DEIVATHIN KURAL # 98 (Vol # 3) Dated 13 June 2009

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 98 (Vol # 3) Dated 13 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 second para on page 449 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.)

29. In fact every one of us have accumulated an enormous load of demerits by our actions over many life times. If we are to escape from all that unscathed while simultaneously also dissolve our load of demerits, we have to sweat it out by virtual hard labour, doing a lot of good actions for the benefit of others and the society. That is why the Saastraa-s are full of hundreds of thousands of Do’s and Don'ts, rules and regulations, tying us up in knots. The same God who is accuser, police, prosecutor, judge and the jail warden rolled into one, is also our Father, Mother and benefactor. When we some times by chance make a slip up in our strict adherence to the schedule of observance of the aachaaraa-s and we expiate our sin by simply taking God's name, then He exonerates us out of His extreme kindness. If you happen to be rather regular in your defaults and expect to get away scot free sorry, you have a second thought coming! Then the advice, 'Do not take the God's name in vain' holds sway!

30. Without recourse to much hard labour, to just think of God or even take His name is enough to invoke His Motherly love. He immediately pardons all our sins including the ones of not adhering to the aachaara-s, say our ancestors! But it does not mean that He is easily duped or exploited! A lazy man cannot hope to take advantage of His largesse by simply saying 'Hare Rama'. But if you say 'Hare Rama' in all sincerity with your heart in total supplication, then He does not stand on formalities! There have been many similar occasions in which He has benignly influenced the situation in devotee's favour!

31. That particular caste which has been entrusted the duty of safe guarding the Veda Mantra-s from losing their effectiveness, have to exercise their minds and heart with more discipline and hard wok. That is why they are required to observe more elaborate aachaaraa-s with the necessary mantra-s. Other castes who are required to carry out more physical jobs in soldiering or policing or service with physical hard labour, have much less aachaaraa-s assigned to them. They are to work out their Karma and attain to 'Chitta Shuddhi' through that only. Hence they do not have arduous aachaaraa-s required to be performed. Neither do they have elaborate mantra-s to be chanted. For them chanting of the names of God and or prayer songs are good enough!

32. I reiterate that Aachaaraa-s are meant to give us both the seen and unseen effects. Amongst that it is wrong to take or adopt those only giving the apparently seen effects and discard those which do not seem to have immediate apparent benefits!

33. Subtle Points of Science in Aachaaraa-s. Recently I notice that the present generation of youngsters are having a little more respect towards our Aachaaraa-s than what used to be the case some time back. Then, once you are educated in the English medium, all our rituals used to be considered as hog wash! But in the recent past I am seeing a change in the attitude of scientists towards our rituals! Though seemingly science and spirituality are not mutually complimentary, as more and more discoveries are being made, there is a clear rethink about scientists' attitude about the Indian Religion and our beliefs of yore! They are flabbergasted to notice that, what they consider as modern discoveries, some how seem to be known to the Indian Seers thousands of years back! That too, their findings are without any of the modern instruments or devices!

34. You may have noticed some time back in the news papers, there was a right up about a finding by the Russian scientists. You know that Russians are Communists and agnosts. Here in India we comment negatively about the smoke created by Yaagaa-s and Yagnaa-s and the apparent wastage of materials such as cow's ghee and other materials put in the fire as oblation! Now the Russian scientists tell us that this smoke from the dried cakes of cow dung have the capacity to counter pollutions including atomic radiations!
35. Similarly, the smoke from the Samit twigs, Darba grass, Tulasi and Bilva have not only antiseptic effects but are also beneficial in more ways than one. Earlier people used to make fun of our habit of putting pieces of Darba grass in all kitchen utensils containing provisions such as cereals, pulses, oils and perishables, during Sun or Moon eclipses. They used to deride our custom saying, "It seems that the Sun is being swallowed by a snake. To cut the snake's tongue, they are putting the Darba grass! Yuk and Ugh!" Now we are told that at the time of eclipse, there are some contamination caused by radiations in the atmosphere, troposphere, stratosphere and ionosphere respectively. That it affects the child in the womb of pregnant women. So the age old custom of fasting sufficiently prior to the timing of the eclipse, so that there may not be any yet to be digested food in the stomach has much sense! The fact that without any tools or instruments, that Indians could calculate exactly the timings of such eclipses was and remains a mystery known only to those who have studied 'Jyotisham' a part of the Veda-s! I also have come to know from qualified scientists that Darba grass has the capability to counter act the effect of such radiations.

36. If every one is taught all the knowledge of all the sciences will lead to every one having a access to an atom bomb. So the common man was duped with stories of the Sun being swallowed by a snake. This is the logic put forward by some. I will not fully subscribe to such an explanation either. Rahu and Ketu are not real planets in the material sense. They are known as 'shadow planets'! In God's play they are also important characters on occasions such as eclipse! It is better to retain humility, however vast our knowledge base may be!

37. Some people allege that our ancestors out of vested interest, were keen that all our knowledge should remain in a limited circle of confidantes. Rest of the world should be kept out of such knowledge base and that is reason for many of the cock and bull stories. This is totally a wrong accusation. Knowledge should be available to those who have discipline of the mind. If the access to knowledge is uncontrolled, it can only lead to misuse!

(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.