DEIVATHIN KURAL # 118 (Vol #4) Dated 19 Dec 2010

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 118 (Vol #4) Dated 19 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 last para on page number 654 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)
193. With greater and greater powers if there is more happiness, it does not mean however that happiness is from that power. There is no direct co-relation between power and happiness. When someone is able to dominate people under him it gives some satisfaction to his ego. That thrill or happiness cannot be construed as in the rightness of how it should be. It increases happiness for the reason that, the number of persons who could dominate us, is dwindling. So, we are able to Lord it over others while others’ control over us is less. The very fact of expansion of the limits of our freedom gives us a thrill. When we are simply a clerk, we are humble and quiet. When we are promoted to office superintend, when the control over us lessens, we also find our freedom is expanding and our area of control expands! That gives us the thrill.
194. There are some who are in higher positions of pay, perks and power, with many working under him. More than the people working under him, he may have to dance to the tune of some higher ups or politicians. Often they may feel that they do not have the freedom available to some of their own juniors! So, it is clear that more than the pay, perks and power, it is freedom that gives us more happiness and satisfaction! There are many who after having been the C.E.Os of big companies opt for starting their own companies at a much scaled down version! If you ask them as to why they are ready to forego their position, power and perks and are opting for the hard work of running their own company, there reply is likely to be something on the following lines. “Oh, that! Though there were many privileges, I was much under the control of those Directors! I rather prefer the freedom that I am now experiencing!” So, the point to understand is that, satisfaction and thrill are due to freedom and independence and not just more power!
195. That is why, while talking of Parasakti’s Paramaanandam, instead of conveying that it is due to the mighty power of Parasakti, the word ‘swaatmananda’ is mentioned. So, instead of greater powers, lack of control by others over and super-vision is more important! So even She the Parasakti, instead of the power to dominate others, is happier in the independence of the Self, Aatma! There is no direct relation between Aatma and Sakti that is Power. Power is a show affecting other things adversely or otherwise. As there is no inner and outer for Aatma and as there is nothing other than itself; it does not affect anything or get affected. Sakti points to the duality of Dwaitam and Aatma is about the Oneness of Adwaitam! “Even the very Parasakti, without any happiness from her powers, finds happiness in experiencing Aatma and thus only knows or feels the highest level of happiness”, is what is meant by that line in Lalita Sahasranaama, “swaatma ananda lavee boota brhmaadya ananda santati:”.
196. Sakti is full of ‘gunamayam’ (qualities) and ‘karyamayam’ (work). Aatma is ‘nirguna, nishkriya’, (no qualities, no work). That is what is ‘Sivam’! So, ‘Aatmaanandam’ is also ‘Sivaanandam’ in other words. Even for Parasakti, the Aanandam is in Aatma that is in Sivam! She being the Dakshina Murthy, is giving the ‘Sivaanandam’ to all says the Lalita Sahasranaama, “dakshiNa murthy roopiNi sanakaadi samaaraadhya siva gnaana pradaayini”! That sense of freedom available to that great Parasakti as Aatmaanandam can be available to us also! When it comes to that, there is no difference as the Aatma of Parasakti with Omnipotence and we as the Aatma with limited abilities and the mosquito’s Aatma. All that, is the one and the same Aatma though it is wearing the garb of Omnipotence as Parasakti. We are a fraction of that and the mosquito still the same with a further limitation. So, we could also have the happiness many times more than what Brhma (who is said to have human beings’ unit one quanta of happiness as multiplied by 1followed by 14 zeros), could possibly have, when we have the Aatmaanandam! We cannot know just now as to how that Aatmaanandam or Sivaanandam could be. Even the fact that AmbaaL who is billion times more dynamically active than us, enjoys that Aatmaanandam only when She is actionless, totally merged in the Self without any sense of feeling; it cannot be understood. In complete peace She is wholesomely happy!
197. Sleep Stage. Unknown happiness about which we are unaware is no happiness! Here there is Tagore’s poem Gitanjali on the table and we are blind, say! What is the use of its being a great poem? Similar is the state of deep sleep, when there is only Aatma without any of the modifications of the mind or the seen – world. The Aatma to which we are blind and about which we are unaware, is as good as not being there. To be in a state of being aware of the Aatma and its bliss is the state of Samaadhi! That state of Samaadhi can never be attained without any effort, as spuriously being claimed by some of the modern day Adwaitins, who want everything on a silver platter to be spoon fed to them, that too with a silver spoon! Nature has so arranged sleep for all life forms when we are not only unaware of Aatma, but we are also unaware of the other problems and sadness of our lives! So, the Aatmaanandam is not available for all and sundry! But it is available for all who are ready to believe and trust the Grace of God to be the inner Truth of our very being and are ready to work hard for that Self Realization! In this struggle we are fighting against our own fissiparous tendencies! So this is the greatest battle ever fought by any human being. The only bright side of it is the fact that there have been many who have fought this battle and won and India as a country has had a long line of such greats from time immemorial till date!
198. Just a little time ago I had given the example of a lamp in a pot with holes. If the holes are very fine and rare, only some rare glimpse of the lamp inside will be seen outside. Like that in sensual experiences some rare insight of the Aatma is obtained. This happens in the wakeful state of our being, known as ‘jaagrat’, when we are basically aware of our body, mind, intellect and the world of others and objects. To understand the state of ‘sushupti’ that is our sleep, I have to slightly change the ‘upamaa’. (We normally do not come across a pot with holes and there are rarely any occasions when we keep a lamp inside! Though the similarity is not completely off grid, when you think of the human body as the pot and the five senses are the holes and the lamp is the Aatma) Instead of the pot in the example, think of a basket with a lamp inside. When it is breezy and the lamp is small enough, at times a basket made of cane or bamboo slivers inter woven, may be kept over it to prevent it from being blown off. Then the rays of the light will come out of the basket through small holes in the basket. But the inverted surface of the brim of the basket may be uneven to let air pass through and a sudden whiff or drought could still blow off the lamp. So, now if you put a woollen blanket over it which will let some air through for the lamp to burn but not let it blow off, that is the condition in ‘Sushupti’ or deep sleep. There is light and it is not seen. At least in wakeful state, we get some glimpses without knowing it or correctly identifying it. In sleep there is only darkness about that source of light. Compared to these two stages of ignorance, Aatma Anubhava is one of being enlightened awareness of pure effulgence as the light itself!
199. Without an effort on our part, sleep comes over us, with our eye lids drooping and mind in the process of withdrawal from all worldly things. It is clearly seen to be a power beyond us. So it is not within our powers to make it happen also! “Somehow I woke up at the stroke of midnight. Then however much I tried, I just could not sleep. Today, I am just not my normal self at all”, we complain! It is very clearly seen to be a natural force that plays tricks with us. This is true even when we take sleeping tablets thinking that we are making sleep happen as though by our will!
200. Dream Stage. Sleep can be made to happen by taking sleeping tablets or an oil bath. But that sleep may or may not be deep enough. Often we have sleep in which our mind is not completely turned off. On those occasions, there will be possibilities of a dream caused by the mind of ours.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.