DEIVATHIN KURAL # 133 (Vol #4) Dated 18 Jan 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 133 (Vol #4) Dated 18 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 page number 736 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)
305. For Adwaita Saadhaks there is no need to tell this fact of God’s Grace being the cause of the final upliftment from the dual level to the Adwaita Anubhava! Actually there is more logic in not mentioning this fact. That is why, in the Bhagawat Gita which emphasises this fact (that Moksham is finally achieved by God’s Grace); on occasions when mainly discussing the Gnaana Marga, it has been bypassed, quite logically in my opinion. That is how, starting from the senses, he goes on raising the level to Mind, Intellect and Self; He tells Arjuna to know as to what is above the Intellect, he has to control the mind, senses and defeat the enemy named desire. Here the direction is as though, the Jeeva will achieve everything by his own efforts. Refer to the 3rd Chapter of Bhagawat Gita!
306. Even here He is referring to Easwara indirectly I feel. Even to me this fact seems to have become clear only as I was talking to you about it. When He says that Aatma is superior to our Buddhi, He uses the Sanskrit word “sa:” to refer to Aatma, which means ‘He’ and not ‘it’! So we can take it that by referring to Aatma in the male gender single, He means Easwara. Then the next sentence would mean, “Thereby knowing Easwara, controlling your mind, destroy your desires!” This can be taken to be as good as saying, “Knowing Easwara to be the one to control your mind, destroy your desires!” We had seen earlier that this mind will have to vacate and vanish before you can know Aatma or rather before you can know yourself to be the Aatma! But to know Easwara, the mind has to be there! The Dwaita Easwara will be known to the Dwaita mind only. Either way, when the Jeeva’s mind is annulled, he will know himself to be the Aatma and Adwaita Anubhava is attained or in other words Easwara pulls you up from the duality in to oneness of Adwaita Anubhava! So, if we take it that Gita is saying, “Knowing Easwara the mind subsides”, it means that, ‘for a man in the dual world, once he has come to know Easwara as the supreme, to him Easwara Grants Mano Nigraha’.
307. Aatma Gnaana is Destruction of Desires. So it all comes down to the fact that, whatever be the way Easwara may function, what the individual man the Jeeva has to do is to, simply try to control his own mind by dispassionate practices. When such control has effectively been established thus, then only this Kaama the Desire can be made defunct and destroyed. What was earlier described by Bhagawan as the power that forcibly pushes man in to the abyss of Hell and the gluttonous sinner who is never satisfied, to destroy that Kaama thus; the only way is to compulsorily stop and control the Indriya – Mano – Buddhi – Ahankaara, says Bhagawan, as I told you earlier. That is to say, annulment of his separate individuality resulting in Adwaita Aatma Gnaana would also mean that there would be no more desires! Not only does the desire get erased, the idea that one is a Jeeva that is Jeevatvam goes and Adwaita Anubhava results.
308. Arjuna had asked as to which is the power that pushes the reluctant man into Sin (Paapa) for which Bhagawan had replied that it is ‘Desire’ with due discussion about the related hazards. In pointing out the remedial measures, He virtually opens the Gates of Heaven as though! Later in another place He lays this out quite clearly that if you get released from the clutches of Kaama and Krodha, you attain to Brhma Satchaatkaara, that is also known as NirvaaNa or Moksha. (Ref to Bhagawat Gita.5.26.) I Quote, “kaama krodha viyuktaanaam yateenaam yata chetasaam I abhito brhma nirvaanam vartate viditaatmanaam II” Meaning, ‘absolute freedom (or brahmic bliss) exists on all sides in both, for those self – controlled ascetics who are free from desire and anger, who have controlled their thoughts and who have realised the Self.’ What is that ‘in both’, that is underlined?
309. That is, for the Adwaitins who refuse to accept the Duality of the world everything will become one! Otherwise, this world of relativity is known as ‘Iham’ and what is other than this relative existence is ‘Param’! Normally till you are embodied, you are in Iham. Then only when you die, that is drop the mortal coil, you become entitled to Param and that is Moksham! But for the Adwaitin, he finds release while still in this physical body. Once he knows that this world of Maya is unreal, He just knows! He may be seemingly going around doing his things like anybody else. But he will be constantly living in Aatma. Then the body drops off whenever it has to. The body’s being there or not being there will not be of any relevance to him whatsoever since, the individual has become one with the very existence!
310. We saw earlier that for a person who identifies rightly or wrongly that all problems of existence are due to the body being there, then at once is confronted with the question if all those problems will cease if the body goes? Then we came to the conclusion that it is not good enough if the body goes and that it is the accumulated effect of Karma that has to go! For that again, the wrong identification that, “I am this body”, has to go! The one who has enjoyed the Adwaita Anubhuti, while still living in the body, continues to enjoy the eternal, death–free state of being the Aatma! He would just not have a thought of being in a body. Thus, the one who seems to be just one amongst us, but is released from body consciousness and is in a state of Adwaita Mukti, is called the Jeevan Muktan.
311. Thus, the statement that one could reach the Brhma NirvaaNa, in both Iham and Param, while still living in this world of Iham, has the Bhgawan’s stamp of approval. In Veda itself in Purusha Sukta and Upanishad, there is mention of such people who attain to immortality in this mortal Iham! Without having to go to another world of Kailasam or Vaikundam or any other heaven, that we could enjoy the eternal bliss of Aananda of Moksha is possible only in Adwaita! Destruction of desire takes you there says Bhagawan! That is exactly what AruNagiri Nathar said in the 43rd stanza of Kandar Anubhuti, “aasaa nigaLam tugaLaayina pin pesaa anubhuti pirandaduve”, meaning that when the all desires were rendered unto dust, word-free Anubhuti was born!
312. Much before Buddha! “All problems are due to desire. If you win over your desires, you attain to NirvaaNa”, is claimed to be a finding by Buddha as though it is a discovery of unparalleled importance! It was only re–dis–covered by Buddha! There is no gain saying the fact that this is one of the basic tenets for any Saadhak to make any progress! We can quote not one but many scriptures to prove this point. Anyhow in what we have been discussing for quite some time now about Bhagawan Sri Krishna’s statement in Gita, that by getting over desire and anger, you can attain to ‘Brhma NirvaaNam’; they deleted the word indicative of totality, Brhma; and simply opted for only the bare ‘NirvaaNam’! The culture of India that has been the driving force for thousands of years before Buddha, of which he was only an off spring, is delightfully made into a path breaking pioneer by British historians with vested interest, to depict as though prior to Buddha, Indians were barbarian country brutes! We can only thank God for the fact, that many of the Indian Historians who feel pride in being copy cats and heirs of western historians, have not said that Bhagawat Gita chronologically comes after Buddha! In Upanishad’s much before Buddha and even Gita, this need to overcome desire has been emphasized!
313. There is a gradation for the level of happiness attainable to various types of lives. If we take that the maximum happiness of a human being to be One Unit for the sake of using it as a yard stick, ten times that is the capacity for happiness of Gandarvas. Ten times that is the happiness level of Pithrus. Next higher level is that of Devas, Indra, Bruhaspati, Prajapati and finally Brhma; each ten times higher or better than the previous. (What I am talking here refers to Ananda Valli in Taitreeya Upanishad, which I have also touched upon in Para 191 of Deivathin Kural 117 of (Vol#4) dated 17 Dec 2010, which may be referred.) As he moves from the level of Dwaitam to Adwaitam, we can take it that a Saadhak goes through all these levels of experiencing happiness! Here it is repeatedly emphasised that the aspiring Saadhak should be a Srothriya and Akaamahata. Srotriya means a person of high quality by birth, behaviour, education and attitude. Akaamahata means one who is not affected by the pulls of desires. Only such a person will proceed to the next level of happiness, to reach the pinnacle, instead of getting stuck at the lower levels.
314. In the Upanishads Aatma Gnaanis have been described as “veetaraaga’, which means that their desire has been erased permanently. In Maha Narayanopanishad in the portion known as Dahara Vidya (12.3.4.), it is said, “na karmana na prajaya dhanena na tyagena ekena amrutatvam aanasu:” , meaning that eternal immortality of Amaratvam cannot be obtained by any amount of actions or having a great lot of kith and kin and followers or wealth; but, many have attained to it simply by giving up! There are many other places in the Upanishads where it is held that destruction of desire is the only way to freedom and release. What the Rishis said in the Vedas and Upanishads is what is compiled and included in the Bhagawat Gita and Gita is about three thousand years predated to Buddha! The Mangala sloka of Gita says that Krishna the cowherd, milked the Upanishads the cows, for the calf Arjuna as a representative of all kind hearted people of the world! The main advice of Krishna in Gita for all of us is to control our desire!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.