DEIVATHIN KURAL # 192 (Vol #3) Dated 26 Feb 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 192 (Vol #3) Dated 26 Feb 2010.
(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 second para on page No 872 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://Advaitam. blogspot. com constantly updated.)

61. ‘Sakuntalam’ is another of Kalidasa’s dramas, in which it is clearly brought out as to how a king should empathise with all life forms. When informed of the fact that someone has come from Kanva Maharishi’s ashram, King Dushyant wonders as to what could have gone wrong, since normally people living in ashrams would not be visiting the royal presence for flimsy reasons! He thinks to himself, “What could have happened? I hope those living in the ashram have not been disturbed from conduct of their rituals! Could it be that some one has hunted the harmless animals in the forest? May be due to my some errors trees’ or plants’ flowers may not have bloomed or fruitioned!” (5th Angam of the drama.)

62. During ‘Ram Rajya’ when there was death of an infant in a family, Sri Rama investigated and found that it was due to not strictly observing ’varna ashrama dharma-s’ and punished the culprit. At the start of ‘Sakuntalam’ too there is a scene which, confirms this deep rooted belief of the kings in ‘varna ashrama dharma’. Dushyant goes for a hunt in the forest. There he meets Sakuntala with her friends. He feels an instant attraction towards her. From the talk of her friends, he realizes that she is unwed. He feels that this love of his cannot be against ‘varna ashrama dharma’. But if she is the daughter of Kanva Maharishi, she may be a Brahmin girl, in which case, his love for her is an aberration! Then he also thinks that as he is the type of person not prone to inner conflicts and since he has mentally wished for her company, she must be a Kshatriya girl and not a brahmin girl!

63. In actual fact she is the daughter of Vishwamitra and Apsara Menaka, who is abandoned by the parents and so an adopted daughter of Kanva Maharishi! Here the poet indirectly points out that even in passing, kings do not have lascivious tendencies that go against the ‘varna ashrama dharma’! The kings had such high level of responsibility and sense of propriety that, in their actions and follow up, they tried to remain true to the dictates of dharma and artha saastraa-s very diligently. They were not out to fill up the royal coffers by hook or crook! This point is amply brought out by Kalidasa's Sakuntalam, 6th Angam.

64. There was a rich merchant who went overseas. News is received that his ship was wrecked and that the merchant had died in the accident. As he had died without any issues, the minister sends a note to the king that all the traders property would accrue to the royal coffers. The king considers that, as the trader was quite rich, he was likely to have more than one wife. He gives instructions to find out if any of the trader's wives is in the family way. It is then revealed that one of them is actually in the family way. Dushyant gives a ruling that the property will accrue to the yet to be born child and not to the royal coffers!

65. Then Dushyant makes a proclamation, which clearly shows the king's deep conviction in fairness, justice, humaneness and lack of greed. His royal decree states that, "... for all those who are grieved, he will take the role of that relative as 'next of kin' and adds so that his decree may not be misunderstood, "...without prejudice to dharma and moral laws of the land!..." Chanakya too adds the responsibilities of taking care of 'orphans, poor people, pregnant women, sick and old' as that of the king. Modern day politicians who talk about Welfare State cannot come anywhere near conceptually and in practice!

66. Thus the king and the government are entrusted with many important qualitative requirements, two points are deeply emphasised by the Artha Saastra. So far I have described the protective measures to be taken by the king and or government. These two are punitive and corrective actions. If you want to grow plants, you have to weed out the unwanted growths periodically and protect the field with a fence against trespass! Exactly similarly, maintenance of law and order internally and preparedness against outside interference, are both the king's and his government's responsibilities!

67. Internal. Punitive action alone is not the first point of emphasis. In to-days set up, there does not seem to be any moral responsibility of the government to guide people in the right direction whatsoever! It was not so in the olden times. The king had the responsibility to actively involve in guiding people in the right direction and encourage law abidance, in all possible ways. He made use of the 'Pouranik-s' and their 'kathaa kaalakshepam' to give discourses about dharmic matters of venerable behaviour worthy of emulation. For such activities the Temples were the community halls of the society. At each village level, there was the Panchayat of responsible citizens. There was the 'Nattaanmai' with some local powers to maintain order. Then beyond this, for errant behaviour, the punishment was rather harsh.

68. To show extra care and consideration for convicted criminals will only be construed as encouraging errant behaviour! It is only these days that people are making it a big issue about persuasion and corrective action. These are all ok as points for a doctorate thesis. In practice I wonder if there is any single case of convicted criminal who has been corrected to mend his ways! In a high unemployment scenario coupled with a so called persuasive policies of the government towards criminals, will only end up in encouraging the tendency to consider the period in custody as, 'sarkari mehmaan' that is, 'guests of the government'!

69. The conditions existing to-day is that the governments have totally washed off their hands, as far as the responsibility of guiding and encouraging morally correct behaviour of its citizens. Politicians have impressed on the minds of people about the need to treat the criminals with 'kid's gloves'! The power of Dharmic institutions have completely diminished to nullity almost! People have lost the fear of social ostracization too. That can be one of the reasons for criminals to be left without too harsh a treatment! But in olden times, the government of the erstwhile kings was very supportive for people to move in the correct path of justice. The society was mostly well behaved. So there was no logic to treat confirmed criminals with a liberal attitude of commiseration!

70. Our country was an example for all the countries to emulate, in morally upright social ethos. This was essentially due to the fact that 'Raja Dhandam' was an effective power in being, the fear of which kept people from going astray! Whether it was 'Meghasthanes' or 'Paahiyan', all foreign visitors have whole heartedly praised the Indian country, culture and system. The King's power to punish was one of the reasons for the state of affairs existing those days. Now we do know all of us as to how bad is the situation existing! Still we shamelessly criticize and find faults with the Saastraa-s on this issue of punishing the criminals! (KTSV adds:- Periyaval is being too soft on this. Criminals and Politicians have become synonyms in present day India, to say the least!)

71. It is alright to talk of persuasion and application of correction for the criminals' to turn the corner. But when there is a war on or economic or political crisis, they declare 'Emergency' and the first action taken is to bring in draconian laws of punitive action against offenders. Does this not indicate that better than measures of correction, the law should be seen as an effective Power in Being, for it to be abided with and meticulously observed?

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 191 (Vol #3) Dated 24 Feb 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 191 (Vol #3) Dated 24 Feb 2010.
(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 second para on page No 868 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://Advaitam. blogspot. com constantly updated.)

52. The Sanskrit original of that remark of Kusa about the exemplary attitude and behaviour of the Kings of the Raghu Dynasty quoted in the previous para, is from 'Raghu Vamsa' 16.8. Chanakya also has said in Artha Saastra that Kings of States can just not be weak enough to nurture special attraction for wealth, women and wine. They just cannot even give in to anger, lest they go astray to become the laughing stock of the society. He goes on to quote negative examples of such people from history. Kings should be given much practice in weaponry and discipline to be able to carry out hard tasks without losing ones intensity of concentration and perseverance!

