DEIVATHIN KURAL #158 (Vol #4) Dated 09 Mar 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL #158 (Vol #4) Dated 09 Mar 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 878 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)
532. Whatever the problems and hurdles in doing ones duties and devotional activities, we have to do them with this clarity that these problems are the ones that obviate greater problems. It is like the pin prick of the preventive medicines which obviate a later day incisive and invasive surgery. If you say ‘No’ to them, you are inviting greater problems. Instead of Bhakti for God, you start trusting the ephemeral, adding to the load of your baggage!
533. So, the conviction that, “I have no other duty than to adhere to Adwaitam”, should be the base note known as, ‘Aadhaara Sruti’ in music. With that base note you can sing many notes without any aberrations in concert and in tune. Many duties and responsibilities can be managed sincerely without a blemish and with perfection. If you do not have the base ‘Aadhaara Sruti’ continuously, the music will not be in symphony! When you do deep scrutiny and research in to Sabda Brhmam (also known as Naada Brhmam), the process is known as ‘Anusandaanam’ that will take us deep in to total soundless silence; SaguNa Upaasana will fetch us to NirguNa Brhmam!
534. Whatever work you do, or duties you perform, the weight should be left to Him and the responsibility mentally signed off to the real Karta, the Doer! Without anxiety and passion, the job should be done perfectly, correctly. That is Nish – Kamya – Karma. That is devotion and trust. This way you can unload all your heavy responsibilities with the surety of success. “I am not the doer. Nobody, nothing can do anything to me!” This man from the limited self will just drop all sense of separateness and know himself to be That in Reality. (KTSV adds: Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi says, the man travelling in the train, knowing that it is the engine that is pulling the whole train, will and should put down all his loads and sit down happily, should he not? Similarly when you know that God is running the whole show, why carry the mental load?)
535. To Work without Feeling it to be a Burden! Then, Easwara may get many works done out of such a man, for the welfare of the society at large, as such a person will be most efficient and will not generate problems of his own! Janaka the father of Sita is often quoted as having been such a Brhma Gnaani while still taking care of an empire! Have you noticed children fast asleep and drinking milk? It is the highest level of efficiency when you do not even know that you are working. Patra Giriyaar asks, “When will I enjoy the sleep without sleeping?” That is the state of working without the thinking that one is hard at work! That stage is far away for most of us, as of now.
536. It is not as though Easwara makes every Gnaani become a common purpose robot like this. There may be some inside a cave in some far away mountain, otherwise inaccessible to human beings in Nirvikalpa Samaadhi. There may be some Gnaanis lecturing and advising people like the Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Swami Dayananda Saraswathy. There are also some like Swami Sivananda, Chinmayananda and Mata Amirtanandamayi heading worldwide organizations. Their work involves as much of corporate management covering all the aspects of material, financial and man management as well as public relations, advertisement, media coverage, human resources development and training the followers while sticking to Dharma AacharaN and Karma Anushtaana along with elaborate conduct of pooja, bhajans and yagnaas! All that means so much more Karma that will take the followers to Nishkarma.
537. Whatever the duties, services, Karma Anushtaanaas or Upaasana procedures and such things that we have to do; we should also try and avoid getting too fond of those very activities. Once fondness and desire happens, you know that the whole lot of ‘Anartha Parampara’ also starts off. So all these actions as part of whatever Saadhanaas we do are still only unavoidable Maya and not the real truth! Our aim remains the Aatma which is not directly attainable, that we are using these methods. Hence there is the need to constantly remind ourselves of the Adwaita aim.
538. If we have to come face to face with our own Aatma, this soiled, dirty, oscillating mind of ours has to be cleansed and stabilized. As in dirty, turbid and shaking water we cannot see what is inside, to get the mind translucent, we have to cleanse the mind with Karma and stabilize the same with Bhakti. From the very beginning as we do our duties and services, we have to keep developing our devotion in parallel. He being the Karta (or Doer) as well as the Phala Daata (or Giver of Effect for all our actions); unless we offer all our actions at his feet, it will not be Nish-Kaamya-Karma. For what is otherwise a very dry thing, this Nish-Kaamya-Karma; it is this devotion to Easwara that will soften and lubricate the process. As the batter for bread is softened and becomes easier for handling by adding Ghee, our actions should be made soft and nice by adding devotion. While doing all this we should constantly guard against Saadhana – Ahankaram / Abhimaanam, that is, pride that we are the ones doing all this! As I said earlier, from the beginning the aim of Aatma Anubhava should never be lost sight of!
539. Thus the three royal paths of Karma – Bhakti – Gnaana have to go hand in hand, right from the word ‘Go’. It is this point that Bhagwan Sri Krishna has clarified in Gita. He told Arjuna, “yudhyasva” – saying “Come on yaar, fight”. Krishna got him fully involved in action. Arjuna had complained as to why he should go to war, since he was going to become a Gnaani! Krishna told him, “Nothing doing. “yudhyasva vigata: jwara:”, Krishna said. What does that phrase “vigata: jwara:” mean? It means, ‘devoid of fever’! Arjuna was affected by the fever of his ill placed, mistaken attachments to relatives, even when they were lined up ready to kill him! His mind was agitated and delirious with a false sense of what is right and wrong!
540. Because of the mistaken notion Arjuna was thinking of, taking up Sanyaasa, giving up all claims to the royalty and leading the life of a beggar! Sri Krishna’s immediate task was to correct him and move him in the Karma Marga. So he started talking about the Karma Marga expanding on the idea of Nish – Kamya – Karma. Since the Gita was meant to be an advice for Arjuna as a man of the caste of Kshatriyas, the Karma marga had to be emphasised. But this is not to be mistaken that the main thrust of the Bhagawat Gita is only Karma Yoga. It was meant for Arjuna as a soldier (with Rajo GuNa predominant) and not for a Saadhak in the spiritual path. But with reference to the context, the initial need of the hour was to get rid of his delusion.
541. But, instead of its being dry performance of duties only; Sri Krishna added a qualifying clause. He said, “maam anusmara yudhya cha” (Gita 8.7.). “Fight for your rights. But do it ‘thinking of Me!’ Use all your fighting prowess and abilities, while keeping your mind with devotion focussed on Me! This is the fight between divine and evil forces and so you have to fight keeping God on your side.” Under the situation maximum that Arjuna could do was surrender in devotion and not Brhma NirvaaNa in Gnaana! That is how, He told Arjuna, later in the 18th chapter of the Gita, “Leave all complications of trying to analyse as to what is Dharma and Adharma and simply surrender unto Me!” That is the meaning of “sarva dharmaan parityajya maam ekam saraNam vraja”! That is the message of Bhagawat Gita as Sri Krishna promises, “because I will take you across to the everlasting plenitude of Moksha, do not worry!”
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.