DEIVATHIN KURAL # 101 (Vol #4) Dated 15 Nov 2010

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 101 (Vol #4) Dated 15 Nov 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 middle of page number 561 of Vol 4 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that here in 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated constantly)
70. Swadharmam continues even after one’s death! Death is after all only for the body. Not for the Atma which is forever! Not for the individual also, who thinks of himself as something separate as, he continues till such time he decides not to be separate and become one with the only reality from which he has never been apart, away or alienated! Till then he has to assume many more living forms and live many more life times! The turning point in this endless journey, when he or she decides to return to the source of their origins is doing the duties of Swa Dharma. The thing that really compensates and reduces the debt balances, (deceitfully, wrongly called credit ratings), are these Swa Dharma duties. To die while doing those duties and progress towards fulfilling the purpose of our existence is ‘Sreyas’. That is why Sri Krishna told Arjuna that it is, ‘Sreyas despite death’!
71. Direct Contribution to World’s Welfare. Once born as any life form, it is not able to keep quiet even for a fraction of a second! So, to fetch you to a state of total fulfilment without any more need for work, without any more need or want, you have been assigned a set of duties to be done as ‘Swa Dharma’. Thus when the Jeeva does these duties, there is no gain for the mind (which is the cause for continued cycle of rebirths). When we do these duties as ‘Nish Kaamyam’, that is, while doing one’s duties without any desire for any returns, this effect of starving the mind occurs. Because, to desire is the first important job of the mind. All the activities are for the satisfaction of the mind only. But when we do ‘Nish Kaamya Karma’, there is no gain for the mind. So, it follows that, when we do something there has to be some advantage or gain, is it not so? We cannot claim that this activity is only meant to control his mind by suppressing his desires and that there is no effect for the action! Saastraas have not left the issue out on a limb like that. Though there is no direct noticeable result and indirectly it enables him to develop himself to the actionless-state, it cannot be permitted to be a sheer waste, like measuring the water in the oceans or counting the number of stars! How can there be any action which has an indirect effect and no direct effect? There has to be a direct effect too, though the actor may not be the direct beneficiary. If the actor becomes the direct beneficiary, that will again become the cause for the creation of desire. So, for the actor’s desire-less acts of ‘Nish Kaamya Karma-s’ let the society at large be the direct beneficiary. It is with this intention that the nuts and bolts of Swa Dharma have been worked out!
72. The dynamics of the above paragraph will become very clear with an example. Say, there is a man with all facilities. For his health he has to do some physical exercises. These can be of two types. One is either Yogasana or Aerobics. Alternately he could do gardening involving digging, planting, nursing, watering and weeding. Since he has all facilities and resources, he could have man power to do all that. He does not have to do all the actions himself. Being rich enough he also does not need the fruits of his labour. But instead of doing only physical exercises, it would be more beneficial for the society, if he works towards creating a fruit garden. He has the benefit of the exercises and the fruit is enjoyed by others! Similarly, like this example of a particular person not having any need for money and things that could be purchased with money, does gardening as an exercise and the fruits of such activity is enjoyed by others; to do is your duty but, not for the sake of the fruits only. The aspirant in the spiritual path does Karma for cleansing his own mind and the benefits go to the society. That is how this Swa Dharma Karma has been worked out. There are people who need the fruits of such labour. There will always be such people who will need to be taken care of thus, in the cosmic drama of Bhagwan’s Leela!
73. World Drama and Pralayam. It is never possible for all the waves to reach the shore at one and the same time. Exactly similarly, it is never possible for all the people of the world to simultaneously try to cancel out all their balances of Karma and void the worldly life once and for all. Having created many with varying minds and spun them off in this world to interact and play with innumerable possibilities, whole range of spectrum of colours, shades, tastes and nuances; enjoying as the witness and participating as the indwelling spirit; is God’s Leela. How can this multitudinous dynamic kaleidoscopic display of world drama go on, if all of us should merge in complete peace by becoming devotees or Gnaanis? At the least there will be no ‘variety is the spice of life’ experience for God!
