DEIVATHIN KURAL # 203 (Vol #3) Dated 26 Mar 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 203 (Vol #3) Dated 26 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 943 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.)

75. Tripura Samhaara Sloka. Appayya Deekshidar an amsa (a part), of Parameswara Himself, has written this sloka about His destruction of the three worlds. The text is like this:-
naleekasanam easwara: sikiriNaam tat-gandarodhdhaayino
gandharvaa: punar-etat-adva-patikou chakre cha tat-taaraka: I
badri-tat-prabhu-vairiNaam paribroodho jiva cha yasyaabhavat
jivandevasataam ribhu-kshaya-vidhou devaya tasmai nama: II

76. It means:- "Jiva's disciples enemies, at the time of their destruction, the Deity for whom the Easwara of pinnacles became naleekasanam, from whose throat emanated Gandarva-s, two way-farers of that path became the chakra the wheel, wearer of that wheel was Badri, that Badri's Prabhu's enemy's leader was useful as Jiva, prostrations to that Deity" What does this mean? It does not make any sense! What is Jiva, what is Jiva's disciple's destruction and how can Badri's enemy's leader was Jiva useful as? What is this a creation of the Appayya Deekshidar, about whom I have heard so voluminous praises of appreciation? Has he done this monstrosity?

77. There are many words with more than one meaning. This is a play on words by Appayya Deekshidar, which is rather abrasive! Vedantam is the End part of the Veda-s. For Vedantam, the basic texts are Brhma Sutra and Upanishad-s. (Their numbers total 108 out of which 10 are important.) Appayya Deekshidar has written a Bhaashyam by the name of 'Nyaya Rakshamani' for the early portion of Brhma Sutram. In it, while explaining the sutra 1.1.14., starting with, 'tat-hetu-vyapadesaascha', this sloka quoted above occurs. Let us not go into why he wrote it like that. There is some pleasure evidently in such intellectual exercise. That is what we are deliberating upon in these talks. So, let me tell you the meaning of the sloka.

78. In this sloka, first a word will be used with one meaning. Then later when the word is referred as 'that', it will come as, 'tat or etat'. While doing so, the meaning of the word will vary. Thus in this sloka, there are five such words used, first with one meaning and later with the second meaning! 'Naalika + asanam' is one such word. 'Naalikam' means tubular and so can be lotus or arrow; asanam means seat. Brhma seated on a lotus is known as 'Nalikasana'. Arrow is seated before being launched on the cord of the bow. So, bow is also nalikasana. Second word with double meaning is Gandarva as the divine caste of that name and it can also mean a horse. The third word is 'Chakra' which could mean the wheels of the chariot and the spinning weapon in the hands of Vishnu. Fourth such word of double meaning is Badri, which could mean a missile and or a bird. The fifth word is 'Jiva' which could mean a life line like the naval cord connecting the baby with the mother. It could also mean Bruhaspathi the Guru of all Deva-s.

79. Now let us look at some of the words in this sloka which are difficult to understand though they are not words of double meaning. The Easwara of pinnacles is the Meru Mountain. What came out of the throat of Naalikaasana are the four Veda-s. The path of the Gandarva-s is the Milky Way in the sky. The two travellers there in the sky, as seen by the earthlings are the Sun and the Moon. The bearer of the Chakra is the Maha Vishnu. The Prabhu of Badri is the King of birds Garuda the Eagle. His enemies are the serpents. The leader of the serpents is Adi Sesha. Jiva-s' disciples are the Deva-s. Their enemy's destruction is the annihilation of Tripura Asura-s!

80. Keeping the two meanings of these five words in the correct order respectively, as they occur in the sloka, if we look at the first meaning once and the second meaning later, the meaning of the puzzle falls in the correct place to get resolved! Now let us look at the meaning of the sloka once again.

81. "For Jiva's that is, Bruhaspathi's disciples' enemy's, that is Tripura Asura's destruction, Mahadeva used the Meru mountain as the Nalikasana the Bow. Brhma seated in the lotus and so named Nalikasana, from his throat emerged the Gandarva-s the Veda-s which were used as the horses for that Mahadeva and the two travellers in the path of the Gandarva-s namely, Sun and Moon became the wheels of the chariot; the wearer of the Wheel or Chakra, as a weapon on His fingers, Maha Vishnu Himself became the Arrow named Badri; the King of all birds Badri, whose enemy the serpent Adisesha, became the Jiva as the cord connecting the two ends of the Bow; prostrations to that Mahadeva repeatedly." Now that is the whole message of the sloka.

82. In Tripura Samhaara, Parameswara's chariot had the Sun and Moon as the two wheels. Veda-s were the horses. Easwara made the Meru the bow, which had Adi Sesha as the cord of the bow and Maha Vishnu as the Arrow! Appayya Deekshidar put together these details of Purana Itihasa, in a book of Vedanta, grammatically correct, connecting up many a Saastra-s, literarily cleverly for the reading pleasure of devotees, so inclined.

83. When we use one word with two meanings, we call it 'Sleshai'. There was this Bhaskara Raya, who was a master of Mantra and Tantra Saastraa-s and who had it in him to personally call forth Ambal Lalita Parameswari, as easily as Tukaram could ask Pandaripura Vittala to materialise, as many times as we call each other on cell phone; and who wrote the Bhaashyam for 'Lalitha Sahasranama', has written a poem humorously for fun sake. In it he has used two word strings to mean different things in two languages, asking us to answer him!

84. I quote the sloka:-
"na syaat chet vaakyasya ko artha: kasmin pika: brama:? I
aandhry girvaana bhashaabhyaam ekameva uttaram vada II"
It means that, "you have to give one word reply, which should mean in Telugu, 'if not' and in Sanskrit it should mean, 'to whom it will give the delusion of being a cuckoo'!" I am not going to run a quiz show. I will give you the intended reply too. The answer should be, "...kaaka pothe...".

85. In the Telugu language, for 'if not or otherwise' they say, "lekapothe or kaakapothe". In Sanskrit, the word "kaaka pothe" means, 'with the crow's small'! Let me explain. the Cuckoo does not construct a nest. When it has to lay it's eggs, it will lay in the nest of a crow. Their eggs look similar in size, shape and colour. Neither the crow nor the cuckoo knows which is theirs and which is others', even after they have hatched, till they start making their characteristic sounds of bird calls. The cuckoo will visit the nest whenever the crow is away and look at the small hatchlings crows and cuckoos, as its own. That is the delusion! So the answer to the puzzle in both the languages are "...Kaaka pothe...". Kaaka is crow and potha is the hatchling! Do you understand now?

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva.