DEIVATHIN KURAL # 05 (Vol # 5) Dated 09 Jun 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 05 (Vol # 5) Dated 09 Jun 2011

(These e-mails are translations of talks given by PeriyavaaL of Kanchi Kaamakoti 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 second para on page No 30 of Vol 5 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)
44. Let us summarize the purport of the past few paragraphs to grasp it clearly. All Devatas do pray to PiLLaiyar. Then only they are able to do any of their jobs without hindrances. Whichever Devata endeavours to proceed without praying to PiLLaiyar, He is capable of hindering their plans. So, it means that He must be more powerful than them all! Nowhere is it said that He has had to approach other God’s help or assistance. So it is clear that He is all capable. So, whatever can be granted by them, He can do so Himself. This fact is borne out by the various names of PiLLaiyar in various temples. After much is said and done He is known as, Lakshmi GaNapathy, Vidya GaNapathy, Vijaya GaNapathy and so on. That means that, He is capable of granting all wealth like Lakshmi, endowing all knowledge like Saraswathy, sanction all victories as AmbaaL and so on. That He can give us all that we are seeking can be discerned from His being called the ‘Sarva Siddhi Prada GaNapathy’! Many temples have come into being for Him with names such as ‘Siddhi Vinayaka and Varasiddhi Vinayaka’, due to this capability of His. For other Gods, there is no such adjective as ‘Siddhi’ added to their names anywhere!
45. Thus it is clear that He is the original primordial root cause of all Gods! The scholar of Tarka Saastra knows Him to be the stuff of ‘Ekam Param Devam’! Then he applies the ‘tat hetu nyaayam’ in his worship. He thinks: ‘Each Devata granting each type of boon are like the shop keepers of the Provision Store or Hard Ware Stores or Druggist / Chemist. None of them can give you anything without sanction from this PiLLaiyar. Whereas He is like the owner-proprietor of a super market mall, where all your needs are available. There is no limit to his powers to sanction. So why bother to go to any other Gods or Goddesses? If one investment can give you all the required needs, why bother with any other investments? By one means if you can have all the returns directly, why go around in circles making use of many means for some indirect returns? If for one ‘tat’ or purpose of praying to one particular Devata, we have to first approach PiLLaiyar, and it so happens that he can Himself grant us ‘this tat’ as well as ‘that tat’, why not make prayers to PiLLaiyar and be done with it? That is what is meant by “tat hetoreva tat hetutve madye kim tena?”
46. Anyhow without first doing a pooja to PiLLaiyar there is no worship of any deity done. First we have to start with a ‘sukhlaam bharatharam’ with the knuckles tapping on the head. So then why go for any other procedure for any other deity? Without His permit other deities have no possibility of granting any of our prayers and He is also capable of granting any of our wishes. Such being the case, it is enough if we pray to GaNesha. A devotee, who knows the ‘tat hetu nyayam’, knowing PiLLaiyar to be the one supreme God, finishes with His worship: ‘tat hetoriti neetivid bhajante devam yam ekam param’. Instead of only the preamble procedure for PiLLaiyar and then an elaborate worship of any other deity, the devotee does the whole pooja for PiLLaiyar!
47. There could be a slightly different approach too. It is true that there are different deities for different divine sanctions for the devotee. So we can assume that instead of keeping all the control in his own hands, keeping only the removal of obstacles within his purview, he leaves it to other deities to play their allotted roles, so to say! Because, what is said about PiLLaiyar is also applicable to many of the other deities as all powerful, ‘ekam param’! It is true that the One God only is seen as so many Gods and all the animate life forms and inanimate things of the universe are also its manifestations only. But we are not aware of the real identity of ours due to Maya whereas the deities cannot be subject to the delusion of Maya. They all must be knowing and aware themselves to be made of the stuff of the one Supreme Being only! May be not all the Gods are aware but, at least the important ones, as established with reasoning by Appayya Deekshidar as ‘ratna thrayam’, Siva, AmbaaL and Maha Vishnu, should be above the delusion of Maya. Even in their worship, we do the initial Vigneswara Pooja to start with, do we not?
48. So, the normal custom for all those deities is to play their allotted role only without showing off all their omnipotence. In our Sanatana Dharma, we have a whole Pantheon of Gods with a variety of different decorations, preferred offerings, devotional procedures and appointed roles; such arrangements deemed to be the making the one God Paramaatma only! These are said to have been revealed to great Rishis, with separate Mantra, Tantra and Procedures for worship. In that ‘removal of hindrances’ is the allotted role of Vigneswara, like a portfolio for individual ministers in a governing body! So, he is like the departmental head for the specific job of ‘removal of hindrances’! So now can the ‘tat hetu nyayam’ be applicable here?
