DEIVATHIN KURAL # 69 (Vol # 3) Dated 22 Mar 2009

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 69 (Vol # 3) Dated 22 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 page 302 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.)
16. In the last e-mail dated 17 March 2009, we had raised a query as to why India is a 'Land of Sages and Saints'? Not only is it so, but also recognised to be so, by rest of the world! What is the reason for this? The reason for this is that, in all the seemingly selfish activities of Nitya Karma Anushtana, Yaaga-s, Yagnas, the 40 Samskaara-s and so on, there is a dynamic under current of individual refinement towards perfection! Though we are all seemingly seperate individual entities, in reality we are one self effulgent Atma Chaitanya! But that fact is hidden from our own eyes and awareness, like the Sun covered by the clouds! That cloud is the Good and Bad effects of our own Karma of the past. To relieve the individual Jeevan from this seeming unawareness about his own potential for perfection, is what all the Samskaara-s are meant for. In the process, we are not left to fend for ourselves alone individually! We are connected to so many relations, kith and kin, caste and creed, wife and children and so on! These are also the effects of past Karma-s only!
17. If Karma – Vasana-s (the remnant smell of old connections) are the reason on the one hand for staining our minds there by screening the reality from us; the ties so created known as 'Karma Bandham' ties us up in knots of duties towards others for generations! The Jeeva Atma inside the home of this physical body, has to clear his accounts with each and every one in ones house-hold and with so many other Jeeva Atma-s that one comes across in ones life time! You just cannot clear these accounts unless and until, you do your duties towards them. The darkness of unawareness continues till the accounts have been cancelled out! You just cannot walk away from the binding and blinding effects of Karma! Till then you cannot know Your Self and God! Your 'Sat Karma', that is, meritorious good actions have to cancel out the accumulated demerits. Then only the cloud will move and you can have what is known as, 'Atma Saatchaatkaar' or 'Self Realization' that is, 'the re-introduction to your effulgent beingness!' This 'Sat Karma' is in the form of so many duties towards your own self, your kith and kin, your immediate society, your region, language, nation and humanity as a whole and last but not least, all other life forms!
18. We know and observe that in the case of some, this 'Gordian Knot' of Karma is cut in one stroke, without seemingly much effort on their part, like in the case of some of the saints and sages of India! But in their cases too, there must have been a preceding life of intense Tapasya, sacrifice and devotion! For all others a very slow, gradual progress after repeated trial and errors is inevitable. Saiva Siddhanti-s call this 'Iru vinai oppu', meaning, the balancing the merits and demerits of the effects of ones Karma!
19. Except for some who are by nature dispassionate enough, others have to go through life by performing their duties with care and diligence, thereby reducing the stored demerits of the past. Since this has to be done while still living in a human body through 'Sat Karma', certain amount of effort has to be directed towards, the body's sustenance, medical care, and earning ones lively-hood; which are all seemingly selfish actions only. Instead of over involvement in such activities, these should also be carried out in the attitude of doing ones duty only! Exactly on similar grounds, one should take care of ones family of wife, children and parents and the specific duties towards them as given in the Saastraa-s too. One does not have to feel ashamed of doing these duties as being selfish, for the simple reason that they are your duties only. But, you have to be careful when you are tempted to be unfairly parochial!
20. When the duties as mentioned in the Saastraa-s are performed with the relevant Mantra-s, they benefit you in the ways of this outer as well as your inner world. They become the cause for material benefits while simultaneously cleansing your mind too! When you do 'Pumsavanam' to the baby that is 'the-yet-to-be-born' in the womb of the pregnant mother; 'Jata Karma' to the newly born baby'; and 'Upanayanam' at the right age; these duties performed contribute towards purifying and cleansing that individual, safe guarding him or her from future developmental hiccups!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.