DEIVATHIN KURAL #153 (Vol #4) Dated 27 Feb 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL #153 (Vol #4) Dated 27 Feb 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 last para on page number 850 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)
480. How can we explain away this apparent variation in Adi Sankara AachaaryaaL’s explanations about the applicability of ‘praarabdam’ to a Gnaani in his Bhashyam for Bhagawat Gita, as compared with what he says on the same issue in Viveka ChudamaNi? In my opinion the explanation is like this. Bhagawat Gita is a subject of study and analysis for the followers of all these Siddhantas. In its Bhashyam the interpretation has to be something easily acceptable to the common man. When it comes to Viveka ChudamaNi, it is meant for study by people with special interest in Viveka (discrimination with prudence) and Gnaana Vichaara. So, he was more up to the point and closer to the truth there in saying that, for Gnaani there is no effect of Karma left in balance, including ‘praarabda’! May be he felt that the readers of Viveka ChudaamaNi would be mature enough to understand how they could remain in the body even after attaining to Gnaana, without the continued effect of ‘praarabda’ anymore.
481. But, now I seem to have committed a mistake in telling you all about this apparent anomaly in what Adi Sankara has said in two different contexts on the same issue! If I tell you to become a Gnaani by yourself and find out, that will be further compounding a fault, as I am reiterating that the way to Gnaana is through the path of Karma and Bhakti, sufficiently long and sincere enough! OK, to you I will give some hopefully more acceptable explanation as to how, (for Gnaani too after he attains to Adwaita Siddhi,) does he continue to remain alive in this world, seemingly?
482. After attaining to Gnaana, one could live in unvarying Aatma Aananda, without being affected by the dualities of opposites such as, good and bad; sorrow and happiness; gain and loss; as given in the Saastraas, is it not so? If we have to know if this statement is true, God should retain such Gnaanis to live amongst the common mass of people as examples to prove the point. Whether we get unbounded adulation and name and fame or become the butt of the crudest ridicule and innuendo; whether we have the best of health or have debilitating incurable diseases; whatever the ups and downs of this existence; if the point to be proved is that the Gnaani takes it all with utter equanimity; he has to live amongst us and demonstrate the point by his very being!
483. If the idea is that ‘Adwaita Moksham’ is obtainable here and now and that for it there is no difference between this worldly life and some life in a Heaven about which none of us know anyhow; in front of our eyes a Gnaani has to be a living example. Otherwise attaining Gnaana will be equated with dropping the mortal coil! That would mean that as long as you live in this world, you cannot hope to attain Gnaana! So, as far as life in this world is concerned you have to be stupid enough and getting the esoteric Gnaana means it is another worldly activity and not practical in this world of ours! There is one more way of looking at it. All the events in this life point out the right direction for us to follow, if we are ready to intelligently look for the clues. There are lessons to be learnt in every nook and corner, in every incident or event! So, for the benefit of humanity at large, there have to be excellent epitomes of sterling characters as living examples. In God’s scheme of things, the Gnaanis have a role to play as living models to be emulated for the general mass of people.
484. This the Gnaani does without intending to do so. Sloka No 37 of Viveka ChudaamaNi by our AachaaryaaL Adi Sankara is a beautiful one of inalienable logic on the subject under discussion. Let us look at it. “saantaa mahaanto nivasanti santo vasantavallokahitam charanta: I teerNaa: swayam bhima bhavaarNavam janaanahetunaanyaanapi taarayanta: II”. That means - “There are peaceful and magnanimous saints who live like the spring season, for the good of humanity. They have crossed the dreadful ocean of finitude through their own efforts and with no ulterior motives they also help others to do so.” A man of full realization instinctively becomes a lover of the whole universe. Like the spring season, his is a love which with no demands causes the whole country side to blossom out in a variety of colours. He who has discovered that the Self within himself is none other than the all pervading non-dual consciousness, instantaneously also discovers it to be the core truth of all pluralistic forms around him!
485. Living as he does in this intimate understanding of Oneness, he cannot but love others as his very own Self. In his case, universal love is not an art to be practiced, not a formality to be followed, nor a goal to be reached; it is his very life breath. This can be brought within the understanding of laity through a comparison. If your own finger happens to touch your eye accidentally, it may cause you acute pain. You may even get annoyed with the finger and jerk it with disgust. But almost immediately you realise the culprit is your own finger of your own hand and you cool down to a spirit of mercy and tolerance and paternally ignore both the offender and the offended! On understanding the essence of truth in ourselves, we gain a freedom from the sense of finitude which was ours so long as we identified ourselves with the body, mind and intellect.
486. Since these disturbances can no longer affect a man of Perfection, it is one of the surest symptoms of Aatma Gnaana and saintliness, if we can observe an individual who is, under all provocative circumstances, infinitely at peace with himself and with the world. Wherever he be, whether in a jail amongst criminals or temple amongst other devotees, irresistibly, instinctively, he will spread around him an aura of knowledge, light, cheer, joy and peace. It is his very nature. Sankara gives us an inimitable example when he compares the Mahatmas and the touch of joy they lend to the world with the spring season. When the spring comes it does not court every tree or plant to bring forth its flowers, nor does it reach the world and canvass the moon to be brighter, the sky to be clearer and cleaner, the grass to be thicker and every heart to be more joyous. The presence of spring and the concomitant conditions are complementary. The one cannot be without the other.
487. Similarly it is for the Mahatma / Gnaani to spread knowledge and cheer around him and whenever true seekers reach him, they are irresistibly drawn into his orbit to bask in the warmth of his personality. The poetic suggestion is that he, travelling in his own experience, is one who, unasked helps others to cross the shores of delusion and sorrow. Therefore, to surrender to such a one, requesting him to save us from our misunderstandings is to assure ourselves a true liberation --- almost a luxury liner to Truth!
488. There has been an abundance of such Gnaanis who have walked on the earth, especially in the Indian sub-continent. As he has no self intention or a mind of his own which would be scheming and planning, on his own he does not do or leave anything as Dharmam or Adharmam. God Himself uses the Gnaani as an instrument for the salubrious benefit of the humanity at large, as an ideal to be looked up to and emulated. So, there is no chance whatsoever that some action of Adharma or sin is got done through this Gnaani. As a principle, for a Gnaani, we say that there is no ‘Paapa or PuNya’, as nothing sticks to him. But bit does not mean a license to do sinful activities. So the accusation that Adwaita Siddhaantam will give an indirect freedom for people to go astray is blasphemy to say the least! This can only be a misunderstanding, may be with a vested interest!
489. There could be some peculiar situations of dilemma that for a major cause a lie may be made use of. But such situations are very rare when for the sake of the welfare of a majority of people individual interest may have to be compromised. May be in that situation it was the individual’s ‘praarabda’ which was instantly more effective, like the killing of Vaali in Ramayana or Drona’s downfall in Maha Bharatha. Anyhow Adwaitam as a principle cannot be blamed for such quirks of fate. Let me confirm here that nowhere do the Adwaita Saastraas ever recommend sacrificing the principles of Dharma! Yes, Bhagwan Sri Krishna says in the 18th Chapter of Bhagawat Gita, “sarva dharmaan parityajya maam ekam saraNam vraja”, where He is asking Arjuna to give up all Dharmas! (We will continue this discussion from this point in the next e-mail.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL #153 (Vol #4) Dated 27 Feb 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL #153 (Vol #4) Dated 27 Feb 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 last para on page number 850 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)
480. How can we explain away this apparent variation in Adi Sankara AachaaryaaL’s explanations about the applicability of ‘praarabdam’ to a Gnaani in his Bhashyam for Bhagawat Gita, as compared with what he says on the same issue in Viveka ChudamaNi? In my opinion the explanation is like this. Bhagawat Gita is a subject of study and analysis for the followers of all these Siddhantas. In its Bhashyam the interpretation has to be something easily acceptable to the common man. When it comes to Viveka ChudamaNi, it is meant for study by people with special interest in Viveka (discrimination with prudence) and Gnaana Vichaara. So, he was more up to the point and closer to the truth there in saying that, for Gnaani there is no effect of Karma left in balance, including ‘praarabda’! May be he felt that the readers of Viveka ChudaamaNi would be mature enough to understand how they could remain in the body even after attaining to Gnaana, without the continued effect of ‘praarabda’ anymore.
481. But, now I seem to have committed a mistake in telling you all about this apparent anomaly in what Adi Sankara has said in two different contexts on the same issue! If I tell you to become a Gnaani by yourself and find out, that will be further compounding a fault, as I am reiterating that the way to Gnaana is through the path of Karma and Bhakti, sufficiently long and sincere enough! OK, to you I will give some hopefully more acceptable explanation as to how, (for Gnaani too after he attains to Adwaita Siddhi,) does he continue to remain alive in this world, seemingly?
482. After attaining to Gnaana, one could live in unvarying Aatma Aananda, without being affected by the dualities of opposites such as, good and bad; sorrow and happiness; gain and loss; as given in the Saastraas, is it not so? If we have to know if this statement is true, God should retain such Gnaanis to live amongst the common mass of people as examples to prove the point. Whether we get unbounded adulation and name and fame or become the butt of the crudest ridicule and innuendo; whether we have the best of health or have debilitating incurable diseases; whatever the ups and downs of this existence; if the point to be proved is that the Gnaani takes it all with utter equanimity; he has to live amongst us and demonstrate the point by his very being!
483. If the idea is that ‘Adwaita Moksham’ is obtainable here and now and that for it there is no difference between this worldly life and some life in a Heaven about which none of us know anyhow; in front of our eyes a Gnaani has to be a living example. Otherwise attaining Gnaana will be equated with dropping the mortal coil! That would mean that as long as you live in this world, you cannot hope to attain Gnaana! So, as far as life in this world is concerned you have to be stupid enough and getting the esoteric Gnaana means it is another worldly activity and not practical in this world of ours! There is one more way of looking at it. All the events in this life point out the right direction for us to follow, if we are ready to intelligently look for the clues. There are lessons to be learnt in every nook and corner, in every incident or event! So, for the benefit of humanity at large, there have to be excellent epitomes of sterling characters as living examples. In God’s scheme of things, the Gnaanis have a role to play as living models to be emulated for the general mass of people.
484. This the Gnaani does without intending to do so. Sloka No 37 of Viveka ChudaamaNi by our AachaaryaaL Adi Sankara is a beautiful one of inalienable logic on the subject under discussion. Let us look at it. “saantaa mahaanto nivasanti santo vasantavallokahitam charanta: I teerNaa: swayam bhima bhavaarNavam janaanahetunaanyaanapi taarayanta: II”. That means - “There are peaceful and magnanimous saints who live like the spring season, for the good of humanity. They have crossed the dreadful ocean of finitude through their own efforts and with no ulterior motives they also help others to do so.” A man of full realization instinctively becomes a lover of the whole universe. Like the spring season, his is a love which with no demands causes the whole country side to blossom out in a variety of colours. He who has discovered that the Self within himself is none other than the all pervading non-dual consciousness, instantaneously also discovers it to be the core truth of all pluralistic forms around him!
485. Living as he does in this intimate understanding of Oneness, he cannot but love others as his very own Self. In his case, universal love is not an art to be practiced, not a formality to be followed, nor a goal to be reached; it is his very life breath. This can be brought within the understanding of laity through a comparison. If your own finger happens to touch your eye accidentally, it may cause you acute pain. You may even get annoyed with the finger and jerk it with disgust. But almost immediately you realise the culprit is your own finger of your own hand and you cool down to a spirit of mercy and tolerance and paternally ignore both the offender and the offended! On understanding the essence of truth in ourselves, we gain a freedom from the sense of finitude which was ours so long as we identified ourselves with the body, mind and intellect.
486. Since these disturbances can no longer affect a man of Perfection, it is one of the surest symptoms of Aatma Gnaana and saintliness, if we can observe an individual who is, under all provocative circumstances, infinitely at peace with himself and with the world. Wherever he be, whether in a jail amongst criminals or temple amongst other devotees, irresistibly, instinctively, he will spread around him an aura of knowledge, light, cheer, joy and peace. It is his very nature. Sankara gives us an inimitable example when he compares the Mahatmas and the touch of joy they lend to the world with the spring season. When the spring comes it does not court every tree or plant to bring forth its flowers, nor does it reach the world and canvass the moon to be brighter, the sky to be clearer and cleaner, the grass to be thicker and every heart to be more joyous. The presence of spring and the concomitant conditions are complementary. The one cannot be without the other.
487. Similarly it is for the Mahatma / Gnaani to spread knowledge and cheer around him and whenever true seekers reach him, they are irresistibly drawn into his orbit to bask in the warmth of his personality. The poetic suggestion is that he, travelling in his own experience, is one who, unasked helps others to cross the shores of delusion and sorrow. Therefore, to surrender to such a one, requesting him to save us from our misunderstandings is to assure ourselves a true liberation --- almost a luxury liner to Truth!
488. There has been an abundance of such Gnaanis who have walked on the earth, especially in the Indian sub-continent. As he has no self intention or a mind of his own which would be scheming and planning, on his own he does not do or leave anything as Dharmam or Adharmam. God Himself uses the Gnaani as an instrument for the salubrious benefit of the humanity at large, as an ideal to be looked up to and emulated. So, there is no chance whatsoever that some action of Adharma or sin is got done through this Gnaani. As a principle, for a Gnaani, we say that there is no ‘Paapa or PuNya’, as nothing sticks to him. But bit does not mean a license to do sinful activities. So the accusation that Adwaita Siddhaantam will give an indirect freedom for people to go astray is blasphemy to say the least! This can only be a misunderstanding, may be with a vested interest!
489. There could be some peculiar situations of dilemma that for a major cause a lie may be made use of. But such situations are very rare when for the sake of the welfare of a majority of people individual interest may have to be compromised. May be in that situation it was the individual’s ‘praarabda’ which was instantly more effective, like the killing of Vaali in Ramayana or Drona’s downfall in Maha Bharatha. Anyhow Adwaitam as a principle cannot be blamed for such quirks of fate. Let me confirm here that nowhere do the Adwaita Saastraas ever recommend sacrificing the principles of Dharma! Yes, Bhagwan Sri Krishna says in the 18th Chapter of Bhagawat Gita, “sarva dharmaan parityajya maam ekam saraNam vraja”, where He is asking Arjuna to give up all Dharmas! (We will continue this discussion from this point in the next e-mail.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL #152 (Vol #4) Dated 25 Feb 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL #152 (Vol #4) Dated 25 Feb 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 last para on page number 845 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)
472. Only people who are ignorant of the facts will say that, “The claim that everything is Maya can make you think that even Dharmam is a relative term of Dwaitam and so can be a lie! So, this is likely to cause us to think that we have the liberty to act in whatever fashion, whenever we wish to.” Our AachaaryaaL has never sanctioned or approved of conducting a ‘demonstration’ of the concept of Maya to the common man. Not only our AacharyaaL, any of the great Adwaitins have never said anything as though to convey the impression that people could act based on their whims and fancies, just because of Maya. Neither did they say so nor did they encourage such propaganda!
473. When the effect of Maya lifts from our minds, all differentiation between good and bad, comparison and contrast, between any and every extremes of the ends of the spectrum just drops. It all becomes one! Till that experience becomes sustained sans confusion; one has to act as though the differentiations are all real. Those great Adwaitins only recommended and advised, “Do what is Dharma. Avoid Adharma like the plague. Observe meticulously and sincerely all the Karma Anushtaanaas as required by the Saastraas. Those experts who are well trained in Hata Yoga, having made their bodies as hard as granite, may be able to munch glass pieces and iron nails; or drink acid and digest them! But you cannot tell a normal untrained man to do all that! When the mind has been elevated from its normal stage of bodily – identity to stand firmly rooted in Aatma Consciousness then all Adharma and Sins will become digestible; not till then! (Please do not take this as a license for doing unlawful and illegal activities contrary to not only the Law of the Land but also the tenets of the Dharma Saastraas! What happens is a change in perception and understanding.) Till then we are patients who badly need the medicine of Dharma and not try to copy the expert Hata Yogi and eat iron nails!
474. Gnaani and Effect of Karma. Gnaani is one who has gone beyond the limitations of Dharma and Adharma, Paapa and PuNya, good and bad. He has transgressed the confines of all restrictions of the relative world, as having seen through the illusion of what is Maya. At the level lower than being simply the Aatma; that is in the Dwaitam of these dualities are the opposites of positive and negative; good and bad; happiness and sadness; darkness and light; as well as sinful deeds and noble deeds; Dharmam and Adharmam and such duads and triads of the world of Maya. None of the variations of Maya affect the Aatma. Similarly, the Gnaani who has come to comprehend the Aatma on the one hand and understand his own not being a separate entity other than the Aatma on the other, is unaffected by the Maya.
475. This does not mean however that he could intentionally do any sinful activity of Adharma against any other living beings or that it is a license to do so either! He has no Buddhi or decided intention to do anything. In other words Gnaani is ‘sankalpa rahita:’ or ‘sarva sankalpa parityaagi’, that is devoid of any intentions or one who has given up all such decision to do anything. “Buddhe: paratastu sa:”, as Sri Krishna says in Bhagawat Gita, that such a person is fully established in Aatma which is beyond the reach of the mind. Such a person is not for or against anything. His status is well defined by the world, ‘nivikalpa’.
476. Amongst the Karma effect still held in account against his name the portion that is known as ‘praarabda’ is pending, to go through which, he has this present body. What was accumulated as negative and positive ‘sanchitam’, have all been burnt off by the fire of Gnaana. He has also ensured that there is no ‘aagaami’ balances yet to be gone through, which could cause yet another life in this world. The balance of Karma effect known as ‘praarabda’ is what cannot be burnt off. It is like the arrow that has been shot from the bow that cannot be stopped. The arrows still held in the back – pack may be removed and thrown away. We may not place an order for fresh stocks or refuse to accept what has already been ordered. This is how the ‘sanchita’ and ‘aagaami’ part of the ‘Karma Vinai’ may be got rid of. Even when I am saying all this, it does not mean that the Gnaani wilfully does these things. He just progresses in his quest of Aatma Anubhava of Self Realization and these things happen. But what he cannot undo is the ‘praarabda’, which literally means ‘pre-obtained’!
477. Even when the ‘praarabda’ of pre-destined things happen to him seemingly as observed in our eyes, he would not be affected by them at all. For example due to the past Karmas, he may get some very serious illness or disease. Or people may spread rumour or canards about him. But he would hardly ever pay any attention to the disease or the rumour or be affected by them whatsoever! Instead, if he is well looked after like an Emperor or gets much name and fame or adulation, reception and fussed with; he or she would not be at all influenced by any of these things. That is to say that, the Gnaani does not do anything deliberately. ‘Under the influence of the ‘praarabda’ let life take its own course’, would be his attitude. About Gnaani’s ‘praarabdam’ there is a slightly different opinion too.
478. This different opinion is what as Sri Krishna says in Bhagawat Gita Ch.IV – Sloka 37 that, “gnaanagni: sarva karmaaNi bhasmasaat kurute”, meaning, ‘the fire of Gnaana burns off all Karma effects into ashes’, in which even the ‘praarabdam’ is included. Since after all when the dawn of Gnaana happens all darkness can be no more! The mind and Karma are all destroyed. It is all part of Maya and that is no more with the advent of Gnaana. So, there is no logic in saying that amongst the karma accounts of ‘praarabdam, aagaami and sanchitam’ one remains and the other two are destroyed! You can further question that, “since it is very well possible to retract even the arrow that has left on its trajectory towards the target, by the power of Mantras, why should we talk as though there are gradations even in the final act of Self Realization?”
479. AachaaryaaL in his Bhashyam for the Bhagawat Gita has said that other than ‘praarabdam’ others are destroyed. But he has also said in ‘VivekachudamaNi’ in Slokas 445 to 463, which explains the situation in a slightly different light. As long as some trace of body consciousness is still persisting, the ‘praarabdam’ will continue to be sticking on and the moment ‘deha – aatma – buddhi’ is no more, ‘praarabdam’ is also no more. For such a Gnaani, body, life, birth, karma and all connected things become a dream! He has woken up from the dream. It is the witnesses in his life who see him as a body, may be the ones who notice that he is seemingly undergoing the effects of the Karma. Then Aacaaryaal goes on to say that, “For people who may ask as to how a Gnaani can exist in this dual world of Maya, as though to placate their views somewhat, we tend to say that some trace of ‘praarabdam’ keeps having its effect!”
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL #151 (Vol #4) Dated 23 Feb 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL #151 (Vol #4) Dated 23 Feb 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 last para on page number 841 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)
463. D h a r m a M e d i c i n e. Dharma medicine is not like the news paper advertisements, which talk about medicine that is almost free of cost or 20% extra or something like that. What we have to do is to get rid of the Karma Vyaadi. How will the Vyaadi be got rid of? If you go to a doctor, get diagnosed, pay for the medicine and get treated. Then the disease will go. Who is the doctor who will correctly diagnose the Karma Vyaadi? He is Manu, who has given us the first Dharma Saastraas. From this you can guess as to what the medicine is going to be. The Saastraas which guide us on what we have to do are the medicines. Whatever Manu has said is the ‘beshajam’ (medicine) says the Taitreeya Samhita. Those who know Rudram and Vishnu Sahasranaama would have heard the word ‘beshajam’ at least, even if they do not understand the meaning.
464. When you are given the medicines, it is invariably accompanied with restrictions on diet known as ‘Patyam’. In it some items will be forbidden and some permitted in limited quantities only. Somehow one day or the other this body is going to be dropped anyhow. Till it is there, it should be kept in good condition as otherwise it will take away all your attention from any spiritual progress! When we are ready to take the medicine whether it is bitter or strong, we have to give greater attention to the dietary restrictions as per the ‘Patyam’. Similarly with further greater discipline, we should be observing the Do’s and Don’ts as required by the Saastraas. Though we do these things initially under compulsions, as time goes on, these Dharma Karma Anushtaanaas become appealing to our minds like the Unani and Homeopathy medicines!
465. Adharmam we know anyhow causes us to go astray. But if someone says that, “similarly Dharmam also waylays us due to Maya,” it is sheer nonsense. It is a statement made without the least amount of understanding as to what Adwaitam is all about! Similar is the criticism that, “because these Adwaitins are advocating that there is no difference between Jeevaatma and Paramaatma, people are giving up devotional activities, thereby causing harm to the whole society”, is another mischievous allegation!
466. There are some Adwaita Saastraas written purely for such people who have fully matured and risen above the need for cleansing their minds, in which there may not be any mention of Dwaitam, Karma and Bhakti etc. They are not meant for the common folks. But even such people far advanced in Adwaitic Gnaana were clear that the starting point has to be with morally righteous actions (of Dharmic Karma) and devotional practises (of Upaasana). That is how they have believed and advised others. In Adi Sankara AachaaryaaL’s Bhashyas he has repeatedly emphasised that pure Gnaana Marga is meant only for a few really advanced beings (uttama adhikaaris) on the path. Lower down the order for those who are just starting on the path, that is for the not yet matured people and those who have advanced somewhat, (of madhyama and adhama adhikaaris,) Karma Anushtaana and Easwara Upaasana are essential musts, as reiterated by our AachaaryaaL in many of his writings.
467. Great Adwaitic scholars such as Madusudana Saraswathi and Appayya Deekshidar have authored many books dripping with devotional sentiments. People like Govinda Deekshidar though being a far advanced Adwaitin have conducted many Yagnas and undertaken many socially responsible service activities! The aim and purpose of all their such activities was to be role models for others to emulate and follow what they showed by example of direct action. It is true that there are also people who are ready to criticise Adwaitam at the drop of a hat, so to say. But there have been such Adwaitins who see the relevance of Karma (daily and periodic Anushtaanaas and conduct of Yagnas) and Upaasana (poojas at home, temples and public places and conduct of festivals) and so have written with much sympathy elaborating on those points of principles (Dwaita and other Siddhaantaas).
468. Sankhyam, Poorva Meemaamsai, Nyaaya (Tarka) Saastram etc are all different from Adwaitam. Even Yoga Saastra is not in concert with Adwaitam. But one of the luminaries of Adwaita Siddhantam, by name Vachaspathi Mishra has written authoritative books on all these branches of philosophy. VidyaranyaaL was one of the Adwaita AacharyaaL as a Sankaracharya in Sringeri. He has written the very famous Adwaita book of authority known as, ‘Panchadasi’. He has also authored a book known as ‘Sarva Darsana Sangraha’, in which he has covered all points of view of every shade covering all traditions and Siddhaanta like an Encyclopaedia. In it he has discussed in detail the principles behind even the Nastik ‘Lokayatam’ which is pure atheism!
469. More than all this, I should be making a mention of another special point which is rather peculiar! Today if you want to know clearly about Madhva’s Dwaita Siddhaantam, Ramanujacharya’s Visishtadwaitam and Sri Kantachaaryar’s Saiva Siddhaantam; in Sanskrit, the most authoritative reference book is what Appayya Deekshidar (a real deep rooted Adwaitin) has written, as a Bhashyam to Brhma Sutra, following these three lines of Siddhaantams! The Adwaitins who have so generously accommodated differing viewpoints of other Siddhaantams, have never failed in their strict observance of Karma Anushtaanaas and Pooja paddatis. Instead they have been epitomes of model behaviour and conduct for others to emulate!
470. Simply consider the number of devotional slokas written by our AachaaryaaL! He has had time to walk to every important temple in the whole of India from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, where he has refurbished and repaired the premises, installed Yantras, re-established the pooja procedures, and sung songs in utter devotion for that particular deity! In the Matams established in his name, Veda learning and teaching is being nurtured; for all sets of people their interest in the observation of religious practices and festivals has all been rekindled and revived. To follow the righteous way of living has been emphasised as per Dharma and Saastraas! Especially we from these Matams have been encouraging conduct of Kumbha Abhishekam in each temple, which is supposed to be done at least once every 12 years with concurrent repair and rejuvenation of the buildings, environs and the organizational infra structure. Adwaitam is about the end stage of our understanding and awareness. If we take proper care of the Hindu religion from the grass roots level or from the foundation level; then we can later think about the end point of views! That Adi Sankara did for the whole of the Hindu Religion, fully recognising the relevance of other’s point of view, at various stages of the individual’s development.
471. So as not to lose track of the end aim though I am now lecturing about Adwaitam. But if any one of you come to me singly; that is if you come and get stuck with me by chance, I will only be telling you, “Do Sandya Vandanam; do Oupaasanam; visit temples regularly; in Ambal’s Sannidy light ghee lamps; clean up the temple premises; if you find thorns in the praharam remove them, dig wells and ponds for public usage; save at least one handful of rice daily so that you will be able to contribute a substantial quantity at the end of the month to help out some poor family; contribute what you can in kind or cash for social welfare” and such things with which I will pester you! By all such worldly activities only we will be able to grow mentally and spiritually to come to some understanding of different Siddhaantams of Adwaitam, Dwaitam, Visishtadwaitam and Saiva Siddhaantam!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL #150 (Vol #4) Dated 21 Feb 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL #150 (Vol #4) Dated 21 Feb 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 last para on page number 836 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)
453. These are of the ‘touch and go’ variety of ‘poorva janma vaasanaa’. It means that they must have actively pursued Bhakti and Upaasana for long enough in their previous birth, to get the clarity and focus of mind already. So in this life for a certain period they would have gone through a concentrated dose of whatever they had to experience at the end of which all those lingering ‘vaasanaas’ would just pack and go without even saying ‘good bye’! Slokas No. 43 to 46 in Chapter No 6 of the Bhagawat Gita are worth relating to at this juncture!
454. In the case of some devotees, though they might have attained to very advanced stages of maturity, might die short of total realization with some residual experiences that they have left to undergo in balance. Bhagawan Sri Krishna calls them as ‘Yoga Brashatas’ in the 6th Chapter of the Gita. They will continue in the present life from where they left off in the previous life. We can see many such examples of people with memory of their past life or very young children already endowed with far advanced and intricate knowledge of music or such fine arts! So also there are people who are far advanced in the esoteric knowledge and awareness of spirituality! So having undergone some worldly experiences that were in store for them, they suddenly bloom with Aatma Gnaana!
455. Our Way. For people like us mostly, Nishkaamya Karma (that is, doing one’s duties with total dispassion) and Bhakti (that is, devotion to God,) are the only methods of earning us the right to progress towards the path of Gnaana! Thus while doing ‘sat karma’ (that is the right actions) and devotional services of ‘Upaasana’; instead of doing them for the satisfaction that one gets; we should be doing them for universal welfare and above all that, as preparatory steps for our own maturity to proceed to the one truth of Adwaita Anubhava! This aim should remain before our mind’s eyes!
456. We should first review the fact that our minds have become sufficiently shameless, having lost all direction and discipline. It is that thick skinned attitude which has to be made sensitive by all the Karma Actions and services to the society. Then after gradually cutting down our involvements in the world affairs; we may tend towards the Gnaana Marga approaching the Aatma. That is before anything else, we have to proceed far in the Path of Dharma of righteous living and towards the end of such journey try meditation as the last resort. That is the reason why the Saastraas have detailed different duties of Karma for various group of people of different age (of balyam, koumaaram, youvanam, and vruddam); ashrama (of Brhmacharyam, Gruhastam, Vanaprastam and Sanyasam); and varNa (of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vysya and Sudra). This authoritative division of duty is their appointed ‘swakarma’ which is also their ‘swadharma’ (their righteous duty that they are required to perform)!
457. Only when you are rid of your disease can you partake of a feast and enjoy it. The ‘Atmananda’ Bhojanam (that is, the feast of Aatma), can only be enjoyed when we have got rid of the Karma Vyaadi and Mano Vyaadi. When I say ‘Mano Vyaadi’, I do not mean the inevitable confusions of the mind such as doubts, delusions and illusions; I am saying that the very mind is a disease which is causing us to not be able to recognise our very inner being of the Aatma! Along with the highest subtleties of this mind with noble activities as our humble offerings to God, will be a therapy in treating this diseased mind and curing it. So, in the initial stages as the body awareness is high, more importance is for actions, that is Karma. As the body awareness dwindles there is more emphasis for Bhakti and finally Aatma Vichara holds the centre stage.
458. Connection to the Other Paths: None of them to be Decried. At some point in time some process will have greater importance. In the initial stages Karma is more important, but other paths should remain subsidiary. More accommodation for devotion with some attention given to reading the scriptures, some deliberations on the Aatma and the principle of Adwaita should be persevered with. In course of time devotion will assume emphasis when you do not have to go out of your way for elaborate procedures and rituals, with Karma slowly receding in the background. When we were more active in organising and conducting elaborate procedures and festivals, we had to find time for some devotional activities too. Leaving the body consciousness, as awareness of the mind and the need to conquer it becomes our main aim we just stick to some of the essential unavoidable actions such as daily Sandya Vandanam! Even now we should not be going about making a big show of the fact that we have progressed so much that we claim with pride, “You see! I have now got over the need to do any of the normal Karmas!” Better watch out, as you are already going down – hill fast on an ego trip! The point is that we should not do or say anything which will confuse the minds of fellow travellers! Even after all these things have dropped off, like in the case of a Brhma Gnaani, he or she should not be doing such things as to put a doubt in the minds of those who are still struggling along the path, as given in Sloka No 26, Chapter No 3 of Bhagawat Gita.
459. Once you have gone in into Gnaana, there is no need to keep persevering with Karma and Bhakti anymore! But discontinuation of activities has to just happen. That is, we cannot be intending to stop our devotional activities one day just because we think that we have grown beyond the need for such things! We should not be acting as though they are not required anymore for anybody, even when we are progressing on the path of Gnaana! Bhagawan Sri Krishna’s advice on this issue is on the following lines. “If you are going to stop these activities, you may do so! But you should not cause doubts in others who are not yet mature enough to leave their Sadhana and will end up suffering due to their being neither here nor there! Just because you are able to participate in the running race does not mean that there is no need for the pram for babies or wheel chair for the people who’s both legs are paralysed!
460. As we progress in the Path of Gnaana Sadhana the individual’s likes and dislikes slowly drop off as he becomes aware of being guided on the path by the power of Easwara. Many of the rituals of Karma and devotional procedures may be given up without being aware of giving up anything. He may even adopt Sanyaasa, but not with an intension to do so! By then he would have gone beyond to the stage of ‘sarvaarambha parityaagi and sarva sankalpa rahita:’, as those who have given up all new ventures and stopped taking decisions to do anything! They may also continue to be heading a corporate business venture or be running an empire like Janaka did. There is no end point of clear definition as to where Karma or Bhakti or Gnaana finishes. There have been some great Adwaitins who continued to be great devotees too!
461. A Natural Fruition of Efforts. “When do we have to shift the importance from action (Karma) to devotion (Bhakti)? From devotion when should we move over to Gnaana Vichaara? How long should we continue with Pooja with the ringing of bells? When should we do Dhyana? When should we give up Dhyana?” These are all totally unnecessary questions which do not deserve to be answered! All that is required is for you to decide to turn the corner! It is for you to decide to progress on the path of Karma, Nish Kaamya Karma that too! Slowly you will be starting off on some devotional activities. Then inevitably you will also start thinking of trying to find answers to the perennial questions of, “what are we doing and where we going and finally who am I?” The practices and procedures will automatically refine and drop off as their usefulness wane. Naturally we will be guided and will know as to when to pick up the loose ends as we go along.
462. Then we will see that we are cutting down the activities and practices, more given to sravana (listening to scriptures and Guru’s words), manana (deliberate on them) and nidhidyaasana (meditation). Having entered the Gnaana Marga, if you wonder as to how long should one deliberate on the ‘Maha Vaakyaas’ of the Vedas, let us say; we have to go back to the answer as given by our AachaaryaaL, which is applicable from the beginning till the end of any project! Let me explain. We are beating the paddy to separate the rice and husk, with wooden pestles in a mortar, say. Now if you ask as to how long should we beat the paddy, what answer can be given? The answer has to be that you should do so till the rice grains are fully separated from their covering of husks! Similarly, till you are fully convinced that you are face to face with Aatma with no doubt left in your mind, ‘that you are that you are’ or more truly, ‘I am that I am’, your efforts must continue!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL #149 (Vol #4) Dated 19 Feb 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL #149 (Vol #4) Dated 19 Feb 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 831 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)
A DESCRIPTION OF SUCH PEOPLE WHO HAVE HAD ADWAITA ANUBHAVA
442. That Easwara gives the Adwaita Anubhuti and that Jeeva receives it, does not have to be displayed as though in hoarding! Without making a show of it, as the Jeeva matures, his ripe mind can be made to soak itself in Aatma Vichara at the end of which there can be a flash of lightning erasing his mind and self consciousness, with Aatma the only shining effulgence in balance! Many great Mahatmas have thus meditated on Gnaana Vichaara and ruminated on the Maha Vaakyaas of the Vedas (which essentially talk of the oneness of Jeeva and Brhma and the World), from which they have obtained the experience beyond the mind and expression. Easwara has not only hidden His role in the world affairs, but also in finally granting the relief of Mukti to the Jeeva.
443. When I say that He hides His role playing, what I mean is that He hides His SaguNa role playing, mostly. We have seen earlier that the SaguNa Easwara is not His real self but underneath, He is the NirguNa Aatma. So, the Atma Anubhava comes over a Jeeva and slowly but surely encompasses this Jeeva into itself irrevocably, that there is no more separate Jeeva left! How does it matter whether what is left is SaguNa Brhmam or NirguNa, Niraakaara, Nishkriya Parabrhmam or whatever! As reiterated often, so as to avoid the idea of duality in Gnaana Marga, the emphatic role of Easwara is not mentioned but hidden. As the disguise of Jeeva is removed, Easwara also removes His and sanctions the dissolution of otherness into oneness.
444. So, many such realised souls when asked to explain as to how they got the Adwaita Anubhava tell us, “We did put in our effort in the Gnaana Marga as instructed by our Guru. One day this mind just blanked out and we had the Swanubhuthi, that is the realisation of the Self!” If you now ask me as to why I am talking about Easwara’s role in sanctioning the Anubhuti, when none of those who have had that unique experience have mentioned it, then my answer is only this. “It never happens that one day Easwara comes before you in all his dress up and paraphernalia with a name plate on his chest declaring Him to be Mr. Easwara Esquire. Then if you expect that He will give you a packet of gift, saying ‘here is Gnaanam for you’; you are sadly mistaken!” Easwara underplaying His SaguNa role, simply sanctions the Anubhava after which they are seen to be completely devoid of any sense of ego or pride without an iota of being different. We will find plenty of uniqueness in them as they are unlike any of the millions of other characters that we come across in our lifetimes! (KTSV adds: Even between them you may not easily notice the oneness as no Gnaani is like any other of his genre! RamaNa is not like Sai Baba or Amirtananda Mayi Mata or Thaayum Aanavar or VaLLalaar and so on. But, if you carefully analyse their message, you come to understand the background undercurrent of the Oneness of Adwaita!)
445. In the case of certain others He has come into their lives as the Guru who gave them the Gnaana Upadesa and led them holding their hands in theirs to Gnaana as friend, guide and philosopher. To certain other devotees deeply merged in Bhakti, He has whisked them in a flood of Aatma Aananda Anubhuti! AruNagiri Nathar who has written the Thiruppugazh has expressed this experience in Kandar Anubhuti very clearly, repeatedly!
446. “That thief told me to ‘keep quiet and do not talk!’ Immediately everything just disappeared! Vow! What is this miracle?” “summaa iru sol – ara enralume Amma poruL onrum arindilane!” That same thief, who whisked away VaLLi, also took away his Jeevatvam, of being a separate human being and everything of Dwaitam and gave him the Adwaita Anubhuti! In another place AruNagiri Nathar says more clearly “yaan aagiya ennai vizhungi, verum taanaai nilai ninradu tarparame”. He says, “That Param devoured me and stood all by itself!” In yet another place, he says, “tannan tani ninradu taan ariya innam oruvarku isaivippaduo?” This means that, “having stood all alone as the very existence who can ever be considered as the other and who can be told about it?”
447. MaNikka Vaachagar similarly says that Easwara converted him into Sivam and absorbed him unto Himself! He says, “sivam aakki enai aanda”. There is a subtle difference in the meaning in saying, ‘sivan and sivam’. You cannot become ‘sivan’ as He is the Easwara, the ‘SaguNa Brhmam’, which nobody can become. But we can be absorbed in the ‘NirguNa Brhmam of Sivam’! This we have seen and understood before. In Thiru Vaachagam, in another place MaNikka Vaachagar causes Parameswara to stand before him and questions Him, “Who amongst the two of us is smarter? You gave your eternal form of everlasting bliss to me and in turn You got me, this good for nothing character! What a bargain I say!” He is talking about Easwara giving him indivisible, eternal bliss of Adwaita Anubhuti and with his tongue in cheek, in jest says that in return, Siva got this MaNikka Vaachagar! AruNagiri Nathar calls Him a thief and MaNikka Vaachagar says that He is not being very clever! This is poetic licence with God!
448. Nammaazhvaar similarly says that the Paramaatma having become the Jeevaatma gives Himself to the Jeevaatma and later makes the latter become His own self: “yaane neeyaagi ennai aLiththaane”! At the end of ‘Thiru Vaay Mozhi’, in talking completely in the Adwaitic vein says, the speed with which a drop of water falling on a red hot iron will be sucked up in no time, you have forcefully swallowed me! He says, “theera irumbunda neeradu pola ennaaruyirai aarapparuga”!
449. Similarly Mookar who had written the Kamaakshi Panchasati says that, “with SaguNa Upaasana, Ambal has serially step by step formed the order in which the NirguNa Upaasana has to be done to reach the pinnacle of Moksham!” His words I Quote: “sat kruta desika charaNaa: sabhija – nirbhija – yoga – nishreNyaa I apavarga – souda – valabheem aarohant – yamba ke(a) pi tava krupayaa II” Elsewhere in the same sloka he says that, “once you get Her sidelong glance, what miracle is in store for you! For such people, home and forest are one; friend and foe are one; a sliver of a piece of mud pot and the lips of a young lass are one; their perspective becomes uniformly equitable!” Let me Quote: “siva siva pasyanti samam Sri Kamakshi katatchitaa: purushaa: I vipinam bhavanam amitram mitram loshtam cha yuvati bimbhoshtam II”
450. We had seen earlier as to how Sekkizhaar talks of the devotees of Siva having such equitable perspective, did not wish to have even Adwaita Moksham as they ‘loved to love Siva’! (Refer ibid para 404 of Deivathin Kural # 145 of 11 Feb 2011.) On the other end of the spectrum is Appayya Deekshidar who was of the opinion that the very concept of Adwaitam is Moksham, as there is nothing more to be obtained or realized! While singing the praise of Parameswara he says that He is so easily pleased that, we need not have to go in for very detailed procedures and costly arrangements. He tells Siva, “the devotee can get the Empire of Moksha just by plucking a few road side flowers such as ‘Erukkan and Thumbai’ and offering them to You that is enough!”
451. Samarta Ramdas says that Sri Ramachandra Murthy grants Adwaita Moksha! Thus these Adwaitins have all claimed uniformly that their own Ishta Devata, whosoever that may be, had the power to grant Adwaita Anubhava Siddhi! Our AachaaryaaL who adored every Devata with the vision that they were all representing one and the same idea of Adwaita, while singing their praise would not have left it unmentioned somewhere or the other in any of those slokas, about their granting the Adwaita Moksha!
452. Now let us say that your question is on the following lines, as given hereinafter! “OK. Swamiji! You talked about those Adwitins who followed the path of Karma and Bhakti initially. You also insisted that after having done all the Karma required to be done and after having progressed far in the Path of Devotion; then and then only one can go to the Gnaana Marga and do Adwaita Vichaara! But when we look at the life history of many of the Gnaanis, it is seen that many of them have not done much in the Paths of Karma and Bhakti and seem to have gone directly to the Path of Gnaana! Some others have been deeply involved in world affairs as house holders or as kings or administrators or business people and seem to have suddenly turned a corner and pronto, they have suddenly advanced far on the Path of Gnaana! How is that?” You will have to wait for the next issue of Deivathin Kural for an answer!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL #148 (Vol #4) Dated 17 Feb 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL #148 (Vol #4) Dated 17 Feb 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 826 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)
432. While commenting on this sloka, our AachaaryaaL explains as to how the devotee gets to know about God, “yaavaan” – ‘what’ He actually is; in devotion the devotee gets to know that the God is the ‘Jagat KaaraNa – the cause of all existence’, then as the Chief Executive, the controlling, managing, protecting, sustaining and providing power in being! AachaaryaaL uses a phrase, “upaadi kruta vistara bhedanaat”, to mean, ‘as defined by many qualities, attributes, duties and purposes; occupying all the time and space involving all the people and living things both mobile and static’! Then on further analysis, he gets to know that there has to be the one unitary knowledge cum power as the causal reason behind all this variety and multiplicity! He gets to know of it as the “Adwaitam, Chaitanya maatra eka rasa:”, ‘as the one and only singular awareness’! This sounds as though the mind of the Jeeva approaches the cosmic mind as yet another mind; Easwara removes this perspective and grants him unitary vision.
433. What sounds as though it is about Adwaita Anubhava, becomes crystal clear, a little later, when Bhagawan says – “mat prasaadaat avaapnoti shaasvatam padam avyayam” – meaning, ‘Doing all actions always having taken refuge in me, by my Grace he obtains the eternal indestructible state of being’. That is the Adwaita Moksham. As the devotee approaches the SaguNa Brhmam, by the blessings of that SaguNa Brhmam, he attains to oneness with the NirguNa Brhmam. It is the power of the Easwara that brought this devotee under effect of the Maya and He is very much capable of removing the influence of Maya too, by which the devotee experiences the oneness with the Aatma!
434. Here having revealed His Paramatma Swaroopa, another five slokas later He reveals that He is the ‘Antaryaami’, the indwelling divinity in all static and mobile life forms of all types. He says that from the heart of all living beings, He is making them dance to his music of Maya like the puppeteer does, calling Himself the Easwara here! Let us look at these two slokas and their meaning! “Easwara: sarva bhootaanaam hruddeshe - Arjuna tishtati I bhraamayan sarva bhootaani yantraa roodhaani maayaya II” B.G Ch 18, Sloka 61. It means, “The Lord dwells in the heart of all beings, O Arjuna, causing all beings, by His illusive power, to revolve as if mounted on a machine. In the next sloka he says, “Tameva charaNam gachcha sarva bhaavena Bharatha I Tat prasaadaat paraam shaantim sthanam praapsyasi shaasvatam II” B.G Ch 18, Sloka 62. It means, “Fly unto Him for refuge with all thy being, O Arjuna; by His Grace thou shalt obtain supreme peace and the eternal abode.”
435. (KTSV adds: Bhagawan RamaNa Maharishi was asked by some devotees to select some of the important slokas of Bhagawat Gita as it was too long, containing 700 slokas! He selected 42 slokas from among the whole of the Gita and put them in order not exactly as they occur in the Gita. I notice that these two slokas quoted above are the last two of his selection too! That may give you some gravity of their message and the importance given to them by RamaNa too!) So, whatever anybody of any Siddhantam may say, Moksham is the only eternal state of peace. With your mind, body intellect and all your past, present and likely future; just surrender unto Him; drop that small mind before the cosmic mind; as His blessing (or Prasaada) accept whatever is in store for you and that will be eternal, permanent peace!
436. The mind of the Jeeva by the path of Karma gets cleansed, proceeds on the path of Bhakti in handing over itself to the cosmic mind, the Easwara with love and thereby gets face to face with Atma. There is no balance left as the recipient mind and Aatma as the thing being obtained. This narrow, partite and limited being of the mind just dissolves in the indivisible Aatma. We have to learn to stop identifying ourselves with this limited mind and being a slave to it while enabling it to dissolve itself into sublimation!
437. Till it was separate, this mind has been all the time relating all the experiences into me and mine; you and yours; they and their! In such a situation there can be not Love and compassion, but only pride, jealousy and passion! When this mind is to be dissolved with love, with great reluctance it will slowly agree to drop its defences one by one. Love is the antidote for this disease of selfishness. From being too self centred, when it starts loving whosoever it may be, it starts doing things for the sake of pleasing, satisfying or protecting that object of love. Even here when it has to decide between that object of love and selfishness, the latter always wins! So it is important that there should be no selfish interest if it is to be pure love. Otherwise, it is desire or passion and not love! All that contributes in further fattening the individual’s indulgence and boosting of his ego; are all part of Kaama and not Love. Whatever melts the mind and softens it capable of dissolution is what is love and compassion. Before the mind can melt, it has to spread in all directions in expansiveness. Altruism and acceptance of others ideas comes with a liberal attitude, capacity for tolerance, an ability to understand other’s views with sympathy and sensitivity. Then only this mind can one day melt in that Paramartha Tatva without a trace.
438. Earlier I gave the example of the iron ball which was heated up. Another example is that of the water. When it becomes light and evaporate in to water vapour, then only it can disappear. Such spreading and sublimation is love. Instead of becoming light, it hardens in to hard ice in the lack of warmth. Even that hard ice can melt when the situation permits. Even the frozen continents of Arctic and Antarctic they say are melting. But this mind hardened by selfishness does not melt ever! It is worthwhile to note here that Thayumaanavar says in one of his songs, “Oh! Even a stone one day may melt, but my mind is so hard that it has not even softened let alone melt!”
439. It is love that makes the mind expansive, amenable, tolerant and accommodative. If this love, instead of being directed towards other animals and human beings, is directed towards Easwara it becomes special and is known as devotion. That is what is required also. Because if directed towards other human beings there is a risk of it becoming a crass desire! If nothing else it may contribute in boosting one’s own ego as how great we are in being kind to others. We may sacrifice much for them. Then we get a desire for other’s appreciation and a craving for recognition, name and fame! Then we want awards, national level awards and international awards and adulation. Once you go in this line there is no end! When we do not get name and fame; we get irritation and become disgruntled. These are all methods of regressing only. Instead of enabling and ennobling those who come into our contact, we start criticizing and become cynical. Or instead of expanding horizons, it may become restricted to that one other person. That love of that one can mean harming others. Out of our love for that one person, we may recommend that person to a job to which he or she may not be really suitable or deny some other worthy of that job! There are many pitfalls when our love instead becoming expansive, becomes restricted to a few who become our pets or fans!
440. When our love is for the Lord God Easwara, then and only then, it becomes possible for the minds of ours to become light capable of melting and expansiveness. This is special value of His Blessings, that He calls “mat prasaadaat” or “tat prasaadaat”. It is His Blessings that the mind that got in to the habit of Loving Him for His sake is made expansive enough to encompass the whole world in its ambit of Love, while completely annulling a separate identity of this individual totally forever with his or her mind erased! With the loss of the separate mind, the individual is not a zero but, becomes one with the very reality of existence as the NirguNa Brhmam and that is the speciality of the Blessings of Anugraha!
441. How do we know about this? This we know from the ‘n’ number of great saints that have been there, scattered all over the world but concentrated in this earth in the area known as Bharath Varsha, the Indian Subcontinent! We will talk about them in the next issue of Deivathin Kural!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL #147 (Vol #4) Dated 15 Feb 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL #147 (Vol #4) Dated 15 Feb 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 820 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)
423. As we progress towards that final leap into ‘Aatma Vichara’ there has to be a continuous clarity in our minds that we are doing our duties, all the prayers and service, for that purpose. While cleaning the Sombu, even when we use sand, tamarind, puNNakku and coconut coir, do we not keep using some clean water from the beginning? Similarly all our actions by mind, speech and body are meant to make us prepared for that last bridge to be crossed. So, right from the beginning some introspection has to be persevered with. Some time everyday has to be devoted for sitting down with our eyes closed in trying to be without thoughts.
424. When we try to clean and polish may be the Sombu or the floor of the Pooja Room or the Idol of the Moola Vigraha – whatever it is, it has not been made newly by us. We have not changed it. It is as it is. All that we have done is to remove whatever is not to be there. Similarly, this Aatma is there forever in its pristine glory. To make it self effulgent is what we have done. Actually, we have not cleaned the Aatma! We have rather cleansed our own minds of the dirt and cobwebs. It is this mind that has to be effaced, erased and nullified. When I say the mind, I am including the anta: karaNa, speech, body, buddhi, ahankaara, chitta and thoughts!
425. Wrong sinful acts such as Kaama, Krodha et al are to be desisted by doing the things as ordained in the Saastraas as per the caste and ashrama. The aim is to inculcate love, respect, habit of helping others, humbleness and such good intentions and behaviour. The negative attitudes are what are called the Asuric tendencies and good positive ones are the divine ones. In the battle of wits between the negative forces and positive ones is Deva – Asura conflict I spoke to you earlier. In this at times even the Devas develop some of the negative traits. They get angry with the opposition, and use deceit to defeat the opposition by hook or crook! In getting Lakshmi and Amirtam, the Devas do get carried away and try to win by under hand methods. We read about such things in Puranas and the only explanation can be that, the ultimate goodness is beyond even these comparative values.
426. There is one clear example of the Devas getting deceitful as given in the Upanishad. Having defeated the Asuras in battle, the Devas, without realising that it is all due to the power of God that they had won, got head weight and developed much pride in their infallibility. There is a story as given in Kenopanishad about it. This can happen with us too. We may do everything as given in the Saastraas in terms of daily and periodical rituals and observances of fasting and prayers. But in the bargain we may develop pride and the sense that we are too good! Instead of inculcating humility, we may end up feeling ‘that we have done so much good’! That is why, along with our practices and observances, we should be constantly remembering that even our good intentions are a blessing of the Lord. So we have to imbibe the feeling that, ‘whatever I am doing is not for me as an individual; somehow we are playing a part; whether it is the role of a king or a beggar, I have to do justice to the role played; one day I have to discard all this makeup and disguise and get back to my reality’. In this disguise, we have to be true and obviate any possibility of going astray. We have to constantly remind ourselves that none of this role playing is permanent. So I should do nothing to perpetuate my role playing. The ‘ahambhaava’ of pride should always be kept at arm’s length so as to obviate what happened to the Devas at the end of the Deva – Asura battle!
427. ‘Ahambhaava’ has a meaning of “to know as to who I am!” That is now not at all clear to us. We have some hazy idea about ourselves based on the relative position in the transactional world. What prevents us from knowing our true self is the combined effect of our past actions. It is to rub off that dirt and dust that we are persevering. If we think on these lines every day, we can avoid many of the pitfalls resulting out of our ego consciousness. In the initial stages, to obviate pride and do whatever is just and equitable on all occasions it is Easwara Bhakti that will stand by us. Devotion to Almighty will save us from the violent oscillations of the mind and enable us to focus on the righteous line of thinking and action.
428. Many Names for Love. Devotion is Love of God. Love has many names depending on whom it is directed towards. Love towards people of equal age is friendship or ‘Maitri’. With elders it is regard and respect. With children it is ‘vaatsalyam’ and towards people of the opposite sex it is passion or ‘sringaar’ or crush, fancy, craze, infatuation or lust. Directed towards people who are poor and not so well off, it is ‘parivu and karuNa’, kindness or compassion. Love from Saints and Mahatmas towards the common man is ‘Kripa or Dayaa’. What we have towards them is respect and veneration. Their one word or even kindly look is so powerful that it can change our life inside out! At the top most pinnacle of such love is God’s love for the living beings at large, known as ‘blessings, benevolence or Anugraha’! What the devotee has got for God is ‘Bhakti or Anbu’ or Devotion and yearning!
429. What is Anbu? It is our mind dissolving in the other’s mind. What is the end stage? Our minds melting in Aatma is that end stage. What is the difference and similarities between our minds dissolving in another’s mind and dissolving in Aatma? A step earlier than dissolution is mixing. You put sugar in milk and mix. Before dissolving it is stirred. They are still apart. Then after dissolving they are not two entities. They are one and the same. This is ‘Aikyam’. To become one that is ‘Ekam’ is ‘Aikyam’. Till mixing they are different and after dissolving they are one! In the intermixing of Dwaitam there cannot be ‘Aikyam’. The Panditji or Vadyaar comes to our house and mixes rice and gingili. It remains a mixture.
430. Aatma is one that stands apart independently, pure and all by itself. To mix the mind in it is impossible. This mind being a non-entity, it can never even approach the Aatma. How to mix the two? It is here the need for the approachable Easwara who is Aatma, but within our reach and so be devoted with love, adulation and admiration. Hence, we make use of the nomenclatures of Paramatma and Jeevatma. Jeevatma is the small mind. We saw before that the Paramatma is the cosmic mind. This small mind of ours cannot approach or mix and dissolve in that Aatma. But it can be mixed and then dissolved in Easwara our Creator. He will also like a mother be kind enough to grant us the proximity, nearness and oneness! Jeevatma as the devotee of Easwara can venture to approach and slowly get himself dissolved in Him. Then the Jeevatma – Paramatma differentiation finishes and Adwaita Anubhava results. Our mind is no more and we become one with the Lord God who made us all!
431. Achievement of Adwaita Mukti by Devotion. Bhagwan Sri Krishna has said exactly this in the Gita Chapter 18, Sloka 55. “Bhaktya maam abhijaanaati yaavan yaschaasmi tatvata: I tato maam tatvato gnyatvaa visate tad anantaram II”. This means, ‘By devotion he knows me in truth, what and who I am; then having known Me in truth, he forthwith enters into the Supreme.’ He says ‘anantaram visate’ - ‘visate’ means enters; ‘antaram’ means gap; ‘anantaram’ means without a gap. So He says that the human Jeevatma without a let enters the Paramatma forever! Please do not think of somebody physically entering another. Till he is devoted to God, the devotee is the first person and God is the second person singular grammatically. With the Dwaita moksha, the aim is not yet reached. Then, ‘tato’ means after that, the devotee ceases to be somebody else and becomes one with the Lord, ‘visate’, enters!
(We will continue this discussion.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL #146 (Vol #4) Dated 13 Feb 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL #146 (Vol #4) Dated 13 Feb 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 813 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)
413. What we use to rub and polish the Sombu are the brush, sand, coconut coir and tamarind. These things are also dirty by themselves. (Sanyaasis who have taken the vow of abstinence are not supposed to use tamarind in their food, as the acidity is against the Satva GuNa to be imbibed by them!) But initially we have to use such things to clean up the copper pot. Having done that, we have to clean the pot of whatever we used to clean it with, such as the sand and coconut coir, with clean water. Finally we have to wipe off the water also. That is how the mind, speech and body of the individual have to be cleaned initially with positive good actions and finally those things also have to be given up for ‘Aatma Vichara’. Sanyasi for example has no Nitya Karma Anushtaana!
414. Initially, with love and compassion towards other human beings and life forms and devotion towards our God, honourable intentions, good attitude, discipline and humility; by doing the appointed duty as per one’s age, caste and ashrama (bachelor student or married house holder or renounced Sanyasi) and as demanded by situation of the moment; we have to rub off the gross muck that has accumulated on our physical and subtle being for generations! Then later these duties and efforts will also have to drop off in the flush of experiencing the Aatma Anubhava. Even to sit down to do meditation is foreign to the Self the Aatma. Just be that, is the end. But, that comes much later, only at the end! That end stage or happening; cannot be described in words. It is beyond mind, body, intellect and speech! That is why there is a famous quotation in Tamil which says, “vindavar kandadillai, kandavar vindadillai”. Without any insult meant to anyone, it says that, “those who talk about it have not seen it and those who have seen it have not spoken about it”! But they cannot keep quiet and cannot afford not to at least try to talk about that unique Anubhava!
415. This idea is mentioned by the often quoted Taitreeya Upanishad at the start of both 4th and 8th Chapter of the second Part of Anandavalli that, “from where both the mind and speech return unable to describe the state”. But having understood that Brhmam is pure bliss, the aspirant is not affected by any sense of loss or regret for having done or not done anything towards such understanding! By now he knows that he is not the Doer or Karta and that Karta is the Aatma. So, now he has no fear or regrets. We are not yet at that level and so, we have to continue striving till we know without a doubt!
416. Having cleaned the utensil with sand, tamarind and such, now these cleaning materials also have to be washed with clean water. Then even that water has to be wiped off. Thus when one gets the Aatma Gnaana, then actions such as Dhyana and Vichara also drop off. Having polished and cleaned the Sombu, even the dry Sombu can again be stained by the humidity in the atmosphere. The state of Aatma Nishta is also like that only. In a flash what was the brightness of lightning vanishes, again covered by total darkness. Sometimes the flash is that of the insect with a light in its tail! Kenopanishad says that it disappears like the lightning by the time you blink! NarayaNa Suktam describes vividly as to how it is an everlasting lightning saying, “tasyaa: shikhaaya madye paramaatma vyavastita: I sa brhma sa siva: sa hari: sa Indra: sa: atchara: parama: swaraat II”. It means that, ‘at the top of that effulgence is located the Paramaatma. He is the Brhma, Siva, Hari, Indra, the eternal supreme ruler!’
417. Till that clarity is a continuous experience, like the shining Sombu loses its shine, we have to continue polishing. In the case of the Sombu, we may have to keep doing the cleaning and shining whereas, in the case of Self Realization, we have to keep at it till, as said in the Mundaka Upanishad, all Karma cancels out, the binding knots of attachments get loosened or cut asunder and the Copper Sombu becomes Gold not requiring polishing any more. Aatma is much above such comparisons too!
418. In the Thiruppati temple in olden times the kings used to give a standing order known as, “ravai salla kattaLai (order)!” It is only now that we have made the temples a place for all dirt! To go around the outer Prahara I am told you have to hold your nose with a kerchief! It is all so stinking as obtaining in most of the temples nowadays. During a visit by a minister or commissioner or by me; it is another matter. On other days, devotees tell me with regret, that it leaves much to be desired. Even the Sanctum Sanctorum is not spared. The very clothing for the deities is like a dirty hand towel, I am told. Our ancestors were very particular that the temple and its premises, which should be cleansing our minds and heart, should be kept spotlessly clean. I was going to talk about the ‘Ravai Salla KattaLai’.
419. They used to use a thin white cloth like the ‘Dacca Muslin’, very thin and pure white. If you are wearing that it will be almost transparent. Any little amount of water on the body or floor, it will stick to it. The texture was such that the tiniest dirt will show out straight away. They were very particular that the floor in the inner Garba Graha should be cleaned with that cloth. Various items used for Abhishekam and the oil dripping from the lamps are bound to make the floor stained. So they would wash the floor with water using oil absorbent materials such as ‘puNNakku’ and brush it clean. Then thick rough cloth would be used to wipe it clean. The ‘ravai salla’ cloth would be used at the end.
420. In our houses too we would do similarly. We would have some old cloth made of rough and absorbent material known as ‘suruNai’. It will not look very clean but, will serve the purpose initially. You just cannot make use of very clean cloth initially. The first wiping is done with the ‘suruNai’ after a wash. The idol of God may not be wiped with such a cloth anyhow. In Thiruppati the floor of the Sanctum Sanctorum used to be wiped clean with the rough cloth first and then with the costly ‘ravai salla’ cloth. Not an iota of dirt should be there. There will be an officer detailed to inspect the cloth at the end of it especially for this purpose. If the cloth is smudged or stained anywhere, it has to be done again with a fresh ‘ravai salla’ cloth repeatedly till there is no speck on the cloth. The main idol of God known as ‘Moolavar’ and the Garba Graham, that is the Sanctum Sanctorum have to be absolutely spotlessly clean! That was the requirement.
421. To be meditating on the Principle of Aatma Tatva is like cleaning our minds with the ‘ravai salla’ cloth spotlessly clean! What is presently very dirty with stains of all sorts of small and big desires, flimsy pursuits, and various shades of anger, jealousy, greed and miserliness; that we cannot step in to meditation on the Ultimate at the first go! You have to start with the ‘suruNai’ first. That is the reason for all the restrictions and observations as per the Saastraas and many of the rituals and daily and periodic Karma Anushtaanaas. Having cleaned the accumulation of dust and dirt over generations of existence; we can hope to go into the finer aspects of our Saadhana only when we have graduated to a fine level of outer and inner cleanliness.
422. Initially when using the ‘suruNai’ the person cleaning the floor in the Thiruppati temple would be conscious that, towards the end that officer of the temple would inspect the ‘ravai salla’ cloth, if it has any smudge. So he would try and do his best from the beginning and press hard with the ‘suruNai’. For the specific purpose of cancelling out the dirt of our past Karma accumulated over many life times leading to lingering ‘vaasanaas’; the Saastraas have decided on many corrective measures of actions to be taken by people of each caste, in various stages of our lives. They have to be done full justice to, by using our minds, speech and body. So, then after a substantive amount of efforts have been applied, can one be graduated to sitting down for meditation on Gnaana Vichaara. (KTSV adds: When I was in schools, graduation was a word meant for the formal celebration of finishing one’s education in the college. Nowadays they have brought down its value by having graduation functions for completing baby class in the day care schools!)
(To be continued.) Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL #145 (Vol #4) Dated 11 Feb 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL #145 (Vol #4) Dated 11 Feb 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 last para on page number 806 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)
404. There have been some greats of Adwaitam who despite loving that principled stand of philosophy did not contribute to the idea of Adwaita Moksham. They used to say that the real Moksham is for the Jeevaatma to become one with the Paramaatma as per the Adwaita Siddhantam. But they used to say that they do not wish to have that wherein they would not be pining with the Love of God! Amongst the Saivites in Thiruvaroor, there were a set of people known as ‘Thirukkoottathaar’ who were of the firm conviction, “that the very purpose of existence is to ‘eternally continue to love to love Siva’, short of that, Heaven can go to Hell!” About them Sekkizhar says in Periya PuraNam, “koodum anbinil kumbidale anri veedum vendaa viRalin viLanginaar”. It means that those devotees of Siva thought that, “to be with Siva devoted to Him in Kailasam is by far preferable to Adwaita Moksham”!
405. From the first two lines of this song another interesting information is gathered. Though they are saying that they do not care for Adwaita Moksham, they were looking at the whole world with this sense of oneness of Adwaita ‘samarasa bhava’. Other than Jeeva – Brhma oneness, they were hard core Adwaitins! For them a piece of mud and gold was one and the same! “Odum ponnum okkave nokkuvar”. They were unaware of good and bad. They were looking at growth and deterioration in the same perspective, “kedum aakkamum ketta thiruvinaar”. For them everything was equal and so they were always without a care!
406. For the Taste of Dwaitam, Pain and Sorrow are Unavoidable. All said and done, is there eternal peace and bliss in the Vaikundam and Kailasam of the Dwitins? No! Even Mahalakshmi, Garudaazhvaar, Aadi Sesha, Narada and Siva’s consort Parvathi; have all been subjected to endless problems of anger, sorrow, competition and difficulties, some time or the other, as seen in the PuraNas. Even Bhagawan Himself has suffered times of tribulation on many occasions in extreme situations. Krishna’s most beloved Radha has had to suffer from the pangs of separation often.
407. If there are two things, you just cannot help undergoing this cycle of happiness and sorrow repeatedly. Without the pairs of opposites duality will be a drab experience. If everything is all the time happy and pleasant, there will be boredom. Even a story will not be interesting without twist and turns of ups and downs with problems to be solved. If there is a hero and heroine, there has to be a villain. At the time of some important celebrations there has to be an obstacle from the most unexpected quarters. The planned coronation has to be stopped, the heroine has to be insulted and ridiculed, someone has to take a vow of revenge and then there has to be a fight or fisticuff, leading to a war before solutions are found. That is how the life goes on in this world of duality resulting in multiplicity!
406. Since in Dwaitam, happiness is experienced only in relation to something else, it can never be permanent and not become satiating. So, necessarily the happiness in Dwaitam has to be continual with gaps, rather than continuous. When something is lost and regained, only then, the experience of happiness will increase. So even people who are the dearest and very close to God also have to undergo the experience of the effect of the pairs of the opposites. That is inevitable taste of Dwaitam. Night – day, Iceland – Sahara, tiger – deer, birth – death, good – bad, happiness – sadness and sweet pudding with some savouries in between and so on; have to be there. Depending on one’s own accumulation of Karma effects, the duration between good and bad experiences will have to vary. The eternal experience of bliss is only possible when we drop the separateness of our identity and know our true reality of oneness with the Aatma. That is what we Adwaitins say!
407. There are such staunch principled stand points of view such as the Kashmiri Saivam, which talks of completely being absorbed in the highest meditation; Instead of going to some world called Vaikundam or Kailasam and live there with God in the form of VishNu or Siva. Even in them, instead of merging completely losing one’s individual identity of being a separate entity, there is only dhyaana, laya and absorption. At any time that laya can be missed and the whole jing-bang can and do start all over again! Yes, here there is no Siva with form, but it is formless Siva, agreed! Still, like a thread that has been combined with another by spinning and twisting, can be separated by twisting it in the opposite direction, here too separation is inevitable. So even the bliss of dhyaana is not permanent, only Adwaitam is eternal bliss!
408. The Action of Cleansing. That is to say that, at the ideal pinnacle of existence, after all ‘to – do’ responsibilities have been done and the mind has been cleansed of its dirt and cob-webs and attained to ‘aikaagrata’ that is, oneness of focus; then and only then the eternal bliss of Adwaita Anubhava can be experienced. Till then all the efforts have to be ‘dwaita saadhana’, keeping the Adwaita Idea as a continuous thread in the back-ground. The cleansing of the mind happens when we do our allotted duties as detailed in the Vedas on the daily and periodical basis, praying to God to wipe off the whole series of blemishes starting from desire, anger and so on. We have to pray and melt. There is no meaning in poodle faking as though we are totally unattached, claiming ourselves to be like the water on the lotus leaf. It is just mind blowing to think of how we have been adding and accumulating our load of demerits for generations of existence, getting annoyed at the drop of a hat being seized with fear, insult and greed! How many small and big desires pull us in how many directions? Let us just have no doubt that we have to work hard in cleansing our minds, if we have to deserve the Gnaana of the reality of our being the Aatma!