49. While forming a ministry, each minister is given a clearly defined job such as finance, police, home and so on. Anyone of them may be capable of holding any of the department. In a democratic set up, even if you are not very conversant with your job, you may be able to make do! But anyhow, you cannot simply interfere in other department’s job and issue orders. Till yesterday you might have been in one line and with the shuffling of ministers you may be in another job, a day later. But you have to remain in your own domain, is it not so? In the divine administration of the world’s governance too such must be the normal arrangement. When I say the normal custom; I know that there could be extraordinary situations.
50. One deity – it could be Vigneswara or anyone else – any deity, while granting the devotee’s wish from the highest level of awareness as omnipotent, instead of only one type of blessing, may sanction all one wishes for! When the devotee especially surrenders to that one God with the conviction that, “I will not go to any other God”, instead of keeping it restricted to their scheduled role, may grant it all. When the surrender is total, not only any small deity like a Grama Devata or Vana Devata or even to Mother, Father, Guru or one’s own Husband; God may grant it all in appreciation of one’s sincerity and integrity. But such cases of total surrender are very rare.
51. It is human nature to go through every experience in as many varities as possible in whatever we do. Differences in tastes make food more enjoyable. You need the whole range of colours Violet, Indigo, Blue, Yellow, Orange and Red; as well as many of the shades in between to make dresses, sceneries, paintings, photographs and life in general more colourful! Music has to be in various Ragas, Taala and speeds of slow, fast and super fast. That is why they say that ‘variety is the spice of life’! Do we not need it in the case of Gods and devotional procedures too? The state free of mind, thoughts, actions & aspirations comes only at the end. The state of Samadhi / Nirvana / Adwaitam comes only after all varieties have been gone through.
52. To reach that stage, we have to make use of this mind. The mind that is ever capricious and fickle has to be got hold of first to get interested in the very process of devotion. So here is where the variety amongst Gods and in the approach to divinity helps. The SaguNa Upasana of God in so many forms as humans, animals, birds and plants is peculiar to Hinduism. As per God’s promise to come amongst our midst as and when required to put down increasing immorality and re-establish Dharma and the balance between good and evil; means that other than being the ‘antar yaami’, the immanent power in all of us; He also comes as so many Avataras. So, as He or She that primordial force does assume many forms amongst the living beings of this world. So you need to have as many varieties of devotional procedures. Variety of mantras, songs, bhajans, decorations and so on, have to be there. For one you offer a Bilva leaf (Aegle Marmelos), for another the Tulasi (Basil Thyme) and for yet another a tuft of grass will do most sufficiently! That is why a whole range of eats are offered as Prasada to different Gods such as, pure butter and Vella Cheedai to Krishna; Modakam that is Kozhukkattai to PiLlaiyar; fresh honey from the forest and Thinai maavu to Muruga!.
53. You might have heard in passing that Lalitha Parameswari is offered ‘chatus shashti upachaaradya’, that is services offered in elaborate Poojas are supposed to be 64 in numbers! They are as follows:- 1. ‘Padyam’ – Water for the feet. 2. ‘AabharaNaavaropaNam’ – Removal of jewels. 3. ‘Sugandha taila abhyanga:’ - Smearing with scented oil. 4. ‘Majjana shaala pravesha:’ – Entry in to the bathing hall. 5. ‘Majjana mandapa maNipeeta upaveshaNam’ – Seating on the jewelled seat in the bathing platform. 6. ‘Divya snaaneeyodvartanam’ – Dusting with scented powder. 7. ‘UshNodakasnaanam’ – Bathing in warm water. 8. ‘Kanaka kalashachyuta sakala teerthabhisheka:’ – Bathing with sacred waters from divine rivers and other water sources from all over the land from golden pots. 9. ‘dhouta vastra parimarjanam’ – Drying with a clean dry cloth. 10. ‘AruNa dhukoola paridhaanam’ – Decorating with red silk saree. 11. ‘AruNa dhukoola kuchottareeyam’ – Decorating with red silk upper. 12. ‘Aalepa mandapa pravesha:’ – Entering the anointing hall. 13. ‘Aalepa mandapa maNipeeta upaveshanam’ – Seated on a jewelled seat on the platform of the anointing hall. 14. ‘chandana – agaru – kunkuma – sangu – mrugamada – karpoora – gorochanaadi divya ganda sarvaanga vilepanam’ – Being anointed all over the body with sandal, amyris, kunkuma (reddened ochre), sanku an odoriferous bark, musk, camphor, kasturi (another form of musk from a cat), gorochana (a yellow pigment from the hump of the cow). 15. ‘kesha bhaarasya kalagaru dhoopa:’ – Perfuming hair-locks with the smoke of the black agaru. 16. ‘Mallika maalati Jaati champaka ashoka shatapatra pooga kunkumalee punnaaga kahlaara mukhya sarvartu kusumaalaa:’ – Decorating and garlanding with flowers and buds of all seasons such as, Jasmine, Maalati, Jaati, Champaka, Asoka, White Rose, Areca, Punnaaga, Kahlaara and such. 17. ‘BhushaNa mandapa praveshanam’ – Entering the jewellery hall. 18. ‘BhushaNa mandapa maNipeetopaveshaNam’ – Being seated in the seat in the jewellery hall. 19. ‘NavamaNi makutam’ – Wearing the crown of nine gems. 20. ‘Chandra sakalam’ – Wearing on the head the jewel shaped like a crescent moon. 21. ‘Seemantha Sindooram’ – Placing sindura on the forehead. 22. ‘Tilaka Ratnam’ – Fixing of a gem in the centre of the eye brows. 23. ‘Kaalaanjanam’ – Black collyrium for the eyes. 24. ‘Phalee yugalam’ – Twin circlets on the nostrils. 25. ‘MaNikundala yugalam’ – Pair of jewelled ear-rings. 26. ‘NasabharaNam’ – Nose ornament. 27. ‘Adhara yaavakam’ – Application of paint on the lips. 28. ‘Prathama BhushaNam – Primary ornament that is the Thaali or Maangalya Sutra. 29. ‘Kanaka Chintakam’ – Wearing of gold necklace. 30. ‘Padaka:’ – Pendant in the necklace. 31. ‘Maha Padaka:’ – Large pendant. 32. ‘Muktavali:’ – Pearl necklace. 33. ‘Ekavali:’ – a single strand of 27 pearls. 34. ‘Channaveeram’ – An ornament worn cross wise on the chest from the shoulders. 35. ‘Keyura chathushtya yugalam’ – Pair of bangles on the shoulders, two each on either side. 36. ‘Valayavali:’ – Series of bangles. 37. ‘Urmikavali:’ – Series of rings on the fingers. 38. ‘Kaanchidaama’ – Waist ornament with bells. 39. ‘Kateesutram’ – inner girdle around the waist. 40. ‘Sowbhaagya aabharaNam’ – Auspicious ornament. 41. ‘Paada Katakam’ – Bangles for the feet. 42. ‘Ratna Noopuram’ – Anklets of gems. 43. Paada Anguleeyakam’ – Rings for the toes. 44. ‘Eka kare Paasa:’ – Noose on one hand. 45. ‘Anyakare Ankusa:’ – goad on the other hand. 46. ‘Itara kare pundrekshu chaapa:’ – Sugar cane bow on the third hand. 47. ‘Apara kare pushpa bhaana:’ – Arrow of flowers in the fourth hand. 48. ‘Sriman MaaNikya Paaduke’ – Pair of auspicious sandals. 49. ‘Swasaana veshaabhi: aavaraNa devataabhi: saha Maha Chakra adhirohaNam’ – Entering the great Sri Chakra attended by the ‘aavaraNa’ deities similarly dressed. 50. ‘Kaameswara paryanga niveshaNam’ – Being seated on Kameswara’s lap. 51. ‘Amrutaa sava chashaka:’ – Cup to hold nectar like liquor. 52. ‘Aachamaneeyam’ – Sipping water. 53. ‘’Karpoora Veetikaa’ – Scented betel. 54. ‘Aananda Ullaasa Haasa:’ – Smile indicative of bliss. 55. ‘Mangala Aartikam’ – waving of burning camphor in front. 56. ‘Chatram’ – Umbrella. 57. ‘Chaamara yugalam’ – Pair of whisks made of the tail hair of Chamari deer for causing the air to move. 58. ‘DarpaNa:’ – Showing of mirror to adjust her decorations to her satisfaction. 59. ‘Taalavruntam’ – Palmyra fan. 60. ‘Ganda;’ – Smearing of sandal paste. 61. ‘Pushpam’ – Placing of flowers at her feet. 62. ‘Dhoopa:’ – Incense. 63. ‘Deepa:’ – Light. 64. ‘Neivedyam’ – Varity of eats being offered as prasadam.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.