53. Yes, the 'Raja-s' , the Kings did take care of their own and their royal family's comfort. That was whole heartedly the wish of the 'Praja-s‘, the citizens too. But to think that the concept of 'Welfare State' was not prevalent those days, is completely wrong! Construction of 'chatra-s' for travellers to stay, with free feeding, dams across rivers*, establishment of 'Aathurasaalai' that is, Hospitals, planting of trees alongside roads, and such activities, construction of Temples with the necessary infrastructure for their maintenance and up-keep, where public discourses were held on Puraanaa-s and Itihaasaa-s; sculpture, architecture, dance, drama and other handy crafts were nurtured and encouraged; were all Public Works of a Welfare State in effective functionality only! ( * - 'Kallanai' is one of those dams across rivers, mentioned above. It is a rare engineering wonder, which is still functional across the river Kavery, in Tamil Nadu even after more than a thousand years after it's construction!)

54. The King had a number of departments under him with a minister each for clearly identified, seperate functional responsibility. Not only did he take care of the welfare requirements of the citizenry but also took care that they remained law abiding through morality, discipline and adherence to the dictates of Dharma! He also functioned as an Ideal to be emulated. He got the Temples constructed, ensured their functional efficiency, got periodic Yagna-s conducted, ensured celebrations of festivals in all of them at the appropriate times, honoured the noble exemplary citizens for their life time contributions in various fields of Arts and Crafts, thereby motivating the common man to emulate them.

55. Here, when I say that he honoured exemplary citizens, there is a trumped up charge in recent times that, 'these were the Brahmins, who Lorded over the Kshatriya-s for their selfish interests, on the pretext of having Brhma Tejas'! In fact, this accusation is based on the ignorance of how simple and secluded was the life of a Brahmin those days! Even Chanakya himself, who was considered to be very clever, adept in in all tricks of every trade, despite the fact that he was the main manipulator for elevating Chandra Gupta Mourya to the level of the supreme ruler and had his complete trust; lived a life of total abnegation in a hut, with poor man's clothes and was a 'swayam paaky', cooking his own food himself!

56. Similarly Brahmins as Purohit-s, Rishi-s running Gurukula, or simply living by themselves; always lived in huts called '’parna shaalaa', meaning a 'house of leaves', on the barest minimum of 'Artha'! They did not go about offering advices to the Kings on all sorts of matters unsolicited, so as 'to grind their own axes'! There is no such evidence or proof of any one doing that sort of manipulation! It is the Kings who invariably went to the Rishi-s seeking advice, anugraha and aasirvadam! If the King's life was tough and demanding, the Brahmin's life was equally or even more tough, demanding and austere too! By his daily and fortnightly and periodic observance of rituals, the Brahmin drove his self and his family to extreme perseverance and self abnegation, so as to contribute his level best for the welfare and benefit of the whole nation! It was not in his nature and ethos to exploit others for his own selfishness!

57. Even the King had no extra constitutional privileges! When his son accidentally ran over a calf with his chariot, Manu Needhi Chozhan(the Chola King who strictly adhered to the dictates of Manu Dharma), ran his chariot over that son of his! To-days politicians just have no idea of the mind set of the Kings of yore! Because, the Kings of the past, felt themselves to be responsible not only for the welfare of his citizens, but also for their discipline and behaviour. He felt that it was his bounden duty to ensure that they do not commit any sins. The 'paapa' or demerits for their errors of commission and omission, he felt accrues to him directly! This is what he had been instructed in his 'Gurukula' days! "raja rashtra krutam paapam!" As a converse of this principle, the sins by him will affect his whole country, he believed and knew too. He had been instructed that, for his sins, the very Nature will become vengeful and affect all the people by way of earth quake or floods or draughts!

58. Thirukkural talks in detail about this aspect of a cruel rule of tyranny by an irresponsible king, called 'kodungkonmai'! The tears shed by the masses of such a ruler will nullify all his wealth, like the marauding forces of an enemy. Misrule will lead to failure of the rainy season; milk production will reduce; productivity of the agriculture will fail; brahmins will forget the Veda-s and default in conduct of the Yaagaa-s; thus the whole country will be affected, warns Thiru Valluvar!

59. It is this ideal as to how a king has to maintain his and his citizen's good conduct and discipline, that Kalidasa depicts in 'Raghu Vamsa'. Dilipa in his capital is passing through a garden in the night time. There are women sleeping in the benches there, with no fear of molestation whatsoever! In Raghu Vamsam 6.75.,"...when in Dilipa's rule, even the air dare not move the sleeping lady's clothings, how could a human being risk doing so?.." , asks the poet!
60. Not only human beings were to be the target of the king's protection and care! Animals, birds and the flora and fauna too were the recipients of the king's compassion and love! Even in hunting there were taboos and controlling limits. Many kings applied their own self imposed restrictions to hunt only dangerous carnivores. Even while conducting Yagna-s wherein sacrificing live animals was in vogue, to kill endlessly too many animals was also considered a 'paapa'! Like the king Sibi Chakravarty who, in trying to save the life of a dove that had surrendered to him, cut and gave his own physical body, as compensation to the vulture which claimed the dove as its rightful prey; there has been Pari Vallal who gave his royal chariot for a Mullai creeper! When he had halted for a short period near the creeper flowering plant, he noticed that the plant had spread her tendrils over his chariot. He did not have the heart to disturb the plant! So he simply walked away from the scene! That is the sort of sensitivity and nobility those Kings were attuned to!

( To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 190 (Vol #3) Dated 18 Feb 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 190 (Vol #3) Dated 18 Feb 2010.
(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 page No 863 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://Advaitam. blogspot. com constantly updated.)

42. It is enough to go through this one work of Kalidasa by name ‘Raghu Vamsa’, to know about a whole series of kings of that dynasty. That classic literature is descriptive of all the important principles of both Dharma and Artha Saastraa-s. Those are the ideal situations, which were emulated in later periods, by various royal historical personages. Let me describe some of the points that now come to my mind.

43. The way the bee sucks the honey from the flower without the slightest hurt to the flower, while doing the favour of spreading its makaranda (pollen) to other flowers for pollination; the king should arrange to collect the taxes without the least aggravation, as they are doing the favour of filling the king’s coffers, which in turn are going to be used in people‘s welfare activities! Kalidasa is famous for incomparable examples of comparisons! For this tax collection he gives another excellent ‘upama’ (allegory)! ‘As the sun evaporates the water from water sources on the earth and later gives it back to the same mother earth as rains, Dilipa was expending the collected taxes for people’s welfare only!’ (Raghu Vamsa 1.18.). The Sun takes the useless salt water from the oceans and gives it back as nourishing rains inland. Exactly similarly Dilipa takes the wealth that is lying unutilized with people and returns it for their own benefit!

44. To the King the people were beholden for providing them protection and clean government. So, they were willingly his subjects abiding with his overall control and suzerainty. So he had a right to a high life style, with palaces for living, elephants and horses for riding, impressive clothing and jewels, collectively known as 'Raja Bhoga /Raja Upachara'! This is not to mean that he levied the taxes only so as to increase his own wealth. The concept of 'welfare state' was very much in practice, as evidenced by Kalidasa's statements!

