DEIVATHIN KURAL # 97 (Vol # 3) Dated 10 June 2009

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 97 (Vol # 3) Dated 10 June 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 last para on page 444 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.)

20. Whatever are the portions of the Aachaara that are seemingly suiting science to the extent that we understand and as per ethics to the extent we prefer; are those we accept as OK ones. All other such customs and traditions are discarded out of hand as 'superstitions'! This is just sheer idiocy! Things that we understand and like are those whose effects are seen directly. If we do not brush our teeth, our mouth smells and we get diseases of the teeth. If we consume alcohol we get habituated, suffer delusion leading to many family, social and financial problems. To accept Aachaara-s which have practical, immediate and direct effects; and not accept those whose effects are not immediately seen or not directly discernible; is being daft, to say the least!

21. All actions have a direct and opposite reaction alright but not all of them are seen apparently. In the background there are also side effects and indirect effects of the good and bad actions; not directly seen to be related! The seen effects are 'Drushtam' and the unseen effects are 'Adrushtam'! Adrushtam in Tamil has come to mean luck. But the real meaning is 'unseen'!

22 'prata: snanam prasamsanti drushtat adrushta phalam', is a statement from the Saastraa-s. Here it says that, 'two types of effects are said to be caused by the early morning bath, both seen and unseen for which people praise it'. One 'nazhigai' is equivalent to 24 minutes. 'prata: kalam' means 3 & 3/4 nazhigai (that is 90 minutes), prior to sun rise. To have a cold water bath at that time is 'prata: snanam'! Whether you have a bath in the river or pond or well or at home from the tap, you should wet your hair too. (Ladies need not wet their hair daily. They need to do so only on days of fasting or anniversary of some elder's passing away! On all other days, it is enough if they symbolically sprinkle a few drops of water on their heads.

23. The effect of this cold water bath early in the morning is that, with the cleansing of the body, muddle headedness, sleepishness and laziness vanish. With wakefulness, attentiveness, awareness, problem solving capabilities and mental acumen are brightened. Medical science confirms that this morning bath in cold water would strengthen the nervous systems that, it would get rid of most of the mental diseases with which the younger generation of people are affected these days! The psychological effect is that senses and feelings are also cooled and evened, by this early morning cold bath!

24. More than all these advantages of hygiene, medical value and psychological effects, this morning bath if done with specific mantra-s meant for that or while chanting the names of God, it cleanses your inner being and that is far more important. Cleaning your body and cooling of the senses are the direct effects seen - 'drushtam'. Strengthening of the nervous system will be noticed over a period. The inner cleansing of your being will become part of your nature that, you may never notice the change! The effect of the mantra or chanting of God's names will remain unseen - 'adrushtam'! That effect is the aim of all aachaaraa-s. All the seen immediate effects known as 'drushtam' are only of secondary importance.

25. Where we cannot directly relate the cause and effect, they are the 'adrushta phala-s'. They are resultant out of God's will. He does everything behind the scenes. To create and sustain 'Maya' is his job! This Mayavi the Magician, shows some of his playful capabilities to great Rishi-s and Saints out of His infinite compassion! They have written these in the saastraa-s with abundant love and compassion for the common man's benefit. This is how the great Saints have written the details of the Aachaaraa-s which give us the Adrushta Phala-s. In this there are may not be any directly seen benefits noticeable. They may not be having practical proof of effectiveness. There may not be any scientific basis for them within our comprehension. But to discard them on these grounds of lack of scientific basis and practical proof will not be correct! There are many areas beyond our comprehension and understanding, which could be easily within God's omniscience and omnipotence! We should have no doubts that the great Rishi-s of yore who were part and parcel of that Universal One, could learn, absorb and impart some of that wisdom for the benefit of the future generations of mankind! For this we should have deep devotion and sincere faith. Aachaaraa-s should not be just observed mechanically out of rote. Instead, with physical labour, mind's devoted involvement should be there without which you will not have the necessary benefits.

26. Thus to make every one of our day to day activities God oriented is the purpose of all mantra-s. Either they are all addressed directly to Him or the various deities who are His representatives / bureaucracy. Thus the normal morning bath becomes a meaningful ritual. Instead of its being simply soaping and shampooing the human body, it becomes an act of cleansing the mind and take us closer to the inner being, At that time we should take a clutch of ‘arugam pul’ that is a type of grass and some clean peace of earth on our heads. That clutch of grass is to be understood to be divine as revered by the Veda-s by a mantra known as, ‘doorva suktam’. So also the piece of earth is to be recognized as holy as representing the Bhumaa Devi, a consort of Sriman Narayana, the God as Vishnu! For Her there is the ‘mruttika suktam’. These two sukta-s are chanted while bathing.

27. During bathing we should also chant, ‘agamarshana suktam’ for cleansing our inner being, the soul itself. The Self is not smudgeable! The Atma the Self can never become dirty. All that dirt is limited to our minds only. ‘Agam’ means sin and ‘marshanam’ is cleaning it. (Surprisingly the english word ‘immersion’ seems to be very close. A matter for philologists to pursue!) So you cleanse your Soul of all dirt while you bathe, by chanting the ‘agamarshana suktam’. Those who are not entitled or not initiated to Veda Mantras, may simply chanta the name of Sri Govinda. It is said, “...govindeti sadaa snaanam...”, meaning bathe while chanting the name of Govinda!

28. You should not do ‘kutarkam’ to say that since Govinda’s name itself is as good as the waters of a sacred river, by simply chanting ‘Govinda Govinda!’ we can obviate the need for bathing!

(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.