DEIVATHIN KURAL # 112 (Vol #4) Dated 07 Dec 2010

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 112 (Vol #4) Dated 07 Dec 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 second para on page number 621 of Vol 4 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated constantly)
145. After a natural death, to be born again is also so that we may get nice thrashings only. Nowadays rigorous punishments have gone out of fashion. Earlier, they used to impose whipping as a punishment. The number of whipping that used to be given for major offences cannot be taken in one go! The man being punished will swoon in between or even die. “This should not be permitted to happen. The offender has to experience each stroke and suffer. Then only, he will be considered to have been correctly dealt with and justice done.” So they used to keep a doctor in attendance who would keep on checking the condition of the man under punishment. At some point in time, when he considers that the threshold for telrance with the punishment is about to be crossed and he may die, the beating would be stopped. Balance punishment if any would be reserved for re-serving at a later date! Then the offender would be given food. They would serve good food only, so that he would have the energy to undergo punishment again! He would be enabled to sleep also properly. All this condescension is so that he could be punished again. Next day the ‘devotional treatment’ of ‘pooja’ will start once again!
146. Exactly similarly, we are sanctioned to assume another body and it is enabled to grow, so that it could be punished with suitable whipping at a suitable time! When we cannot take it anymore, he lets us sleep. For some time we are immersed in him. Then another life, another body follows. From the time of birth till ‘baalyam’ that is childhood is not yet over, the child is not aware of the problems. When diseases make the child’s life miserable or when beaten by the parents, it may make a hue and cry! But it does not carry the worries on its shoulders and suffer. In no time the problems are forgotten and the child then approaches the world with a smile on its face and with wonder, awe, aspirations and expectations in its heart!
147. Stepping in to teenage and adulthood, what we face are mainly problems. Even in that, it is only 25% real and the balance 75% are our own imagination. We go through some painful experiences, but suffer three times more thinking about our problems! We think of the past and suffer by reliving the problems and then think of the future and fear what could be in store for us! A Child does not have these problems. Like us it does not have so many problems and more over, it does not mull over and magnify it! As the man under punishments was given food and rest in between, our life also has its quota of some pleasures in bits and pieces along the way. Like some sweet coated pills amongst mostly bitter ones, there are some pleasureful moments too.
148. Nobody gets completely harsh treatment. Some kid’s glove approach interspersed with the whipping most of the time, it feels as though some fresh clean ointment is being applied in intervals. Some people somewhere along the line get anointed with sandalwood paste a hundred percent! Evidently they must be one of those rare and true do-gooders. Since the majority of 90% are all the do-bad-persons they get happiness and sorrow at a ratio of 10:90 only. However much higher we go, the sweetness of our experiences are never more than, the taste of the neem fruit, which is normally bitter but, gets some tinge of sweetness when it is very ripe with a deep yellow colour! That is all that we deserve. Or God out of his infinite compassion is kind to us more than what we should be otherwise worth! If desire is the cause of this and if that desire is not done away with even when we die and drop this body, then what are we required to do? How to escape from the clutches of the all encompassing ogre of desire?
149. Relentless Effort Required. Though desire does not die easily, we have to repeatedly try to bring it under control. Desire-less-ness is dispassion for which there has to be a ‘never say die’ and ‘bash on regardless’ attitude! In the First World War General Ferdinand Foch as the Supreme Allied Commander against the German Forces, reported to the Allied Head Quarters on the wireless, “My left is reeling, my right is in tatters and I am advancing”! That is the sort of attitude we have to have in this battle against the enemy Mr Desire too!
150. Because, if this one enemy is somehow sorted out, then we are King, not of this world! We do not want to be the King with all his desires, ambitions and allied problems. To be free of desire is to be free of all problems of life. Then you are the King of the inner Empire of Peace and Tranquillity! Hundreds of thousands of bad and evil tendencies can never be tackled individually. That is impossible. So, instead of all those branches, cut the root. That should solve the problem. Yes, it is easy to cut the branches and not the root, for which we may have to dig deep. Still this has to be done as otherwise, the branches will keep growing. Have you seen the white ants making a mud roof over their area of operation over night spreading in every which direction! You remove some and after a day or two, they are there all over again. How to end this? You have to locate the Mother bug and destroy it wherever it may be hiding. Till then there can be no relief from these pests! Similarly, or even more seriously, desire that is Kaama, the Mother of all negative and destructive tendencies, has to be got rid of first. If we do away with Kaama, then in one stroke we will be able to get rid of, Krodha, Moha, Mada, Maatsarya et al! Without destroying the cause, we will never be able to do away with the effects.
151. That is how, Bhagwan Sri Krishna brackets these Kaama and Krodha together and says, “kaama esha krodha esha rajoguNa samudbhavaha I”, for which I have already given you the meaning. Continuing he says, “mahaasano mahaapaapmaa viddhyenam iha vairiNam I”, to which also I had given some explanation. This Kaama is a great eater who is never satisfied with fulfilling of his desires once. His hunger grows with every feeding. As we are not happy with one good feed a day, and crave for three or four sittings daily, this desire keeps growing and keeps changing shapes and forms! That is ‘mahaasana = maha + asanaha’ means that he is voracious and gluttonous ! ‘Mahaa Paapmaa’ means a great sinner. He is the leader and progenitor of a whole army of evil tendencies. “vidhdhyenam iha vairiNam” can be re paraphrased to mean, ‘iha enam vairiNam viddhi’ to mean, ‘My Dear Sir, here in this worldly life know him Mr Kaama to be the Enemy Number One!’
152. Then he goes on to talk about describing the way it looks and how it misbehaves. “The way fire is covered by smoke and glass is shaded by dust and foetus is enveloped by the stomach, Kaama covers and hides Gnaana. Yes, Arjuna! This Kaama is the Enemy Numero Uno for aspirants on the path of Self Realization too! This insatiable hunger keeps Man’s senses, forever in a state of confusion! Initially it hides his brains and intelligence with a smoke screen, then it burns it to ashes”, He goes on to say. Whatever one has to do, there has to be a base or centre around which the activity takes place. That is known as ‘Adhishtaanam’. For Sanyaasis the Adhishtaanam is the place of their Samaadhi! When great saints have dropped their mortal coil and their physical body is interned in the earth, it will be noticed that the place has been enriched by the power of their compassion and love of humanity. Any visitor can feel and experience their grace localised there. That is why it is called the Adhishtaanam.
153. In practice, in some places they plant a Tulasi on the Samadhi and grow a garden around. The place comes to be called a Brindavanam. In others they install a Siva Lingam and the Samadhi gets to be called an Adhishtaanam. From among the AcharyaLs of this Matam, two have their Samadhi at Kalavai, which are Brindavanams. In ILaiaartrang Kudi there is an Adhishtaanam with Siva Lingam installed. This desire has three types of Adhishtaanams where it has firmly established itself! One is this Buddhi or Intelligence, second is the Mind and third the Nerve Centre of the Indriyas or senses!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.