45. Kalidasa describes as to how this 'Raghu Vamsa' name came into being in 4 or 5 chapters. The King Raghu went on a voyage of victory to all the neighbouring countries and came back with much wealth. Then he conducts the 'Wiswajit' Yaaga. In this he distributes all the wealth as 'dakshina' / 'daanam' / 'dharmam'! (The point to understand here is that, 'dakshina' is given to the Brahmin Purohit-s for conducting the rituals; 'daanam' is given as gifts or presents to other personages of equal standing like kings of neighbouring countries; 'dharmam' is alms given to the poor people.) In the process almost all the wealth is given away that, when a Brahmin by name Goutsar comes to him, he does not even have suitable utensils in gold or silver for giving 'paadyam for washing the feet of the Athithi and argyam for his drinking'! He had to use utensils made of mud! That is the King Dilipa! Now a days, let alone M.P.s or M.L.A.s, even a tax collector in a small municipality, has a huge accumulation of unaccounted wealth, as we come to know from the media, often times!

46. The definition that Kalidasa gives for the word 'Raja', (Raghu Vamsa. 4.12), is worth taking note of! Raja was most dear to the people because of his fan following! That definition is, "...raja prakruthi ranjanaat...". 'prakruti' means the citizens. 'ranjanaat' means his inherent capability to please! From the root word 'ranj' that is, his ability to please, comes the word 'Raja'.

47. Bhavabhooti was another poet. He has written 'Uttara Rama Charita', in which Rama says, "I am prepared to sacrifice anything for the sake of the happiness of the common folk. My love, friendship, compassion, pleasure and luxuries. Why go any farther, I am prepared to sacrifice my loveable wife Sita Herself, for their sake. Having sacrificed which, I will not be unhappy"! The poetic beauty in the drama is that, the fact of people doubting Sita's character comes to light only after Rama's this above quoted statement. There is some allusion about, 'how she, Sri Sita might have spent so many years as a prisoner of Ravana'! Rama sacrifices her after this, despite having no doubt about her 'paativratyam' (chastity)! It is then that Sita, as a pregnant woman, goes to live in the Ashram of Valmiki, in the forest, again!

48. Even before this, in Lanka, when Sri Sita was so keen on rejoining Sri Rama after such a long forced separation, despite having so much trust and longing for Her, instead of being 'could not care less' about other's opinion of His actions, to demonstrate as though, as to how much importance He gives for the public opinion, Sri Rama sacrificed her, in front of all the Rakshasaa-s and Vaanara (monkeys) Sainya (Army)! Sita had to undergo the test of fire literally! Then only when the God of Fire, Agni Deva Himself vouchsafed her 'paativratyam' (fidelity), as seen and known to all onlookers, She was accepted back! Then on return to Ayodhya, because of some gossip about Her, despite Her exceptional loyalty to Her husband, that Sri Sita was packed off to the forest once again, clearly proves that there was no 'autocracy uncaring for public opinion' whatsoever!

49. There was no limit to the Love that Sri Rama had for His wife, Sri Sita. He was a 'eka patny vratha' ist, totally true to that one woman Sita, as His consort! Kings were under no such compulsion! Actually tradition had allowed them to have more than one wife. There time was spent, in war, hunts, ministerial confabulations, public works and so on that, they were free to spend their leisure time in stress free atmosphere of certain amount of opulence and luxury. Even for the sake of good neighbourly relations with other Kingdoms, marrying eligible girls from other royal families was very much the in thing! But they were not so lost in these small time pleasures to the detriment of their Kingly duties!

50. In the 'Artha Saastra' Chanakya has tabulated a Kings daily schedule of engagements. In it a day is divided into 16 parts, in which some three or four parts only were meant for sleep and entertainment!
Rest were all hectic duties without any rest whatsoever! Similar to this time table as given by Chanakya, is the schedule of the kings as often mentioned in 'Raghu Vamsa' too. Even in the dead of night, the kings often had to go around in disguise, to personally check on the actual state of affairs in his kingdom! What was not being practiced could not have come as an event in stories only!

51. Though entertainment of the Kings were catered for, generally the Kings, due to their upbringing, training and coaching form childhood, never over indulged and remained within limits of self exercised control! There is an interesting anecdote about how well behaved the kings of the Raghu Vamsa were. Rama at the end of His tenure in this world of Human existence, took all the people of Ayodhya away to Vaikunta. Before that, he had established Kusa as the King of Kusavathi and Lava as the King of Charavathi. With the disappearance of all the people of Ayodhya, that city became deserted. The presiding Deity of Ayodhya was wishing to revive the life in that city. So she entered the sleeping quarters of Kusa at the dead of night and caused him to wake up. On waking up, Kusa was taken aback to see some unknown woman in his bed room! He tells her, "Who are you? Whose wife are You? With what intension have you come here at the dead of night? Are you not aware of the fact that, we from Raghu Vamsa believe in self control of the senses and that our minds will never entertain any desire towards other women!" Through his mouth, the poet succinctly brings out, the high ideals of the Raghu Vamsa dynasty!

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 189 (Vol #3) Dated 16 Feb 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 189 (Vol #3) Dated 16 Feb 2010.
(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 page No 859 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://Advaitam. blogspot. com constantly updated.)

31. Only when you can change the law of the land to suit your whims and fancies, it can lead to despotism and tyranny. The old time Indian monarchies were not like that. They could not have changed the dharma saastraa-s at their will. Historians not aware of this fact are the only ones who could be critical of those monarchies. All the basic laws of the land were already in writing in the dharma and artha saastraa-s. These laws were catering for the social interactions of day to day life as well as the permanent and eternal value systems.

32. The whole society was aware of this. Especially the Kings of yore were clearly cognizant of their duties and responsibilities, which were taught to them in depth during their schooling in Gurukula. The Kshatriya Princes from the Royal families normally did Gurukula coaching along with some Brahmin and Vaishya children. Thus they were aware of their own as well as each other's duties and responsibilities. Dharma was the main under current during such education. They were aware that the eternal value systems of honesty, truthfulness, mutual respect, love of nature with all life forms; were endowments from the great Rishi-s in which the slightest fraction of selfishness was not to be mixed.

33. As a child the future king would have been convinced that, the welfare of the people was most sacrosanct. His ministers were also well knowledgeable of their responsibility to maintain and preserve the teachings of the eternal value systems of Dharma and Artha Saastraa-s. Very rarely any amendments were found necessary. Even those were some modifications only in areas in which the King had some discretion to apply his mind. Kalidasa when describing the rule by Dilipan, says (in Raghu Vamsa 1.17) "...like the wheels of the chariot that would not deviate even the slightest from the intended path, the King adhered to the 'Manu Dharma'!...". This was equally true of anyone who ever became king in India of the past!

34. In to-day's world, in the name of secularism, there is no chance of considering the eternal value systems. When the government's aim is short term gains in the ever changing patterns of existence, the laws, acts and rules keep changing all of the time. The dharmic laws that are thousands of years old cannot even be mentioned, let alone acted upon! The 'artha' or the purpose then becomes short term gains over eternal values!

35. Purohita, Kula guru, Mantri, Amatya and Sasiva, were some of the (appointment names) consultants available to the Kings in their deliberations. They also took the advice of the representative leaders of each caste, creed and clans in coming to his decisions. They never resorted to autocracy or partiality to any one side! Actually the King was more in a supervisory role. Overall administration, war and military affairs were centralized. To dig wells ponds, canals and construction of roads; to arrange for the long term welfare of experts on Vedas, arts and crafts and such civil matters were the main areas of interest for the King. For all other matters, local representatives were always taken into consideration.

