DEIVATHIN KURAL # 37 (Vol #4) Dated 07 July 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 37 (Vol #4) Dated 07 July 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. Today we are proceeding from page number 218 of Vol 4 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 updated constantly.)
266. When it comes to the final ‘Anubhava’ of Nirvana, Buddhism leaves it in a nebulous state of uncertainty about which nothing can be mentioned. It must be a nullity of everything else, it says! So say our Saastraa-s too. It is said that, it is the thing neither male nor female from which the mind and words do not return! But, it does define that final state as, “sat + chit + aanandam = satchitaanandam”, meaning, “being + awareness + bliss = happily knowing being”. For that matter, all the Sahasranaamaa-s of Vishnu, Lalitha, Siva and so on are all, thousands of ways of defining the undefinable! Those words when they attempt to cap the uncappable, they become ‘Mantras’ of very powerful potency! Still, the fact that there were no Brahmins capable of clearing Buddha’s doubts is indicative of a sort of a trough in Brahminhood!
267. Buddha and Jaina Mahavira like him did one important dent in the Hindu Sanaatana Dharma. They objected to the custom of sacrificing live animals in Yagnya-s. For both these two religions, ‘ahimsa paramo dharma:’, that is ‘not being cruel’ is a prime tenet! Actually in the religion of Veda-s too, ‘Ahimsa’ is an important requirement of Dharma. In what is known as ‘saadaarana dharma-s’ meant to be observed by all people at all times, the first of five directions is ‘Ahimsa’! Still, in God’s plan of mutual give and take of transactions, Deva-s that is the Deities and Human beings, have to take care of each other. In it Man has to do Yagnya-s to satisfy the Deities and they in turn take care of human beings and other life forms through co-operation by the five elements of Space, Air, Water, Fire and Earth, known as ‘pancha bootha-s’ . Otherwise it leads to what is known as ‘Natural Calamities’ against which even the modern man has no means of protection!
268. It is not very correct to ask a question as to why Deva-s should be so interested in our giving sacrifices of live animals! We are not capable of fully comprehending God’s logic and functioning of his creations. We just do not know as to how a majestic animal like a Lion and the very beautiful bird Eagle should be able eat only animals that they kill! Plants which produce fragrant flowers have human waste and excreta of worms as their food! Thus living animals when offered as a sacrifice in Yagna, is cleansed in the fire in which it is offered and becomes a suitable food for the Deva-s!
269. When hunting dogs are used on guard duty in the night to prevent thefts and robbery, those animals will have to be fed with what they will eat as their diet to keep them in good shape! The ‘pancha bootha-s’ of Space, Air, Water, Fire and Earth; are powers in being, who have to be fed with the ‘Aahuti’ of their liking. The animal so sacrificed is called as ‘Yagna pasu’. The life form in it attains to the heavens only!
270. Appayya Deekshidar was there some 400 years back. He was a very kind hearted soul. He made a prayer saying, “Oh God! I regret my fate that, as I am born as a Brahmin, I am constrained to offer live animals, as per the customs and traditions! I am doing this, with reluctance with the fond hope that those lives of those animals which I am now offering in the Vajpeyi Yagna will reach your lotus feet! It is your job Oh! God, that you may kindly create the trust and belief in the minds of the people, in the lines of Veda-s which say so!” When he finished his prayers, it is reported that, celestial chariots descended from the skies and the sacrificial animals were escorted with due honours, under the watchful eyes of thousands of witnesses!
271. Whether this fact of animals sacrificed in Yagna being escorted to the heavens is demonstrated or not, the fact of the salubrious effects of these Yagna-s have amply been proved over thousands of years! Repeatedly drought conditions have been changed to plentiful rains or endemic diseases have been erased from the face of the earth, as an immediate follow up of the conduct of these Yagna-s! That is how people have been supporting such efforts! Can anybody tell me as to how many hundreds of thousands of rats, hamsters, guinea pigs and hares are being injected with a whole lot of chemicals and experimented upon in the name of science? If that can be justified then, sacrifices in Yagna-s are also justified! Does anybody have the statistics of the number of goats, cows, buffaloes, bulls, pigs and chicken being killed every moment in the slaughter houses and abattoirs of the world, just to satisfy the human appetite? Has anyone ever witnessed the very inhuman way the handlers treat these animals, in these slaughter houses? If you happen to stumble on this information even by chance, you may stop being a non-vegetarian immediately!
272. Let me reiterate here that in contrast, the sacrifice in a Vajpeyi Yagna was neither an occasion for mass murders nor for conspicuous consumption! But, when Buddha and Jain Mahavira condemned the practice of sacrifice of animals in Yagna-s, possibly there were no Brahmins worthy or knowledgeable enough to demonstrate the reasonableness of their actions! That is how those new religions could counter the authority of the teachings of the Veda-s. The caste meant to be the protectors of the Veda-s were weak and flaccid that those religions could establish their roots firmly in this land of the Veda-s! (You may refer to Deivathin Kural #32 of (Vol 2) of 08 Oct 2007 and subsequent issues to refresh the points already covered about, conduct of sacrifices in Yagna-s and as to how these days such practices have been discontinued and the breaking of coconuts have completely replaced sacrifice of live animals!)
273. When I started talking about DroNa, I was telling you as to how I have deviated from the purpose of my talks. But evidently, not only one DroNa, but there was a general weakening of standards of Brahminhood that, non-Vedic religions could establish themselves in to reckoning in this land!
274. There is one more thing. Drupada who opposed the Brahmin DroNa was a Kshatriya. Then Buddha and Mahavira who opposed Brahmins and Veda-s were both from the caste of Kshatriya-s only. Later, some 600 years back the one who went against the Veda’s authority and objected to the Varna Ashrama Dharma, like Buddha and Mahavira before him, was Guru Nanak! Though he did go against the Sanatana Dharma, he did not go completely against all the ideas, concepts and Siddhanta of what Hinduism stands for. That Guru Nanak was also a Ksatriya like Buddha and Mahavira before him! He did approve and adopt the concepts and practices of, ‘Nama Japa, Shabda Brhma Anusandaanam’ and such things. (KTSV adds:- Actually the whole of Guru Granth Sahib, the book of authority in Sikhism is made up of the sayings of many of the Saints of this Hindu religion only! From one perspective I would say that Sikhism came into being to make the masses sit up and fight against the atrocities by the Muslim hoards of that time! Hindu Sikh animosities and confrontations were more the makings of British efforts to keep the people of this country divided, so as to sustain themselves in power at a much later time!)
275. The point I am making is that, whether individually some went against some individual Brahmins like Drupada against DroNa or Kaarta Virya Arjuna against Jamadagni Rishi or Vishwamitra against Vasishta or Buddha or Maha Vira against the whole of Hinduism, it was all Ksahtriya-s against Brahmins! We will come back to this point a little later!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.