DEIVATHIN KURAL #165 (Vol #4) Dated 23 Mar 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL #165 (Vol #4) Dated 23 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 920 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)
28. The last two lined sloka with this Shatpadi is like a phalasruti which is not really a phalasruti! What I mean is that, normally at the end of all such slokas and poems, the phalasruti would have been added either by the author originally or by somebody along the line, detailing the gains that one is likely to get by chanting that sloka. It is not exactly like that here. I will talk about it later at the end of my talk about Shatpadi, since the last poem should be talked about only at the end, is it not so? Now I am going to talk about the title of the Shatpadi.
29. Padam is a word used with many meanings. In learning the Vedas there are many methods of learning them, such as, Padam, Kramam and finally Ganam. Here padam is chanting the Vedas word by word. Kramam is one in which different combinations of the words are chanted, changing the order in which they occur in the scripture, as per some set patterns. When you have learnt them all, and finally when you have learnt the Ganam method, you get the title Gana PaadigaL after which you can become a research student or go in for Adhyapakam as a Teacher or Purohitam as a practicing Pundit. Shatpadi Stotram is supposed to have six padam or stanzas. Instead of each line of the slokas being called a padam, four lines put together makes a padam. So, six such stanzas collectively are known as Shatpadi.
30. Instead of the one fourth portion the whole slokam too are called the ‘padam’ on occasions. Jaya Deva’s Gita Govindam for example is called the Ashta Padi. Here each stanza is a padam. In Tamil too, if we take a Padikam or Pasuram, we ask as to, “how many ‘Adi’ does it have”? Here too ‘Adi’ is the whole stanza instead of just a line. As you may know that ‘Adi’ also means feet. If it is a Keertanam, instead of padam or paadam, we say that it contains so many ‘SaraNam’-s. As you may know again that this word SaraNam also means elsewhere feet or legs! When you move step by step, in Tamil it is said “adi mel adi vaithu” and in Sanskrit it is “pade pade”. So, we can take it also that we progress step by step, through the sloka of six steps, Shatpadi.
31. Here there is a pun (‘Sladai or Sleshai’) also on the word Shatpadi. Padam means a ‘kaal’ or leg, as you already know. ‘Kaal’ once again means both a quarter and a leg, as I have already told you. So, the word Shatpadi could also mean an animal with six legs. Man has two legs. Animals have four legs. Snake has no legs. Centipede has hundred legs as its name suggests! Which is the animal with six legs? It is the beetle called the ‘Vandu’ in Tamil. So, Shatpadi Stotram is the Vandu Stotram. Why should this slokam with six stanzas be called the Shatpadi or Vandu Stotram is a mystery, which is made clear only in the last stanza of two lines that is the seventh stanza! Story tellers, novel and fiction writers keep up the tempo of mystery and unanswered questions till the very end of the narrative, do not they? Exactly similarly our AachaaryaaL also clarifies the reason why he named this as the ‘Vandu Stotram’ only in the last two lines of the Shatpadi, the seventh sloka! Those well read in literature and involved in studying the scriptures with devotion will anyhow understand from the very beginning, without my having to explain. Some of you may have already got it. For those who have not, I am also going to make you understand only at the very end! Now let us start with the first sloka. In the first one, AachaaryaaL is telling us as to what are the things we should be praying for.
32. What to Pray For? There are many views on what we should be praying for. In this worldly life we have countless problems, worries, dilemmas and irritants. Bodily difficulties, mental conflicts, fear, real or imaginary insults, lack of funds and resources; are there endlessly. If we are unwell we go to the doctor. If we are short of funds we go to the people who can give us loan or the banker. If the problem is due to some spirits or planetary influence, we go to the experts in those lines. For many other problems we go to government officers. While doing all this we also pray to God! Whomsoever we are approaching for our problems, for that person to act favourably to us, we pray to God. Doctor will only give medicines. For it to be effective on our body system, we pray to God! We are going to someone for help. What happens if we meet with an accident enroute? So we pray to God!