36. The temporary Rulers were always required to keep the customs, traditions and existing laws of the land; under considerations! To pass draconian laws were never the method. It is rather funny to note that, in the name of democracy, everyday the rules and regulations are changed and the governing Constitution is amended 'n' number of times, while old system of rule by eternal values is disparagingly termed as autocracy!

37. The accusation is out of ignorance, that too with a vested interest! "There was the law of 'primogeniture', as per which the son (that too the first son) took over from father, in which there was no value for abilities and aptitudes. Mainly it was something in which the common man had no role to play or had no say in the matter." This is the main thrust of the accusation. Actually in adopting the Indian Constitution as it is now that, other than the age, the politicians, that is the Members of Parliament and Members of Lok Sabha and Members of Local Councils; that have no criteria of ability or qualifications!

38. Rajendra Prasad our first Indian President, who was heading the assembly which enacted the Indian Constitution, was vehemently against this lack of criteria of ability and qualifications. He said, "We have many criteria's for Lawyers and Judges. Then it is completely wrong that the those who are going to enact these laws, the M.L.A.s and M.P.s, have no criterias for being elected!" The constituent assembly did not approve of this! (KTSV adds:- This has led to all the unwanted and avoidable dramas we see enacted on the political stage, to the nation's peril! Parochialism, regionalism, nepotism, total lack of permanent values, buying of votes with utter disregard for any norms or decency, booth capturing, manipulating with the voter's list, shameless shenanigans in the name of loyalty to some, caste related confabulations and scheming, the list is endless. All this has happened because some have learnt the trick as to how to make use of the loop-holes in the system to their perennial advantage! It is high time that we plugged these loop-holes in our system, such as basic educational qualifications and retirement age!)

39. In the olden times, the would be kings had to earn a lot of merit based qualifications. They had to learn all the Saastraa-s in Gurukula. They did learn about horse riding and archery, which essentially meant that their physical fitness was a criteria. They had to have high standards of character qualities and morality. Before attempting to defeat outside enemies he had to overcome the six internal enemies of Kaama (lust), Krodha (anger), Lobha (greed), Moha (delusion), Mada or Ahankara (vanity, egoism and drunkenness) and Aascharya (incredulity)!

40. When a king was lacking in character qualities and went astray like 'Asamanjan', and too autocratic such as 'Venan'; the people's assembly was powerful enough to dethrone them! Primogeniture as a principle did not mean that worthless characters could be thrust upon. Sri Rama was highly qualified and eminently suitable to take over from Dasaratha. Despite that, we see in Ramayan the Dasaratha assembled all his advisers and consulted with them about his proposal for Rama's Coronation! The point to note is that the king had to go by some procedure of consulting all his advisers.

41. Surapadma, Mahishasura, Ravana, Dhuryodana et al had to have some confabulations with their ministers and advisers, as we learn from the Puraanaas and Itihaasaa-s. Rama had his army of monkeys. When Vibhishana (Ravana's younger brother) came to surrender, Rama did consult all his advisers, before Vibhishana could be permitted amongst them. This is clear evidence that unilateral decisions were not the in-thing, even in those days!

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 188 (Vol #3) Dated 12 Feb 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 188 (Vol #3) Dated 12 Feb 2010.
(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 page No 854 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://Advaitam. blogspot. com constantly updated.)

19. ‘Artha Saastram’ and other such ‘Upaveda-s’ have also evolved from the basis of Veda Dharma only. But we cannot say that they will be completely following the dictates of Dharma Saastraa-s. They are meant to specialize in a specific area of medicine or economy or entertainment. So they run the risk of over specialization in some field; as is the problem with the Allopathy discipline of medicine these days! One doctor for the ear, one for the eye, another for kidney, one for the heart and another for the lungs and so on! As you do specialization in one field, you tend to give treatment for a specific problem that leads to some other new problem elsewhere. Similarly, when you give total attention to ‘Artha Saastra’ for the development of the economy; or to ‘Gaandarva Veda’ for the progress in dance or drama; the overall purpose of the Veda-s for which these are the sub-parts as ‘Upa Veda’, is lost sight of! Not only that, we end up going against the main direction of the Veda-s too!

20. That is why those kings of yore considered following the Manu Dharma Saastraa-s more important than simply following the ‘Artha Saastra’ per se. This is despite the fact that, ‘Artha Saastra’ too was based on Veda Dharma Saastraa-s only and came into being in a contributory and complimentary role only! Not only in the Dharma Saastraa-s, in the Veda Upaanga-s of Purana and Ithihasa-s too, there is much about the principles of governance. Here too, instead of the temporary ‘artha’ of economic concepts, more importance has been given to the permanent value systems of dharma only!
21. The whole of Maha Bharatam as endowed to the future by Vyasa Maharishi, is meant to establish irrevocably the pride of place to Dharma in our very attitude towards life. Special mention must be made of two chapters, namely Bhishma Pitamaha Shanti Parva and Aanusaasanika Parva, which are both full of advices on how a government should be run in various contingencies without the slightest deviation from moral rectitude!. Sri Rama was famous as the very embodiment of correctness in all his thoughts, words and actions. When the modes of. ‘...kaayena, vaachaa, manasa, indriya, bhuddhya, aatmanaa, va prakruter swabhaavaat...’ are all in perfect unison, nothing can ever go wrong! When Bharata comes up to Chitrakoota in trying to persuade Sri Rama to come back to Ayodhya, Sri Rama gently refuses to turn back. Then He goes on to ask Bharatha a number of questions, which clearly bring out as to how Bharatha should acquit himself in the 14 years of Rama’s absence in the forest. It is a clear exposition of how an Ideal Governance should be!

22. Thus we should take all the things that have been said in the books on Dharma and Purana-s and Ithihasa-s in to consideration, before we even peruse what is given in Artha Saastra about Governance! Now we are all under a wrong impression that what Chanakya has written as the only thing to be referred, when we talk of Artha Saastra! That is only one of the books on Artha Saastra. It has a name as ’Chanakya Neethi or Chanakya Tantram‘! Like this, there is a book by Sukhracharya known as ‘Sukhra Neethi’.

23. In these books on ‘Artha Saastra‘, we cannot expect much about truth, honesty, integrity and such concepts. There will be more on diplomacy and expediency. In the books on Dharma, diplomacy and expediency will be lightly touched upon, only under purely unavoidable circumstances. Let this be clearly understood. While the books on Dharma may talk as to how on occasions, some of the truth may not be revealed, the books on Artha Saastra may tell you to flatly deny the truth and the untruth may be presented as the truth! Because of this possibility of untruth presented as truth, unlike the other three Upaveda-s of Ayur / Gaandarva / Dhanur Veda, the suffix of ‘Veda’ is not there for Artha Saastra! ‘Saastra’ means only the Rules and Regulations.

24. When anything said in the Upaveda-s differs with what is given in the Dharma Saastraa-s, we are to set aside the Upaveda-s and do as per directions of the Dharma Saastraa-s. If for example, the Ayur Veda doctor says, quoting something from his palm leafs that, this brahmin who is his patient, should partake a Lehyam made of garlic on the Pithru day of Sraaddham, that patient is to set aside that doctor’s advice, and do as per the Dharma Saastraa-s, even if it were to mean certain death!

