DEIVATHIN KURAL # 41 (Vol # 5) Dated 20 Aug 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 41 (Vol # 5) Dated 20 Aug 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 page No 248 of Vol 5 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that here in 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated constantly)
104. We are talking about the true Guru in human form that will not rest till he has ensured that the true Sishya has understood, comprehended, discerned, absorbed and attained the eternal bliss; even it means that Guru also has to take repeated births for the sake of the disciple! We are not concerned about the pseudo-Gurus, the God-men who have always been there at all points of the human calendar. We are not on the subject of how to identify the real Guru and also as to how even if the Guru is false, the disciple’s sincerity and integrity like ‘Ekalaiva’ can take him across all the Agnaana of this existence!
105. So, the Guru gives us happiness, awareness and wakes us up from this world of dreams and so deserves our thankfulness for what he has done, is doing and going to do. For him we can do and should do endless number of crores of Namaskaara-s! So now the sloka on Guru ending with, ‘tasmai sri gurave namah’ is not inapt but absolutely the way it should be! Brhma, Vishnu and Rudra; are giving us the fruits of our own Karma and not anything in addition. Here we are looking at Vishnu and Siva as only doing their duties and not as ‘Muzhu Mudar KadavuL’ but, only as Sthithi and Samhaara Karta-s! Then, they are bound by the limiting parameters of their office. Whereas Guru helps in cancelling out our negative balances in many ways such as, enabling us to turn the corner towards good deeds, by creating a fire wall sort of protection around us of Bhakti and Gnaana and taking some of the load of our demerits on himself! The Thrimurthy-s conduct their duties within the cause – effect relationship between our Karma and our fate, whereas our, this Gurumurthy gets us out of the mire of strangle hold of Karma! So he is entitled to all our Namaskaaraa-s! So, the sloka which says; ‘Gurur Brhma, Gurur Vishnu: Gurur Devo Maheswara: tasmai Sri Gurave Nama:’ is very correct and appropriate.
106. Guru as Parabrhmam. Still a portion of the sloka is not fully explained. What is that? ‘Guru: Saakchaat Param Brhma’ – If we are talking about the real Guru, this statement must also be correct. We had to give a lot of explanation as to how he is the Brhma, Vishnu and Maheswara. But in this case, that he is the Param-Brhma we do not have to give copious explanations! From the present state of Agnaana of darkness, doubt, delusion and Ahankaara; Guru fetches us to Aatma Swarajyam – that is, our inner reality, the stuff of eternal freedom and effulgence devoid of confusion and the darkness of ignorance! It means that he makes us realise that we are nothing but Para-Brhmam ourselves! He tells us, “My dear Sir! You are yourself the same Para-Brhmam wearing a garb as Rama or Krishna or Tom, Dick and Harry! You are an actor on the stage as so many of the characters of the cast – that is all part of the scenery of appearances. If you remove the guise and look inward, you will know yourself to be the Para-Brhmam.” Only a realised soul could say this with the clarity of conviction! So there is no doubt at all about the last line of the sloka – ‘guru: saakchaat param brhma:’!
107. The One Who Has Extricated Himself Will Save Us Too! The one who has crossed the ocean of this mortal existence will enable us also, as he has correctly studied the problem, fully comprehended and appreciated the situation, identified the pitfalls, learnt to invert and ignore the distractions and found the method of extrication after analysing the strength and weaknesses of various options. Without extricating himself from the clutches of Agnaana, somebody who assumes a pseudonym of ‘Adwaitaa’, giving lectures and publishing books can be a Reader, Fellow or Doctor or Professor in an educational institution and not a Guru! Having got out of the rut, the one who is quiet and deeply merged in himself, having completely delinked himself from worldly involvement, can be a Saint, Mahan or Brhma Gnaani; but, he is also not a Guru! Having reached the shores of this Bhava Saagara, the one who enables others also to wade ashore; that sort of a Brhma Gnaani is worthy of being considered as a Guru! To reach the shore of this Samsaara Saagara is the same as attainment of Gnaana. Our AachaaryaaL, Aadi Sankara says the same thing, as the definition of a Guru.
108. AachaaryaaL’s Definition of an Aachaarya. Aadi Sankara Bhagawat PaadaaL who is himself a definition of a Guru gives this elucidation in Viveka Chudamani, “teerNaa: swayam bheema – bhava aarNavam janaan ahetunaa – anyaan api taarayanta:”. Meaning of that sloka is as under, “Guru should have himself be the one who has crossed the fearful ocean of this life of Agnaana. The phrase, ‘bheema bhava AarNavam’ means, ‘the treacherous waters of the ocean of life’. He should be the one who has already crossed it, ‘teerNaa:’. Having done so, he should be ‘taarayanta:’- causing (‘anyaan api’ – others also) to cross.” How are such people to be identified? They are, as the first part of the sloka says, ‘saanto mahaanto nivasanti santo vasantavat loka hitam charanta:’. That means ‘saanta:’ – peacefully quiet; ‘mahaanta:’ – great Mahaans; ‘vasantavat loka hitam charanta:’ – like the spring season cause the world to be hale and hearty full of wellbeing!
109. Think of it! The moment the earth reaches a particular combination of time and space in its orbit around the sun and swivelling on its own axis; pronto, there is the Vasantam, the spring season! In no time the whole world is green and pleasantly warm. There is a beautiful breeze. Suddenly as though they were waiting for it, the plants and trees are full of blooms and flowers. Birds like the cuckoo, honey suckle, and peahen and bees and beetles are all singing, celebrating the arrival of the spring season. When it was falls, all the plants and trees were looking morose and gloomy. Now at once, there is smiling cheerfulness and fragrance in the air! The biting cold of winter is over and it is not yet too hot. There are jasmine, hyacinth, hibiscus, lilies, lotuses, and what not, adding colour and salubriousness all around! But, can you see something or somebody by the name of Vasantam or Spring Season anywhere? Without saying ‘I am doing all this’, without an iota of head weight, this season does so much good, doesn’t it? That is how, the Guru functions!
110. Guru has not the slightest pride. He reveals his humbleness not as a show off but, to make it clear for our sake. That too when we are queasy in our own minds as to how and where to comprehend the very concept of what is God and who is going to be our Guru, he reveals himself for us. Not with the idea that, ‘Here I am doing all this’, but to fill up our needs. In reality he is not easily identifiable, of whom it is said that he is ‘Nirlingam’! Even without our knowing that Guru is doing all this, things will happen. We will rather wonder as to who is suddenly making it very convenient for us in many areas of our lives. Suddenly we will find that many loose ends just meet. Many irreconcilable problems just resolve and suddenly we will know that it is Guru’s Grace that is in operation in a subtle but certain way!
111. More than all this, AachaaryaaL has hit the nail on its head as though, in putting the most important point of what the Guru does in a simple phrase in four words. The word ‘ahetunaa’ means without any reason. Without any logic why, Guru is spreading Grace and living (‘nivasanti’) in the world like the season of spring! These Aachaaryaas are living in this world as epitome of peacefulness, as Maha Aatmas, as Saadhus, as those who have themselves crossed the ocean of the confusion of earthly life, for no rhyme or reason (‘ahetunaa’) doing all the good to others!
112. Why should they do all this? Why should they be bothered at all? Day and night, why should they be talking to idiots like us, counselling and advising, uncaring for their personal comforts, roaming about here, there and everywhere, giving public lectures and individual interviews and so on? Do we deserve them? Are they indebted to us? What do they get out of this? Having comprehended the reality, they could have been happily immersed in their blissful state, isn’t it? Instead, they are laundering our dirty linen as though! Whether you look at it from our point of view or from his angle, for his this inhuman sacrifice of his precious time and efforts, there doesn’t seem to be any logic to which all this can be attributed! It is all simply ‘ahetunaa’!
113. By saving us from Agnaana he is not going to get any name and fame! We, as we are, do not deserve his, this kindness also. He first goes about creating worth in us and then tirelessly, relentlessly perseveres to get us out of the rut! The beauty of saying ‘like the spring season – vasantavat’, gets appropriately explained by the word ‘ahetunaa’, at the end! When the people, animals, flora and fauna, were all shivering in cold of winter, this spring comes from we do not know where and weaves a magic change in the atmosphere, decorating the world with fruits and flowers of varieties and filling the air with wonderful, fragrances, simply ‘ahetunaa’! Can we be thankful enough to the spring season? Can we catch hold of it and do anything of honour in return? Same is the case with the Guru.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.