33. There are some people of the opinion that it is wrong to pray to God for these things. Problems come up due to our Karma. So these problems are part of the system of Karma and its effects. God as the Karma Phaladaata is the one giving us these problems so as to correct our behaviour and attitude! So, we should never be praying to God for these prosaic, run-of-the-mill situations. God knows as to what to give us and when! So, we should never be praying for anything. To think of God is a pleasure, is it not so? We should be thinking of Him for that reason only. The benefit of devotion is the peace of mind that results. That is the main thing. Instead, to pray to God for all small and temporary gains is to misuse His name and power. So we should never ask for anything. The only thing we can pray for is our inner cleansing, so that we may not be tempted to go the wrong way.
34. Here what God Himself tells us on this matter is the authority. Let us see what Sri Krishna Paramaatma has to say on this issue, in Bhagawat Gita, Chapter 7, Slokam 16:- “chaturvidaa bhajante maam janaa: sukrutina: Arjuna! I aartho jigyaasoo: arthaarthee gnaani cha bharatarshabha II” What he conveys is as follows:- “There are four types of people praying to Me! One is an Aartan, second is a Jigyaasoo, third is an Arthaarthee and the fourth is the Gnaani. First He mentions the Aartan. He is the one in trouble, poor, sorrowful, destitute, diseased having endless problems. In ache and agony, he prays to God to reduce his loads and problems.
35. The second type is the Jigyaasoo. He is the Saadhak aspirant, who wishes to know. He is asking for knowledge, awareness and Gnaanam. He is also a beggar only in a way. He may not be begging and may be happily singing the praise of God and doing Aaraadhana, Pooja, Japa, Upaasana and Dhyana. These very acts will save him from being scatter brained and give him focus. That is the reason Upaasana is highly recommended by AachaaryaaL. He does not have to ask for Gnaanam. As long as he is happily praying, God will absorb him in his Nishkriya, NirguNa roopa. Instead of being separately as an individual amongst many like him, to become one with the reality of existence is that Gnaanam. To go to that stage is all the preparatory efforts of Karma, Bhakti, Upaasana and Dhyaanam. The Jigyaasoo beseeches God for that only.
36. Third is the Arthaarthee. The first mentioned Aartan is different from this man who is after gaining money, wealth and resources. This ‘tha’ is different from the earlier ‘ta’ in Aartan. (In Sanskrit, the consonants ‘ka, cha, ta, tha, pa’ have each four different sounds such as, ‘ka, kha, ga, gha; cha, chha, ja, jha; ta, tta, da, dda; tha, ththa, dha dhdha; pa, ppa, ba, bha’, which are not available like that in Tamil or English. So it is difficult to explain this, especially in a translation.) Suffice it to say that this ‘Arthaarthee is different from the earlier mentioned Aartan.
37. Aartan also wishes to have money because he is poor. But this latter one is not suffering due to being poor. This man wants more of everything. He prays to God for more of wealth, money, resources, luxury, promotion, possessions, status, name and fame! Fourth is the Gnaani, who too is praying to God, but not for a purpose! He has become one with God, while continuing to be a devotee. He just loves to love God! All his Pooja, Dhyaanam and such things might have come to a stop. Not necessarily will he be in Nirvikalpa Samaadhi all the time. While in Samaadhi he enjoys his oneness with the only truth. On other occasions he does interact with all people of the world with the clarity that they are all another guise of the same supreme reality. Whether it is a boy or a girl or another person of whatever sex of whatever age; he sees the same God in all of them and enjoys the Role – Playing by God. He knows that all are his form only, “vaasudevas sarvam iti”, as Vasudeva Himself said in the Gita. He simply takes pleasure in meeting them all, as our AachaaryaaL says in Baja Govindam, “nandati nandati nandati eva”!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.