DEIVATHIN KURAL # 134 (Vol #4) Dated 20 Jan 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 134 (Vol #4) Dated 20 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 741 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)
315. After Mind has been Annulled, What Happens? Yes desire is not easily controlled. Krishna says that this “kaamaroopam duraasadam”, meaning that the desire is the very form of uncontrollability! “But still You are a Maha Bhaahu”, He says, meaning that Arjuna is a mightily armed man, possibly tapping him on the shoulders to encourage him! If we consider the Maha Bharatha war of Pandavas and Kouravas, as allegorically representing the struggle between good and evil; the ‘Maha Bhaahu’ phrase is indicative of the Saadhaka’s perseverance. To carry on regardless of how many times one fails; to re-gather the mind and try again, you need indomitable energy and a ‘never say die’ attitude! Once the mind has been annulled, Aatma will be seen to be shining bright. After all, the worldly experiences are all through this mind only, is it not so? When the mind subsides, all these experiences will also vanish. No more problems, fears, worries, anxieties and aspirations, expectations and disappointments too! All these are reactions to what this ghost of desire instigated. With the subsidence of the mind, this ghost vanishes. Then there is only absolute peace! All the ties created by Manas, Buddhi, Ahankaara, Karma, relations and properties will all be cut asunder unto total freedom of thoughtlessness! That is the experience of Ananda of the state of Samaadhi!
316. If that is experience of Anandam, there has to be someone to feel or know that experience, is it not so? If he is apart from Anandam as another person, then Dwaitam comes in again. The moment that happens then fear and anxiety and the whole lot of connected feelings will also come in! Then it cannot be Anandam anymore. So, that man having lost his separate identity becomes the very embodiment of bliss! That man is Aatma the Self! Till now we have been thinking of ourselves to be the mind. We have been taking the mind’s thought processes and experiences as our own. To gain that, like someone who went for a bath and ended up covering oneself in mud, we have been earning a whole generation of sorrows! In this the biggest sorrow is that instead of learning about the truth we have been living a lie!
317. To think of the mind as ourselves, as the real self is a mistake, is it not? Is it not a lie? We do experience a stage of mindlessness every day in sleep. In sleep, while drunk with alcohol, under anaesthesia and in Samaadhi mind is defunct, but still we or me or I is, very much in existence. So thinking this mind to be our self was an error, is it not so? To know the Self, the Aatma, the real ourselves is Aatma Gnaanam. Once we realise this mind to be fictitious, we will know the real us. That is Self Realization! We learn many things – History, Geography, Atomic Science, Electronics and many other subjects. To know and learn is the purpose of this very birth it seems. Thus there are many Arts and Sciences to be studied and known. We use our brains to do search and research and create many goods and facilities for our ease and comfort. While we think of ourselves to be great and smart, one other factor becomes embarrassingly clear. That this mind, using which we did all the search and research, for whose satisfaction we did all that, by which we learnt many truths; that mind itself is unreal! This is a very unpalatable truth, is it not so? That all our searches and researches ended up in increasing so many objects of luxury for the satisfaction of this mind! Then to know that this mind is an unreal fictitious commodity is an embarrassing fact! More over this mind for whose satisfaction we work hard like a slave, is never satisfied! Is this not a very pathetic state of affairs? We should be ashamed of the fact that to sustain a Lie with a big capital ‘L’, we have been persevering all our lives! We have been fooled. It is high time that we woke up!
318. One gentleman approached me and asked me as to, “Why we should know this Aatma?” In the worldly perspective he was quite a lucky man. He had no problems and not too many demands on his time and resources. He said, “I do not know as to why you are suggesting that we should learn about Adwaitam and Aatma Shanti and such things. You are saying that only then will we be happy as otherwise we will be subject to all sorts of problems. I do not think that life is all that problematic as you are saying. When everything is just OK, why should I control my mouth and stomach and mind?” I replied him thus. “Let us say that you are taking care of somebody, by whom you are expecting much happiness and satisfaction. Later if you get to know that person whom you were thinking to be worthy of your attention is a bogus fraud, would not be disappointed? This mind of ours is like that.”
319. When we say that we are happy, we are talking about what we think and that is the job of the mind. Do we not have to know if this mind is really our self or not? We feel proud of our human achievements and our knowledge base. From the atom’s inner constitution to the outer galaxies of this universe, we are making a new discovery every day and feel mighty proud about it. Do we not owe it to ourselves to know as to who we are? Who is this making all these researches and discoveries? Without knowing our true reality, what is the use of our saying that we have come to know all truths through Science? If we have to know the truth of all truths and attain the knowledge about knowing; we have to come to learn about the science of the Self!
320. Even the majority who may not be able to seriously practice this Aatma Saastra of the Science of Self should grasp this idea that this mind is the villain who is hiding the true hero in us! Daily for at least some ten minutes or even five minutes, we should start practicing Dhyana (that is meditation)! At least for those five or ten minutes, we should learn to sit quietly in silence reminding ourselves not to run after the dictates of this mind! If you have had a life of comfort and are happy with your life so far, be thankful. For one thing, life is capable of changing fast. Any moment any of the following things such as death, disease, theft, madness, anger and fear, can take over! If you have no problems, well and good! Actually that is more the reason for launching ourselves in this quest of trying to know the answer to the question, “Who am I”?
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.