DEIVATHIN KURAL # 141 (Vol #3) Dated 23 Oct 2009.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 141 (Vol #3) Dated 23 Oct 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 the last para on page 631 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.)

156. To hear people claiming that oneness and integrity will only be achieved if both Veg and non-veg cooking is done in the same kitchen and served together, to each his own, I do not know whether to laugh or cry. Before starting the World War in which all the countries were involved in some way or the other, hurting the humanity at large, the so called leaders of these countries responsible for pulling the whole world down in to the mire, were toasting and hosting each other in such parties only! Having done that they started destroying each others countries with utter disregard for civilian and military targets.

157. It is a pity that then they advice that such combined eating will lead to unity and integrity! These Tea parties and combined eating can give some temporary relief as a stop gap arrangement. But the fact is very clear that, despite such things being introduced for quiet some time now in our country, day by day, social tensions and disputes are on the increase. These sort of Tea parties are arranged like some magic tricks to hood wink some sectors of the society while encouraging certain other sectors of the masses. “You scratch my back and I will scratch yours’, is the quid pro quo arrangement in such parties for some ulterior gains unnoticed by the general public. These are like award of Doctorates on politicians, done with some ulterior motivation!

158. The way to permanent unity is not through eating together, but by working together in social service. As I have often said before, all classes of people should come together in doing combined service, irrespective of caste or creed. That can bring us all together. But, the trouble is that even in the area of social service, a lot of politics is brought in by various segments of the society in trying to grind their own axes! Against all Aachaaraa-s and Saastraa-s, the so called political sense of equality is brought in, especially in the matter of Aahaara, that is, food habits, pulling down everyone in the mire.

159. What is cooked by oneself should be eaten also alone, instead of sharing, as that would again bring in competition, comparison, contrast, variety and give in to the vicarious vacillations of the tongue! What is cooked separately should also be eaten separately. It is enough if equality and socialism is brought in, by other means! In the name of common food and 'Sama Bhandi' ideas of reformation, cruelty to animals has increased and many who were vegetarians for eons of generations have become non-vegetarians! This is nothing but degradation in the name of reformation!

160. Look at the whole world. They are all non-vegetarians every where. Vegetarians are a fragile small percentage in all those countries. There they are trying hard to propagate vegetarianism as though it is something new and refinement over their existing culture! Here we have had a majority of vegetarians running into many crores. To lose this legacy in the name of reformation and refinement of culture in the pretext of equality, is nothing short of foolishness! Having been born as human beings, bringing the idea of equality of status in the matter of food and for that equality to be responsible for the cruel killing of so many birds and animals; is all atrociously barbarian. Then to claim that in Gandhism there is 'Ahimsa' and Equality, is sheer affront!

161. I was telling you about the many advantages in cooking one's food oneself. I will tell you one more additional advantage in doing so! Veda vidyabyasam will grow on swayam paakam! You may wonder as to how this can be related to self-cooking?! Let me tell you. I have personally witnessed this during my visit to North India. In Orissa, Bengal, U.P., Assam and such states, though they do not have Veda Patashala-s as we have here in the South, they have Sanskrit Patashala-s. In the whole of Tamil Nadu we may not have some 30 or 40 such schools, with hardly any strength. In the North, I came across hundreds of such schools. They call such organizations as Doles. Even in Assam, considered to be a rather backward state, there were 200 such Doles. Further astounding fact was that these schools had hardly any capital funds to talk about!

162. Though we think that in maintaining our age old customs and traditions, we are far ahead in the South, again despite there being sizeable capital and landed property, why are these Veda Patashala-s in South are on the decline and why these Doles in the North are going strong? This was a puzzle beyond my understanding for quite some time! Then I got the hang of it. I asked, "You say that there is no capital. How is that you have so many students?" They countered with, "For more students, why do we need more capital?" I said, "At least, if you give free food, more students will join."

163. "Yes, we need to give them food. But for that we do not need any capital. We have our local Kirana shop Bania or the local Marvari. When children go to him claiming that they are studying Sanskrit, he gives them some 'Aatta', that is wheat powder and some butter. the student themselves make their own bread on the Tava, that is the hot plate. They can either make 'Sukha Roti' or role it in to balls, cover with some green leaves and directly put it into the fire. They get baked in to edible breads! Some time we make some Dhal, that is lentil soup. The shop keepers do not hesitate to help. They can anyhow recover the cost. But they do love to be of help in such noble quest!" Doles were true to there English dictionary meaning too, as they were places of charity! (KTSV adds:- I cannot help commenting that recently it was front page news that in Karnataka under BJP govt, that they had recently increased the Scholarship for students of Sanskrit, from Rs.4/- per month to Rs.8/- per month! Other states did not put their foot in their mouth as Karnataka did! They were conveniently keeping their mouth shut and their fist tight too, I am sure! I do not know as to how many Doles are surviving to day, as I translate this, in the North Indian States, based on the largeese of the local Bania and Marvari! I hope that some of them do survive somehow!)

164. Here when we establish a school like that, our first area of interest will be the kitchen, utensils, store room, grinder, mixer, slicer, electricity, heater, stoves, water supply and so on and so on. Then with the increasing inflation, management of food alone takes the major amount of time and resources. Then only we can think of pay for the Adhyapak and stipend for the student! That is why such organizations are in the decline! So I could gather that one of the main reasons for the decline was, not letting the student depend on 'Swayam Paakam'. (KTSV adds:- Not many seem to have taken this idea forward, seemingly. In a place like the Sankara Gurukulam Veda Patashala in Malkajgiri, Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, the effort is to make the student feel as well looked after as he would have been in his own house! But that survives out of liberal donation by good Samaritans!)

(To be Continued.)

Sambhomahadeva.