DEIVATHIN KURAL # 15 (Vol # 5) Dated 29 Jun 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 15 (Vol # 5) Dated 29 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 of page No 93 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)
9. We know that milk is tasty as it is. Jaggery is also nice and sweet. If both these two things are well heated together continuously while being stirred, we may also know that the resultant sweet meat must taste quite nice. That is known to our brains alright and till we do it, the taste of it is not experienced, till the taste buds come into physical contact with the item. Till the ‘Thirattippaal’ as it is called in Tamil, is eaten and gone inside the system, we do not know the pleasant sensation and satisfaction! When the item disappears from our view and vanishes inside our body, then only we realise its utility!
10. That is, in the matter of ‘in and out’ there seems to be two aspects. When a thing is physically in front of our eyes, its usefulness is not apparent and so is a secret. In the language of Vedanta it is only ‘Paroksham’. When the item loses its form in the process of being absorbed, its effectiveness shines and becomes ‘Aparoksham’! Even when a thing is seen in its gross form if it’s effective usefulness is not known, it is as good as not being there. Is it not so? If we agree that the inner usefulness is more important than its outer form; that stage when its usefulness is not clear will be the ‘Paroksham’ state and when its usefulness becomes apparent that will be ‘Aparoksham’. Please understand that I am not just playing with words! When the advice is understood intellectually it is still ‘Paroksham’ only. When the words of advice are gone, the brain and our understanding is gone and our separate individuality is also gone; then in that stage the essence of the Guru’s words are imbibed, crystal clearly absorbed, known, understood and experienced! That is ‘Aparoksha Anubhuthi’!
11. What is absorbed by the brains is something else and what is experienced by the life in us is something else. Human eyes see things in day light. But the owl is capable of seeing at night. Nowadays they say some night vision devices are being made. Even those make use of the electromagnetic radiations close to the visible spectrum such as infra-red and ultra-violet radiations. The human brain knows reasoning and deductive logic. But the inner being in us is more on intuitive perception call it heart of the matter or whatever!
12. This heart however does not open out so easily. Somehow the trend is for us to give more importance to the brains and intellect than the dictates of the heart and intuition. So anything before they are accepted as true or even remotely possible or feasible, it has to become intellectually acceptable. It is a human fallacy that even the spiritual matters of religion are first subjected to an assessment by the brains as the whether they are OK or not OK! So only after the clearance has been given by the brains acting as the gate keeper, we come to accept the fact that matters spiritual are beyond the ken of the brains!
13. Then we come to the conclusion that there are matters beyond the human brains and so instead of going by reasoning and logic, we start applying our heart to the issue under consideration. For example despite hearing about there being an Aatma or the inner soul and that it is ‘sat + chit + aanandam’ that is ‘being – awareness – bliss’, as said by many Rishis and saints of the past, as given in many books on Vedaanta; we remain unaware and ignorant, not knowing the ‘sat’, or ‘chit’ or ‘aananda’! We remain like a stupid fool but sad enough additionally! After all the rigorous mental gymnastics, tiredly we do come to accept that instead of going by the brains, we should open our hearts a little more in this issue! This is the main tragedy of human behaviour because of his over dependence on the brains and his thinking ability. The problem is more pronounced in people who are more intelligent and learned. The simple common man is not so much troubled as the so called intelligentsia! Blind belief of the proletariat is that much better off than the one trusting his brains.
14. Sruti – Yukti – Anubhava. Our AachaaryaaL who made much use of his brains in debates and whose works are capable of evoking the admiration and awesome respect of the brilliant brains till date, still has clearly directed us not to use our brains for analysing what is given in the ‘Sruti’ that is the Vedas! The stuff that coruscated in to the comprehension of Rishis by divine will is what the Vedas are and they are anyhow beyond human capabilities of analysis! So accept implicitly what is given in the Vedas, says our AachaaryaaL. But to the extent possible he did establish his Adwaita Siddhanta with deep qualitative analysis, raising all possible counter questions and objections and giving answers to all of them! All the Vaidic AachaaryaaLs of all Sampradayas (traditions) such as Madhva and Ramanuja AachaaryaLs of Dwaitam and Visishtaadwaitam have also accepted the Sruti as ‘Sabda PramaaNam’ (sound evidence) without questioning them and interpreted them from their point of view intellectually.
15. For each Siddhaantam that is Principled View Point, it has to be in consonance with three things namely, Sruti (Vedas), Yukti (Intellectual Analysis) and Anubhava (Practical Experience). What is given in the Vedas should be accepted as it is firstly. Then without going contrary to its statements, analysing them while enlarging and elaborating is what is Yukti. Finally these two things ‘Sruti’ and ‘Yukti’ should lead us to ‘Anubhava’ the practical experience in our hearts.
16. The AachaaryaaL themselves might have had the inner ‘SphuraNa’ or flash of comprehension. They may talk about this brilliance in support of their principled view point. Not only those great Mahatmas, even we the common folks do get such intuitions at times. Not all of them can be explained by Yukti. There are occasions such as the Love of the Mother for the child or the out of this world sort of experience while listening to a beautiful piece of music on the VeeNa. Making use of such parallels and examples, the AachaaryaaL may try and make us comprehend his view point, bringing a consonance between Sruti – Yukti and Anubhava.
17. For a man with devotion to God and equal devotion to Guru; the meaning of the principles will brilliantly shine. That shining gleam, glimmer and flash that the disciple gets is what is called the ‘Swanubhuthi’ or ‘Aparoksha Anubhuthi’! This is what is called ‘Enlightenment’ or ‘Illumination’ and or ‘Revelation’ in other religions too! So it is an experience of Enlightenment and not simply a brain wave. Anubhava is the root. The Upadesa by the Guru instead of remaining at the physical, sensual and cerebral level, for it to mature in to an experience of the inner being; devotion to God and equal devotion to Guru are the Qualitative Requirement or QR as an acronym. The ground for that is not cerebral but the heart. The flash of brilliance is not something that happens newly but a revelation of what already exists in all of us. Only that we were blind to it till it is revealed!
18. By sharpening our brains, by Yukti even if we grasp or comprehend, that flash should lead to the experience of the inner light. The devotion is needed so that the experience is not usurped by our pride as though we have achieved something great not attained by others! For our haughtiness to stand aside with humility, devotion to God and Guru are essential, says the sloka.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.