DEIVATHIN KURAL # 67 (Vol #4) Dated 05 Sep 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 67 (Vol #4) Dated 05 Sep 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 the page number 366 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)
{Note: In these talks, PeriyavaaL is talking about Educational Institutions of yore, which were bigger than a single Guru Kulam, of the size of a School or College or even University, with a number of teachers, curriculums and syllabuses. These were called variously as Gatika or Gatikai or Katika or even Kadigai. As per English grammer rules, a pronoun can be spelt differently based on the pronunciation. In these translations, I am sticking to Gatika and Gatikai.}
549. These Vidwaans who have no students for reasons of penury and poverty should be given the position of a ‘Chair’ in the Universities and given the same respect and income. Our national tradition is one which holds that the King is respected in his own land while the learned is revered wherever he goes! We should not let that culture of ours be ignored. Actually I wish to retain such rare Pundits in ancient Saastraas in the Kamakoti Matam itself and take care of them. Through them I wish to create a lineage of disciples to continue the process. Hopefully AmbaaL’s blessings will be there for it! If any student who is interested in such old Saastraas, with true sincerity happens to come along and ask about such subjects, I do not wish to tell him, “There is no qualified teacher for that subject! You find your own way through that blind alley, may be by reading some books!” I desire that I should be able to tell him, “Come my dear Son! We have searched and found such a specific teacher especially meant for you! He is also waiting for such a student who is interested in that subject Saastra! Come, you are welcome!” I am interested for such an eventuality hopefully!
550. I wish to bring around even such Pundits who do not know as to how to teach or are not interested in teaching, so that their knowledge does not become extinct after them but reaches at least some four disciples. Even if such Pundits were not going to be a teacher or never get a disciple, we still have to honour and take care of them. Do not we honour and give life time pension to some people who are supposed to have gone to jail for making salt by heating the sea water? Similarly we have to honour those who have sacrificed themselves at the altar of knowledge, and learnt whatever the art or science or Saastraas with all its parts, sub-parts and subtle nuances! We are duty bound to provide them with respect, awards and all creature comforts. Even if they do not have disciples, somehow their expertise will out itself. May be that some experts could carry out interviews & take notes of the conversation. We can identify the grey areas in the subjects in which they are clued up and bring out their views on those blind spots! We must do our level best to retrieve as much of the subject knowledge out of them as possible.
551. It is not only the need to enable some Guru to teach some students. While your contribution of time, money and other resources in doing so is very important, there is one more important task in front of you all! You yourself individually have to study, practise and gain expertise in at least one of these Vidyas / Arts / Crafts / Sciences or Saastraas! Instead of simply saying, “Well I was born, did some job, earned some money and lived some life and contributed something for some teachers and some students;” you should be able to become a disciple under some Guru and learn some Saastraa, good enough to become a master yourself and teach some students before your innings in this life is over!
552. If you have interest in languages, you could learn about VyakaraNam or Niruktam. If you are interested in legal arguments, you could read Tarkam. May be that you can learn Music or learn to play an instrument of music such as Jala Tarangam or Veena or Mrudang and so on. You can pick up a chisel and hammer and learn about sculpture! It is what many hundreds of thousands of people have hacked away with a chisel and hammer in their hands that have become the historical edifices of monuments reaching for the skies that speak so eloquently about the greatness of Indian culture! You can also add your might to it!
553. The way that chisel got related to Easwara and the sculptor made an offering of his art to the divinity, similarly all arts and crafts should be presented to God as an offering. Otherwise we will find that silly pride overtake us that we are too good! These Aachaarya Peetams like mine are there for this very purpose of deflating the human being’s pride. While I am telling you all to pick up some art or craft and become masters and Maestros, I am duty bound not to forget that basic duty of mine! I should not do anything to boost your egos, is it not so? That is the reason for my telling you that all of you should become learned masters in some arts or science or crafts or Saastraas, while still retaining humility and devotion to God! All that we learn are with God’s Grace; all the arts and crafts are His Blessings; and so whatever we do should be in a way of not forgetting this basic fact!
554. If you go into ‘Pada Artham’ of Philology, it should lead to Shabda Brhmam! Going in to Music, it should be pointing to Naada Brhmam! If you enter into intellectual gymnastics of any subject, it should directly fetch you on to the Ultimate Principle of all! Mathematics and numbers should take us to the infinite of universal unity! You only have to read the starting invocation or ending dedication of the books by Bhaskara Raya and Arya Bhatta, to realise how devoted they were to this idea of Divineness! Biology or Zoology, we just cannot bypass or avoid appreciating and admiring the powers of Nature and super intelligence of that supreme Power in Being, call it what you want! Simply take that one subject of Geography. We can never stop wondering at the variety of hills, mountains, deserts, rivers, lakes, plains, islands, archipelagos and ever changing kaleidoscope of climates of varying temperatures, humidity-s, rains, winds, eddies and typhoons! It is all his play Maya, is it not so?
555. Just give your mind to Astronomy! How many zillions of planets, stars, quasars, pulsars, black holes and galaxies are all hanging in mid space by the mysterious powers of a simple scientific term known as Gravitation Pull! What is that gravitational pull? We are not even aware of its existence, let alone trying to understand the same. Then we will say that there is a scientific explanation. When all Science is based on human observation and the observer human being himself is part of the scene being observed, can you imagine the likelihood of fallacies and aberrations in subjectivity versus objectivity? The one lesson we can all learn from observing nature is this that, there are inviolable laws of nature of inter dependent disciplines! That observation should motivate us to abide with our Manushya Dharma of responsibility for each other of the humans and other life forms. Thus every Vidya of these sciences of Astronomy, Maths, Physics and so on, are known as so many disciplines only. In the Parama Atma Tatva, we should try and understand this one principle of the need for discipline and enable others also to understand similarly! This is very important. Otherwise, what I have told you about learning something and becoming experts would only mean that I have shown you the way to the worst of all prides, of ‘Vidya Garvam’!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.