DEIVATHIN KURAL # 194 (Vol #3) Dated 8 Mar 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 194 (Vol #3) Dated 8 Mar 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 page No 882 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.)

83. What I am saying is that, the present condition is one like a building without a foundation! The condition existing in olden times was one with a strong foundation based on dharma. The king ensured that the common man was automatically and naturally guided towards a life of discipline and respect for the elders of the society. There were more 'temples, yagna shaalaa-s and free-food anna shaalaa-s', than courts of law and jails! Then there were exercise of control with in one's caste. Above all that if one was bent on committing errors, then the 'Raja Dhandam' was an active and effective power in being!

84. Look at the state of affairs now! There are plenty of police stations, jails and courts of law. But befooling all of them, many are hood winking and getting away with new and ever newer methods of thefts, frauds, murders, prostitution and economical offences! Despite there being a plethora of courts of law, they are proving themselves to be courts of flaw only! There are thousands of cases pending before them for years and even decades! Instead of the fear of the common man being eradicated, the common man is lured towards a life of corruption. Instead of safe guarding law and order, instead of encouraging and motivating people towards a life of discipline, if you have wetted their appetite for the fruits of 'forbidden apple', then the punishment is reserved only for those who are foolish enough to be caught or innocents on whom the crimes are hoisted! (KTSV adds:- When that too is flexible, amenable and stretchable for a consideration, we will have more cases of Tytlers, Sajjanpals and Inspector General's of police like Rathore, evading arrest for crimes blatantly committed decades back! The main sufferer directly is Justice itself and also indirectly on the principle of "Justice delayed is Justice denied "!)

85. 'Jaati NaattaNmai' was another concept that worked in modifying the harshness of the what was 'Raja Dhandam' before its application. In each caste there was this council of respectable representatives known as 'Jaati NattaaNmai', who investigated and deliberated on reports of offences of commission and omission. To that extent the job of the courts of law was lessened. As the deliberations were by people of the same community as that of the person accused, they could not be accused of partiality and or vendetta! Since their submission to the ideals of law and order was spontaneous, fairness of the system was naturally assured.

86. This was an additional reason for the king to ensure effective, 'varna ashrama dharma'. Each individual was assured of his duty, role in the society and his life style. Simultaneously he was a true devotee of God and had due respect for the elders and saintly Sadhu-s. He did the appointed duties with inherent satisfaction for his role in the society. This very fact also enabled him to progress spiritually, as evidenced by the fact that famously well known devotees are equally from all walks of life!

87. As all trades and crafts were fairly distributed across the society, all the required works of the society were done sans competition, jealousy, hate and confusion. The competition if any was only towards greater and greater refinement and ennoblement of arts, crafts and culture. Most importantly 'atma abhivruddhi' that is, progressing towards ones inner self and its realization, was the main aim. In this aspect, when you analyse as to what could have given this fillip to the Indian society as not available elsewhere in the whole world; we find that it is 'varna ashrama dharma', the only condition as not existing elsewhere, that made all the difference!

88. But, if the kings felt happy in having done their bit in maintaining the 'varna ashrama dharma' system in perfect condition, now by bringing in classless, creedless and casteless society, what we are doing is, losing our position of moral and cultural leadership, becoming as bad as the worst elsewhere in the world! There is cut-throat competition for everybody else's job, one-up-man-ship galore, crude jealousy and mutual hate. We end up having neither the technological and economic advancement nor the cultural sophistry! When practice of 'nitya karma anushtaanaa-s' of the castes has gone by default, only retaining the names of the caste-s, is like holding on to the dead body after the life has withered! In this we will agree with all the reformists that, if you are not practicing, you have no logic of holding on to the name of the caste alone.

89. But we totally disagree with the reformists view that this very basis of caste wise division of work is wrong. You are born in a particular caste, because of natural laws of Karma, of your own past deeds. The system permits you to raise your self by your self as evidenced by Nandanar and many Aazhwar-s and Nayanmar-s! Even Sukha from the lowest rung of the social order could raise to be the authority on all mantra-s, Ithihasa-s and Purana-s! It is the present chaotic mix of non-performance of caste wise duties and non-observance of 'nitya karma anushtaanaa-s' that is the reason for break-down of the system. If you ask me if the old system can be re-instated, my answer will be only, "That instead of asking as to whether we can or not, we should all be working hard persevering our level best to re-establish the old order!"

90. History repeats itself they say. A study of our recent history will prove my point that life is a matter of repeated cycles of events. Some 2,500 years back when Buddha came as well as 1,300 years back when Samana (Jain) religion was on the upswing, great saints such as, Udhayana Aachaaryar, Kumarila Bhatta, Gnana Sambandar, Appar, Manikka Vachagar et cetera have arrived to re-install the Vedic Sanatana religion of 'varna ashrama dharma', repeatedly. It will happen again. When such Aacharyar-s come into being, then the masses do not sit down for a discussion on concept and policies, but simply follow such great leaders. When the present existing state of affairs of 'not doing nitya karma anushtaana' and 'non observance of varna ashrama dharma', has sufficiently proved their worthlessness, there will be a saint to point out our stupidity and we will listen to him! Even though we may not be aware of the subtle points of difference, when the masses become conscious of the general degradation, they will revert.

91. Both Buddha and Mahavira did away with all castes, varna ashrama dharma and nitya karma anushtaanaa-s, wholesale! They were popular for some time. Like the ebbing and receding of the tides, these also come to pass. Many of those who had gone away to these religions came back on their own without any external promptings or compulsions. At least the intelligentsia should carefully analyse the truth of this observation of mine and identify the ways and means of bringing back the old methods of the Hindu society. As a minimum arrangement, they should try to bring the brahmin community back to its old ways to be an ideal and responsible model to be emulated!

92. Whether we make this happen or not, we have to get one thing clear in our own minds without an iota of doubt! Those Rishi-s, Gnani-s, devotees, religious leaders, poets, architects and thinkers by their cumulative efforts (without being aware of doing so!), lifted this country to high pinnacles of ideals to the envy of people from all over the world; giving us all those Saastraa-s truly soaked in sanatana-vedic-varna-ashrama-dharma. They did so not for a short period, but for many thousands of years! They could not have done that without true belief in the system. Amongst them there were many non-brahmins. Amongst those non-brahmins, one Sekkizhar is good enough to be mentioned with pride, as an example of many such illustrious sons of the soil of the Bharath Varsha!

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva.