DEIVATHIN KURAL #159 (Vol #4) Dated 11 Mar 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL #159 (Vol #4) Dated 11 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 884 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)
542. Arjuna’s natural inclination is for Karma Yoga because of his being a representative of the warrior class of people whose dominant quality is effervescent and dynamic Rajo GuNa. So also most of the people of the world today are of that type only. Other than doing their duties effectively, maximum that can be expected of such people is to surrender to the will of God without much discussion about subtle esoteric issues! If you tell them, “You be Brhmam or be the Aatma”, it will make no dent in their minds! When you make a statue of intricate artistry, to start with, the sculptor will only make an outline which will look rather crude. Later to quote Michaelangelo, “You carefully remove whatever is not to be there in the statue” and you arrive at a masterpiece of art! That is what Sri Krishna is doing with Arjuna. Remember that Arjuna represents all the aspirants of the world at the cross roads in their life befuddled by the doubts and confusion of existence as to how to proceed further!
543. “Doing ones duty as required by Swadharma is not the be all and end all. Then you have to give up this thought also that you should stick to Swadharma. You are not yet matured enough in Gnaana to go beyond the dichotomy of Dharma vis a vis Adharma. Not only you, nobody by themselves, can attain to Gnaana without my assistance! To enable you to cross over that threshold is my business. Your job is to simply surrender leaving everything in my hands.” Putting all these ideas together in the end of the 18th Chapter, Sri Krishna ends His narration of the Gita.
544. Many people have not understood this correctly. Keeping Arjuna’s natural inclination for action as he has been advised to follow the Saadhana through Karma Marga ending in surrender, this has been construed as the final advice for all aspirants in spirituality! So, they claim that Bhakti and Surrender as the essence of Gita and not Gnaana. Since for Arjuna and people like him, Adwaita Gnaana will almost be an unattainable utopia, Sri Krishna ended with mentioning, “Forget about Dharma and Adharma, you simply do your duty and surrender and I shall do the needful”, was His message. That would be the correct interpretation.
545. “Still, the truth of all truths is also to be told. Arjuna should also be told about Aatma. He and others like him should also be given a glimpse of there being a state beyond all Karma and Bhakti. They should not remain ignorant of it, after the whole of Gita has been said and done! There is no more Saadhana, no more effort; nothing to be achieved. In that you just be - just be aware - and just be aware blissfully.” So having told him to fight, He told him to surrender unto Him. Having fully explained about Aatma and Brhmam and Adwaita Moksham throughout at various places in the 18 Chapters of the Gita, He ends with an easy way of ‘how to do it’ proviso.
546. Even in the last chapter, He talked more about the Gnaana – Sanyaasa – Yoga quite extensively. Logically, it seems that He should have finished with that final mission in life only, is it not so? But with abundant pity and compassion, looking at the disciple’s level and comprehension, He finished not so logically but more psychologically. Thus He turned around ‘His Sermon on the Chariot’ in such a manner as to raise the morale of His disciple to the highest, encouraging him to place all his trust in devotion and surrender that is, Bhakti and SaraNaagati!
547. “Taking Sanyaasa, becoming a Gnaani, having got relieved from pride, desire, anger and such things, without any thought of ‘me and mine’ the devotee thus becomes an embodiment of absolute peace entitled to become Brhmam. Then he goes on to realise his own self as the Aatma with a vision of total equanimity, one with all living beings”. That is what He tells Arjuna in Slokas 53 to 54 of Bhagawat Gita in the 18th Chapter. That is the point in the Gita where His Sermon rightfully reaches its pinnacle of glory. Here is where logically it could have been wound up! Then He may have thought, “What is this? Having raised Arjuna to the highest peak, I seem to have whisked away the ladder by which he could have climbed down to Mother Earth. No, No! Let me give him an easy way out. Already I have given the way of respectful adoration (Bhaya – Bhakti) and shown him a vision of my Cosmic Form of (Vishwa Roopa Dharshan) thereby creating loving devotion (Prema – Bhakti). Now let me show him the way of surrender (Prapatti – SaraNaagati).” That must have been how He decided to go about it. Finally our AachaaryaaL Adi Sankara in explanation in his Bhashyam, says that Prapatti is the same as Paraa Bhakti and Gnaanam. Having laid out tha path of Karma and launched Arjuna on his endeavour and having given him a vision of His Cosmic Form, suitably Sri Krishna finished His Sermon on the Chariot in SaraNaagati!
548. The Adwaita Foundation by Gita. In the whole of Gita, the concept of Gnaanam has been extensively elaborated. That is why our AachaaryaaL had selected Bhagawat Gita as one of the Three Basic Scriptures known as ‘Prasthaana Thraya’, namely Ten selected Upanishads, Brhma Sutra and Bhagawat Gita and gave his Bhashyam for them containing extensive notes, interpretations, references to other scriptures and answers to all possible questions, points and counter points! He says that Bhagawan Sri Krishna, with the intension of instilling a sense of interest in Aatma, before even advising him on Karma Yoga, had dwelt upon Gnaanam quite extensively from the beginning of Bhagawat Gita.
549. Gita Upadesam rightly starts of in the 11th Sloka of the 2nd Chapter. All that is preceding is more as introduction describing the setting and background with reference to the context. In the very first Sloka of the Upadesa, He says, “Gnaani does not worry about the living and dead. The reason for that is because ‘there is nobody who has not been there before’! Everybody is the death-free, eternal, inestimable, inscrutable, immeasurable, unfathomable and unlimited Aatma. It has something as a body which is the thing that dies.” Thus He goes on talking purely in the language of Adwaitam. After some 20 Slokas of such pure Adwaita Gnaanam only, He comes on to how Arjuna should go about solving the situation facing him, changing the thrust from Brhmam to Karma.
550. Poorva and Uttara Meemaamsai-s proceed from Dharma to Karma to Brhmam, as I told you earlier. Actually since there was no talk at all about God, Brhmam and Aatma in Poorva Meemaamsai; and as it was all about Dharma and Karma; Vedaantam had to counter it and correct the imbalance. So as not to let the same mistake occur, before initiating Arjuna in observance of Swadharma Anushtaana, Bhagwan Sri Krishna has laid a strong foundation of Brhma Gnaana.
551. Swadharma Karma was the particular line in which He wanted Arjuna to be launched in. But before that, He wanted that Arjuna should be aware of the principles of Gnaanam which Krishna called by the name of ‘Saankhyam’ and started on that. Having finished talking about Saankhya Yoga (in Gita 2.39), He tells Arjuna, “I have now finished with Sankhya Yoga, now listen to ‘bhudhyaa yukto yayaa paartha karma bhandam prahaasyasi’ ; how you can now go about doing your Karma, without getting too attached to it” Then also throughout that chapter, in the next 33 Slokas, He talks about how to go beyond the pull of the three GuNas through Karma Yoga, how to do away with all the pairs of opposites, finally describing in detail the character qualities of a Stita Pragnya, (a man who has steady wisdom and is merged in the superconscious state)!
552. For a man who was confused about what was his appointed role in life, thinking that attachment for the relatives is the only Dharma even when they were unrightfully and immorally arraigned against him; Sri Krishna has given a guided tour of the higher rarefied regions to be reached, without any confusion or doubt, ending His talk in describing a Stita Pragnya, who would be calm and contented like the unmoving full ocean.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.