DEIVATHIN KURAL # 120 (Vol #3) Dated 25 August 2009.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 120 (Vol #3) Dated 25 August 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 the 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 529 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.)

222. There is a Tamil saying that if the expenditure is going to be more than the capital investment and generated income, it will lead to successive ruin and damnation! I quote:- “aana mudalukku adhigam selavaanaal,.....maanam azhindu madhi kettu.....”. What ever the other gains of abiding with aachaaraa-s, there is one certain advantage. That is thrift.

223. Coffee is anaachaaram; so is visiting clubs and hotels; drama and cinema are not approved in saastraa-s; imbibing liquor is taboo; all sorts of gambling such as playing cards, horse racing, playing the share market, are just not OK, proscribed! When living strictly as per the dictates of the Saastraa-s, you must cut down on travel too. When you do live like that, many of these expenses are automatically saved! If such a person who is living strictly as per the dictates of the Saastraa-s, some times gets the idea of visiting a club or race-course, seeing him in ‘Pancha-Katcham and Kudumi’, others will make fun of him and cause him to retrace his steps! Take the simple aspect of the dress and compare the cost in making, laundry and maintenance of a suit and coat with shoes and socks, with that of wearing a Veshti and thundu!

224. Even while going to the office, if everyone is firm on not wearing a shirt, in this democratic world, the Government will have to come around and agree. Did not Mahatma Gandhi go right upto the King Emperor, in just four cubit Veshti and thundu? Once the whole nation changes over to ‘Swadeshi’ clothes and loses interest in the pant and shirt or suit, there will be substantial saving to the masses. Think of it! What is not washed is not accepted as clean, i.e., ‘madi’! Can you wash a suit every day? However much it may look clean, it is not ‘madi’. It is anaachaaram as full of yesterday’s sweat!

225. Some body interrupted Periyaval saying possibly, ‘there are such clothes being manufactured and available now-a-days, which can be washed and dried. Such clothes will not require use of pressing iron, as they are wrinkle free, even when crushed! So, there will be no need for laundry’. But the point is that, artificial clothes are not acceptable to the Saastraa-s. Only cotton and silk are acceptable. In that also I am very seriously against silk as it means killing thousands of worms for each yard of cloth!

226. Now-a-days, a lot of by products of the petroleum industry are flooding the market, inclusive of the ubiquitous Plastic. This is also not acceptable to the Saastraa-s and so anaachaaram only. To wear a shirt made of such material, touching the skin all of the time, is just not acceptable. I am told that such clothes do not let ease of passage of air through them. In South where ten months in a year, there is heat and humidity, there is no need for a shirt. Even in the so called winter month of Margazhi, it is enough if we wear an Anga Vastram. This wearing of the shirt is a habit of less than ten decades vintage. If the people decide, any such habit can be changed. That is why, the word habit is a synonym for clothes.

227. Not only in the matter of dress, for other observance of aachaaraa-s also, the excuse given is, ‘they will not permit us in the office‘. They say, “You are telling us to fast on Ekadasi days. How can we keep a fast and work in the offices or factories? If the Amavasya tarpanam is to be done only at certain given times, won’t it affect office timings?” My answer is that, if all people concertedly decide to fast on ‘Ekadasi’ days and do ‘pithru tarpanam’ on Amavasya/new moon days, the society will have to accommodate such activities.

228. Are there not protests for every minor matter, of no relevance now? In the name of this right and that privilege, don’t people say that they are going to go around shouting some slogans for this ‘Day’ or that and offices permit? If we have faith in our system of Saastraa-s and Aachaaraa-s and sincere in observing them religiously, we will have our way. Even in the times of the rule of the British, there have been people like Sir. T. Muthuswami Iyer, who were very strict adherents of the Saastraa-s and still raised to the level of High court and Supreme court Judges!

229. If there is some one even now, following sincerely all the aachaaraa-s required of him, however much the world may be sliding down, it does not fail to extend the courtesy and respect as deserved by the former. However much the attraction in coat and suit, people do have a special regard and respect for a person who is a sincere observer of aachaaraa-s. When such a person emerges, with a pancha katcham, kudumi, with the three stripes of Vibhuti or Naamam, people do take note of and pay respect!
Aachaaraa-s has that aura of attraction, and causes all others to pay attention!

230. Let All People Become Vaidik! Aachaaraa-s can survive only if all people start observing their part of the Aachaaraa-s. If only some people observe the dictates of the Aachaaraa-s, they will be classified as Vaidik, as though it is only their job to do so. All people of all caste-s should try and follow all the Aachaaraa-s as meant for them. The Brahmin has the maximum rules and regulations as Aachaaraa-s. Those born as brahmins should try and live up to the expectations of that caste, strictly observing all the Aachaaraa-s required of them without fail. Then is the matter of the mistaken notion we have that, only those who have taken ‘Purohitam’ as a profession are Vaidik! We will analyze this in greater detail in the next e-mail.
Sambhomahadeva.