25. If a king were to stabilize his reign by some immoral activity as adviced by the man of Artha Saastra, the king should ignore such advice! Despite such apparent gains or advantages such as, health, victory in battle or what is apparently pleasing for the eyes and ears, or attainment of power: despite the fact that, the effect of dharmic and adharmic actions may be not so very apparent; we should never let go of permanent gains of atma gnaana for the sake of temporary gains! The Upaveda-s may give us many methods of satisfying the senses and protection. But we are eventually answerable to our own inner conscience, which will never spare us for our aberrant behaviour in the dharmic path!

26. More than the drushta (seen) advantages of the Upaveda-s, the adrushta (unseen) advantages of actions as per Dharma Saastraa-s, is evident in the sayings of the common man. When the unseen effects become apparently seen, we tend to say, that the man has been, “struck by luck”! So the Upaveda-s that give the seen advantages are secondary only to the Dharma Saastraa-s, whose effects are not so evident! Amongst the ‘dharma, artha, kaama, moktcha’, mostly the ‘artha’ part generally give only the temporary advantages of ‘kaama’. It is the ‘dharma’ which is the means of ‘moktcha’. So the ‘artha’ i.e., the means should also be made use of in a way abiding with dharma!
27. By my saying this, as some people tend to think, do not get away with the idea that, Chanakya Tantram is meant to ignore people’s welfare and is totally against all norms of truth and probity! Even in countries where there is monarchy, it is said that such a rule cares for majority opinion and welfare of the common man! Still, we see coups and imposition of military rule, which claim that they have come to re-establish the common man’s power! Then that government is replaced by yet another coup!

28. Such a government that installs itself in power invariably claims that, the previous government was utterly corrupt, ignoring the common man’s aspirations and welfare! They claim that inefficiency and corruption had overtaken the national life and that they are going to re-establish the rule of law! But then, all their life time they only spend all their resources and energies, in sustaining themselves in power and in trying to prove their legal acceptability, by hook or crook!

29. Such anarchy or such concentration of power or such levels of inefficiency was never thought of or permitted by the Artha Saastraa-s. The trouble is not in the Saastra, but in the hypocrisy of the lack of integrity between intention, speech and action! As per Artha Saastra, some secrets were permitted and some of the truths were not shown in clear, so as to prevent enemies and aliens from exploiting the same. This being a practical necessity, one could not be too rigid in matters of state, allowing some compromise and margin of deviation! But there was no sanction for hypocrisy, adharma or anarchy!

30. When you have the freedom to keep enacting new laws and or change the existing constitution at will, there is scope for autocracy and anarchy. In olden times all over the world there was only monarchy. Even then they did not have the authority to do as they please or enact new laws. It is only those who are unaware of all the facts, who criticise the monarchical system. The point to note is that, all the basic rules, regulations and guiding principles were already there in Dharma and Artha Saastraa-s. (To be continued.) Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 187 (Vol #3) Dated 10 Feb 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 187 (Vol #3) Dated 10 Feb 2010.
(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 page No 852 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://Advaitam. blogspot. com constantly updated.)

11. There has to be a powerful organization to see that the physically strong do not boss over the physically weak, to safe guard the women, to prevent loot and dacoity and to prevent economic offences. Similarly we need a strong organization to deter and prevent armed incursion from across the national borders, which should be capable of arresting and punishing invaders if any! Such an organization should be empowered and be suitably armed to carry out its tasks.

12. The common man does not have to be told as to how he should go about earning his bread. He basically needs freedom to be able to earn his living. He does not need to be told as to how to run a business either. In his own self-interest, with a little bit of guidance he will learn as he progresses. All that is required is that he needs to be told as to, how not to hurt other's interests and how not to undermine ones own permanent interests. That is the job of the Dharma Saastraa-s.

13. When it comes to Artha Saastra, instead of being concerned about the 'artha' of each individual, it is required to take care of the collective responsibilities of the society. In addition it protects the human beings' basic individual's rights of speech, expression, dress, own land or property, practice of customs, tradition, language, religion and so on! If all this is to be done by an organization at a national level, it has to cover everything that the government of a country will have to do.

14. In each country this is the job that has been done in so many different ways, as to how to let the people of a country earn their 'artha' while being protected from internal enemies of the society and as to how to protect a nation's culture and religion from interference from aliens! Later, this led to the coming into being of many 'isms' of various shades of capitalism, communism, aristocracy, democracy and what not! Here it is worthwhile to remember the famous dictum, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely!"

15. In the name of democracy, what is happening every where is a mockery of democracy. Elections are supposed to be fair. But in many places it has become a game of numbers. In some places the very government is in the hands of the majority, to the detriment of minority people's rights and freedom! Even then, when it comes to talking, it has become a practice to claim that, the government is protecting all the people's all basic civil rights and the nations culture! I do not want to get involved in the varying pulls of ideology and principles of various 'isms' and 'cracys'. I was only going to say that, 'as it is the government which is entrusted with the responsibility of protecting the 'artha' of the people of a nation, in a fair manner, (that is as per 'dharma'), in Artha Saastra, government, its organization and policies, are the subject matter.

[(KTSV adds:-
1. What Periyaval is diffident of mentioning, I feel free to comment upon. The world over, it has become the style to ignore the rules of morality. What ever be the form of Government, unless you are going to be governed by the rules of probity, integrity, rectitude; uprightness; honesty, faith; honour; bonne foi, good faith, bona fides; purity, clean hands., fairness; fair play, justice, equity, impartiality, principle; grace., constancy; faithfulness; fidelity, loyalty; incorruption, incorruptibility., trustworthiness; truth, candour, singleness of heart; veracity; tender conscience (sense of duty)., delicacy, nicety; scrupulousness; scruple; point, point of honour; punctuality., dignity, (repute) and so on; they will all be only so many words! Politics is a "buggers muddle" and Indian politics is more so!

2. In the Indian context, Hindus are supposed to be a majority. Though on paper they are the majority, they are the aggregation of many many minorities who will never see eye to eye with any of the other minorities of the same Hindus, on any subject on earth or elsewhere!

3. India is the only country in this world, where foreigners get voting rights, if they do not have any identification papers, let alone the VISA!)]

16. Artha Saastra and Dharma Saastra. For this major job of protecting the individual's right and society’s rights to live, earn and grow; without any interference from nefarious elements within the country and from outside the country, Artha Saastra has given many rules and regulations. Even before this, Dharma Saastra itself contains many rules and directions on governance. Manu, Yagnyavalkya and others have while deliberating on the duties of the Kshatriya caste, have talked about Raja Dharma. Many kings and dynasties including the Chera, Chola, Pandya, Pallava, Chalukhya, Hoysala and Rajasthani kings; have been proud of the fact that they were strictly adhering to the dictates of Manu Dharma Saastra.

17. I will briefly touch upon the case of Sibi Chakravarty. A dove surrendered to King Sibi, when he was resting in an open space in the upper reaches of his palace. The dove was being chased at that moment by a vulture. When the king extends his hand in protection (‘abhaya hastha’) to anyone, that person need not fear anymore. Here the vulture tells the king, “That dove is my naturally rightful prey! You have no right or business to interfere!” The king was in a quandary. He deliberated for a moment on the correctness of the vulture’s claim. He said, “Yes! You are right. But since I have given protection to this bird, you have to now make a choice of some other thing in lieu!” Then there is much discussion as to what can be the ‘thing in lieu’! Finally it is agreed upon that, the king will cut his own body and give that meat, equivalent to the weight of the dove! Here is the anti-climax of the story. No amount of cutting of his body could equal the weight of that dove! Finally the king had to climb the plate himself to balance the weight of the dove with his whole body!

