DEIVATHIN KURAL # 16 (Vol # 5) Dated 01 July 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 16 (Vol # 5) Dated 01 July 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 last para of page No 98 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)
19. What are these two devotions you are talking about, devotion to God and equal devotion to Guru? How are they to be assessed and quantified as to whether they are equal or not? Those can be your questions. It is God who comes in our life as the Guru to point out the direction. That is what all the Saastraas have confirmed. All great past masters of this religion have clearly asserted that it is their Ishta Murthy Devata who came in their life as the Guru and blessed them.
20. In Vinayagar Agaval Avvaiyar has confirmed that Lord GaNesha came as her Guru – “guru vadivaagi kuvalayam thannil thiruvadi vaithu”. In Kandar Anubhuthi, AruNagiri Nathar ends his Kandar Anubhuthi with, “guruvaai varuvaai aruLvaai gugane”. He is one for whom Lord SubrahmaNya came as the Guru enabling AruNagiri Nathar to attain to Kandar Anubhuthi! So, at the end of his description of his state, he is praying on behalf of all of us for the God to come as the Guru. The last song of his Kandar Anubhuthi with word to word meaning is as follows:- “uruvaai (in apparent form) aruvaai (without form), uLadaai (as being), iladaai (as non-being), maruvaai (as the bud), malaraai (as the flower), maNiyaai (as the bell or gem), oliyaai (as the sound of the bell, and as ‘oLiyaai’ would mean as the light), karuvaai (as the egg), uyiraai (as the life in the egg), gadiyaam (as the eventual flow of life), vidiyaai (as the fate), guruvaai (as the Guru), varuvaai (you may please come), aruLvaai (bless me Oh!) Gugane! (Guha, another name for Muruga)”.
21. In many places within Kandar Anubhuthi he has clearly described that exalted stage of ‘swaananda’ or ‘aatma anubhuthi’ that he was experiencing. For example in the very second stanza, he says, “ellaam ara ennai izhanda nalam sollaai” meaning ‘that sate of losing my all including the separate identity’! In the third stanza, he says, ‘is it space or is it tempest like tornado? Is it the dawn of Gnaana, is it me or my mind or the place of my conquest, which is the thing that matters?’ In the 12th stanza he says, “You told me to desist from doing anything and just keep quiet – ‘summa iru sol ara’. In the 20th stanza he says, “Am I worthy of the rare Upadesa you gave me?” In the 28th stanza he says, “It just stood there all by itself having swallowed the ‘I’! Then in the 30th he says, “That Lord with the spear in his hands who is seen in the mornings and evenings as the red sky ‘aruNa’, that day advised me and made me aware. It is one thing to know, but how am I to tell it to anybody?” In the 42nd stanza he says, “When that act of directing sans pointing happened, I lost my all awareness, consciousness, the self, the world, the gnosis and ignorance too!” In the next stanza he says, “Muruga! By your grace when all my desires were atomized, speechless Anubhuthi was born!” In the 49th stanza he says, “To have stood in total loneliness is a thing to be experienced. It is not something to be shared with anybody else, since who is the ‘other’ when all is one!” Then at the end is the 51st stanza which was explained in para number 20 above!
22. MaaNikka Vaachagar similarly talks about his experience as to how in Thiru Perum Thurai in the Aavudaiyaar Koil the very Lord Parameswara came before him as the Guru under the Kurundai tree to establish his command over him forever! This he mentions on many occasions in his poems, melting with devotion and gratitude for the Guru’s act of kindness! He says, “aru parathu oruvan avaniyil vandu guruparan aagi aruLiya perumai”, meaning, ‘that one supreme Lord came on this earth as my Guru and honoured me!’ In many other places in his poems he has reiterated that, for the one supreme power to come in a form visible to our eyes and give us the honour to move and interact with us, is a great blessing and grace indeed!
23. KaLidaasa in his poem ‘Navaratna Maalika’ about AmbaaL has also described as to how she came in the form of his Guru and showed him the high values of life, when he says, “desika roopeNa darsita abhyudayaam”. So thus, if we take that it is God who comes in the form of our Guru then, we will see them God and Guru as one. It is not a matter to be assumed or to be taken like that. Is it not also the truth that, it is the unmanifested potential of the noumenon which is seen as all the manifested phenomena? Then it is not two different entities at all but one and the same! So we do not have to talk about devotion to God and equal quantum of devotion to Guru as though they are different. If we have the highest devotion to God who has come in the form of Guru then the meaning of his Upadesa will be apparent to our inner self as Anubhuthi; as a result of which we will be rid of the recurrent cycle of birth and death! That is Mukti or Moktsha!
24. If I say that because we are devoted to God it is not to mean that the very act of devotion gives Mukti directly. Nothing gives the direct effect as though it is a simple inert action – reaction equation! There is a ‘Phala – Dhaata’ the result giver for all our actions and that is God! Our devotion prepares us to be capable of receiving His Grace. But our devotion alone is not a producing agent! It is actually a reducing agent in that, our own sense of pride and head weight is decimated or at least kept under control! In the bargain literally, God bestows us with his Grace. However the interaction with God is not to be taken as the give and take of business between people, since God is the Intelligent Principle behind all animate and inanimate existence!
25. If the devotion is true, then the devotee will not expect anything in return as his devotion is not an investment! If he expects returns then it is only business and not true devotion, says Bhagavatham quite clearly. Though the true devotee may not expect anything in return, God’s Grace does more than ‘quid pro quo’ bestowing the clear comprehension, understanding and gnaana in the devotee’s heart! Devotee will then apperceive that it is not a stage to be reached or attained, but simply his true state of oneness with God, automatically ending his sojourn in the world of birth and death!
26. Are There Two Graces? When we see that God and Guru are one, it means that in the form of Guru, God bestows His Grace. First as Guru he gives the Upadesa. That instead of remaining inert at the level of brains and intelligence enters the inner being, becoming the Anubhava. If our devotion is absolutely true, the Grace causes the direct Anubhava! Like the question as to whether we have to be devoted to two persons, the God and Guru; the Grace of God and the Grace of Guru are not two different entities. Otherwise we are back in the world of two Devotions, two Graces, duets and triads! Then we have to start assessing how much devotion to be paid to God and what percentage of devotion to be paid to Guru and we are back in business in the bargain! (While explaining this idea PeriyavaaL could not help laughing!)
27. All Obeisances Reach the Same Destination. There is a beautiful statement in our Saastraas, which is uttered as a mantra at the end of Sandya Vandanam, three times a day. It says, “sarva deva namaskaara: keshavam pratigatchati”, meaning whosoever prays to which ever God (or even any other human being or animals or statue or icon), wherever, whenever, they all reach the same address! It reaches ‘Kesava’. “Kesava’ is not to be construed as KrishNa or one of the Avataras of Vishnu. Kesava is formed by combining ‘ka + a + eesha +va’. In many places in Vedas and PuraNas, ‘ka’ is for Brhma and ‘a’ is for VishNu, ‘eesha’ is Siva; the Trinity of Gods. Those three put together are indicative of the one God with three fold responsibilities of administration of creation (srushti), sustenance (stiti) and destruction (samhara). The one who has all these three in his control is Kesava. Whether you pray to any God or Idol or anybody, the indwelling ‘antaryami’ is him Kesava only. Please do not think of him as another person or individual. I am not saying this from my imagination. Our AchaaryaaL has made this interpretation in his Bhashyam for VishNu Sahasranama, the 23rd name.
28. What is ‘Namaskaram’? Do not think of doing prostration by physically going down only. Here the attitude or ‘Bhaava’ is more important than the physical action. When you are devoted, it can be expressed in many ways. By joining the palms together in a beautiful gesture or even like the animals which show their subservience in the wild to the one whose lordship has been accepted or bowing to the Royalty or doing the ‘hats off’ and bending forward! To whomsoever you may show obeisance, it goes to Him – Kesava!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.