DEIVATHIN KURAL # 75 (Vol # 5) Dated 31 Oct 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 75 (Vol # 5) Dated 31 Oct 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 451 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)
246. Can this Sankara Avatara also be of Mahavishnu? We observed that his assuming the Samhaara role of Siva was quite appropriate to Kshatriya Dharma. Similarly could it be that he also assumed the role of Gnaana Avatara? There is no doubt that Mahavishnu is also equally a Gnaana Swaroopi. Even if he undertakes a Gnaana Avatara, Siva is not likely to take objections questioning him, “Why My Dear, are you interfering in the responsibility of my department?” Happily watching it, he will also come to assist Mahavishnu. One went as a ‘Bikshaandi’, (that is a beggar Sanyaasi) to beguile the wives of the Rishis by kindling their amorous instincts once and the other joined hands and went to delude and befuddle the Rishis as Mohini Avatara! So also if Vishnu undertook upon himself to take an Avatara to remove the delusion of the common masses and enable them to see the reality also, Siva would have been more than willing to assist. Even the earlier episode ended in opening the eyes of both the Rishis and their wives to Gnaana only. There is such close co-operation between Siva and Vishnu!
247. Still the hesitancy was from Vishnu’s part as to whether he should undertake the Gnaana Upadesa role as much as he had already taken over the role of Samhaara of Siva. The credit for Gnaana Upadesa may continue to remain with Siva, he might have thought. On occasions when necessitated he has amply depicted his near oneness with Siva, in his Avataras such as, Dutta, Rishabha, Nara-NaaraayaNaa, Vyasa and so on and has undertaken the role of Gnaana Guru. Unlike the Dasa Avatara-s, these roles were somewhat subdued, instead of becoming world famous. When he came as ‘Hayagreeva’ often mentioned with the adjective ‘Gnaana Ananda mayam’, he kept it known only to those in the advanced stages of Nivrutti Marga of intense tapasya in Saadhana. With that, traditionally by custom he is invariably mentioned with his wife as ‘Lakshmi Hayagreeva’ only.
248. Generally in common parlance as they say, ‘Siva Gnaanam and Siva Yogam’, nobody says ‘Vishnu Yogam or Vishnu Gnaanam’. Vishnu is rather connected with phrases such as ‘Vishnu Maya or Mayavi (conjurer or illusionist) and play acting Leela Vinodan’. That is how he has kept himself known as. So, now when there was much threat for Dharma and Adharma had become a way of life, and there was a dire need for a fresh Avatara to come down on earth, instead of being as per the Kshatriya Dharma, it had to be cool, calm and serene purely for Gnaana Upadesa from the Siva, thought Maha Vishnu! Some time he will be one with Siva and at other times he will stand apart. The state of oneness of Vishnu and Siva alternates with separateness; depending on their involvement in worldly affairs. During Viswa Roopa Darshan, having said, “pasya me yogam aiswaram”, as being one with Easwara, in the last chapter of Gita, he talks as though they are different entities. He says “easwaraha sarva bhootaanaam hruddeshe Arjuna tishtati I bhraamayan sarva bhootaani yantra roodhaani maayaya II tameva saraNam gachcha”, meaning “Easwara indwells in everybody’s hearts. By the power of Maya he rotates us all like dolls on the giant wheel. Surrender unto him”.
249. Having spoken as though he and Easwara are one and the same, here he uses the phrase, ‘tameva saraNam gachcha’ meaning ‘surrender unto him’! He also does not let us think of them as two different entities either! In the chapter on Vibhuti Yoga, he had said, ‘I am the Aatma among all living things’. Quote – “aham aatma gudaakesa sarva bhootaasaya stitaha” – Unquote! Both the words ‘aasayam and hrudayam’ means the same thing, the heart. Where he says that Easwara is the indwelling reality in everybody’s heart, by saying that he plays around with us like dolls on a giant cart wheel, he is attributing his Maya oriented jobs to Easwara.
250. Here having told Arjuna to surrender to Easwara itself, just four slokas later completing his Upadesa says, ‘surrender unto me only’ that is, “maam ekam saraNam vraja”! If we object as to why he is repeatedly changing tunes, he will say, “I am not changing anything! When I say, ‘maam ekam’ it means that I am the only one. Then where is Siva as different from me? We are not different but one and the same thing, the one and only Paramaatma! For the sake of practicality and fun sake, we seem as though two different entities”.
251. So thus, when we see them as two different entities, it is Easwara who grants Gnaana mainly. As we say, ‘for this and this go to so and so God’, like for health we should approach the Sun, for Gnaana we are to go to Easwara only; ‘aarogyam baaskaraat – ichchet gnaana – daataa maheswaraha’. It is Gnaana which gives eternal Moksham. When in the end he told us, ‘surrender only unto me’, he left it saying that he will relieve us of all our sins. But before that when he said, ‘surrender unto Easwara’, he also said that, ‘by his grace you will attain to total clarity, peaceful and eternal status of oneness with existence’. That status is the Moksham through Gnaanam, is the meaning of the statement, “tat prasaadaat paraam shaantim sthaanam praapsyasi shaasvatam”. Having shown himself to be Easwara and depicted Samhaara (that normally is the job of Rudra) as his own, in the end talking about DakshiNa Murthy’s work of granting Gnaana Moksha as ‘his job’ as though he is different slightly. Now when 72 irreligious religions were predominant, he must have thought that this job should preferably be done by the one meant to do this. But his statement, ‘sambhavaami yuge yuge’, makes it look that after all is said and done Mahavishnu and Siva are one and the same!
252. “To take an Avatara for Gnaana one does not have to be dressed with all these paraphernalia of Kireetam, Kundalam, Koustubham and Peetaambaram, (that is crown, ear rings, garland and yellow silken clothes, that is normally adorn Vishnu’s visage), as though running a Kings’ court. It would be preferable to be simply dressed sitting under a banyan tree, closing one’s eyes in dhyana would be more suitable. After all, I have taken so many Avataras while Siva is sitting unconcerned, because of which there is an adage, ‘to be sitting quietly like Siva’! Let him do whatever has to be done. If required I shall go to his assistance as a disciple of his.” That must have been Vishnu’s analysis of the situation. True to it, out of the four important disciples of Sankara Avatara, our AachaaryaaL, Padmapaada is said to be Mahavishnu’s Amsa in Sankara Vijayam books.
253. Paramasiva has names such as, ‘Easaana, Sadasiva, and Easwara’ and many more. In the Sruti (Vedas) itself it is said, “For all Vidyas the deity is Easaana, for all living things he is the Easwara. Let him be good and beneficial to me”, as given in Maha NaaraayaNa Upanishad. The Upanishad finishes by saying ‘that Sadasiva is to be understood and inhered as the inalienable inner self in all of us living beings’. That is the reality to be absorbed deep in our selves. That very phrase has been re-used here in Bhagawat Gita when Krishna says in 61st Sloka of the 18th chapter “Easwara: sarva bhootaanaam”. Since he is the Head of all Vidyas (teachers, lecturers, and professors of all sorts of education), it is in the rightness of things for him be the Avatara as the Upadesa Guru. In various Tantra and Mantra Saastraas and special devotional procedures for Japa, Tapa and Upakyaanaas too, it will be found that Parama Siva is the Upadesa Guru and AmbaaL is the recipient disciple.
254. Out of all these Vidyas the topmost, the foremost is the Adwaita Vidya. That vidya is not just a book or mantra. It is the end experience not with the five senses, mind or body; but by the inner awareness of the self! That is the truest experience of oneself in the being. Experience of incomparable uniqueness is specifically pointed out as the Sivam. Like the Maha Vaakya ‘aham brhma asmi’, which means, ‘I am Brhmam’ while meditating, there is another ‘sivoham’, which means, ‘I am Siva’ on which you can meditate! In Maandookhya Upanishad it clearly says, ‘sivam adwaitam’. So, it is absolutely correct that the Aachaarya Purusha for Adwaita Vedantam is an Avatara of Siva. A Guru should be an all knowing ‘Sarvagna’. Parama Siva has been described thus in the Sanskrit dictionary cum encyclopaedia Amara kosa as “krusaanureta sarvagyo doorjatir neela lohita:”
255. It is alright, what other books say about Parama Siva as an Aachaarya for Aatma Gnaana of Adwaitam. What did our AachaaryaaL say about this? His words have special value, isn’t it? What has he said in answer to questions such as, ‘Who is the Guru and who gives Gnaana?’ He has raised these questions and answered them in ‘Prasna Uttara Maalika’. There is one question there on who is called a Jagat Guru, ‘ko hi jagat guru ukta:’? The moment we say ‘Jagat Guru’, we think of Sankara AachaaryaL only. Earlier than him, the one who got that title is Krishna Bhagawan. There is an Ashtakam on him with eight slokas, all of them finishing with ‘krishnam vande jagat gurum’!
