DEIVATHIN KURAL #143 (Vol #4) Dated 07 Feb 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL #143 (Vol #4) Dated 07 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 page number 794 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)
387. The very name Easwara is when the Brhmam is the Jagat Karta, which necessarily has to be with Maya. So duality as a condition is given and taken for granted. So the inner being of the Jeeva, the Aatma who is actionless can never become one with this Easwara! To catch hold of a thing in duality and experiencing it and such things are not for the Aatma. When the influence of the Maya lifts, like the Sun or Moon shine bright when the screening cloud lifts, Aatma just drops the prefix of Jeeva. From this level from the point of view of Dwaita – Visishtadwaita Siddhantis, what they call the Moksham does not mean oneness but, remain at the dual level. They do not go down to the rock bottom state of the Aatma. To love God and be of service to Him is an end in itself in their view. They do not believe in a God of Nishkriya and NirguNa. For them Brhmam is only SaguNa Easwara. It is we the Adwaitins who talk of different names at different functional states as SaguNa and NirguNa Brhmam. Then calling the nirguNa Brhmam as Paramaatma, we make further provision for the Jeevaatma, who is the same Aatma but is unaware of it and thinks of himself to be a separate individual.
388. For the dualists the Brhmam is only SaguNa. They do not accept the idea of NirguNa Brhmam at all. As per their principles, their decision has to be like that only. If for Jeevatma the end state Moksha is one of subservience to the Easwara, for Him also the end state has to be one of accepting that devotion from the Bhakta or Devotee forever. If this equation has to sustain for eternity, the duality has to continue even after Moksham! He has to be the omnipotent recipient of devotion and the devotees have to remain subservient entities of limited abilities. His and their job never ends; which means that they both have to remain forever apart. Only while sleeping without any work, the beggar monk and the Emperor can find unity. In the functional world of relativity, they can never be the same!
389. “OK! This Jeeva cannot become one with Easwara. But, out of His extreme compassion and kindness, that Easwara could give His Aishwarya to this man in appreciation of his devotion and services; can He not? If you say that He cannot do so, does it not mean a limitation of His powers as Easwara with Omnipotent capabilities?” Answer to this question is that, Easwara will never do so! His being kind to one devotee could become a matter of being unkind to others bringing in the whole series of avoidable accusations and innuendos! It is not a matter of whether He can or cannot! He just will not deviate from His exalted status of total impartiality. The incorruptible Order of Srushti, Sthithi and Samhaara will be adversely affected, if He does hand over Aishwarya to anyone devotee! Otherwise instead of Cosmic Order there will be Cosmic Chaos at both micro and macro levels! Quoting this as the reason, our AachaaryaaL in explanation of one of the last of the terse epithets of the Brhma Sutras, rules out the possibility of Easwara sharing Aishwarya with the Jeeva. He is welcome to drop his separateness and merge in Paramaatma, and there ends the matter!
390. Short of taking over the official duties of Easwara, this Jeeva could realize his fullest potentials of Ashta Maha Siddhies. Out of extreme love of God, he may feel one with the ultimate reality. In such a state they may feel as though they are fully endowed with all the capabilities of Easwara. Many great Saints have sung as though the world, oceans, mountains and stars are their own creation. That happens in the almost feverish stage of exaltation. Then they would know without a doubt, all that is known to God. Many of the revelations to them and from them to the others, was in this state of ecstasy. They in that stage would have known the past, present and future; here, there and everywhere! It is in such a stage, that they must have spoken about Mukti and NirvaNa. Jeevan does not become Easwara, but his idea of being a separate entity gets erased!
391. In the Duality Stage, the Jeeva is related to Easwara. This is but natural. Easwara in the duality is the working SaguNa Brhmam. Unlike the Jeeva, He is not unaware of reality. While being the apparent Easwara, He knows Himself to be the Adwaita Aatma of NishGuNa, Niraakaara, ParaBrhmam. So to the Jeeva who approaches Him with devotion, He knows enough to release him from the delusion of the Maya and enable him to be absorbed in the inner Brhmam. This is what, Sri Krishna Bhagawan told Arjuna, at the end of Bhagawat Gita, (B.G. 18.55.), “By devotion he knows me in truth, what and who I am; then having known Me in truth, he forthwith enters into the Supreme.”
392. By the very mind of the Jeeva which cannot comprehend the reality and cannot help thinking endlessly also, he has been told enough to correctly know his identity as the Jeeva! He cannot think of Aatma that is beyond the capabilities of the mind to comprehend. It is here that he is advised to think of the SaguNa Brhmam as Easwara with the power of Maya. This Jeeva will be able to think of a God with all his noble attributes and qualities with which he will be able to relate. This Jeeva which cannot relate to the Aatma can relate to Easwara.
393. The business of the world is too mighty a game played, really outside the capabilities of the limited Jeeva to comprehend fully or understand completely. That is alright. All that Easwara demands from this Jeeva is devotion. He is not looking for comprehension and understanding. He says clearly, “In whatever way or form or capacity you pray to me, I grant your prayer with Love. The main prayer that He grants is His Grace. That is Easwara Prasada! That reality is not to be all that capability and power but the understanding to be the Truth! He makes the Jeeva come to realise that he is essentially the stuff of eternal infinity! That Brhmam is the real Swaroopa of this Jeeva. God’s Grace grants the Jeeva to experience by his inner being that, “That You Are”, or “I am that I am”, or in other words, “tat tvam asi”! So, for the Jeeva to know the Jagat Karta the Easwara’s true form of His Inner Reality, is to know his own reality to be the same Brhmam, the Aatma! At that moment, the Jeeva will know himself to be the same Aatma, when Jeevaatma and Paramaatma will be one and the same! Duality ends. Adwaitam prevails and the individual Jeeva feels and knows, “aham Brhma asmi”.
394. When he is simply the Jeeva, he could not know the Aatma. The same Aatma in the worldly transactional stage is the Easwara, the executive power in being. He knows ever Himself to be the Aatma even when totally engrossed in the multifarious duties of His! The Jeeva mind is also very involved in the dual transactions of the worldly life and so is Easwara. But there is a major difference between them. Jeeva does not have the knowledge of the Aatma and when his separateness of being a Jeeva goes, simultaneously Gnaana is realised. Easwara on the other hand is forever in total awareness of His being the Aatma because of which despite his total involvement His Easwaratvam is not affected!
395. Easwara – Jeeva: Avidya – Anta:karaNam. It is said in Adwaita Saastraas that both Jeevatvam and Easwaratvam are not true forms. One truth of Aatma by the connection with Maya is seen as Jeeva-s and Easwara. Both are defined and differences clarified. Brhmam with Avidya or Maya is seen as Easwara and Brhmam with Anta:karaNam is seen as Jeeva. Avidya in other words is Maya and Anta:karaNam though composed of manas, buddhi, chitta and ahankaara, is known as the mind. We have seen this before. Bound by narrow small minds is the Jeeva. To be showing the Aatma as a limited edition is the Maya the power of Easwara. To hide the one truth of Aatma and depict it as so many life forms of Jeeva is this power of Maya also known as Avidya and Agnaana. To learn the truth is Vidya. ‘Vid’ means Gnaana. To know this truth is Vidya. Though with the power of Maya Easwara is never under delusion. He is said to be the Easwara of all knowledge too, “Easaana: sarva vidyaanaam”. Though we have been rendered befuddled by the Maya, He is not so affected.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.