18. That is some indication of how fair the kings had to be in doing their duties as per dharma saastraa-s. The point driven home is that the kings of In dia had such high ideals to emulate! For that matter, all Upa Veda-s are about such subject matters as having a bearing on this worldly life and existence only and not about any abstract or abstruse subjects of philosophy. Keeping eternal ennoblement of individuals in view as the mission to be attained, they the Smruthies and Dharma Saastraa-s, talked about man’s behaviour as it is required to be, in this worldly life of mutual interactions, not only with other people but even with birds, animals and the plant kingdom!

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 186 (Vol #3) Dated 07 Feb 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 186 (Vol #3) Dated 07 Feb 2010.
(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 page No 848 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://Advaitam. blogspot. com constantly updated.)

DHARMA - ARTHA - KAAMA - MOKTCHA

1. Dharma, Artha, Kaama and moktcha have been identified as the four aims towards which human beings are to aspire and work for, (chatur vida phala purushaarta). (KTSV adds :- Each of these four words have a wide range of meanings. Let us look at them, before we proceed with Periyaval’s talk. Dharma means, righteousness, morality, being observant of the rules of the society and one’s duty as required of one’s position or status in the natural or social structure. Artha means, money, wealth, resources, meaning and approach attitudinally. Kaama means what is desired, wished for, aspiration, expectation and lust. moktcha means, liberation, freedom, transcendence and mission of life or Self Realization! There is a logic in the order in which these words have been serialized. We will talk about it, if and when necessitated.)

2. Here ‘artha’ means, ‘the material that is useful in day to day living’. For practical living one needs a house, clothing, food and so on. To be able to buy these things we need money, which has to be earned. But to be only interested in this endless cycle (of being born, growing, trying to find answers to life’s challenges of making ends meet, growing old, death and again to be born,) would mean not ‘artha’ but ‘anartha’. That is what our Aachaaryal says in ‘Bhaja Govindam’, “artham anartham bhaavaya nityam”, meaning remind yourself every day that to be running after money for living - that is, ‘artham,’ is ‘anartham’.
3. You can not live without the means of survival! In trying to understand the meaning of life and things such as ‘atma’ and ’parama atma’, if everyone becomes a sanyasi, who is to cater for their needs and requirements? Some body has to earn the ‘artha’ for them also! So, all normal human beings have to be involved in earning a livelihood, alright. They have to satisfy their normal desires and wants. Instead of letting the needs get the better of oneself, within limits, they have to earn so as to cater for their requirements. It is here that meaning of ‘artha’ joins ‘kaama’ ! But we should not stop there. One should never lose sight of the final aim of ‘moktcha’ and remain at the level of ‘artha and kaama’ ! For all this, from the beginning, one should have complete devotion to the first of the four principles, that is,‘dharma’!

4. 'Dharma' has been mentioned first due to the fact that, as we progress towards the end aim of 'moktcha', the intermediate aims of 'artha' and 'kaama' cannot be avoided. But while earning a livelihood and enjoying the fruits of one's labour, we are not to go against the first principle of 'dharma' ! If we go astray and permit 'adharma' to corrupt our 'artha' and 'kaama', then the final aim of 'moktcha', will be forgotten for ever. That is what Appar is warning us when he says, "...pala pala kaamaththaraagi...", meaning, 'having a plethora of desires and wants' !

5. It is alright to have some desires. It is alright if we do not have the dispassion to erase the desires completely. But that material is not to be obtained by unfair means. We are not to thieve for satisfying our wants. We are not cheat others for our personal gains. You can enjoy sex with your wife! Even with one's own wife, we are not to have sex on days forbidden by the Saastraa-s! When it comes to others wife, they are not to be even thought of as an object of 'kaama' but to be thought of as one‘s own mother! You can earn money, but not get bribed for favours granted. You can gain, but not by deceiving others. Thus 'artha' and 'kaama' have to be fenced and fortified with 'dharma' ! Only then, one day or other the end gain of 'moktcha' would fructify and not otherwise!


6. ‘Artha’ is pronounced as ‘artham’ in Tamil and means, ‘meaning, matter, material, currency, cash and coin’. (This last word ’coin’ is known as ’naanayam’ in Tamil, which also means ’honesty’ ! The sense of honesty is thus closely related to all money matters in our religion.) The four aims of existence namely, ‘dharma, artha, kaama and moktcha’ are said to be ‘aRam, porul, inbam and veedu’ respectively in the Tamil language. Thiruvalluvar in Thirukkural has mainly divided the whole book in to three main parts of the first three principles dharma - artha - kaama respectively as ‘aRathuppaal, porutpaal and kaamattuppaaal‘, respectively. Then he has made a ‘Thuravara Iyal’ in aRathuppaal itself. In it starting with the idea that ‘the Grace of God’ is as important for the end destination as ‘artha’ or ‘porul’ for this worldly life, he has devoted more than 130 Kural-s towards ‘moktcham’ known as ‘veedu‘ in Tamil!

7. To protect oneself from rain and sun shine, you do need a house. To guard against hunger we do need to have some food at regular intervals. To protect the body from the vagaries of the weather and so as not to feel ashamed, we do need some clothes. To cater for these needs of creature comforts, we need money and we have to learn as to how to handle money. That would also mean that we have to learn the methods of increasing income and controlling expenditure. These are the subject of ‘artha saastra’ the Fourth Upaveda.

8. When you look at ‘artha saastra’ per-se, you will be surprised to note that, more than economics, it is covering statesmanship, statehood and inter-state politics! In Thirukkural too, in ‘porut paal’, from the outset he talks about government and rule of law only. Then in many chapters, he covers aspects of good governance, autocracy and bad governance, jurisprudence, ministers, spies, messengers, their duties, army, forts and battlements, tactics and strategy, taxation and such things in detail.

9. A single man’s requirements are housing, clothing and food. But, when it comes to management of these things for the whole society, the local and national governments have to come into play! For what cannot be done individually, you need wider and broad based infra structure for managing efficiently, controlling sensibly, maintaining internal law and order and protecting against external threat.

10. The basic necessities of an individual are all covered by that one word, ‘artha’. He may cultivate the land or have some special capabilities or he may produce something or do trade and commerce. But in a society, there will always be some who do not want to work for earning themselves. They will try to gain these ‘by hook or crook‘. Such people have to be prevented from exploiting others who are involved in fair professions of earning a livelihood. So you need legislature for enacting laws of the land, police to ensure law and order, judiciary for solving disputes, prisons for meting out punishments.

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 185 (Vol #3) Dated 05 Feb 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 185 (Vol #3) Dated 05 Feb 2010.
(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 end part of the last para on page No 845 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://Advaitam. blogspot. com constantly updated.)