256. Here having asked the question as to who is said to be the Jagat Guru, what answer does our AachaaryaaL give? He says, “Sambhu:” which means the same as Sankara. Re-emphasising this is the next question and answer. “Gnaanam Kuta:?” ‘Gnaana is obtained from whom?’ Answer – “Sivaadeva”, which is ‘Sivaad eva’, meaning ‘from Siva only’. I hope it is clear that the Avatara for Gnaana had to be from Siva. To sum up, by the decision of Paramaatma, as there had been a number of Avataras by his one form as Mahavishnu, now there had to be one from Parameswara, his other form!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 74 (Vol # 5) Dated 29 Oct 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 74 (Vol # 5) Dated 29 Oct 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 on page No 444 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)
235. A point to note here carefully. Here Krishna has exaggerated and claimed that he can burn off the whole worlds, though he has come on the earth for sorting out only the renegades! Thereby he has revealed that though he is the Paripaalana Devata Vishnu, he is also the Samhaara Devata Siva that is Pralaya Kaala Rudra, himself and Rudra both being one and the same! There is only one God, Paramaatma in the form of Siva and Vishnu. They both know that they are Paramaatma. Siva knows that he is also Vishnu / Keshava / Narayana / Krishna / Rama and so on; and Vishnu knows that he is also Siva / Easwara / Rudra / DakshiNa Murthy and so on! That is how in Gita, he showed the ‘Yogam Aiswaram’ of Easwara as his Viswaroopa.
236. But, when it comes to their jobs bureaucratically they have to play their parts with in clear parameters of responsibility. There should not be transgression and overlap. It is for the order and harmony that the one God has multiple roles to play as though they are different entities! In it, there are two important roles, of Maha Vishnu and Easwara, one to be the ruling emperor of the universe, administrating the running of it and the other to be a Yogi and arrange for permanent release of the Jeevas from the worldly involvement.
237. As I said earlier, this release is of two types. One is the eternal release that happens by Gnaana. To do that is the very form of Gnaana, DakshiNa Murthy as the Yogi. Other is the temporary release, out of pity for the deeply involved souls, during Pralaya. Though the word Pralaya is thought to be something to be feared, its real meaning is to ‘dwell in ones natural state in Aatma’; ‘pra + laya = pralaya’. That is also the meaning of ‘samhaaram’, to reabsorb. The mother fish opens its mouth at the time of danger and all the tiny tots get back into her mouth for a period and then they re-emerge. It is something like that. This is not a permanent solution and so is not Mukti or Samadhi. In Mukti the individual who thought that he was a separate being, merges back in the source sans the sense of being a separate identity. It is a change that does not have to be physical but only in the attitude and outlook! In the case of ‘Laya’ after a period, you come back into the creation with yet another separate identity.
238. But, at least for that much of time, even an undeserving case gets respite from the endless vagaries of life. For people with Chitta Suddhi, of clear heart and mind, who progress on the path of Gnaana Marga, God comes as the DakshiNa Murthy as the Guru and grants release from worldly involvement as a permanent measure. For undeserving cases when he gives the temporary release, he reserves the possibility of administering suitable punishment. Otherwise people will get away with the idea that they can do whatever, while on this earth since anyhow death will grant them deliverance! That is why instead of a peaceful slow submergence of all, he brings on violent Armageddon. With much fear, horror and chaos, the horrendous Rudra Murthy brings on comeuppance and Pralaya that anyhow finishes in absolute peace, till the next cycle of creation!
239. I said the Paramaatma has apportioned specific roles for all the Devatas. If one interferes in another’s job, order will be lost. At the same time it is necessary that, people should have the view that all the Devatas at the end are one only. Otherwise they will keep fighting that their own God is the greatest! So the arrangement is such that, you can get most of your needs, wants and prayers fulfilled by whosoever is your Ishta Devata, short of total realization. So Devatas too generally stick to their brief and occasionally could do the other Devatas’ job! In the Avataras before Krishna, either by sudden appearance on the scene or by living amidst the society for some time as a human being, destroying the renegades and refurbishing the Veda Dharma, God corrected the situation. They were like the king fighting the enemies of state keeping order and moral standards. So as the King of the Universe, Maha Vishnu himself took Avataras and fought the evil doers and managed the running of the show. In Krishna Avatara, he took the role of Easwara quite openly, saying so. With that he also took over another role of Easwara, as the Gnaana Upadesa Guru at the end of his Avatara.
240. In the earlier Avataras prior to Krishna there is no Gnaana Upadesa. (This statement is made keeping the Dasa Avataras in mind and not the 24.) To do Gnaana Upadesa continued to be the task of the saintly sages of those periods. Even these Mahaans and Gnaanis did not have to go in search of people to listen to them. Once the evil doers were disposed of, people on their own reverted to the ways of Dharma and automatically went to the saintly sages to receive the needed Upadesa and enlightenment. By the time of Krishna Avatara, there were no Raakshasaas and Asuras in physical form, but the evil tendencies had entered the minds of the Rulers of the lands. This to some extent affected the minds of the common man too then itself, but not to the extent as it happened with the advent of Kali Yuga. That is why even an otherwise excellent character like Arjuna too, at a very important occasion became confused, forgetting his Swadharma of fighting evil as a Kshatriya and started talking half baked philosophy on the battle field and so Krishna had to do Gnaana Upadesa!
241. Still, a king entrusted with the responsibility of ruling over his citizens, has to have the power to punish the miscreants. So Mahavishnu as the Paripaalana Murthy may have had to do Dushta Sikshanam alright. But what can be the logic for his under taking the Gnaana Upadesa role, unless he is in reality the one and the same God? We should not think that a king has no such responsibility either. The king has a role of making his citizens well behaved, civilised beings. To protect them from perils is ‘RakshaNam’ and provide the wherewithal for comfortable living is ‘BharaNam’. But before these two, the king has the duty of training his populace in good behaviour, (says KaaLidaasa in Raghuvamsam 7 – 24.), that is ‘vinaya daanam’. Still it does not mean that he has to do ‘vinaya daanam’ himself especially Gnaana Upadesam! He should be nurturing good saintly people like Sages and Mahaans whose job it is, by which the populace remains well disciplined and also advances spiritually! That is what the Saastraas say.
242. On rare occasions when necessitated even Emperors may resort to do Upadesa, but that cannot be their main aim. We do find that in Puranas the Kings give moral lectures some times. Even Asuras give lectures and pontificate. That is known as ‘Asura Vedantam’! Still it is not one of the duties of Kings. His job is to run the government and ensure justice in the society that is ‘Dharma Paripaalana’ and not the Gnaana Upadesa for turning away from worldly involvement! That is the Brahmana Dharma meant for Yogis and Gnaanis to practice.
243. Whenever there was need to establish Dharma on earth this was done by Mahavishnu as the Paripaalana Chakravarty by coming down to earth as Avatara. Rama was born in the Kshatriya clan but was a very balanced person of predominant Satvic GuNa. Parasurama born as a Brahmin was full of Rajasic qualities. Both sorted out many evil forces in establishing Dharma. Vamana as a Brahmin indirectly played his cards close to his chest and by stepping on the Asura’s head assigned him to the nether worlds while simultaneously giving him eternal Moksha as well as lasting name and fame. Mahabali also unlike other Asuras was full of very noble qualities that we are not able to take a very principled stand either way. But on a little deeper thinking it can be made out that Mahabali was sent to his rightful place to manage the nether worlds and the Vamana Avatara could still achieve ‘Sishta Paripaalana and Dushta Nigraha’ as intended, as in other Avataara-s.
244. Matsya, Koorma, Varaaha and Nrusimha Avataara-s though cannot be said to be of any caste, still carried out the Kshatriya Dharma of dominating the negative forces, thereby ensuring Dharma is maintained. Koorma Avatara was meant to suppress the negative forces of Asuras and encourage the positive forces of Devatas by enabling them to get the Amirtam, the nectar that would give them immortality. Balarama Avatara went hand in hand with the Krishna Avatara. Even wherever the elder brother did something against the younger one, it ended up adding to the glory of the younger Krishna. Also, good or bad whatever it is, in this world of duality, since everything is relative, if the younger brother ensured justice from one angle, the elder brother reinforced Dharma from yet another angle. Both Krishna and Balarama, through punishing of mischief mongers carried out the Kshatriya Dharma mainly.
