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.