DEIVATHIN KURAL # 127 (Vol #4) Dated 06 Jan 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 127 (Vol #4) Dated 06 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 701 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)
261. Adwaita Saastraas & Anugraha from Easwara. In the Adwaita Saastraas, this fact that Gnaana is sanctioned by Anugraha from God has not been clearly mentioned. This Gnaana cannot be what can be obtained by ones intellect. For the man to know himself, not as a separate individual but as one with the Divinity, with the all pervasive, all encompassing reality of Aatma is Gnaana. So to attain or obtain Gnaana means Moksha or Release. You may say or have a doubt that it is not so mentioned in any of the Saastraas on Adwaita that this release is resultant out of the Grace of God! ‘Now if you Swami give me an answer that the reason for not doing so is because Sri Krishna is talking about the path of Gnaana; that answer of yours raises another question as to why while talking of the path of Gnaana, the critical role of God’s Grace should not be mentioned?’
262. In reply to that, I think of this logic. That is, the aim of Adwaita is to disprove the principle of Dwaita. As the end point of totally erasing this mind of ours, if we talk of Easwara, it will mean bringing back Dwaitam with lock, stock and barrel! Easwara stands apart from the Jeeva. Now for us to say that this Jeeva is endeavouring and that Easwara is sanctioning or granting; it will be tantamount to reinforcing the Dwaita philosophy only! It will mean that they, the Easwara and Jeeva are two different entities and that one is praying and aspiring and the other being kind and compassionate, is fulfilling his wishes! This is a scenario of thoughts and actions with Adwaitam dropped in the dust bin on the side lines! So, we can presume that since to talk about the God’s Grace at the height of Adwaita Saadhana is like giving an order in the drill squire to, “Stop, About Turn, Quick March”. People especially those who have written the Adwaita Saastraas have refrained from mentioning this! Whether we say it or not and whether the aspirant gets to know about it or not, God in His Infinite Wisdom and Compassion is not going to stop granting His Grace. But, it is likely that this aspirant who has made much effort so far for Adwaita Anubhuti, may go back to being a devotee! Instead of devotion in duality, to merge in Aatma is the ideal. Even that God will wish that to happen. May be that is the reason for the authors of Adwaita Granthas avoiding mentioning this.
263. “Oh! No! It is anathema to stop being devoted to God and then aspire for some dubious knowledge as Gnaana! That is not Moksham or release but, only delusion and Moha!” There is sloka written by a gentle man who in all seriousness is said to have decried any talk of Adwaita Anubhava, with the above message. Instead of becoming like that, to raise above the state of devotion to God with form and attributes; to the level of formless, attribute less; to become one with that Aatma without a trace of our own separateness; those authors of Adwaita Granthas must have left out talking about the critical role of Easwara Anugraha, I feel! Initially in Adwaita Saastraas devotional activities like Bhajan, Keertan, along with SravaNa and Manana are recommended with Karma Anushtaana and Easwara Upaasana encouraged. At that level Dwaitam can be there or has to be there, for one pointed devotion and concentration of his mind. Otherwise, the aspirant will feel a vacuum or move around in all directions without any control! But towards the end when he is on the threshold of Nidhidyaasana, is not the time to be bringing back the Dwaitam dichotomy once again!
264. This Maya which is known as ‘anirvachaneeyam’ that is, impossible to be put in to words, hides the truth and creates a multiplicity of sceneries and experiences. As there is nothing other than that truth of the Aatma all the apparent scenes are like so many garbs. Hiding the truth is called the ‘AavaraNa shakti’ and creation of a variety of disguises is called the ‘Vikshepa shakti’. The actor who wears all these disguises is Easwara the essential dramatist. That is, this Brhmam itself with Maya creates this Easwara, Jeeva and Jagat, the world of variety of forms, colours, shades, attributes and characteristics! The root for all of them is one and the same Aatma. There is nothing alien to it. Having perfected your sight see the whole world as the one Brhmam says a succinct statement, “drushtim gnaana mayam krutvaa pashyata Brhma mayam jagat” ! Aatma and Brhmam are the same oneness. When we try to find out the origin of this individual Jeevan, it is the Aatma. For the big world and universe, when we try to find out the origin, it is the Brhma. Since both Jeeva and Jagat have originated from the one source only, it is the same Brhma also called the Aatma. When we have said that there is nothing apart from Aatma that is the origin of Jeeva, how can Brhmam be anything different? The same Truth Entity, in the context of the individual being is called the Aatma and in the context of billions and trillions of animate and inanimate beings and things, is said to be the Brhmam!
265. Jeeva is also from Easwara! Aatma with Maya is Easwara. Aatma itself in Maya has attained to the status of the Jeeva. The Adwaitins are of one mind about these two statements just made. They also accept that the Easwara is creating, maintaining and absorbing the world as a continuous process, as long as this imaginary world is taken to be real from a dual perspective! But when it comes to Jeeva arising from Easwara, Adwaitins are not of one uniform opinion. Instead of saying that Brhmam with Maya creates Easwara and that Easwara creates the Jeeva; they will say that, ‘Aatma itself by Maya is Jeeva and Easwara’! In Bhagawat Gita, in the chapter on Purushottama Yoga, Sri Krishna has said so clearly. He claims to be the highest amongst all males as Purusha Uttama and that is Easwara or Paramaatma. That is the one in all the three worlds of here, there and elsewhere; past, present and future; the inner and outer ‘Antaryaami’! While giving the Bhashya for this, our AachaaryaaL Adi Sankara, instead of pointing out the Nirguna Brhmam of Attribute-less-ness; talks of Purushottama as Narayana as a God of Attributes. So, as Easwara He says, “mamaivaamso jeeva loke jeeva bhoota: sanaatana: I mana: shashtanee indriyaaNi prakrutistaani karshati II” (Bhagawat Gita 15. 7.) This sloka means, ‘a fraction of this eternal me becomes the Jeeva in the world and pulls to itself this mind and the five Indriyas rooted in nature. Here He is combining the Mind with the five senses as - shashtaani indriyaaNi – as the six senses.
266. While all animals have the five senses of sight, smell, sound, taste and touch, man is known to be endowed with the sixth sense of the mind with its varied capabilities of memory, storage, retrieval, analysis, comparison, imagination and logical reasoning! Various animals are also known to have varied amount of these abilities in different scales. Our AachaaryaaL Adi Sankara too has played with words in the ‘Shat padee stotra’ on this sixth sense capabilities. (This is to be covered in detail under the Heading ‘VaNdu Stotram’, around the page number 907 of this 4th Volume, may be some 40 e-mails later.) So, all said and done, it is the Easwara who by a small trace fraction of his infinite abilities, has also become the Jeeva. Jeeva is from Him only. Nature is nothing else but Maya only. Mind is Maya’s creation and it is adopted by the Jeeva, the Easwara amsa, which would mean that it is Easwara Himself who has given the mind to Jeeva and caused him to enter and roam about in Maya! So we are naturally so involved in all the worldly pursuits! We are made to be like that and we are meant to be so! Since we are essentially also some portion of that Divinity; may be an infinitesimal portion but, still the same; it is equally natural for us to recognise this fact also and endeavour towards its fullest realization too!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.