74. Simultaneously God is also compassion incarnate! Though He is the Witness of Eternity, after many Yugas and Kalpa Kaalam, He reabsorbs all with extreme consideration and Love; not by their efforts but by His Grace! That is the world-less Armageddon, dissolution and reabsorption of Maha Pralaya! Nitya Pralaya is the daily absorption in God that is the sleep that we all enjoy! After death, before and after the Heaven or Hell or Rebirth, there is Laya of absorption for varying periods.
(KTSV adds: Pralaya means destruction, dissolution and re-absorption put together. In our Saastraas, there is clear conceptual knowledge at how and when these small and big Pralayas happen. Before we further go into the details about the durations of Pralaya, Kalpa, Chatur Yuga, Naimittika Pralaya, Aadyantika Pralaya and so on, let us make a short foray elsewhere so as to absorb some facts and figures as given by Swami Sivananda in his commentary on Sloka 17 of Chapter 8 of Bhagawat Gita, in page 190, of the book Published by Divine Life Society, Tehri Garhwal, Uttara Khand, India. I Quote, “Day means evolution or projection or manifestation of the universe. Night means involution of the universe or Pralaya. The worlds are limited or conditioned in time. Therefore they return again. The world of Brhma (Brhma Loka or Satya Loka) is also transient, although it lasts for a thousand ages. When the four Yugas have gone round a thousand times, it makes a day time of Brhma and when an equal number of Yugas pass again it makes a night. Those who can see and live through the day and night of Brhma can really know what is a day and what is a night. The Suryasiddhanta speaks of the same division of time. According to it; Number of Years.
Kali Yuga (with its Sandhya and Sandhyamsa) consists of 432,000
Dvapara Yuga (do) 864,000
Treta Yuga (do) 1,296,000
Krita Yuga (do) 1,728,000.
Maha Yuga or the four Yugas combined, also known
As Chatur Yuga 4,320,000.
71 such Maha Yugas with an additional Sandhya,
at the close of 1,728,000 years make one
Manvantara of 308,448,000.
14 such Manvantaras with another Sandhya at the
close of 1,728,000 years constitute a Kalpa of 4,320,000,000.
2 Kalpas make a day and night of Brhma of 8,640,000,000.
360 such days and nights make one year of
Brhma of 3,110,400,000,000.
100 such years constitute His lifetime of 11,040,000,000,000. The world is absorbed in the Avyakta or the Unmanifested or Mulaprakriti during the cosmic Pralaya (involution of the world). Just as the tree remains in a latent state in the seed, so also the whole universe remains in a latent state in the seed-form in the Mulaprakriti during Pralaya. This is the night of Brhma. This is the cosmic night. Again the world is projected at the beginning of Mahakalpa (evolution). There comes the cosmic dawn or cosmic day. This eternal rhythm of cosmic day and night (evolution and involution) is kept up in the macrocosm.
Nothing that comes under this ever-revolving wheel of cosmic day and night lasts forever. That is the reason why the seers of the Upanishads, the sages of yore, lived in the transcendental Supreme Being, the imperishable Self, the indestructible Purusha, the supreme goal of life, the highest end of man, which is beyond the cosmic day and night. Just as the seeds that are fried can hardly germinate, so also those who have attained to the imperishable Brhman, the Absolute, the Eternal, cannot return to this world of sorrow, pain and misery. They know neither day nor night. They are one with the Existence Absolute.
The manifested and unmanifested dwell in Brhman. Brhman is beyond the manifested and unmanifested. When the world and the body are destroyed Brhman is not destroyed. The waves come out and subside, but the ocean remains unaffected. So also the worlds come and subside, but Brhman the source of everything, the source of Mulaprakriti, ever remains unaffected. Just as ornaments come out of gold and go back to gold when they are melted, so also all the worlds comeout of Brhman and go back to Brhman. Gold is in no way affected by the various forms such as ear-rings, bracelets, anklets, etc., that have been made of it. Even so, Brhman is not in the least affected by the projection and destruction or dissolution of the worlds and the bodies of beings. It remains always as it is.)
(We will come back to what PeriyavaaL says from here onwards once again.) Sambhomahadeva.