DEIVATHIN KURAL # 126 (Vol #4) Dated 04 Jan 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 126 (Vol #4) Dated 04 Jan 2011

(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 697 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)
255. Why Was God’s Grace Not Pointed Out? One could wonder as to why it was not pointed out that the end sublimation happens with God’s Grace at the same time that the devotees’ efforts finish! Buddhi subsides and the truth is effulgently evident. But, at this point Bhagawan Sri Krishna did not say so, in so many words! Elsewhere, He has affirmed that when the devotee surrenders, balance work is all done by Easwara Sankalpa. But here He did not say so. The only reason for that as far as I could visualise is that, instead of bringing in the SaguNa aspect of God, where the God is an dynamic participant in worldly activities, here the NirguNa aspect is being emphasised, wherein Aatma does not do anything. You drop your confusion and clarity becomes self evident!
256. Whether we talk about God’s Grace or not, it will anyhow get things done like the flowers bloom with the sun’s rays! In what God does, there is no part that this man can play anyhow. You cannot call Him or question Him for anything. Man’s job is to control his own tendencies and vacillations. He may aspire for God realization. But, even if does not aspire for or search God, is He not the indwelling reality ‘antaryaami’? So in appreciation of this devotee’s sincerity and perseverance, He is going to shower the necessary Grace on him. It is true that one of the confirmed method is ‘total surrender’ called ‘saraNaa gati’; to Vishnu amongst Vaishnavites; to Allah amongst Muslims and to Siva amongst followers of Saiva Siddhanta! But there is also the path of Gnaana, in which you scientifically, logically analyse your own ambitions, limitations and systematically erase ego and pride with no residual sense of separate identity at all. In the dualism of the Madhvas and Special Adwaitam or Visishtadwaitam of Ayyengars and the Siddhanta of Saiva Siddhanthies, you retain your idea of ‘Aham’ or Separateness of Individuality, even after total surrender (‘Prapatti’), to be able to be a devotee and do God’s service. So, in them all, a trace of ‘ahankaara’ or self pride continues.
257. Compared to this, in the Gnaana Marga of Adwaitam, you erase this idea of individualism or ‘Jeevatvam’ completely. Viewed from that angle, is not the Gnaana Marga a more pronounced Prapatti? For such intensity of purpose, God in His Infinite Compassion will grant ‘Anugraha’ of Gnaana positively! God, who does not look at the devotee’s words or actions, even when this devotee is not saying that he is surrendering, does automatically take note of the devotee’s true sincerity and Grants him Gnaana! So, Sri Krishna may have left it unsaid, while talking about Gnaana Marga. Man’s effort stops at one level, wherein a trace of the sense of, “I am doing this”, still lingers. But when that trace element is wiped off, Grace just flows! That is the threshold, the Rubicon!
258. Jeevan the individual cannot do this on his own. From birth, he has this sense of ‘aham’. From that ‘aham’ is the ‘anta:karaNa’ of me and mine; mind, buddhi, chittam et al. So, that individual can only keep at it with the fond hope of self effacement, but cannot arrive at oneness with Aatma! How can darkness see the Sun? The darkness cannot wish to or try and erase itself. With enlightenment darkness is just no more! So, the final lift is by God from the darkness of Agnaana and ignorance, beyond the reach of, mind, buddhi, chitta and ahankaara. This is a matter to be repeatedly thought of and analysed in meditation within oneself. (KTSV adds:- Droupadi’s Vastra HaraN is often quoted for this. Duschadana was pulling the saree of Droupadi in the open assembly of Kauravas and Pandavas, after Dharmaraja had betted and lost her in the game of dice! She was holding on to her saree with all her strength, to avoid becoming nude! It was a losing tussle anyhow. The moment she thought of Lord Sri Krishna and put up both her hands in supplication beseeching His Grace; the sarees started flowing, for Duschadana to keep pulling and pulling and getting worn out! Her sarees were flowing and it was Duschadana who was wearing out (with the sarees all around him!))
259. The farthest reach of human ‘anta: karaNa’ is still short of truly understanding Aatma. Actually erasure of it makes possible Aatma Saatchaatkaara. How can it efface itself? Even to commit suicide, you need a revolver or a piece of rope or poison or something else. By that process also it is the body that is destroyed. But how about ‘anta: karaNa’? It is not something that can be done away with, easily that is. But, there have been and are many great Saints who seem to have achieved this state of, ‘mano naasa:’! How is that to be done? (KTSV adds:- Relate this to Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi’s statement that , “Everyday spent without making an effort to know who we are is as good as committing suicide!”)
260. Easwara – The Bridge between Dwaitam & Adwaitam. The answer to my above question, as to how are we supposed to do this ‘mano naasa:’, is Easwara, God and God’s Grace! Aatma is pure Adwaitam. So, we keep asking the question as to how this mind which is the cause of all individuality, duality and variety can be combined with that oneness of Aatma. Here comes Easwara. How is He? He is like a bridge between this oneness of Adwaita and the apparent world of multiplicity. Adwaitam and Dwaitam are like two parallel lines which will never meet or like the two opposite shores of a river. He is like a bridge across the divide! He is inner Adwaitam and outwardly he enacts all the drama of variety. There is a name for Nataraja, the cosmic dancer as ‘kooththan’ ! It means a dancer in musical opera at the rustic village level. Aatma with Maya is Easwara, Jeeva and the whole world! It is only this Jeeva, poor man who is caught in the web of innumerable problems in the bargain! Easwara is not so bound in confusion by the mind, as this Jeeva! All that happens in the Nature, in the world and in the macro and microcosm are all planned and executed with pin point perfection in both time and space and in whatever other dimensions that may be there! You call it the Cosmic Mind or the Higher Mind or whatever it is not a restricting condition for Him as it is for man! That is why He is said to be Omniscient, Omnipresent and Omnipotent! What is beyond our comprehension is child’s play for Him. As He is not bound by the mind, his abilities are endless. After all our efforts, when we come to this simple realisation of our limitation, the final resolution has to be from Him! When we finally give up, seeing the futility of all our pranks and cranks, He nullifies our ‘mano-buddhi-ahankaara-chitta’ and absorbs us unto Himself!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.