DEIVATHIN KURAL #166 (Vol #4) Dated 25 Mar 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL #166 (Vol #4) Dated 25 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 page number 928 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)
38. The Gnaani when ‘antar mukha’ (inward looking) is anyhow simply enjoying the Paramaatma Rasa and is purely in a state of bliss. When he is aware of the outer world, then too, for him the inner and outer is all the same Narayana Swaroopa. He sees all as Brhma Roopa and so is in the same uninterrupted state of bliss! He has no aim or mission. He has no needs or wants; no necessities, no prayers and no demands. He loves God because he has become another form of Love! This is the cleanest state of devotion known as ‘ahaituka bhakti’, meaning ‘devotion not for any reason or logic or gain’! This state is what Sukha AachaaryaaL has described in Bhagawatam. He will not pray to God even when someone cuts him with a sword because, he is of the firm conviction that he is not this body but Aatma, in and out. So, without a prayer, he will be loveable towards God as well as the one who has cut him.
39. Where is this love in comparison with the devotion of the Aartan who is praying for help, relief and sustenance? Further lower is the state of the Arthaarthee who despite having enough is asking for more! It looks as though the devotion of the Arthaarthee should not be considered as devotion at all! But Bhagawan Sri Krishna has mentioned the Aartan begging for alms, the Arthaarthee being greedy for more, the Jigyaasoo asking for Gnaana and the Gnaani in the same category as people who pray to Him! Moreover He calls them all as ‘sukrudina: janaa:’ as people who have done well with evident appreciation! After two more slokas, He says that all of them are very good indeed, “udhaaraa: sarva evaite”! Why did He, Bhagawan Sri Krishna bracket them all together as his Bhaktaas who are ‘skrudina:’ and also ‘udhaaraa:’, keeping Gnaani, the one aspiring to be a Gnaani, the man looking for relief and sustenance and the one asking for more?
40. The answer is that, there is scope for any type of prayer in our worldly life. In this life we are faced with many problems one after the other or at times many of them together. Whatever they may be, to be unworried about them and to pray to God because we love being devoted is the best. There can be no objection to that. But in practice none of us are able to be like that. Some Maya is in control and making us subject to it. Our AachaaryaaL too said, “maha maya viswam bhramayasi”, meaning that ‘the Maha Maya is befuddling the world’. We are stuck in it. We are all thinking that this world is real and our body is the reality and continuing with our life. In this life when faced with a defeat, insult to our honour, disease, discomfort, dues out and such problems we do feel the pinch of it. It is great if we are unaffected by them!
41. Not to go under and not to give up in all such circumstances, knowing maya to be only an illusion, is how we should be. We should be training our minds to be so, right from the beginning for that only. Whether we become so clear headed like that one day or not, be set aside temporarily. But, today we are feeling its effects, is it not so? When a thorn pierces our foot, do we not feel the pain? In the delirium of fever, do we not cry about it? Some misunderstanding with one’s wife, some disgusting incident in the office, some cash or material loss; do not these things erode our peace of mind? Some requirement at home, a promotion overdue, a responsibility to get one’s daughter married, a seat in the college for the son, failing productivity on the shop floor, plummeting sales graph; there are many such pulls and pressures for which we are running from pillar to post, do we not?
42. In this, we go to places for a specific purpose and are disappointed by failing to achieve what we went for. What to do on those occasions? We find it difficult to console ourselves, talking about the Karma principle and having to do Nish Kamya Karma and things like that as given in the Bhagawat Gita, does not console us. Instead of taking it easy, we tend to take it hard as something inside continues to irritate us. What to do on such occasions? Yes there is God. He is the one doing all this, managing and orchestrating and conducting the whole world, elders say! He is of course doing all this on some Dharmic law, not easily understood by all of us, OK! He is said to be the very form of mercy and grace, an ocean of bliss, say many great saints! He is the one who has got us embroiled like this, in this worldly life. Let Him take care of us. It is better that we handover all our problems to Him and let Him do whatever. So there can be nothing wrong in handing over all our problems to Him! There is one such way of looking at it.
43. People are very rare indeed who have (or wish to have), an attitude of, “come what may, I shall forever be unattached like the drop of water on the lotus leaf”! 90% of people are such who bother about life’s ups and downs; with or without understanding and comprehension, wish to make it free of problems. To solve their problems God has the ability, right, kindness and compassion. So, to approach, beg and beseech Him, is the most appropriate thing to do, opine some.
44. “God has given you a mind, body and intellect. You are part of a family, community and nation. To take care of the family and do your duties for your people and nation is your responsibility. For these things do you not go to doctors, bankers, government officials and so on, to take their help? So now, what is wrong in taking the help of God, who is above all such? There is nothing to be ashamed about being devoted to God and praying for whatever! Even if you wish to have the various human agencies be favourable to your cause, you need God’s blessings. So let God be the first one, to be prayed to. When you are matured enough not to fall on any human feet, then you may discontinue praying to God for such favours!” That will be their advice.
45. When you think about it deeply, you will note that we have limited capabilities. We cannot achieve everything on our own. So, believing that the power of God is omnipotent, this ‘Aartan’ prays to God, is it not so? This is but, natural. So Bhagawan appreciates such devotees also as ‘sukrutina:’ probably. Man who normally thinks no end to himself, somewhere along the line realizes his limitations and comes to the conclusion that God is the only recourse, in all humility. So he prays to God and that is to be appreciated to that extent, even if it is for worldly material gain only. To pray to God with faith and belief, is after all good! Please note that Bhagawan Sri Krishna says in Gita (7-11), “as long as it is not against morally righteous Dharma, his just desires are also I only”. That is, “dharma viruddo bhooteshu kaamosmi bharatarshabha”! Wrongful desires are forbidden. As long as it is within Dharma, God accepts them as your right.
46. OK! When a man is well furnished and catered for, then how can it be that his demand for more is also part of this right? How can such men of wants, ‘arthaarthee’ also be included in that lot of ‘sukrutina:’? We should not keep even a small bit more than what is needed essentially to conduct this life. That is the norm. This is eulogised as ‘aparigraham’ in the dharma Saastraas. Greed is to be put down. So, why did Krishna Paramaatma call him a ‘sukrutina:’? We can give some sort of an explanation for this.
47. That is, in this world, there are many things to be done for social service on charity for destitute and poor people. Temples and common facilities have to be maintained and repaired. Schools and hospitals have to constructed and run. Orphanages and old age people’s homes have to be run. Not all of them can be money making concerns, but run on no profit basis. A whole lot of money is required for such purposes. Even after government grants and well to do people’s donations, still more may be required. An ‘arthaarthee’ after catering for his essential needs may pray to God for money for such purposes. We can take it that god accepts such demands and prayers.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.