the hands of others, if you launch yourself in social service, it is a fraud. Forgetting your duties towards your parents, brothers and sisters, wife and children, if you claim that you are helping the world, it is nothing short of hipocracy. Having done this, when parents and relatives point out, you get annoyed and angry, means that the act of Paropakaaram has not benefitted you in any way. Universal love and pleasant behaviour is the character quality of a social worker. In the name of service to others, if you get gruffy with your kith and kin, what is the use of your service, as you have not imbibed humility? It is like going for a bath and smearing oneself with mud and slime!
37. We should always be aware of our own limitations. We are born in this world as human beings and hence subject to many limitations. Our desires and ambitions could be great and vast. May be that they are sincere and serious. But our duties towards our close relatives has a greater compelling priority. So, our efforts for social service has to be without jeopardizing that responsibility towards one's own family! There is a saying in Tamil meaning, 'when his own mother was begging for alms, he was donating cows!'. The instructions as per the saastra-s are quite clear on the subject that one's personal jobs should never be given to others. Before Indian Independence, C.Rajagopala Acharyar was the Prime Minister of the Madras Precidency. Even then, he used to wash his own clothes! Similarly we hear about many high officials getting their own shoes polished themselves! There is no loss of prestige, if you are self dependent. Actually it is demeaning to the self to give one's own personal jobs to others! To be projecting an image about oneself as a great philantropist and then transfer our work load on the other members of our household and spoil the goodwill in our own house is to really to undermine our prestige!
38. Saastra-s say that each man should wash his own clothes. It is also said that each one should wash his portion of the rice for the day's food and cook it too! (This is what is called, 'swayam bhaagam' in Sanskrit!) In Tamil there is a saying, 'kandai aanalum kasakki kattu', which means that, even if your clothes were slightly worn out 'wash and wear'! It did not say get it washed by others! (Periyaval puns on the word 'kasakkum'. The word in Tamil has a double meaning. One is bitter and the other is crushing!)
39. The daily activities of man mentioned in the Dharma Saastra-s, requires that he should take care of all his actions himself. Even the leaves and flowers needed for the pooja are to be collected by himself. For the person in the position of a Guru, his disciple may take on some of the works on Guru's behalf. Those who are sons may have to take some of the load off the parents.
40. Even very high level acharya-s have done their work on their own without ever leaving these to their disciples. Vedanta Desikan who was the pioneer Guru of the Vaishnava tradition, was one such, who used to do 'Uncha Vruthi' that is collecting the grains for his daily food by begging for the same and cook his own food! Thyagaraja Swami in Thiruvayyaru, did the same for his sustenance. They say that Mohammed Nabhi too, despite being the religious and temporal head for the muslims, was totlly self dependent for his personal maintenance!
41. Namadeva, Gorakumbha, Thiru Neelakanda Nayanar and such great poets and devotees of God, continued with their profession as a weaver or cobler or potter in their lives. Sivaji ruled the kingdom, having surrendered his self and his kingdom at the feet of his Guru Ramadasa. Despite such exalted position, Ramadasa continued to earn his daily keep by begging, 'madhu kari biksha'. {This word has a beautiful meaning, that is, to collect the alms as the honey-bee collects nectar from the flowers. It does not dry up the flower's source of honey. While taking the honey, it does the service of distributing it's pollen for the purpose of the spread of the species! There is a further restriction that you are not to take biksha from more than five house-holds!} The idea is not to trouble others for ones own requirements but accept whatever others can spare! So, if someone does the so called social service in the outer world and gets his own work done at home through others, it is sheer humbug!
42. The house-hold work and personal work should be those laid down as one's duty as per the Saastra-s. That means that you are not to cater for each and every out-landish, flimsy desires of theirs as though it is a duty of yours! If you do that, you will never have the time or resources or inclination for any other work. You need not bother about such demands of your relatives. (To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.