245. Only Krishna with whatever he did otherwise also carried out the Brahmana Dharma of Gnaana Upadesa, as it was essentially required towards the end of his Avatara. Then, now by the time of the advent of Sankara Avatara there was no scope for ‘Dushta Sikshanam’. The Aasuric powers had spread uniformly in the minds of most of the population. So this Avatara Karya had to be mainly Saatvic Upadesa with advices, mentoring, demonstrating and organising, throughout the Avatara’s life time. So this Avatara was necessarily by a Gnaani through the vehicle of Brahmana Dharma!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 73 (Vol # 5) Dated 27 Oct 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 73 (Vol # 5) Dated 27 Oct 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 on page No 438 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)
226. Though generally thus it seems that the management of all the activities of the world of Maya is that of Mahavishnu and the granting of Gnaana and Moksha is that of Parameswara, the whole Leela of existence is based on the principle of Unity in Diversity, isn’t it? So often they will reveal their oneness and to the extent of inter changing roles and or exchange of responsibilities! That is also part of the play acting Leela! When we say that, in all his Avataras, Mahavishnu did ‘Dushta Samhara’ and those who were sorted out by his hands went to Moksha, does it not look as though he did the job of Siva as Rudra?
227. Veda has given some Suktas and Yagnas oriented towards Siva and also has given Suktas and Yagnas oriented towards Vishnu. Both have been given similar adjectives revealing that there is no difference in reality. In Sruti-s and Smruti-s too such similarities in their functions can be seen. When we look at PuraNa-s oriented towards either one of them, it will look as though, that particular one is comparatively greater or the Ultimate One! Still when we look at their level and order of authority, it will be seen that, the first is ‘Sruti’ (Vedas), then ‘Smruti’ (Remembered or Recollected) and then the PuraNas. Even in the PuraNas if you search for it, there will be places where it is confirmed that without any difference Saivam and VaiNavam are one and the same. Not only that they will be like some instruction of principle (‘Tatva Upadesa’), it would have been depicted in the form of a story so as to make a deep impression on our minds. It will become clear also that, the purpose of praising one particular Devata to high heavens is to inculcate deep devotion to that one as ‘Ishta Devata’! It does not mean that other Gods are being ridiculed at all!
228. Actually it is very wrong to create schisms based on our devotion to Siva or Vishnu or any other for that matter. In the tradition of ‘Smartha Sampradaya’ established by our AchaaryaaL, it is a crime to think of Siva or Vishnu as though they are competing for popularity! As Krishna he has proved that he is no different from Easwara. Despite being a Vishnu Avatara, he executed Gnaana Upadesa and Samhaara with equal felicity. Though he has been the Samhaara Murthy in all his Avatara-s, here he has underlined this aspect of oneness between Vishnu and Easwara while displaying his ‘Viswa Roopa Darsana’. In Gita XI – 3, he says, “divyam dhadhaami te chakshuhu, pasyame yogam aiswaram” – meaning, “I am giving you divine eye sight by which you may see in me the power of Easwara’s Yoga”! Here while calling himself Easwara did he talk about the SaguNa Brhmam that Vedanta talks about or did he mean the Parama Siva who is referred as Easwara?
229. For long it is Paramasiva who is referred as Easwara. In the Sanskrit dictionary cum encyclopaedia ‘Amara Kosa’ while listing the names of Siva it says, “easwaraha sarva easaanaha”. The noble voice of KaaLidaasa in Raghuvamsa (III – 49) says, “harir – yadaikaha purushottamaha smrutaha maheswaraha thrayambhaka eva naaparaha” – meaning, ‘the way Vishnu is the only one referred as Purusha Uttama and the three eyed Siva is the only one called Maheswara and none else’. Here KaaLidaasa is not on the subject of who Hari is and who is Hara, but is talking about some other matter. Paramasiva is never referred as Purushottama. It is this word Purushottama that has literally been translated as ‘PerumaaL’ in Tamil. When we say ‘PerumaaL Koil’ in Tamil we mean the temple of Vishnu and not that of Siva. When we say ‘Easwaran Koil’ it is that of Siva only.
230. Thus by local folk lore, definition in Amara Kosa and Amara Kavi KaaLidaasa-s words, if the word Easwara stands for Siva, then who is the one referred in the Bhagawat Gita by Krishna as Easwara? Is it Siva or as defined by the Vedanta, the SaguNa Brhmam? He also is calling himself as Easwara and by what follows later it is clear that he is referring to Siva that is Rudra. He shows Arjuna the Viswaroopa. In it he did not depict himself as the Maya Mohana – Jagat Paripaalana – Maha Vishnu but as the Pralaya Kaala Rudra! He says himself that he is, “kaalo asmi loka – kshaya – krut pravruttaha (Gits XI – 32) – meaning that he is the Maha Kaala capable of destroying all the worlds! It is Paramasiva who as Rudra is known as Maha Kaala. In Ujjaini he is the Jyotir Lingam with that name of Maha Kaala.
231. To see that very beautifully attractive Krishna who plays fetchingly on the flute, in that horrendous form of Ugra Roopa, Arjuna was shaken to his very roots! As Samhaara Murthy, he was extending from the nether worlds to beyond the reach of the skies! Arjuna was shaking in utter fear and was saying, “Looking at your, this vast fearfully awesome form all the worlds are shaken up with fear and so am I! Looking at your eyes throwing out a stream of flames, my courage seems to have vanished. Looking at your canine teeth and mouth spouting hot lava like the volcano I am flabbergasted! All the kings assembled here in the battle field including Bhishma, Drona, Kouravaas and Pandava-s are seen to be flying in to your mouth and are getting grinded like some horrendous monstrous machine at work!” This is not the amiably pleasant Vishnu but the Samhaara Murthy being described!
232. Bhoomi Devi the Goddess of Earth went and complained about tyrannical kings whose cruelty and misrule was intolerable for her. It is for that reason that Krishna Avatara came into being with the purpose of reducing the sinful weight on Earth. The Rudra Samhaara task of eradicating the die-hard sinful characters did happen in all the previous Avatara-s too. But in Krishna’s life time starting with the Samhaara of Putana, Trunavarta, Nalakubara, Manigriva, Vatasura, Bakasura, Aghasura, Dhenukasura, followed by subduing Kalian, and then killing of Pralambasura in his childhood, it went on almost throughout his life in Krishna Avatara. In Matsya, Varaaha and Nrusimha Avatara-s, suddenly an appearance followed by instant destruction of an Asura singly or an Asura with his caboodle and instantly it will be over. The job in Koorma Avatara was over with holding the Mandara Hill up for it to be used as the churning stick. In Vamana Avatara, having been a Brhmachari for some years, instead of real Samhaara, he only recovered the Bhoo Loka and Swarga Loka from him, while assigning Maha Bali to the nether worlds.
233. As Parasurama for a long period he sorted out many a king who was famous for cruelty and misrule, individually. Rama as a young man got rid of Subaahu and Mareecha with a small army of Asuras. Later in Dandaka Aranyaka he killed Virada, then Kara and Dhooshana with 14,000 Raakshasaas and then Ravana with his army of soldiers, were killed on four distinct occasions. In between, Rama sorted out Kabanda and Vaali, individually. Then later Lavanasura was killed by Shatrugna. It was only in Krishna Avatara that starting from Putana till Kamsa a whole list of Asuras had been cleared. Then for some 70 to 80 years, one after another many Asuras had been disposed, Jarasanda’s army was repeatedly destroyed, then Kalayavana was indirectly killed and then there was fight with his brother-in-laws during his marriage with Rukmini followed by fight with Narakasura and then the Maha Bharata war with the Pandava-s as the instruments. Then even after becoming an old grandfather, he fought with BaaNaasura who had jailed Aniruddha. Thus it was in Krishna Avatara he fully proved himself to be ‘the Maha Kaala’ the Rudra. He himself had clearly stated that he is the powerful Kaala who destroys the worlds and has come to the earth for that purpose, when he says, “kaalosmi loka kshaya krut pravruttaha I lokaan samaahartum iha pravruttaha II”.
