DEIVATHIN KURAL # 137 (Vol #4) Dated 26 Jan 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 137 (Vol #4) Dated 26 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 757 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)
335. Loyalty to one’s own Principled Stand on religious point of view is OK. But that loyalty should not mean looking down on other’s beliefs and Siddhantam. If you go to fight with other religions and their point of views, it will only be crass extremism. Every religion teaches you universal love. If anyone says differently, it is a misunderstanding and not the true teachings of that religion. They would be found to be paying only lip service to their own religion! There are more such people who claim to belong to a religion, but do not practice any of its teachings. Such is the condition of many hard core, non-practicing renegades who are spreading hate for people of other religions. This is the problem of the present day world. I am talking about how there were different stand point of view at the time of our AachaaryaaL Adi Sankara.
336. AachaaryaaL was only 32 years of age, when he had completed the purpose of his Avatara and was about to drop his mortal coil. At that time his many followers requested him to be kind enough to give in brief his manifold Upadesas. He gave in five slokas, clear instructions as to what one should do to progress. That is known as Sobaana Panchakam or Upadesa Panchakam. In it, in the very first sentence, he says “Chant the Vedas daily and observe all the Karmas mentioned in them without fail”! Then he says that we are not to do the Karma Anushtaana for any personal aggrandisement but for ‘pleasing God’ and be devoted to God with the clarity of strong belief, faith and conviction!
337. If we are the true followers of our AachaaryaaL, we should sincerely adhere to his advice that he gave at the end of his worldly journey, which also happens to be the gist of what he has repeatedly said in so many words in so many ways, in so many slokas! That is, we should do all our allotted duties as per the Jaati or caste to which we are born; then be devoted to God as per procedures taught to us by our Father and elders of the family and society; till we are clear in our own minds that our mind has been cleansed of all cobwebs of all past tendencies. Then and only then can we endeavour to put an end to Karma and Bhakti and get into Adwaita Vichaara.
338. From the beginning the aim of Adwaita may be kept in mind. Daily at least for a few minutes we should inhere and dwell on the following line of analysis. “This world is all unreal. All duality, individuality and variety are only imagined. Aatma is the only reality that is, action-free, absolute and peace. I am that ‘I am’”. If this above assumption is to become a conviction we have to go through the paths of Karma and Bhakti. As the Adwaita idea becomes an Anubhava, the Karma and Bhakti will drop off by themselves. But, they are not to be intentionally given up, thinking that we have become some sort of a Master of Adwaita! We have to go to Adwaita through Dwaita only. By bodily actions of Karma Anushtaana only, we have to search the way to Karma Naasa that is, abandonment of having to do work! By mental activity of devotion only, we have to attain the maturity for Mano Naasa that is, annulment of the mind!
339. Followers of other Siddhanta-s do not accept Adwaitam. But, we accept their procedures as the leading steps towards our destination. There is nothing surprising in this. A person in the ground floor may not be aware of their being a first floor. But, the man in the first floor very well knows the fact of existence of the ground floor! If you want to reach the peak of a hill, you have to go from the foot hills only. From here if someone goes to Chidambaram and gets down, he may not know about Madras. Anyhow do not take my examples literally, which I just happened to give. Adwaitam is an inclusive concept which accepts other’s point of views most of the way. The difference is only in the end destination. But, the moment we start giving attention to the differences, it will take us away, far away from the Adwaitam of Oneness!
340. So what we have to do is Karma and Bhakti only. Along with them right from the beginning there has to be a thread of continuity of Adwaitam, not to be forgotten ever. For that eventual aim of Adwaita Anubhava, the preparatory steps are Karma and Bhakti. Neither is Karma for the sake of Karma nor is Bhakti an end in itself! End point is Adwaitam and means are the Karma and Bhakti. The changeless state is Adwaitam, rest are all changes from the state of Truth. However much the achievements of Karma and whatever the blissfulness of Bhakti, there has to be (an ‘I’ or ‘Me’ or ‘We’ as) a separate entity, to enjoy those achievements or blissfulness! The oneness of Truth has no place for separateness.
341. Thus to be the True being is the real happiness. Whatever the pleasures of duality of praise, property, possessions, position, name and fame; the real happiness is in dropping our separate false identity only. That was the reply given to that man of comfort (Sukha Jeevi), who asked as to why we should bother about Adwaita Anubhava at all! Analyse all the things that you consider as comfort, pleasure and ease; and you will find that they are all meant for the Mind and Body! They are all transient and fleeting that could turn topsy-turvy any moment. This mind is all the time attached to the ‘me as the body and mine’ concepts. Things can change in a fraction of a second and they do. To-morrow itself, if hands or legs are broken; or a scorpion bites; or all our stashed up money is taken away by dacoity or forgery; or our most cherished relative is taken away by Yama the God of Death; we are likely to collapse with our fore heads resting on our palms! Our own deluded thinking can cause us much embarrassment and shame! If nothing else, under a shock or trauma, the mind itself can go mad!
342. So let us be clear that as the be-all and end-all; sometimes somehow, we have to earn the maturity and dropping all the perceived pleasures of duality, fix our minds, not simply directed at but be the Aatma! Then and then only will we know our real Self. With that the wrong identification with the body wanes and bodily problems do not affect us anymore. Loss or gain does not affect us anymore so also the delusion of some as our own and others as aliens or enemies. We then are beyond the reach of the pain and pleasures of death of kith and kin and award of Bharath Ratna or Nobel Prize! Desire, anger, fear, sorrow and such feelings that arise about the others will vanish with pure unpolluted Aananda as our real Swaroopa!
343. Adwaitam means that there is nothing other than our real Swaroopa of Aatma, as another or different. Was there a world different from us in sleep or in swoon? Were there relatives, enemies or properties in sleep or swoon? When you have them then only, desire to have them, desire for more that is greed, fear of loss, anger, jealousy and so on are created. How do we relate fear to desire? We are afraid of ghosts, bad weather, thugs and ruffians, police and higher ups. Well OK, but how is this connected with desire? We love our body, mind and intellect. Anything that can cause harm to them instigates fear. We love our body and so are afraid of possible discomfort and harm by natural calamities. We are afraid of ghosts and spirits as that may affect our minds which we desire so much! We desire our possessions and properties and so are afraid of being duped. We have much desire for an imaginary property known as prestige. Any situation that can cause harm to that, like suspension from the position held in the office makes us afraid. Thus, as I said earlier, desire is the cause of greed, infatuation, delusion, pride, envy and jealousy. Now we see that it is also the cause of fear and sorrow! There is fear in apprehension and sadness when we do not get what we desire for or if we lose it after getting it!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.