131. On occasions of festivals and functions such as Oonjal( in which the yet to be wed are seated on a swing and the entire lot of friends and relatives get to see them from close quarters!), Nalangu( in which the newly weds are enabled to get over their initial diffidence and shyness for each other, while being part of some sing-song routine!) and marriages, for all celebrations there was always the Nayanam Orchestra known as Mangala Vadyam. For declaration of war, there was this Rana Bheri (a special drum of a booming bass sound of high volume) and Dhundubi, (a horn of high pitched piercing sound!) whose sounds warned everyone to get armed for war at once! There were songs for marching and hoisting the national flag. At the time of our national struggle for independence from the British yoke, the poets with nationalistic fervour found it suitable to spread the word through music. Happiness, sorrow, defiance and bravery, all collective feelings were better expressed through music. All that happens to be so, that we may be fetched to the peacefulness of the mind in the end. As Thyagaraja Swami has sung, ‘...saantaamu lekha soukhyamu ledhu...’, there can be no comfort without peace, it is saantam derived from music that is the final aim! As we can see, that it is keeping our minds centred on God that can give you that peacefulness. Thus our national tradition in music has always been religiously oriented!

132. Art as a Way of Enhancing National Prestige! We should never forget this central aim, as explained in the previous para. Our music is now spreading across other countries. So is our dance forms such as, Bharata Natyam, Kutchi Pudi, Odissi and Katha Kali going places. In many of the International forums our art forms of music and dance are getting accolades. While we have lost our pride of place in many areas of human excellence, we are getting fame and recognition for going around with the begging bowl rather. Then we get ticked off for talking to them in a holier than thou attitude, trying to advice them on many issues! It is in this scenario that at least in the fields of music and dance, we are regaining some of the old pride of place amongst other nations! Instead of only being at the receivers' end, that we are also in the position of being able to contribute for others, at the least in the cultural field, is a great honour indeed! That has become possible because of our Gaandarva Veda!

133. Not to Forget the Aim! OK! Let it spread as so many forms of art. But, we are not to forget the reason why these arts have survived the test of time over thousands of years! They are meant not only as human entertainment but, mainly meant to be vehicles of approach to divinity. When Sarboji Maharaja requested Thyagaraja Swami to come and sing in the royal court, he remained steadfast in his ideal that he shall not sing anywhere else other than the court of God Himself! He said that, " I am not aspiring for any 'nidhi' (meaning funds), but only 'sannidhi' (meaning the proximity) of God! Such great people's ideal should always be in our minds. Gaandarva Vedam should thus be maintained at such high state for the sake of posterity, so as to attain the 'saantam & soukyam' ourselves and also enable others to do the same!

(KTSV adds:- That brings us to the end of Gaandarva Vedam. Next ten or so e-mails will be on 'Artha Saastra'.)

Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 184 (Vol #3) Dated 04 Feb 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 184 (Vol #3) Dated 04 Feb 2010.
(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 No 842 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://Advaitam. blogspot. com constantly updated.)

121. There have been many greats who have achieved considerable expertise in Gaandarva Vidya. They have left enormous saastraa-s and sahitya-s for posterity. Bharatha Rishi is foremost amongst them. Then there have been many more. Narada, Agasthya, Matanga, Anjaneya and Nandikeswara, have been great singers, composers, sahitya karta-s and
saastra karaka-s!

122. Many of the Raagaa-s have names indicative of being evolved as an offering to the deities of the Hindu pantheon of Gods. Thodi is known as Hanuma Thodi. Kalyani, Sankara Aabharanam, Bhairavi, Shanmukha Priya, Rama Priya, Karahara Priya and so on. From the available palm leaf scriptures we get to know of Saarnga Deva, Somadeva, Ramamadya, Govinda Dixit who was an authority in Adwaita philosophy too, his son Venkata Mukhi, are all those who have written books organising the ocean of knowledge in a scientific manner. Near Pudukkottai, in the Kudumia hills, Sanskrit inscriptions on stone, on Sangeeta saastra have been identified.

123. Though through out India, there was one method of classical singing, after the arrival of the Muslims, classical music got separately identified as Hindustani in North India mainly and as Karnatic classical in South India. Amongst Sahitya Karta-s cum composers, the earliest historically known figure is that of Jayadeva, who was of the 11th century A.D. Then we must mention Purandara Dasa. The South Indian classical music possibly got named Karnatic Classical due to his influence. Jayadeva sang mainly on Sri Krishna’s exploits, mainly deliberating on Gopi’s love for Krishna. So also Purandara Dasa sang on Krishna mainly. Narayana Teerta was another luminary who has sung the ‘Krishna Leela Tarangani’. Then one can think of Oothukkaadu Venkata Subbhaiyar who has written extensively sang the ‘Krishna Gaanam’ in Tamil, which is very suitable for dance. Bhadrachala Ramdas mainly sang on Sri Rama.

124. For Karnatic classical there are three main exponents of music known as the ‘musical trinity’ who were singers cum composers cum sahitya karta-s. They are Thyagaraja Swami, Muthuswami Deekshidar and Syama Sastry. Amongst them Thyagaraja Swami has mainly sung devotional songs on Sri Rama, though he has authored some on other Gods, such as Siva and Ambal. Muthuswami Deekshidar has sung on all Gods, not leaving any! All compositions of Syama Sastry on the other hand were focussed only on Ambal!

125. Gopala Krishna Bharathiyar, Muthu Thandavar and Marimutha Pillay have mainly sung extensively on Siva, that too Nataraja. Arunachala Kavi Rayar has composed what is known as ‘Rama Natakam’. Mayavaram Vedanayakam Pillay was a Christian, who believed in the oneness of all Gods. So he has sung some songs of high merit addressed at the one God acceptable to all religions, virtually dwelling on Adwaita Vedanta! Somehow the Indian tradition has been mainly devotionally oriented, never straying in to ‘secular themes’ of this worldliness!

126. Folk Songs/Music. There is a division of this tradition concerned with folk songs. But in India such music and dance is also some how or the other, religiously connected, though they cannot be called classical! For example, there are Karagam, Kavadi Attam, Poi Kaal Gudirai, Themmaangu, Kaavadi Chindu, Nondi Chindu etc. It is human nature to sing while doing any repetitive work, like the farmer when working on the fields ploughing the land, or while watering the fields.
127. There used to be a man made device known as ‘Ertram’! This was a long wooden plank held high up over a water well, with the centre held on a fulcrum. In actual fact it was not really a plank but three or four logs held together, with serrations so that while it is slanting the farmer will have some grip for the feet. On one end there was a huge leather bag that would go right down lower than the water level in the well and get filled with water on its down ward dip. By then the man walking the plank with the help of railings on either side, would be at the centre. Now once bag is filled, the man will laboriously start walking in the opposite direction away from the centre. Though the water could weigh much by now, he makes use of the principle of fulcrum and gravitation to lift the water to ground level for irrigating the fields! It is boring repetitive hard work. This is where singing is natural and useful!

128. Similarly the man lifting or pulling loads, rowing the boat, de-husking the rice and so on; would all do their work while singing. The hard labour becomes bearably pleasurable with music. When many people made up of both men and women are working, singing helps in increasing the efficiency. Some how in our context, even in such situations the songs were invoking the divine powers for more rains and blessings!