234. Of course the above is an over statement. He did not destroy the whole worlds. By the time he had finished his Avatara Lacs of soldiers from both the armies of Kouravaas and Pandavaas had died and the whole of Yadu Vamsa had perished. Still there were many citizens alive for whom Parikchit had become the king. Then if you ask me as to why he exaggerated, my observation is that......while he himself had played the part of the charioteer and brought the chariot with Arjuna in battle readiness and Arjuna dropped all his weapons and said, “I will rather not fight”! He had to tell him, “My dear boy, even without you, I can sort out all of them. I selected you as a tool for my job so that you may get name and fame as the victorious soldier.” So that, this may be understood clearly by Arjuna, he had to use some exaggeration. There is good cause for which we need some money say a thousand bucks. Though we are capable of putting up all that money our self, so as to involve others we are approaching some gentleman say. On being requested he is crying through his nose, let us say. At that time do we not say, “Hey? Without your help I can put in even a Lac, I say! What is this you are making a big fuss about?” That is how Bhagawan is saying that he has come to sort out the whole world!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 72 (Vol # 5) Dated 25 Oct 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 72 (Vol # 5) Dated 25 Oct 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 on page No 432 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)
216. Though the Brhmachari does not have as many Yaaga Karma Anushtaanaas to observe as applicable to a Gruhasta, he has sufficient number of things to do such as Veda Adhyayanam, Brhma Yagnam, Samitaa Daanam etc., and go and beg for alms. Instead of doing these things mechanically as some dry activity one should put ones heart and soul in it. If you learn developing devotion by other means, by begging for alms one inculcates the very quality of humility. Then with love and respect one could be a personal assistant to the Guru and learn how to be and how not to be. Having lived like this meticulously, one could take up Sannyaasa and go on to do Ashtaanga Yoga. Instead of being one of the upstarts of the present day, one should endeavour to behave in such a manner that the world will say, pointing you out to you, “Do you know who this child is? He is one who has done Gurukula Vaasa systematically. He has been given Adhyayanam as per the Saastraas and then by ‘Guru Mukha Upadesa’ that is the words spoken by the Guru he has received the Sanyaasa Deeksha!”
217. Though he may not have been able to do the duties of the Gruhasta such as taking good care of wife, children, parents, guests and the souls of the departed relatives; the Brhmachari has to do justice to his duties towards his Guru and Mother. An Avatara meant to recreate faith in Vedas and Saastraas, instead of being born as a Gnaani who anyhow has no duties towards anybody, preferably may go through at least Brhmacharyam and be a model for others to emulate as a Brhmachari, God must have decided.
218. Luckily the Saastraas have not kept it necessary that everybody has to go through all the four Ashramas! There could be variations. Some highly evolved souls could remain a ‘naishtika Brhmachari’ and remain a celibate throughout life as a bachelor. If he becomes more mature with discerning dispassion, there is scope for direct entry in to Sanyasa, bypassing the Gruhasta completely. In the Smrutis by Bhodhaayanaa, Gowtama, Vasishta, Usanas, Angiras, Yaman and Kaatyaayana; this bypassing is permitted. The Sruti by Jabala also confirms that eligible and matured Brhmachari-s can directly go on to Sanyaasa. So in this Avatara, it was God’s decision that he should be a Brhmachari for some eight years and then carry out the mission to be accomplished, as a Sanyaasi. As the people of this Yuga have some untoward notions about the Gruhasta Ashrama and as, such is not the case with Brhmacharyam and Guru Kula Vaasa; God’s decision must have been on these lines.
219. Avatara to Take Place among Brahmins. More than what we have discussed so far, there was an additional reasoning in how God arrived at his decision. Krishna amongst many things he did also carried out ‘dushta sikshanam’, that is, sorting out the renegades, Asuras and Raakshasaas-s. Rama lived an exemplary life as a man, but also did ‘dushta sikshanam’. From the Matsya Avatara till Krishna Avatara, they all did this ‘fighting and killing of renegades’! That was their main purpose. Like the Kings of yore used to combine in themselves the jobs of policing and judiciary, the King cum Chief Executive Officer of all the worlds, Maha Vishnu did this in every one of his Avatara-s as the Paripaalana Murthy of the whole existence! This job of identifying and punishing the culprits is basically the job of the Kshatriya Varna. As though to openly declare this, his last three Avatara-s as, Rama, Bala Rama and Krishna were in that caste of Kshatriya.
220. Now in the Kali Yuga, ‘dushta sikshanam’ is impossible. Anyhow this Avatara was mainly meant for ‘Upadesa’ of advising, counselling and mentoring! Accordingly and appropriately this Avatara had to be in the Brahmin community with pleasant and amiable tendencies, well known for their teaching acumen and instructional abilities. Though AachaaryaaL’s Avatara was as per the promise given in Gita in Krishna Avatara, amongst the many differences between the Avatara-s of Krishna and AachaaryaaL, this is one of them. In Krishna Avatara Kshatriya Dharma was mainly depicted. In this, it was purely the Dharma of Brahminism.
221. Krishna Paramaatma enacted every possible role of how a human being could be, endearing himself to us all. Be a thief or a lover, a soldier or a shepherd, a driver of chariots or a messenger; he play acted in all those roles so expertly that he could make us all feel that he was one amongst us! In an Avatara as purely a Gnaana Aachaarya, other roles just do not fit in. There it is Kshatriya Dharma and here it is Brahmana Dharma mainly. I wished to depict how, though all Avatara-s are for the purpose of re-establishment of Dharma, depending on the conditions of environment, there could be many differences between them.
222. Siva – Vishnu Avatara-s – Similarities & Differences. Having repeatedly talked about Krishna Avatara and also having repeatedly quoted his Bhagawat Gita, with it since I have connected AachaaryaaL’s advent, there could be one question that may arise. “We have heard the AachaaryaaL is Parma Siva Avatara. Krishna is Maha Vishnu Avatara. Then what is all this talk that his Avatara is as per Krishna’s promise in Gita? Because of change of time and the conditions existing, though the method or approach of the two was different, the mission of purpose remained the same, you are saying. How can you connect up these two?”
223. My dear Sir! Siva and Vishnu are not entirely two different Gods! It is all one and the same. At the end of ‘Prasna Uttara Ratna Malika’ our AachaaryaaL asks a question, “kascha bhagawan?” meaning ‘who is Bhagawan?’ He also replies, “mahesa: sankara narayana aatmaka:”. In Vedanta, when it is mentioned ‘Easwara or Easan’ it does not mean only Siva. The omnipotent power that runs all the activities of the universe is what is referred as ‘Easwara’. When referring to ‘Mahesa’ it is the SaguNa Brhmam that is the Bhagwan, says AchaaryaaL. Immediately he does not go to the next question. Since in our religion there are two main divisions of followers of Siva as Saivam and followers of Vishnu as Vaishnavam, people will not leave it at that. As they asked the question as to who is Bhagawan, they are likely to ask, “Who is Mahesa, is it Siva or Vishnu?” So, AachaaryaaL added the reply for that likely follow up question also, when he said, “mahesaha sankara + narayaNa + aatma + ekaha = mahesaha, sankara narayaNatmaikaha” meaning, the ‘Aatma of both Sankara and Narayana, which is the same one’ or in other words, ‘the one Aatma that is seen as Sankara and Naarayana’! All that exists is that one Aatma or Brhmam, that is Siva and that is Vishnu. At once follows another question, “OK! If that is all and everything including us, then why did he take those two names specifically?”
224. Yes it is true that all of us also are the same thing. But between us, do we ever realise that the person we are talking to or interacting with, is also us only? Each one of us has an ego that causes us to think that we are something apart and different from others. If we realise our reality of oneness, will there be so much competition, hate and dislike? Do we know or feel that we are the Aatma? Siva and Vishnu are not like that. They know that they are seemingly different for a purpose, while being one and the same Aatma or Brhmam. Siva knows that he is Maha Vishnu and Mahavishnu knows that he is Siva or Maheswara. In the play of the world, while being responsible for their say department of duties, to run the Maya Prapancham and supervise the Pravrutti Dharma is the Mahavishnu’s role and to relieve us from our involvement and oversee the Nivrutti Dharma is that of Paramasiva.
225. There are two types of Moksha given by Siva. One is to give Moksha to all without considering individual merits and demerits. That happens in Pralaya when all Jeevas are given an interim rest for a period. In the next creation of the world, they will restart as before and be born again. Another type is the eternal Moksha. That is to give Gnaana to only the deserving meritorious cases, who have realized! Even the so called temporary pralaya will last for some 4,32,00,00 years! It is alright to give permanent release to deserving cases. But even the undeserving ones will be at rest (like in our sleeps) for 4,32,00,00 years! Does this not seem to be ‘overly kind hearted’ on the part of God? To compensate it somewhat I suppose, Siva is in the form of Samhara Murthy as Rudra, an apparently fear invoking form; whereas the deserving few without a qualm come under DakshiNamurthy in the absolute quietude of total peace! For attainment of Gnaana, read dropping of ego, ahankaara and separateness!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 71 (Vol # 5) Dated 23 Oct 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 71 (Vol # 5) Dated 23 Oct 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 on page No 428 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)
208. Pointedly, in this Kali Yuga of total lack of control over senses, if a Gruhasta is to give Gnaana Upadesa, it will only be giving full play to doubt and innuendo! When everybody is practicing hypocrisy in many ways, people are likely to easily mistrust and misinterpret his words. In this Kali Yuga there is virtually no control over the five inputting devices of the body and thereby on the mind. The pull of craving, greed and avidity of the senses is much more evident in this Kali Yuga. That is the reason why, the Ashrama of Vanaprastam (in which husband and wife live in a secluded place like in a forest without giving in to the pull of the senses but, observing various Vrata and Tapa of abnegation) is not recommended to be observed in Kali Yuga, as per the opinion of the Saastras. That is to mean that the Saastraas were reasonable enough not to recommend a practice that was bound to go by default anyhow, by not being observed! Till one is fully matured we are to remain in Gruhasta Ashrama and take Sanyaasa Ashrama when fully fit for the same in Kali Yuga. You may live within the social parameters of Gruhasta, while adopting the drills of abnegation of what you would have done, had you been in the Ashrama of Vanaprastha. That is the idea.
209. Most importantly, this Sankara Avatara has come about to underline and emphasise the final conclusion of the Upanishads that, Moksha can be attained only by getting Gnaana in the Nivrutti Marga! So, if this was to be highly recommended by someone still in Gruhasta, it would have been an irreconcilable aberration and contradiction! Thus for many of the reasons that I have elaborated, some 2,500 years after the ushering in of the Kali Yuga, it was a divine decision that God should take an Avatara and that Gnaana Avatara should be a Sanyaasi, who should do his Upadesa from that status throughout his life. At the time of Sri Krishna, the anomaly of Adharma was like the occasional covering of the Sun by the clouds in day time in summer, it was enough for him to just light up one or two lamps. Whereas now it was completely dark and so it was necessary for this Avatara Purusha to go on lighting up as many lamps as possible throughout his life time on earth. As the proclivities of human mind for aberrations and irregularities were more pronounced during this period, there was no chance for this Avatara to go through Gruhasta Ashrama so as to avoid giving any scope for doubts in people’s minds.
210. Our AachaaryaaL did not have even the normal life span of human beings. It may be known that he lived only for 32 years. That is, though the flow of Kali was very powerful, this limited life span of 32 years was sufficiently effective in terms of intensity and clarity of purpose that the achievement of the mission was so facile! Why talk about 32 years as too small, is there anything that cannot be achieved by the power of God in a matter of seconds? But, it just came about that for this human life time of an Avatara, was to be 32 years. Even that was with some unique twists of drama in it. If you wonder how, it was first doubled from eight to16 by his own decision when he was caught by the crocodile in the Poorna River in Kaladi in Kerala and requested his Mother to grant him Sanyaasa at once so that it will be as good as being reborn with a fresh life and that the crocodile will let him survive! Then when the 16 years were coming to an end, by the wish of Vyasa and Brhma, it was doubled again. Though these were part of Bhagawat Leela, the original plan was to live a life of 32 Years within which it was the intension to write all those copious flow of slokas, treatises and commentaries (on the ten Upanishads and Gita known as ‘Prasthana Thrayam’;) all full of devotion to God in various forms such as Ganesha, Subrahmanya, Siva, AmbaaL, and so on; and Adwaita Gnaana, covering all possible doubts as questions and clarifications as answers!
211. OK, all this is alright. Just 32 years is not the normal human life span which is about 100 years. Why could not this Avatara been of some 100 years or something like 85 or 90 years or so in which, having lived for some years as a married man, why could he not have taken the vow of abstinence of Sanyaasa? If that is your question, let me tell you that it was not supposed to have been a mix of Gruhasta Ashrama and Sanyaasa at all. If 32 years of life was required for achieving the purpose of the Avatara, all the 32 years should have been as a Sanyaasi. That is, the whole life was to have been for Gnaana Upadesa only. In this Kali Yuga Avatara not even the smell of Gruhasta Ashrama was to be mixed, as per Parameswara Sankalpa.
212. {(KTSV Adds: It seems PeriyavaaL is inevitably reviewing his own life too. The earlier Pontiff of Kamakoti Peetam had died in office, having identified him as the successor from the common folk, but died before he could be officially brought to the Matam. To get the child so identified installed as the Head of the Matam and train him would have taken some time and so the responsible administrators of the Matam installed another person who had completed Adhyayanam in a Gurukulam, already available in the Matam. That person also died within a fortnight of being installed as the ‘Jagat Guru’. So it came about that Chandra Sekharendra SwamigaL was established officially as the Head of the Kamakoti Peetam, without further ado! Thus he was the Jagat Guru at the age of thirteen!) For a few minutes PeriyavaaL was just closing his eyes in apparent contemplation. Then he continued.}
213. Though I said that this whole life time was to be in Sanyaasa and Upadesa, it was not entirely so really. For some years initially he was in Brhmacharyam with complete Vidya Abhyasa in Gurukulam; then only Sanyaasa and Upadesa. I was not very correct when I said that for the work of the Avatara 32 years were required. It was actually some eight years less, that was good enough to serve the purpose. Suddenly if a child was to do Upadesa, it would have been declared to be some divine miracle. That would have been contrary to what an Avatara should have ideally been, as a mix of human and divine. How could the general populace have followed a ‘divine child’ as a model to be emulated? How could they have received his advices to be practically possible for just human beings without any divine powers? The Avatara as a child so elevated to sudden stardom also would have been denied his desires for moving and interacting with the masses! The very job of being Upadesa Guru itself means a high pedestal and a certain amount of isolation from others. To be true to the requirements of Yama and Niyama advising others about dispassion and Gnaana, one cannot move around with much intimacy as other Avatara-s do anyhow. Then whatever minimum freedom could have been possible would have also been forbidden if he is born with the label of being a miracle! So, ‘though there is much to teach by being a ‘model householder’, which has been denied to us, let us at the least be a model Brhmachari and show’, the Avatara could have decided.
214. There was one more reason for going through the Brhmacharya Ashrama. The mission of the Avatara being the re-establishment of the Vedic ways, he could not have been just a Sanyaasi without any exposure to the teachings of the Vedas, isn’t it? Though the Sanyaasi is well aware of the Maha Vaakyaas of the Vedas and so to that extent is connected to the Vedas, still, that is not something with which the general public could have related! The things with which the general public could have related to or concerned about are the various duties of the Pravrutti Marga. That was now worse than what it was at the time of Sri Krishna. Only now after the time of Sri Krishna, there were many religions spreading rapidly which advocated the doing away with the Varna Vibhaga totally and were hurting the Vedic religion at the grass roots level, thus affecting the conduct of Karma Anushtaana seriously!
215. Had this Avatara coming into being at this critical juncture, managed to advice only some matured individuals the value of the philosophy of Adwaita and gone; how could this have been good enough at all? Otherwise, how could the mission of general re-establishment of Dharma been achieved? Though the main mission to be accomplished by this Avatara was to point out clearly ‘Gnaana’ as the be all and end all of the Nivrutti Marga; how could one have proceeded, without firmly re-establishing the need for preparatory Karma Anushtaana and the middle of ensuring the continuous conversion of Karma Marga into Karma Yoga (like the graduation from primary to secondary and further studies)? Unless the majority of people are made interested in the refinement of Pravrutti Marga, not many could have been expected to graduate to the end stages of Nivrutti! When the systems had failed and people had gone over to doing things contrary to the dictates of the Saastraas, there was a crying need to re-invigorate their interest for ‘Karma as per Saastraas’! So, keeping the need for impressing the minds of majority of people, it was the divine intension, that this Avatara should be able to rekindle their interest in Vedic Karma Anushtaanaas and Varna – Ashrama arrangements while generally improving the levels of Bhakti and Gnaana. It was not enough to simply say so and advice, the person advising had to be a living example, so as to increase the power of his words. How could a Sanyasi without any Vedic Karma Anushtaana be able to be a living example? So, this Avatara had the onerous job of being a Sanyasi after a period of life as a Brhmachari.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 70 (Vol # 5) Dated 21 Oct 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 70 (Vol # 5) Dated 21 Oct 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 on page No 422 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)
201. Having identified that the battle had to be fought in the minds of the people, it was decided that the method had to be by giving spiritual instructions with apparent display of how it is to be done. So God decided to take an Avatara as a Gnaani and live and demonstrate as a Sanyaasi. It is not that only a Sanyaasi can be a Gnaani. Our AachaaryaaL himself has said, “Even the worst born Chandaala, in the lowest caste in the social order, if he happens to be a Gnaani, he is my Guru”. We will see later on that story about when he said that. To become a Gnaani is very rare indeed. Nobody can be trained easily to become a Gnaani. Upadesa Guru, whether he teaches Vedas or Physics or Chemistry as a subject or how to make a cart or a wheel as a carpenter; he has to systematically teach, instruct and give practice in what is being taught. So this Guru who is to teach his disciples to become Gnaani-s should preferably be one who has become a Gnaani by method as prescribed in the Saastraas and not by any short cut, intended or otherwise. Though rarely Gnaanis may happen to come about in any situation by whatever process, generally to get that maturity, the process as laid in the Saastraas is, that having gone through the Ashrama of Brhmachayam or Gruhastam in an exceptionally faultless manner, one has to take Sanyaasa from a Guru and then repeatedly meditate on the Maha Vaakyaas of the Vedas which tell about the Aikyam of the Jeeva and Brhma (that is the oneness of the individual soul and ultimate divinity of the Parabrhmam), till the truth of those Maha Vaakyaas is imbibed in the very core of one’s being! God considered this to be the correct method to be adopted for this Avatara.
202. In the conditions obtaining those days, when everything was going on against the methods of the Saastraas, the main aim of the Avatara was to regenerate people’s faith in the disciplined approach of the Saastraas. When such is the case, if the very Avatara seems to indicate that a Gnaani can come into being without any system by whatever means, that will defeat the very purpose of the Avatara, isn’t it? Gnaana being the highest pinnacle to be reached by the individual man, dropping off all assumed unrealities about ones’ self, if it can be realizable by any hook or crook, then it will mean that there is no need for the Saastraas or Upadesa or an Avatara! Or in other words, this Avatara would have ended up creating one more religion, like many of the so called religions of those days, which were all not as per the Saastraas or the Vedas! The ‘dharma samsthaapana arthaaya’ that Krishna spoke about was about re-establishing the ways of the Vedas only. In that also, this particular Avatara was meant for the end teaching of the Vedas, the end of the Nivrutti Marga that is the supremacy of the principle of Adwaitam as the aim beyond compare and relativity! So the Avatara Murthy had to be shown to have systematically taken Sanyaasa and attained to Gnaana. After all even those who were dedicated followers of Buddhism and Jainism had to be Bikkus. So, the Avatara had to be a Sanyaasa Guru.
203. Krishna who was not a Sanyaasi did give Gnaana Upadesa. But, that was only one of the things he did. In his time that was the last of the requirements. He had many other tasks to fulfil such as herding the cattle, playing Raasa Leela with the girls of Brindavan, lifting the Govardana mountain, fighting playfully but effectively with ogres sent by Kamsa to kill him, dancing on the hood of the poisonous snake Kalindi, sorting out the Asuras like Naraka, creating and ruling over Dwaraka, living as a householder with 16,000 wives, being sent as the messenger, acting as the charioteer and so on, thus demonstrating his miraculous and divine powers, through all of which he has taught many a lesson to many. Only in the latter half of his Avatara, his advises to Uddhava known as Uddhava Gita and to Arjuna on the battle field known as Bhagawat Gita were good enough to get him the title of ‘Jagat Guru’! Now, 2,500 years later, God decided that his Avatara had to have an entirely different approach and thrust, that is to be a Sannyaasa Guru and mainly give Upadesa of Devotion and Gnaana!
204. In the Saastraas the householder Gruhasta has been entrusted with many responsibilities. He has to do daily three times Sandya Vandanam, once Brhma Yagnam, Agnihotram, do pooja to the Devatas; and at various days of the year periodically conduct various Yagnas for Devatas, Rishis and Pithrus; and also conduct or get conducted 40 different Samskaaraas in one’s life time. Then he has responsibilities towards elders and youngsters of the family, village and society. More than all this he has to take care of guests and visitors, known as Atithi Satkaara. In the protocol of responsibilities, after Mother, Father and Guru; it is the ‘Atithi’ who is to be considered as a Deva! All the Sanyaasi-s of the world can roam about freely without any care in the world, only when the householder is ready to take care of his needs also, isn’t it? Then social service is the ultimate responsibility of the householder. All this means that he has to earn enough to be able to take care of himself and others in the society. If after doing justice to all these responsibilities as a householder, if he has to also be a Gnaana Upadesa Guru, that would have been quite impossible, especially in the conditions existing those days. He had to go all over the country if he were to argue, debate, disprove all the other religions existing those days and re-establish the Sanaatana Dharma based on the Vedas.
205. So he had to be a Sanyaasi without any need to do all the multifarious Karma Anushtaanaas. For him Upadesa was the Karma and the only responsibility for which he had to be totally dedicated. How could a householder Gruhasta who had to take care of his family and society have gone roaming all over the country? Whereas a Sanyaasi is required by the Saastraas not to stay in the same place for more than one night, so that he may not get attached and put down roots, as though. This was another reason for the Avatara to be a Sanyaasi. Amongst the four Ashramas, Sanyaasa is the most suitable for a roaming ambassador’s job. Brhmachari is called the ‘antevaasi’ as he is supposed to live with the Guru. As he is to live in Gurukulam, he cannot be a transient nomadic character. Gruhasta is anyhow ruled out as described already because of his responsibilities. Vanaprastam also precludes roaming about, as he has to stay in the forest in one place doing his ‘Vrata – Niyama – Tapa – Anushtaanaas’. Sanyaasi is the only one who instead of staying in one place, is required to keep moving from place to place, as per the Saastraas. So, such an Avatara was what was required through whom the job of advising people all over the country could be done.
206. Krishna of course did Gnaana Upadesa. But he did not go about all over the country and address all the erudite scholars of his time. Only Uddhava and Arjuna were lucky enough to receive his Upadesa. In between Gitopadesa he revealed to Arjuna that he is the very God that is Parabrhmam in the form of Krishna. Uddhava knew that he is not only his friend from the days when they were together in Gurukulam under their Guru Saandipani, but also God in human form. To Arjuna, he revealed his immaculate form by a display of his ‘Viswa Roopa Darsana’. Anyhow both Arjuna and Uddhava, without analysing whether he is God or another mortal human in Gruhastam, simply accepted his advices with supreme devotion. Then later, after Krishna dropped his mortal coil, the whole world knew him to be God. It was during Parikchit and Janamejaya’s time that through the words of Vyasa AachaaryaaL, Krishna’s Upadesa-s became known to the whole world through Bhagawata and Maha Bharatha Upanyasas. (Note: After the period of Pandava-s, Parikchit took over the reins of governance. At the end of his period, Vyasa-s son Sukha told him Bhagawata in which Uddhava Gita was narrated as having been given by Krishna to Uddhava. Later Parikchit’s son Janamejaya conducted a Sarpa Yaaga, in which Vyasa’s disciple Vaisampayana told him the whole of Maha Bharatha, in which Bhagawat Gita as advised by Krishna to Arjuna in the battle field of Kurukshetra.) As the words of advice from God, people accepted them without questioning as to whether he was a Gruhasta or what. It was also God’s plan I suppose that having playacted as a human being during the Avatara, he arranged to reveal his Godhood subsequently after the passage of one or two generations.
