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.