DEIVATHIN KURAL # 153 (Vol #3) Dated 24 Nov 2009.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 153 (Vol #3) Dated 24 Nov 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 middle of page No 696 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.

30. From this state of 'mano laya:', we will progress to complete God consciousness. From no-thoughts to God-thoughts. We will be aware, sans the pull of the sensual urges. It will be pure bliss that knows nothing else. Then from God-thoughts, it will be the state of thoughtlessness, with the complete annulment of any sense of separateness. The mind will be no more, as 'mano nigraha:' will result. Wholesome silence will prevail.

31. Param Brhmam cannot be grasped by the mind and or speech. It can only be grasped and displayed by the silence, sans mind and speech! "For the 'principle of what is Brhmam' which cannot be explained by speech or language, it is only Mounam which does the interpretation", says Aadi Sankara Bhagawat Paadaal in Dakshinamurthy Stotra:- '...mouna vyaakyaa pragatita para brhma tatvam...'.

32. Now we have all sorts and combinations of thoughts. From here we have to progress to 'zero thoughts', to 'God thoughts'. Then instead of thinking of God as a separate entity, merge in to that totality. With that aim we should be practicing Mounam on some days. Right from the beginning, if we are careful to see that we should not get stuck at the all blank level of 'mano laya:', everything will be alright. (KTSV adds:- I wonder if Gowtam Buddha did not go beyond this 'Soonyatvam' and thus ended up espousing the 'Nir Easwara Vaadam' of a Godless religion! I may be wrong!)
33. Between 'mano laya:' and mano nigraha:' I happened to have brought in Easwara. When the mind stops all its oscillations and empties out, if you bring in the 'Easwara Smaranam' it is again a seed thought for the ebbing of more thoughts, is it not so? Having started the effort to stop the flow of thoughts, when we reach a stage of thoughtlessness, instead of keeping quiet, if we think of the idea of a God, (who anyhow is beyond thoughts and speech!), would such action not be tantamount to opening the flood gates as though, for the influx of all sorts of thoughts again? We know how deceptive this mind of ours can be! So we may come to a decision that, even if we do not get total Gnaana, it does not matter. Let it be 'soonyatvam', as long as it does not end in running from pillar to post, dancing to every whim and fancy of the tyrannical mind!

34. Actually, we do not have to worry or fear about such possibility of falling back to square one! Once we have had some amount of practice to reign in the mind and have had some experience of the maturity of thoughtlessness, there can be no reversion. Once after much effort we have directed our mind towards God, He takes over the control. Then He will not let us slide down! Then our march towards perfect Mounam is inexorable!

35. For the fear of thugs and robbers, we call the help of God the Policeman. Once he chases away all the unwanted elements and saved us from peril, will He punish us also? No, never. He may just go on with his other calling. Similarly, having chased away all other thoughts, having fetched us to the destination of mindless Gnaana, He the God will not be 'He' anymore, as we would have merged into Him by then!

36. So also the co-operation with good people known as 'Sat Sang', that will take us to total dispassion. It is not possible at once to become totally delinked from all our attachments. First you get attached to good company to enable you to leave bad company. As a fruit when it becomes fully matured, it delinks from the mother plant on its own. Similarly the Sat Sang will one day lead you to dispassion. So does our Aachaaryal say in Bhaja Govindam, "...sat sangatve nis sangatvam...".

37. So also, from God-thought, no-thought will occur. This is not the Zero / Soonya level. This is the state of totality, filled with Gnaana. There is another meaning for 'Sat Sang'. This not just the company of good people only. For ever the true and only true being is the Self, that is the Atma. Oneness with the Atma is the SAT SANG! All other co-operation with good people leads to this finally. What is now beating the drum as I, me and mine, that Ahamkaara, Aham Bhava, Ego, goes away for ever. We from this detestable weakling metamorphose in to that mighty, venerable, omniscient, omnipotent being! Till we think of ourselves as different from that, me and mine ideas will persist. With oneness realized and experienced, the troublesome prone me and mine disappears forever! This final stepping across the Rubicon happens involuntarily.

