DEIVATHIN KURAL # 124 (Vol #3) Dated 04 Sept 2009.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 124 (Vol #3) Dated 04 Sept 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 544 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.)

257. We pay for washing the clothes in the laundry. Then we wear those clothes for days together, without washing again! So it adds the ‘theettu’ of our own bodily sweat, contact with others in various levels of theettu, in the bus train and so on. No regular bathing, eating all sorts of things, in all sorts of hotels, dhabha-s, corner tea stalls and so on! Spending our precious time in cinema and reading gossip and novels! Then we have the conceit that we are very modern, up to date, who has left behind all blind beliefs. Even on a cursory glance, we cannot but help noticing that we are on the wrong path, going down the vicious cycle! We have to turn the corner, before it is too late!

258. What is the real state of affairs? We have to simply open our eyes to the reality. Our ancestors have laid a right royal path for us to follow, with no pot holes and not too many ups and downs! Instead of thinking that we are pioneers trail blazing in a new world, we should come to realize that in addition to spoiling ourselves, we are corrupting the way for generations to come! When we have shown no respect to our ancestors, what prevents the next generation from jettisoning us and our ideas out of hand? Let us just now retrace our paths and make amends. We have almost reached the stage of ‘kaN kettapin surya namaskaaram’. Surya Namaskaaram is a wholesome exercise comprising many Aasanaa-s combined in one, accompanied with the mantraa-s addressed to the Sun God, for physical fitness and overall health. The proverb says, “what is the purpose of doing Surya Namaskaaram, when you have become blind already?” We have to make amends before we reach such a stage!

259. The patient is in his last stage. It is time that we gave him Oxygen and revived him. The very fact that one has reached this worst condition, should give us the lesson that we should recover from here, for which we should start working sincerely! Looking at other countries suffering, if we keep copying their mistakes, it is a greater insult to our very being. Because their ancestors have not endowed them with the sort of prophylactic drills, as our ancestors have done! Their giving us the Aachaaraa-s in book forms is not as great as, their having lived exemplary lives for generations, worthy of emulation. They have proved by living such a life, that it is practical and that, we will be doubly foolish to ignore such a legacy!

260. I think that I should explain this point further. I talked of living an exemplary life and about writing a book. Yes there are many books of Saastraa-s delineating on our daily and periodic rituals. But, the point to note here is that, these rituals did not come in to being after some one wrote them down. The rituals had been perfected, refined, improved upon, by generations of ancestors, much before the books were ever written! That means that, much before the books were ever written as Saastraa-s, the Aachaaraa-s had been evolved by heuristic methods, to perfection! You cannot pick holes in this, ever! That is what has been written for the sake of future generations, as Saastraa-s.

261. Life was not conducted as per Saastraa-s. Saastraa-s were written as per life! Whether you take the Manu Smruti or Aapasthamba or Aasvalaayana Sutra-s or the compendiums known as Nibandana Grantha-s, they have not claimed authorship or copy-write for even a small fraction of their huge efforts! They do not claim to have made even a single small rule of their own! They have clearly stated that they have only collected and collated the existing rules, regulations, methods and practices!
262. This is a wonder! The Hindu Religion is known as Sanatana Dharma. It means, ever lasting, eternal, meritorious custom and or practice. True to that definition, before the books came in to being, our lives had already been well regulated in to orderly sequence, for individual and collective advancement, from chaos to clarity! Who created ‘pancha katcham’? Who inaugurated ‘Aachamanam’ of three sips of water, uttering, ’Kesavaaya Namaha, Maadhavaaya Namaha, Govindaaya Namaha’? No one can answer these questions. They have been doing these things from time immemorial. From the time this world came into being, they have been in touch with the ‘omniscient, omnipotent’ power in being. So, they always knew as to what is the method by which, they could extricate themselves from over involvement with this material world, to gravitate surely and certainly towards eternal, permanent, daily bliss! They showed the way by living. Their methods and procedures have become embedded in our conscience and registered in the Saastraa-s as Dharma-s and Aachaaraa-s.

263. Who laid this path of Sanaatana Dharma Anushtaana? No one can answer that! But we know that there is a path. That is why, this Hindu Dharma has been compared to a foot track. You can see the path existing. No one can say as to why laid it first. Other roads such as a tar road or a high way, you may be able to answer. So and so councilor made plans, so and so commissioner sanctioned, so many worked for so many days and so on. You cannot do that with a foot track. It was never planned. Other roads are used after they are made. This one has happened by the fact of it’s being used for moving. The rules and regulations in this are not laws after enactment, but laws that have evolved by being acted upon!

264. All other religious laws have been made after due deliberation on them by some set of people. They are well planned. You can move fast on them. Your foot path cannot take such traffic. Yes. But, the point is that, we do not require special funds for it’s maintenance. Other roads get worn out by usage, The foot track gets strengthened by usage. Other roads planned cannot match its longevity and resilience. That is how, the old religions of the Greeks, the Hebrews and the Confucianism, have all dissipated and disintegrated in to bygones! Whereas this Sanaatana Dharma of Hinduism of daily and periodical Aachaaraa-s have carried on. May you cannot travel fast here. But, not required to. Those who arrive real fast do not opt for fame and name! There can be accidents enroute in other highways, Here there can never be an accident. Some times this may be faster too, by being a short cut!

265. Even if we accept the modern historians’ assessment, Vedic Civilization is possibly as old as 3000 B.C., we have no business to go against what has gone on for so many generations. Not only have reneged on the legacy, we are creating insurmountable problems for the future generations! If we do not use it, the foot path will get covered and forgotten, is it not so? God the ever Compassionate should save us from this heinous sin of closing the past to the future! At least now we should think of all this and return to our old ways. May God bless us with sense to do so!

(Thus ends the talks on Matters Aachaara, since Page 434, till 549, of the III volume of Deivathin Kural.)

Sambhomahadeva.