409. Philology: Jeevaatma & Paramaatma, there too! There is a ‘seppu sombu’. Sombu is a derivation from Sembu. Seppu means copper. So also sombu means copper. In Tamil language, between this ‘..mbu..’ and ‘..ppu..’ there is a general rule of grammer. The root word will end in ‘..mbu..’ and the derived will end in ‘..ppu..’. The mother word ends in ‘mbu’ and the offspring will end in ‘ppu’. ‘Irumbu’ is the word for iron in Tamil. The Railway line will be called ‘Iruppu paadai’. ‘Varambu’ is the word for the limit or border. For a specific field while marking the borders we will call it ‘varappu’. The sugar cane is known as, ‘Karumbu’. The crushed sugar juice is ‘Karuppanjaaru’ and solid pieces of jaggery are ‘’Karuppatti’. To turn is ‘thirumbudal’, while the road turning is known as ‘thiruppu munai’. From the verb and adverb ending in ‘mbu’ the pronoun will end in ‘ppu’. In both the cases the meaning is the same. General word ends in ‘mbu’ and the specific ends in ‘ppu’. We have seen both these being added to words to mean the same thing. In Sanskrit also water is known by ‘ambu’ and ‘appu’. Let us come back to Seppu and Sombu, both meaning something made of the metal copper.
410. In earlier times they used to make small household items in copper for the children to play with as toys. Small utensils, plates, spoon etc. They were known as ‘seppu paatram’. Though there were many utensils of copper, the children’s play things got the generic name of ‘seppu’ which over time became ‘soppu’ as a word for toys and dolls! The big pot like utensil made of copper came to be called the ‘sombu’. The child plays with ‘soppu’ and what the mother uses is ‘sombu’. That is also made of copper only. From the principle of Aatma, we have now come to Philology. We can console ourselves that in understanding the meanings of the words, we are going in to ‘pada + artam = padaartam’ which is ‘word + meaning = material’ and there by trying to reach the very root of existence! We can assume that ‘mbu’ is like the Paramaatma and ‘ppu’ is like the Jeevaatma and go ahead with the discussion.
411. Like Cleaning and Polishing the Utensil. We were talking about the stage when the use of language, speech and mind are all redundant! There is a Upanishadic sentence, which goes something like, ‘from where the speech and mind do not return’! I brought in the ‘seppu sombu’ matter to make the point clearer. Let us say a pot made of copper was lying in the earth uncared, for a long time. Inside all that is the copper Sombu. But it is of no use till it is cleaned by rubbing mud, tamarind water and copra coir. After much cleaning and rubbing, the metal shines. We have not made it. We have not cleaned it either. We just removed the coating of dirt that had accumulated on its surface over the years. That is all.
412. Like this copper utensil is our Aatma. It has been covered by all the dirt and muck that we cannot recognise it as our own inner being. Though Aatma remains as it is, it is beyond recognition because by thoughts of our minds, actions by our bodies and words that we utter, we have raised an impenetrable screen between us and our own reality. In such a state, even if we are told that inside is the Aatma, we can know it only after cleansing the covering. To offset the dirt that we have accumulated by mind, speech and body; we have to do counter actions by the same mind, body and speech!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL #144 (Vol #4) Dated 09 Feb 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL #144 (Vol #4) Dated 09 Feb 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 800 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)
396. Though we are rendered into Agnanis unaware of the reality, He is not affected by the Maya. We are so tied up with the Maya that each one of us has got the Anta: karaNam of our own, causing us to feel our selves to be unique, separate with a mind of our own, with all the ideas of me, mine and they and theirs. We have an opinion about everything in the world and find faults with everybody else. We see the world as those Objects and have a view or perspective or objection about those things. Subjectively, we can only define ourselves in a relative way! Having got us tied like this in knots, Easwara remains above its clutches as the Master. When he removes the ties of Agnaana, our sense of being something else goes. But, He even when fully involved in world affairs remains an Aatma Gnaani. He is only seemingly limited, that too due to our perspective of Agnaana / Maya / Avidya. But the Jeeva is limited by his Anta: karaNam of mind, buddhi, ahankaara and chitta. Maya is the general word for all these staining and limiting factors. It is a common word for everybody’s mind. As it screens the true knowledge of our selves, it is known as Avidya. Easwara having the power of Maya remains above its limiting and restricting influences. This is made easy to understand by the example of the poisonous snake. The snake has a couple of poisonous teeth in its mouth and the poison is produced from within its body. But, the snake is never affected by the poison and affects only those who are bitten by the snake. Similarly the Mayavi Easwara is never affected by the Maya. His power of Maya affects only the people of the world. The magician creates scenes to obfuscate others, but he is never in any confusion by his own creations. So also Easwara is never affected by Maya.
397. ‘Upaadhis’ are limiting conditions. Easwara is not affected by any of the upaadhis of his own creations. The word Easwara is from the root word ‘Eash’ meaning ‘to rule’ or to govern or command. How can the ruler subject himself to any limiting conditions unless they are self imposed restrictions of discipline! But He will never let Himself be deluded by His own power of Maya. We have already seen as to how, Jeeva is unaware of his real identity as the Aatma and has a limited notion about his self while boosting his own ego unknowingly reflecting on the greatness of the Aatma! That is the reason for the very word Jeevaatma to come into usage. But Easwara is ever in the know of his own powers and reality. He knows that Easwara is only the title as the governing principle of the world and that He is the Aatma. That is why there is no word as Easwaraatma! Without His title of Easwara and GuNas, as NirguNa Brhmam, He is known as ‘Paramaatma’ only.
398. You may be tempted to ask as to why the word Paramaatma should be used? Is it not enough to say Aatma? If we use only the word Aatma, then the Jagat and the worldly business of Easwara’s job will not come into our minds. We will think of Aatma only as the NirguNa Brhmam. For the clarity of our minds the prefix of Param has been added. The prefix ‘Param or Para’ is to indicate that He is in a different level as related to this Jeeva. He is not simply the Aatma but with his own job in the relative world. As Easwara despite being utterly involved in running the world affairs, He is aware of being the stand-apart Aatma, instead of being ignorant with limited abilities like the Jeevaatma and so He has to be correctly named as the Paramaatma! This is from the Adwaitin’s point of view. It is we Adwaitins who profess there to be one Aatma which is also the one Brhmam; and then we tend to make so many differentiations surprisingly! In the bargain, we have to make so much of explanation for our point of view! But the trouble is Adwaitam is the end pinnacle of destination. The way is all the multiplicity of the empirical existence and hence the need for explanation.
399. Dwaita Moksham and Prakruti (The Maya). By whatever Siddhanta, Moksham is the release from Karma, the pull of the senses and the cycle of Samsaara, to enjoy the eternal Aananda. This happens when you leave this world and be with God in His World of Vaikundam or Kailasam, without rebirth as per the stand point of view of Dwaitam, Visishtadwaitam and Saiva Siddhanta. By their principled stand point, to be with Him as other than ourselves, to be devoted, to be subservient, even when you are in your inner Aatma is Jeevaatma’s eternal role. Devotion and service to Him are the permanent duties of Jeevaatma. This state is ‘aprakrutam’, to mean that it is not natural, that is unrelated to Maya (the Prakruti another name for Nature). So, in such places as Kailasam and Vaikundam, (which are other words to mean their own special Heavens), as we invite troubles in this world of Maya by our minds in the grip of it naturally, will automatically be obviated! Everything there will be just super fine, they say.
400. Yes it will all be superfine, OK. But, what we note is that it will not be Aatma but only Jeeva! In Samaadhi and deep sleep and in swoon, though there is no differentiation between good and bad, we are aware of our being the Aatma! The idea of good and bad is based on our defining ourselves as this and not that. That is, it can only be one of the objective experiences of the Jeevaatma unaware of his own truth! When our minds are in deep clutches of the Maya and quite unsteady, it goes through a series of peripheral knowledge with reactions to them. When the mind is focussed on one subject then it will not be aware of anything happening in the vicinity other than the focus of attention. At any one time it is capable of only one subject. (Even those who seem to be Ashta or Dasa Avadhanis, [that is capable of dealing with eight or ten subjects at a time], are doing so only by serialising the order of sequence of the subjects in fractions of seconds and responding to them in the same order of priority!) So, this Jeevatma, while in service of Vishnu or Siva respectively in Vaikundam or Kailasam, are enjoying the company of something other than themselves as an object and so cannot be knowing or experiencing the Self! As long as the Jeeva is not in his own true state, he is still in Dwaitam and so that cannot be considered as Moksham, say the Adwaitins.
401 Thoughts and work are both foreign to the very reality of Aatma. Anything made or manufactured means that it is not its natural being. From this word has evolved the word ‘Prakruti’. Though this word is translated as Nature, it is unreal and human made. In the real state of the Aatma, it is devoid of actions, reactions, qualities and attributes. The factor that creates actions, thoughts and GuNas, is the Maya, who’s another name, is Prakruti. That is, it has become so natural for the human being to be unnatural that, to be not the real and to be the unnatural has come to be called the Nature of human being. To be devoted to God, to meditate on Him and serve God, however a great thing to do it may be, it is still foreign to the real Swabhava of the Aatma, the inner being in Man!
402. This is elaborated by Sri Krishna in the Seventh Chapter of Bhagawat Gita, when He talks of Prakruti, Apra Prakruti and Para Prakruti, as three variations of what we club together too simply as Nature! If need be, let the Dwaitins claim that in Heaven Para Prakruti comes in to play, and that Para Prakruti, without pulling man back into the sensual indulgence, takes him to God. But Bhagwan Sri Krishna has talked of the Higher Nature and Brhma state devoid of any work or guNa. He has not spoken anywhere of an Aprakrutam in which GuNa and Karyam are there without any pull of the natural tendencies!
403. If you go to another world and live there, whether it is a planet in another star family or heaven of Vaikundam or Kailasam, it is still related to Maya that is Prakruti. Till there is the delusion of Maya, how can there be Moksham? If they can claim that, “This is a ‘do good Maya’ and we will continue to live here and consider this as Moksham”, let them do so. They cannot say and affirm that “This is the Moksham”! How can they deny there being a Moksham in which Jeeva and Brhmam become inalienably one?
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.