38. For that to happen, we have to start with trying to keep quiet, with our mouths shut tight and our mind riveted on our Ishta Devata, may be Uma-Maheswara or Laxmi-Narayana or what ever! Then this thought will also go, by the Grace of God, when ever it has to happen. Till then Dhyana and Japa will continue. From mulling over all sorts of thoughts, one may directly get merged in God-thoughts or it may happen gradually, via a period of thoughtless blankness with a dose of powerful attachment to the divine!

39. Social Service. For the past six months or so, I have been talking about what you have to do. Your Vedic responsibilities, Karma Anushtaanaa for protecting Dharma and what you have to do for social service. To day I turned to the subject of Mounam. This is also social service only. More than what you can do for the society, the highest service will be by your silence! Not only in terms of not saying or doing anything negatively, but also, because of the fact that, this control of the senses is the most potent Atma Sakti, doing good to the society. Hence I thought of advising you all to practice this Mounam for at least half an hour every day.

40. The cause for taking up this subject by me to-day, was due to a topical point of discussion in recent times. All the schools in India start the day with some prayer meeting in the morning, attended by all the children. Amongst the political leaders in the country, there are two types of opinion about whether there should be a students prayer meeting or not. Amongst the leaders, there are those who believe in God and some who do not! The Government has declared its firm belief in secularism. But the tradition has been there for long, that stopping the prayer meetings could lead to objections from many. At the same time, when the student population is a mix of different religious denominations, the selection of the prayers is a problem.

41. So they have decided that, before starting the classes the students may observe a period of silence. When small children are being told to observe Mounam, I thought of telling that to the big children too! Are they the only students? You, me, we are all students only. In this school that is the world, we are all students for life time, learning various things. To-day you have learnt about Mouna Vidya. ‘Mounam is gnaana varambu’, meaning that silence is the brim of Gnaana, the threshold, the Rubicon of Brhma Vidya.
In this life, it is important to learn as to what we are required to do. It is equally important or even more important for us to learn as to how to be without action, speech and thoughts! To think of thoughts as prompted by the vagaries of the mind and give them shape in the form of words and express it; means that we have not achieved the purpose of being born at all. To learn when to talk and when not to talk, itself is a lesson to be learnt.

42. Since coming to Madras, I have learnt a lesson. (From Oct 1957 till April 1958, Periyavaal was camping in Sanskrit college, Luz, Mylapore.) The lesson learnt is that the peacefulness of Mounam is permanent and not a transitory one. Amongst all difficulties, it can make you happy. Life can never be devoid of problems. Problems will always be there. Our backlog of Karma can only be cancelled by going through suffering. But it should not be seen as suffering. It is in this that I have learnt a lesson, during my stay in Madras. Let me explain.

43. You all come hear to see me doing Puja, for which you come in such numbers that the hall is over crowded. You wait patiently for hours without any tea or coffee or even water, till you have the Teertam from me at the end of the Puja. Many of you come without having had any break-fast, I know. You under take all that trouble uncomplainingly. Some amongst you in your exuberance of devotion start some Bhajan or sing some sloka happily. You do that in all good intention. But as that leads to much noise and distraction, some people thought it necessary to hang placards with the message, 'Silence Please'. I gave instructions not to hang such placards. Do you know why? I took it as a challenge for me to learn a lesson as to how to concentrate in my Puja, without getting distracted. Now I have learnt as to how to pay attention to my Puja, despite the distractions.

44. To day I spoke about Mounam, not so that I could make you keep quiet. I talked about Mounam so that, all of you may benefit by experiencing the pleasures that accrue from it. Since you have all had the pleasures of singing Bhajans, and chanting sloka-s to your hearts content, I decided to draw your attention to the pleasures of 'summaa irukkum sugam', that is, the pleasures of keeping quiet not doing anything!

Sambhomahadeva.