129. Music has that power to make physical labour easy and increase the efficiency. More over, whatever the complaints or grumbles, needs or demands, music enables you to let off steam, thereby lessening the heavy loads on your minds and giving you peace on mind. Lullaby is a clear example of how music can grant peacefulness! However much the child’s mischievousness, take it on your arms or place it in a swing, singing a few strains of a ‘thaalaattu’ song and see how promptly it comes under the effect of the song! Even a violent snake is charmed by the sound of the ‘bheen’!

130. From the time one is born (lullaby / thalattu) till ones death (dirge / pilakkanam), we are constantly, inseparably accompanied by music . Mostly these were assets of woman only. In the olden days, the children were taught all the morals and good behaviour, through her songs. That the mother goes away for early morning shift in factories and offices, even before the children wake up in the morning, is the scene from modern day drama of real life!

(To be continued.) Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 183 (Vol #3) Dated 02 Feb 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 183 (Vol #3) Dated 02 Feb 2010.
(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 No 837 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://Advaitam. blogspot. com constantly updated.)

111. Love and Peace Through Music. Vedaantam declares that everything gets confined into the cave of heart in peace. To deposit us into that timeless and space less peace is what music is meant to do. (Please refer to the talk on ‘the aim of music is peace’ in the first volume of Deivathin Kural.) When Parasakthi is seen as Shyamala as the deity of Music, Her heart is soft and melting (mridula swaantaam), and utterly peaceful (saantaam), says poet Kalidasa in Nava Ratna Maalaa. Heart that is melting is Love and Compassion.

112. When music brings peace to your Atma, since everything else is also only Atma, there is a spontaneous ebbing of love for all. This is what is described by the poet as, ‘saantaam, mridula swaantaam’! Since this sweetness is not sensual, music evokes this universal love! To think of it cools ones being. Ambal sweetly playing on the Veena with the lightest touch of her fingers, is lightly elated in the resonating sound and very peacefully cool. Her heart is then very soft and mellow, showering Her Grace on all devotees. On visualizing this the devotees’ hearts are also melting with love, devotion, bliss and quietude!

113. When she is Herself so absorbed as the embodiment of Music, she doesn’t have to deliberately will the audience of devotees to enjoy it. The very fact that she is enjoying the Sapta Swara-s, that the whole world is in that blissful state too! After all, She is the world of all. The poet captures this mood of Her enrapture with the words, “...sa ri ga ma pa da ni rataam taam...”. It is for this purpose of enabling the whole world to enjoy the blissfulness of music that, She is enjoying the music pleasure fully! That would automatically mean that when you enjoy your music, the audience and the whole world is likely to enjoy with you!

114. Exactly like Kalidasa, Thyagaraja Swami of the musical trinity too describes the Easwara in the song 'naada danum anisam' saying, 'sarigamapadani vara sabda swara vidya lolam' that He is sportingly plays with the Sapta Swara-s. The idea that even without any intension on our part, if our hearts are fully absorbed in the music, the peacefulness evolves spontaneously, as stated by Kalidasa, is also being expressed by Thyagaraja Swami in this kriti quoted above. When he uses the words, 'vimala hrudaya' it has the same meaning of 'mrudula swanta', that is, 'a heart brimming with peaceful love towards all'! There is another corollary to this, that is, if you are full of love, you will sing!

115. The same idea has been expressed by other greats of the world of music too, such as by Sadasiva Brhmendra! Music especially Indian Classical music of the Karnatic genre are 99% religiously devotional only. Just singing those songs itself will give much pleasant peacefulness. If by any chance such is not the case, then it means that your mind is preoccupied with some other wants, desires and or aspirations. If name and fame with lure of lucre is the aim, the whole thing will be an exercise in futility. Even then there will be flashes of a taste of that 'santam'! Like the man who is collecting the honey from the honey comb hanging high up in the tree in some not easily accessible spot, undergoes much pain and hazards in his effort, may lick the back of his hands, may get some of its taste. He will not get the full pleasure of it, as he intends to sell it in the market. So is the fate of the one trying to sell music.

116. Even such artists who are trying to earn name, fame and money, at times forget themselves and sing. It is those moments when, they make us the hearers forget ourselves! If you completely get involved in the music like Thyagaraja, sans any other aspirations, then music can be the gate way of heavens, 'moksha dwaar' ! They will know the endless bliss! Their hearts will be innocent and soft like that of a child. People who have interacted with such 'Nadopasaka-s' like Thyagaraja Swami and Gopala Krishna Bharathi, during their life time, have commented on the extreme love and compassion of such people. It is equally true of some of the present day singers too.

117. As Ambal who is called Sakti is thus seen to be like the peaceful ocean of contentment and compassion, similarly the 'Prana Sakti' in each one of us, that is the 'Life Force' can be awakened completely through which the end Adwaita Anubuthi can be experienced. It is known as the Kundalini Yoga. Let me give you a brief description of this. At the lower end of the spinal chord in the human body, is located the power centre called the Mulaadhaaraa. The Kundalini Sakti is in the form of a coiled serpent at this point. There are two nerve currents in the spinal column, called Pingala and Ida, and a hollow canal called Sushumna running through the spinal cord.

118. At the lower end of the hollow canal is what the Yogis call the "Lotus of the Kundalini" that is described as triangular in form in which there is a power called the Kundalini, coiled up. When that Kundalini awakes, it tries to force a passage through this hollow canal, and as it rises step by step, as it were, it passes through Swadhishtana (at the lower abdomen), Manipuraka ( at the naval), Anahata (near the human heart), Visuddhi (near the Thymus in the throat), Aagnya (in between the eye brows) and reaches Sahasrara at the peak of the head. During this process known as the raising of the Kundalini, layer after layer of the mind becomes open and all the different visions and wonderful powers come to the Yogi. When it reaches the brain, the Yogi is perfectly detached from the body and mind; the soul finds itself free.

119. When the Prana and Kundalini is pausing through the Anahata, the spontaneous sound of Pranava can be heard. In each of the power centres known as Chakra-s, the Siva Sakti Dampati (couple) will be in different forms (Roopa). In each of the Chakra-s they should be meditated upon, in those forms. In 'Soundarya Lahari', our Aachaaryal has described both Siva and Sakti dancing in Mulaadhaara Chakra, Siva doing theTaandavam and Sakti doing the Laasyam. Siva is Aananda Bhairava here and She is the Samaya. This is not the all destructive dance of ‘samhaara’, but dance of the creative Father and Mother of the world. The dance of Cosmic creation! One of the classic Raagaa-s is ‘Aananda Bhairavi’. That is the name of Samaya here. Ambal is the Aananda Bhairavi. (This has ref to sloka 41 in Soundarya Lahari.)

120. When I say that the whole creation is from the Naadam (that is, sound and so music) and Natanam (that is, dance), we can have an understanding of the great esoteric importance of the Gaandarva Veda. Modern science also says that creation is from vibrations. Vibration is shaking and so is dance. Sound vibration is music. Vibration of the forms so created is dance. All the planets and stars are also all of the time going round and round in a cosmic dance. Even inside a small atom, the electrons are going round and round in a dance of the micro level! The atomic dance of interaction leads to molecules and their dance of inter actions leads to all the formation of compounds and so on from the micro to the macro level and beyond! If creation is from this initial start point, the end also depends on going back to the roots or the source, your real being, the Siva and Sakti! For that again make use of Music and Dance, as the easiest royal path or Raja Yoga!

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva.