DEIVATHIN KURAL # 52 (Vol # 5) Dated 15 Sept 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 52 (Vol # 5) Dated 15 Sept 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 middle of page No 316 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)
53. So, Krishna Avatara is meant to re-establish not only the Karma Yoga of the transients of the Pravrutti Marga but also refurbish and revive the Gnaana Yoga. These two paths of Yoga are inclusive of all other paths too, as obviously whatever the path they have to be part of, they have to be either Pravrutti or Nivrutti, isn’t it? The path of Pravrutti Dharma polished into Karma Yoga, that Krishna told Ikshvaku, said to be coming down from generation to generation, finally had to be the Nivrutti Dharma of Gnaana Yoga only. They could not have taught one and left the end part unmentioned. Whatever it is, Krishna anyhow spoke about the whole array of Pravrutti Marga  Karma Marga  Karma Yoga  Nivrutti Marga  Nivrutti Dharma  Gnaana Yoga; in the Bhagawat Gita.
54. Still it may be noted that, he starts his Upadesas with Sankhya Yoga meant for Gnaanis and ends also with Moksha Sannyaasa Yoga; thereby it may be discerned that his main aim is to clearly establish the Nivrutti Dharma only for attaining the Adwaita Anubhava. If Gita seems to emphasise the Karma Yoga mostly, as some people claim, it is due to the fact that, the direct recipient of his Gitopadesa is Arjuna who had to be made to fight as the person better equipped for Karma Yoga, with particular reference to the context of when and where the Upadesa was being given. Our AachaaryaaL has more than clarified in his introduction to the Bhashyam for Gita that, the very Krishna Avatara was meant thus to having refined both the Pravrutti and Nivrutti paths, finally firmly establish Gnaana as the pre-requisite for Moksha, thereby reaffirm the methodology of Sanaatana Vaidic Dharma.
55. Though he clearly says that the Karma Yoga that he had taught to Surya, who in turn told it to every next generation of the Sun Dynasty; it is clear that by the arrival of Krishna Avatara on the face of the earth, almost all the paths of Yoga had become eroded and repairable as seen from the very Gita. By that time Dwapara Yuga was coming to an end. Despite Krishna Avatara, in the passage of some 2000 and odd years of Kali Yuga, we are seeing further deterioration only. People showing off as though they are controlling their sensuality, are inwardly all the time thinking of self gratification only. That is the order of the day. Krishna calls such people ‘MithyacharaN’, in other words as hypocrites (B.G. Chapter III, Sloka 6). This, he points out in the Nivrutti Marga. That means that, in Krishna’s time itself there were many spurious, so called God Men! Before this in Chapter II, (in Sloka-s 42 – 44), he has a dig at Meemaamsaka-s saying, “Flowery speech is uttered by the unwise, immature Vedantins, taking pleasure in the eulogising words of the Vedas, O Arjuna, saying, ‘There is nothing else’! Full of desires, having heaven as their goal, (they grind their own axes,) leading to new births as the result of their works and prescribe various methods abounding in specific actions, for the attainment of pleasure and power. For those who are attached to pleasure and power, whose minds are drawn away by such teaching, that determinate reason is not formed which is steadily bent on meditation and Samadhi.”
56. Instead of taking the essential meaning of the words of the Vedas, they grammatically analyse the sentences and are taking pleasure in their masterly analysis. He calls such people ‘Veda vaadarataa:’. That is how Meemaamsakaas are of the opinion that the very purpose of the Vedas is to propel man into more and more work and not in becoming renunciate Sanyaasis. Such people who do all their actions for satisfying their desires, he calls them ‘Kaama – Aatmaas’! Instead of seeking the eternal bliss of Moksha, those who aspire for the equally earth like transitory happiness of Swarga (the heavens), he calls them as ‘Swarga – Paraas’! As they get more pleasure and power in the bargain, they only pressurise their followers back into the cycle of births and deaths, by their elaborate procedures. They talk attractively decorating their talk with flowery language, ‘pushpitaam vaacham’. Krishna calls them ‘avipaschita;’ with ‘apahruta chetasaam’, meaning ‘immature people whose minds have been whisked away’! In the path of devotion too, I had earlier described as to how people with predominant tendencies of Rajas and Tamas had corrupted the Bhakti Marga with prayers addressing Yaksha – Raakshasaas and residents of nether ethereal worlds such as ‘Bhootha and Pretas’,(meaning ghosts, ogres and other spirits,) respectively. Thus, Krishna Avatara was essentially meant for correcting the erosions in all the paths of this Sanaatana Dharma.
57. You may remember that Krishna had said that, for the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked and for the establishment of righteousness, I am born in every age. I started saying that Dharmam is of two types, namely Pravrutti and Nivrutti. Till Pravrutti Marga was not yet matured enough as Nishkaamya Karma Yoga suitable for paving the way for change of direction to Nivrutti Marga, Krishna was not even ready to call it a Dharmam! However much you may practice the Veda karma Anushtaana, till it is done for the resultant merits only, it is not okay. The fruits of such labour had to be given up instead of being avidly aspired for. That the very purpose of Pravrutti Marga is to give us the mental clarity and maturity to be able to opt for the Nivrutti Marga’, was his opinion. Whatever is given in the Vedanta only, Krishna reiterated as his confirmed opinions. Our AachaaryaaL further spread the word around on the same lines. The process remains Pravrutti Marga  Karma Marga  Karma Yoga  Chitta Suddhi  Nivrutti Marga  Nivrutti Dharma  Gnaana Yoga. If on the other hand, you spend your whole life only in endlessly doing things, where is the chance for Nivrutti Marga to happen? That is how, to correct the imbalances in people’s understanding and practice, Krishna Avatara took place.
58. Krishna and Sankara. What was the subject taken up for discussion in Deivathin Kural # 46 (Vol # 5) dated 30 Aug 2011? We were going to talk about the story of Sankara’s life. Instead of starting on details of the date and place of his birth and as to whose child was he born as, I have been talking about some Pravrutti and Nivrutti and have stopped now at Krishna Avatara instead of Sankara Avatara! The whole thing may look rather off beat! Let me connect. The necessity for Sankara Avatara was created by further deterioration of the conditions existing at the time of Krishna Avatara, wide the promise given then in the 4th chapter Sloka No 7 and 8. I Quote:
“yadaa yadaa hi dharmasya glaanir bhavati bhaarata I
abhyuttaanam adharmasya tad-aatmaanam srujaamyaham II”,
followed by,
“paritraaNaaya saadhunaam vinaashaaya cha dushkrutaam I
dharma sanstaapanaarthaaya sambhavaami yuge yuge II”.
That means, ‘Whenever there is decline of righteousness and rise of unrighteousness, then I manifest Myself’,
and
‘For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked and for the establishment of righteousness I am born in every age’. Without Krishna, there is no AachaaryaaL. He is the one who made the nook and corner of this country resound with chanting of, ‘Bhaja Govindam, Bhaja Govindam mooda mathe’! They say that the place in which our AachaaryaaL was born, the Kula Deivam in that Kaaladi was Krishna only. Today when we say, ‘Jagat Guru’, if it refers to AachaaryaaL, the one who had that title earlier was ‘Krishna Parama Aatma’. There is a slokam on him which goes, ‘Krishnam vande jagat gurum’! For that Jagat Guru’s words, this Jagat Guru has done the word by word and sentence by sentence, meanings, explanations and Bhaashyam. It is in the rightness of things that before we talk about Sankara Avatara, we expatiate on Krishna Avatara and prostrate ourselves before him in all reverence!
59. Let storytelling and listening to it be set aside for a moment. We have to know as to why the story is being told, isn’t it? That is why I touched upon Pravrutti – Nivrutti, Karma – Bhakti – Gnaana and things like that. To fill up the pot holes, remove the outgrowth, repair the erosions and relay the paths; these two Avataras of Krishna and Sankara were necessitated. The time gap was about a thousand years between them, but the deteriorations were equally pronounced.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.