DEIVATHIN KURAL # 106 (Vol # 3) Dated 10 July 2009

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 106 (Vol # 3) Dated 10 July 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 477 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.)

96. The farmer has to sweat it out in the land tilling, leveling, irrigating, sowing, weeding, harvesting and so on. If you tell him do not eat more than so many mouthfuls, not before such and such a time and not later than so and so time; fast on Ekaadasi and eat only after doing the Pooja on Dwaadasi; have a cold water bath at four in the morning; have three times bath every day and so on; he will tell you to go and hop! So evidently in all good intension, he does not have so many Do's and Don'ts. Whereas the Brahmin has these and some more aachaaraa-s, for obvious reasons of physical and mental cleansing and refinement. How can this be mis-construed as being partial to enable the Brahmin to have an ease of access to the Heavens?

97. When you say that Ahimsa is good for cleansing of the mind and that it is essential for the Brahmin and not for others, are you not being partial towards the Brahmins? Does it not mean that you are keen that only the Brahmin should become cleansed in the mind and not others. We all know that, 'plants grow according to the manure and human beings as per the food input'. By ensuring that Brahmins partake of only vegetarian food, you are certainly discriminatory! I have faced such accusations too!

98. Yes, for 'Chitta Shuddhi' it is essential that the diet is restricted to Vegetarianism. That is a general rule. But in God's play, for the sake of Dharma, events and incidents which are predominantly of Rajasic and Tamasic nature have to occur. Justice has to prevail even if only in an indirect manner. The guilty has to be punished. For the sake of dharma it may be necessary to ruthlessly kill. That is what Sri Krishna advised Arjuna in Bhagawat Gita. The Rajasic nature has to come into play on such occasions. Ploughing, cutting and digging has to take place for the sake of social leveling some times.

99. Those whose duty it is to perform hard physical labour, may have to sleep like a log some times. Thus these Rajasic and Tamasic actions are only part of nature and so not a demerit or sin for some on occasions! Actions as socially required will also mean that they may be entitled to food suitable for the sort of actions that they have to perform. If there is any demerit in eating non-vegetarian food, that gets cancelled out by the socially responsible actions of theirs.

100. The feed and manure has to match the requirements of the plant in the field. Similarly the diet of the individual has to be commensurate with the requirements of the duties that person has to perform. Food not only forms the 'sthula sareera', but also goes to affect the persons attitude and behaviour. So the food has to be such as to compliment his bodily needs and mental refinement. If a person has to fight in the battle field wielding a sword or a maze, or a gun; he has to be bodily strong and mentally fearless and alert. Though his action of killing the enemy may be cruel, the end justifies the means!

101. He protects the society while destroying the offending intruder, says Kalidasa's Raghu Vamsam - 2.53., "...kshataat kila thraayate...", and that is why soldiering is Kshatriya Dharma. For him eating meat and drinking liquor is permitted. Let him! His inner growth and ennoblement will not be adversely affected by his doing so, says the Saastraa! Actually soldiering makes one more of a philosopher. From amongst these Kshatriya-s there have been great men of wisdom revered as 'Raja Rishi-s'.

102. King Janaka for example was a great statesman cum administrator cum exalted sage! Buddha and Mahaveera as the founding saints of Buddhism and Jainism, were Kshatriya-s. When you read the Purana-s and Itihasa-s, you find that many kings having handed over the kingdom to their sons have retired into the forest for 'Vanaprasta Ashrama' for intense Tapasya. They must have adopted vegetarianism then, I am sure! Since the restrictions on diet as applicable to the Brahmin was more ideal and not a uniform rule for all, automatically others must have also been motivated to emulate, when they could do so! Similarly there have been many great saints from amongst the Vysya-s and Sudra-s too!

103. The country has to be economically viable for which trade and agriculture has to thrive too. Animals have to be taken care of. Goods and materials have to be manufactured. For trade you may have to go overseas. Though mainly concerned with Divine Grace, Veda-s have not ignored the material world altogether! We talk of the four 'Purusha Artha' as the main aims to be achieved in life, i.e., 'Dharma, Artha, Kaama and Moksha'. Put together, they are the four 'Artha-s', meaning, material, means, matter, money and goods.

104. So, it is a baseless accusation to say that, Hinduism ignores the material world. Actually out of the four Varna-s, the Vaisya is solely meant for trade and commerce of materials. The root word for the words, Which, Viswam or the World and Vaisya, in Sanskrit language are all the same. The Vysya is supposed to go all over the world to earn money and materials! Looking at the likely conditions and environments of his life, he is not required to be a vegetarian as per the Saastraa-s. The society stands to benefit by his profession and so the rules and regulations concerning his Achaaraa-s are rather liberal. But what do we see in reality. The Baniya-s of the North, Komutty-s of Andhra, the Nattu Kottai Chettiyars, Suddha Saiva Mudaliyar-s and Pillay-s are all mostly vegetarians on their own volition! (To be continued.) Sambhomahadeva.