DEIVATHIN KURAL # 44 (Vol # 5) Dated 26 Aug 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 44 (Vol # 5) Dated 26 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. Toda y we are proceeding from page No 268 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)
135. What is the meaning of what Purandara Dasa sings of Sri Krishna as ‘JagatoddhaaraNa’? It means that even in the age of Kali, God comes to pull the world out of the mire of sinfulness and reform, repair and renovate the world and its people! The phrase will divide into Jagat + uddharaNa. The weeds in the tilled land are pulled out and thrown. But all that is pulled out in the social milieu need not to be thrown out but, cleansed, corrected and reformed! To be pulled out of the mire of Adharma, that is sinfulness is by itself a reformation, isn’t it? Having pulled out the Govardhana Giri, Bhagawan did not throw it off but used it as an umbrella!
136. To pull it out of dirt, mire and sinfulness is ‘uddharaNam’, then it can be thrown away or reformed or renewed and used; which is all part of the job of ‘uddharaNam’ depending on the need and reference to the context. To pull out the thorny growth of sinfulness in our minds and eradicating it is ‘duritoddhaaraNam’. If there is a foreign body in our eyes or ears or any part of the body, it is harmful to the health and well being of the body and its removal is the job of the surgeon. Similarly, to remove the Paapa-s is ‘durita + uddharaNam = duritoddharaNam’. So, instead of the word, ‘aaharaNam’ which only means ‘removal’; the well entrenched thorny tree of sinfulness to be dug out from its roots requires greater efforts and more powerful tools and is to be destroyed with leaves, branches, trunk and roots; is what is conveyed by the word ‘uddharaNam’. If all our sins are reduced to nullity, that is total repair, renovation and reformation. ‘All that, is achieved by doing the act of Namaskaarams to You Amma’, says AachaaryaaL and so, ‘let me be able to do that, for which he says – maameva kalayantu’!
137. When none of the fruits of doing Namaskaara, namely wealth, sensual pleasures and power to rule; were not needed and acceptable to him, after a pause of a fraction of a second, he added ‘removal of sins’ as a more acceptable one for himself. But when you think about it, our Aadi Sankara Aachaaryaal is so pure and sacred that he is unapproachable by any sins! So, evidently we can see that it is to train our minds on the right lines and teaching us as to how to pray and what to pray for he has put himself in our shoes. Thus he has completed the sloka by requesting Maha Lakshmi to give us the opportunity to be able to do Namaskaara! While the first three items listed as the fruits of doing Namaskaara are useful for this worldly life of involvement, the last one of ‘removal of sins’ is the only one useful for enabling detachment. So, the poem has been so formed that the first three fruits are listed before ‘vandanaani’ and then added ‘duritoddharaNodyataani’ after that word!
138. Where is this ‘eva’ to be connected? The sloka goes, “maameva kalayantu” – “tvad vandanaani maam eva kalayantu”, meaning, ‘let this work of doing Namaskaara come to me’. If you say, ‘maam kalayantu’ that would mean, ‘let it reach me’. So, the ‘eva’ after ‘maam’ could mean ‘only me’! So, instead of reaching anybody else let it reach only me, would be a selfish statement! When AachaaryaaL has lived a life of total abnegation sans any selfishness whatsoever, (exactly as he described the ‘Vasanta Kaalam’ that is, the Spring Season does for the whole world without any expectations of any returns;) it is completely uncharacteristic of him to be saying, ‘let all the Namaskaara-s come to me’! Short of properly understanding him, some do not only misunderstand him but, emphasise their mistake by altering the phrase ‘kalayantu naanye’ as ‘kalayantu naanyam’. That would change the meaning from, ‘all I need is for the action of doing Namaskaara to reach me, nothing else’, to ‘not to anybody else’! That would be tantamount to underlining the selfishness! Could AachaaryaaL have ever said such a thing? Some having debated between, ‘naanye’ and ‘naanyam’, could have dropped both and finished it with, ‘maanye’! The word ‘maanye’ as a method of addressing Lakshmi with respect, ‘maameva maataranisam kalayantu maanye’!
139. Now, there can be another question. “Let people have a difference of opinion between ‘maanye’ and ‘naanye’; the word ‘maameva’ still remains, meaning, ‘to me only’, isn’t it? There is a shade of selfishness or pride there. How are you going to explain that away, Swami?” In all languages, in poetry as compared to prose, the order in which the words occur, can vary. In Sanskrit, compared with other languages in the prose itself, there is greater liberty and in poetry, even more! Based on the homogeneity of sound and structure of the poetical metre’s words can be anywhere, adding to the beauty of expression! Accordingly, ‘eva’ though occurring immediately after ‘maam’, in interpreting the meaning, could be construed to be attached to the word ‘vandanaani’. Now the order will change from, ‘vandanaani maameva kalayantu’, to ‘vandanaani eva maam kalayantu’ and the meaning is changing from, ‘let the opportunity of doing Namaskaara-s reach only to me’; to ‘let only the opportunity to do Namaskaara-s come to me’!
140. Now there is no possibility of suspecting AachaaryaaL’s veracity and intention! Look at the meaning again, “Amma, though you are capable of endowing all the varieties of riches, I do not want anything else other than to be able to do Namaskaara-s to you, ‘vandanaani eva maam kalayantu’. So, instead of being interpreted to mean, ‘let that vandana kriya come only to me’, it will change to, ‘let only vandana kriya come to me. Please grant that!’ For the word ‘kalayantu’ I gave you the meaning ‘let it come to me’. That is not the only meaning. For the root word ‘kal’, can be interpreted variously. In a high state of animation let the act of doing Namaskaara absorb and occupy me. This is a prayer not for his sake but, for our sake, telling us as to how we should pray! As Appar says, “naan marakkinum sollu naa namasivayave” meaning, that even if I forget my tongue will continue to chant ‘Namasivaya’, AachaaryaaL is saying that, ‘even if I give up, let that act of doing Namaskaara-s grab and possess me’, telling us as to how to make a prayer!
141. Guru of the Three Worlds! In another place in this ‘Kanak Daara Sthava’, he calls Maha Lakshmi, ‘tribhuvaneika guros tarunyai’, which means, ‘the dear wife of the Guru of the three worlds’. Guru can be taken as the Aachaarya or Father. As she is called the ‘Thaayaar’, Maha Vishnu can be considered as the ‘Thagappanaar’ and so Guru. They are the Parents of the three worlds of upper, middle and lower or here, there and everywhere or past, present and future and the world of Nara-s (humans), Sura-s (divine beings) and Asura-s (devils and ogres)! But, as Lakshmi and Parvathy Sannidy-s are known as Thaayaar and Amman Sannidy respectively, talking about PerumaaL and Easwaran Sannidy-s as Father’s Sannidy is not in vogue except in Kerala, where they say, Guruvayoor Appan, Vaikkathu Appan and Ayyappan.
142. So, Like the Loka Guru and Jagat Guru, Maha Vishnu could be considered as the ‘Thribhuvana Guru’ and his wife could be the ‘thribhuvana guros tharuNi’. God when he came in Human form as Krishna and Sankara Bhagawat PaadaaL, as the Guru of the human world, they got the name of ‘Loka Guru’. As Narayana in super-human form, he has been the Triloka Guru. His consort is lakshmi. If you have to do Namaskaara to her eternally, you cannot leave him out. To ask the husband and wife to stand together and express your regards for them is the tradition as per Saastraas. So, our Namaskaara-s should ever be there for the Guru of the three worlds!
143. As our Guru is the same as Brhma, Vishnu and Maheswara as well as the Parabrhmam beyond all manifested existences, we do not have to go searching for a separate Guru of the three worlds. Our, this Guru is entitled to whatever respect you wish to show, as well as being approachable. So, as it comes in many slokas, let us keep expressing our regards, appreciation and thankfulness by saying, ‘nam: + te = namste, namste, namste and nama: + astu = namostu!’ For him who removes and gets rid of all our sins and so is entitled to all the respects that we can show, our Namaskaara-s for him may be in us, as our greatest asset and do all the things it does!
(To be continued.) Sambhomahadeva.