207. Now it was time that when the ‘house is under fire it had to be quickly doused with water’! During Krishna’s time, there could be delay between the time of Upadesa and its spread to others after people had realised that he was an Avatara. Now was the time that such delay was not acceptable. The fire of Adharma and Agnaana was in a state of conflagration when instant measures of the rain of Gnaana Upadesa were needed. So, without compromising the aims (Lakshya) of Avatara and the required character qualities (Lakshanam) of how the Avatara should be, during the period of existence of the Avatara itself, he had to give his Upadesa for all, for which it was best that the Avatara Purusha was a well known celibate Sanyasi.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 69 (Vol # 5) Dated 19 Oct 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 69 (Vol # 5) Dated 19 Oct 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 page No 415 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)
193. Like all of us, even an Avatara Purusha will allow the feelings of anger, sadness, fear and such. He lets such feelings affect him at the mind level, I feel because at the inner level anyhow he is totally and absolutely unaffected. Normally a person who is an Aatma Gnaani will not bother about whatever be the conditions to which his body is subjected to, such as cold as in the arctic tundra or heat as obtains in the arid Saharan desert. But one’s mind is still different from the Aatma isn’t it? He could not possibly completely delink himself from his mind. He is a man who has come as a Jeevan, still subjected to the Maya / Prakruti. The very mind is a creation of the Maya. It is by sheer will that the Gnaani has got the mind under his control. So he cannot possibly allow the mind to give scope for feelings such as anger, desire and or sadness. Only God is above all this subjectivity to Maya. He is born as another one like us, by his own volition, still remaining uncontrolled by Maya. Durga Sapta Sati says, “gnaaninaam api chetaamsi devi bhagawati hi saa I bhalaad aakrushya mohaaya mahamaayaa prayachchati II”, meaning, ‘the (chit) mind and intellect of even a Gnaani is forcibly attracted and driven into delusion by the great power of Maha Maya’. Similar can never be the state of God himself, because the power of Parasakti the Maha Maya is all his. As all by himself as Parabrhmam or as an Avatara amongst the mortal human beings, whenever and wherever he wishes, he could call forth or dismiss the Maha Maya. That is why she is called Para Shakti, the power above all, except I suppose the Para Brhmam.
194. When he comes amongst us as an Avatara, so as to interact with us, encourage us and show us the way, so that his disguise may fit him properly, without any hesitation or fear he allows the whole spectrum of feelings of the mind to be exhibited. So an Avatara Purusha can display all these feelings of anger, fear, passion and even disgust. Like a Gnaani lets his body suffer in silence, the Avatara Purusha allows his mind the full play of feelings. But, that cannot and will not affect his state of being the Paramaatma. It cannot come in the way of his main aim of ‘Dharma Sthaapana’, that is the Re-establishment of Moral Standards in the society. Slightly, seemingly he may look as though he is falling and failing. But he will recover and straighten up and overcome. For him all this is only play acting!
195. We Should Have no Doubts About Avatara-s. In this play, the Avatara Purusha may go up to the other extreme as though he has come under the control of Maya. Lest we may suspect him, he has clarified that he has Maya under his strict control by his statement, “prakrutim swaam adhishtaaya”. In AachaaryaaL’s story, is there one single action of his which can be looked at with the doubt as to why should he have done that? In Kaladi for the ease of his old Mother, he caused the river to flow nearer so that she may not have to walk a long distance to have a dip in the river every day! He sang the Kanaka Dhaaraa Sthavam and caused Maha Laxmi to rain gold to help out a poor woman who had the kindness and compassion, that she went to any length of efforts so that she may be able to give some alms to the young child who had come to the door of her hut saying, ‘Bhavati bikshaam dehi’, meaning, ‘kindly give me alms’. Then in the north, he controlled the flood of the Narmada River. Having displayed such super human abilities even as a child or a small boy, in Kaasi when the Presiding Deity of that place, Viswanatha Swami came in front of him dressed as a Pariah, he told him to stay away and not come too close. Then he took advices from him and did a bodily prostration at the feet of Viswanatha Swami. On that incident if a question arises in our minds as to why should he have been so crude, we should get a clarification in our minds by remembering the statement in Gita as to how, God comes amongst us keeping the Maya under his control and not doubt his ‘all knowingness’!
196. With the Avatara-s it will seemingly look as though there is the effect of Maya. But Maya cannot be in a state of ownership as it does with all of us. Avatara is the owner and Maya is under his control and not otherwise. But instead of being the autocratic owner – chief, he is a playful one who lets the Maya seemingly rule over him, but in a jiffy throws away its reign aside. The one who cries in the pain of separation from his beloved asking every tree, plant, sun and moon if they have seen Sita being taken away; is the same one who constructs a bridge over the raging ocean; fights and wins a battle against the Asuras and then when his wife comes back to him lovingly, tells her in all clarity, “I got you out of imprisonment because of the fact that it was my duty to do so! Now you can go wherever you want as I have no attachment!” The divine power that kills Sakatasura as though in a child’s play, also displays human frailty the next moment, in getting a thrashing from cowherd girls for stealing and eating butter! Once we understand that the Avatara can alternate between either ends of the extremes, we will not ask the question as to, ‘How can it be? How is that there are so many irreconcilable contradictions?’
197. Deterioration of Dharma as Never Before. What Krishna Paramaatma said about Avatara is exactly the very reasons of Sankara Avatara. Did he not say that he will be born amongst us whenever Dharmam dwindles and Adharmam is on the ascendant? That sort of a situation was obtaining some 2,500 years after Krishna Paramaatma dropped his mortal coil. We have talked enough about the state of affairs existing then. In short, the situation was not exactly as it was at the time of Sri Krishna’s Avatara, when both Pravrutti and Nivrutti Dharmas were badly being affected. The situation was much worse. If prior to Krishna’s time, Pravrutti Marga was being observed for benefits of Iham and Param, instead of being observed as Karma Yoga; with that, further worsening of the situation happened now prior to Sankara’s birth. At the least at the time of Krishna people were still adherents of the injunctions of the Vedas. But at the time of Sankara, a whole lot of people had come into being, who were against the methods and teachings of the Vedas! Even in the Nivrutti Marga the aim was indicated to be something like Gnaana but actually a Zero or Soonyata or something like a ‘Thrisangu Swarga’ which is neither here nor there! At least in the known past of history and of Puranas, there has never been such a state affairs, ever before! So, all said and done, there was a crying need for the arrival of God on the scene as an Avatara, to protect and save the Pravrutti and Nivrutti Margas from total extinction.
198. There was one major difference in the work cut out for the Avatara-s of the past and Sankara Avatara now. The main aim of Avatara-s as we had seen earlier was always, ‘paritraaNaaya saadhoonaam and vinaashaaya cha dushkrutaam’, that is to, ‘save and protect the well behaved saintly ones and destroy the ill behaved renegades’. There was never a problem with the first clause of, ‘protecting the well behaved adherents’. In the earlier times majority of people were well behaved adherents to the ways of the Vedas and with the arrival of the Avatara on the scene, there was rejuvenation amongst them instantly. Even now there was not much of a problem on this score as, whatever number of Saadhoos that were there were very happy for having obtained a leader who so willingly espoused their cause! The major problem was with the second clause of ‘vinaashaaya cha dushkrutaam’!
199. In Krishna Avatara and before, the misbehaved renegades were easily identifiable as being some Rakshasaas, Asuras and some tyrant kings. But at the time of Sankara this task had taken some different dimensions! The problem was ‘how to identify or classify anybody as a friend or foe?’ One could not easily isolate the opponents. There was no one who looked or behaved like a Kamsa, Jarasanda and or Kaalanemi. There were more who looked like normal human beings, like the Duryodana and other Kauravas widely spread amongst the populace. At least the Duryodana and other Kauravas were openly crudely behaved and cruel. But at the time of our AachaaryaaL’s arrival on the scene, there were more seemingly talking good, acting good but advocating such things which could not even be correctly identified as Adharmam! Except for a few, the whole lot of people were stuck in the flow of Adharma Pravaaham! In this stage, what is the method to be adopted for the destruction of ‘dushkrutaam’? Mass destruction cannot be the answer anyhow. You do not need an Avatara Purusha for what is achieved by Pralaya that is the Armageddon, the universal holocaust! This is what I called the problem faced by God himself!
200. When there was nobody as an Asura physically identifiable and demoniacal tendencies have entered majority of people’s minds, how to solve the problem? How to carry out the task of ‘Dushta Samhaaram’? Vishwamitra had the Dharmic idea of conducting some special Yagnas. Some Asuras interfered in the conduct of such Yagnas. Rama and Lakshmana fought against the miscreants and destroyed them and so they did, ‘dushta nigraham and sishta paripaalanam’. Project the same scenario in to Kali Yuga. First of all the devil would have got into Vishwamitra’s mind and he may not have decided to conduct the Yagna or even if he does, the purpose would have been something nefarious! Then how is the purpose of the Avatara to be achieved? How is ‘dushta sikshaNam (punishing the miscreants), sishta rakshaNam (protecting the well behaved) and dharmoddaaraNam (raise the moral standards)’, are to be achieved? We could not have found the solution. Our AachaaryaaL did! From the physical, the battle field had moved in to the minds of the people and so the battle had to be fought there!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 68 (Vol # 5) Dated 17 Oct 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 68 (Vol # 5) Dated 17 Oct 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 page No 409 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)
185. Humaneness and Divinity in Avatara. In taking a birth amongst us, for the main purpose of ‘Dharma UddharaNam’ that is to salvage, recover, resuscitate and re-establish the moral standards that were declining, God packs in many more additional aims. It is not enough to simply give advices to others. He has to demonstrate by personal example so that, his entire life as an Avatara becomes a case study for future generations. These noble principles of life will not gel by itself except when they become role – models for others to emulate. “Aha! They not only tell us what to do, but are themselves so perfect, clean and blissfully happy that by their very presence they are proving to be a source of inspiration, motivation and happiness!” That would be the natural response in people’s minds on seeing them, interact with them and learn from them. If ‘to err is human’, to demonstrate perfection is the reason for Avatara.
186. Still, to be an Ideal with a capital ‘I’ is not good enough! He cannot prove to be too idealistic that others will straight away give up emulating, saying that it is all very difficult and impossible! People are very facile with their excuses to fall back on their old ways saying, “How can I ever be like another Ramana Maharshi or Ramakrishna Paramahamsa or Vivekananda?” An Avatara should also be as much like anyone of us, with human abilities, sensibilities, feelings and desires; subject to hunger, thirst and such frailties. If a tough acrobat in the touring circus makes the elephant place his legs on his chest, we may clap our hands but will not be tempted to copy his action! An Avatara Purusha without human foibles will fail in the main purpose of his coming into being. If such a one remains in a higher world of his own without any of the human pulls and pressures, high above the normal humanity, we may pay respects to him but not get encouraged to follow his methods!
187. So, an Avatara Purusha will not reveal his super human powers but living within human parameters, he will portray a very normal picture of himself, while when there is a crisis of conscience between the morally correct righteous ways which are difficult and the easier ways of the wrong, he will show as to how Dharmam is the way for peace and bliss in the long run. Though exactly like anyone of us, wherever we fail, he will show as to how he will come out successful. Then only we will get motivated that we can also go by the same route and be successful in living a life of righteousness and morality and that we can also pass the test of our mettle as conducted by the examiner the Saastraas!
188. He cannot be totally like a common man either, as no one will care to note if he is on the right lines or not. Even now, there are many unsung heroes in day-to-day life; men of grit, determination, integrity and courage, like the unknown-soldier on the battle field. But this cannot be the rallying force for the common man. In recent times, do you think that Mahatma Gandhi was the only one who followed the principle of ‘being strictly truthful as per one’s conscience’? There might have been and are many like him in every nook and corner of the world, but you hardly ever get to know them that they are also there! By the very fact that he was a pioneer paving the way known as Gandhiyam, many others tried to follow his example. When God assumes an Avatara with the intension of having an influence over people’s minds for longer periods, though he adopts human like qualities, so as to attract others employs some divine powers also. Remaining mostly like other human beings, he will also undertake superhuman endeavours. Being only a child, he may destroy Asuras such as Thataka and Subhahu. Or give up his rightful throne on the day of his coronation with a disarming smile on his face. Then if ordered to be banished to the forest, he will comply most obligingly, winning people’s mind and heart! Before we can think that this man is really superhuman and we cannot possibly replicate his actions, instead of being too outlandishly divine, he will also show how down to earth he can be by crying with tears in his eyes and running nose asking every tree and plant, if they have seen Sita being taken away! By behaving alternately like a human and divine being, he will motivate us also the way to progress in the path of Dharma!
189. Yes human ability and power are certainly less than that of divine beings. Still, human beings are not so badly off and incapable as they underrate themselves. Controlling their senses and mind, they can also raise themselves to almost unreachable heights of excellence. They can match and even overtake the Devas in competence and reach! Actually it is said that even the jobs of the Devatas are only like appointments for a period of time, which may be much longer in the human scale. But the fact remains that even the Devas will have to one day take birth as a human being if they have to attain to Gnaana eventually! So to remind us of our abilities, our untapped inner resources and to goad us as well as encourage us, God is born amongst us as an Avatara!
190. All this time I have been saying that God plays amongst us, to show us the way and that his Avatara is meant to re-establish Dharma, as simply willing it so, does not satisfy the purpose. But all that, still does not fully justify His having to take an Avatara, I feel. More than any other reason, I think it is like the wish of the parent to play with his children! Come to think of it, God is the Father and Mother of all of us, and we are all his children, isn’t it? Somewhere in some corner of his mind, he will have the wish to play actively with us. If he were to remain the formless being, how are we to comprehend him? How to interact with him, if he were to continue to remain incommunicado? Even if he were to come in front of us with four hands, holding his conch and wheel and what not, we may go down on our feet and beg him of mercy and ask for some boons or simply swoon in awe! That is why, he comes amongst us as another man or a hunter or a monkey or a shepherd, to make it easy for both him and us! That is how in his Avatara-s, he has revealed his wishes, desires, anger and even sorrow. All said and done, he has depicted the highest of love, compassion, Gnaana, valuable character qualities of friendship, loyalty, integrity and truthfulness, through Avatara-s. It is not only so that his intensions should be fulfilled, but in the bargain show us the way also to emulate him. Connecting these two aims, the moment he gets an opportunity, he comes amongst us, as an Avatara.
191. In this, if he is totally like us, who are subservient to our whims and fancies, subject to our feelings and sensuality, it would not suit the bill. He can neither be completely beyond all this either. So, he has to enact as though he is subject to Maya while at the same time show us the way of mastering the human foibles! ‘However much I may seem to enjoy the pleasures of life, I am not subject to them. So keeping Maya under my control, I come amongst you all – ‘prakrutim swaam adhishtaaya... ...adhishtabhya’ – (Prakruti means Maya) – I do all this’, he says. ‘As Parabrhmam, I am not touched by any of the need for actions or qualities or variations of Maya. So, as Easwara, keeping Maya or Prakruti under my direct supervision and control I do all the acts of creation and sustenance followed by reabsorption when the time comes for that. At the time of creation, I let out the ‘Bhoota Graama’ of the various life forms once again to take birth. In the drama of the world when there is total dwindling of Dharma, once again I pull back the Maya bringing it under my control and take Avatara’. Thus he said in Gita Upadesa.
192. While talking about ‘Bhoota Graama’, he says ‘avasam prakruter vasaat’ meaning, ‘helplessly under the control of nature’; that is the whole lot of living things are having no control whatsoever on their natural tendencies. You cannot straighten the tail of a dog, just to take one example. Water will have liquidity and wetness. Fire will burn and turn things into ashes and so on. In contrast this Avatara Purusha will have the Nature or Prakruti or Maya under his control. That is the major difference between the creator and the creation! Though the Avatara may look like a human being, at no point in time should we think that he is also like us only! ‘Like you all, I am not under the nature’s control’, he says. In both the places in Chapter 4 and then in Chapter 9, while saying, “prakrutim swaam adhishtaaya” and “prakrutim swaam adhishtaabhya” respectively, he has used the word ‘swaam’, he has emphasised that ‘like you I am not under nature’s control, but nature is under my control’. At any time he can tell Maya to ‘come’ and play with it; and also tell it any time to ‘go’ and simply be ‘sat – chit – anandam’ and Maya will cease to be!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 67 (Vol # 5) Dated 15 Oct 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 67 (Vol # 5) Dated 15 Oct 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 on page No 402 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)
178. We were going to look at ‘Avatara Rahasya’, that is the subtle truth behind God’s coming amidst us in human form. Before that, as a preamble let us try and answer one big question. Say, God looks at the world and notes that the world is sliding in a downward slope of deteriorating moral standards. He decides that the trend should be reversed. For that why should he have to come down amidst us? Is not his decision to reverse the trend good enough to cause a change? Let ‘Bhagawat Sankalpa’ take effect by itself. What is the need for him to be born amongst us? For him, who is normally not affected by any rules of Karma, to come down as an Avatara, make all sorts of efforts like us, even agitate for a cause, participate in fights and possibly get physically hurt, go through the whole range of feelings such as anger, hurt, greed, jealousy and loss; is all this necessary? Staying in his exalted stage of Vaikudam or Kailasam or whatever heavenly abode of his he should be getting things done to his liking just by wishing so, isn’t it? Why should he have to take birth in this world as an Avatara?
179. Yes it is true that simply by his ‘sankalpa maatra’, there is nothing that cannot be done by God. But if he were to go about simply wishing this and that, at some point, he may have to wish all this to be over by making one decision, ‘Let all this be finished and done with!’ Then he can be just happy all by himself! Come to think of it, the very creation of so much variety, colours, seasons, climates, static plants and mobile animals; crawlers, side winders, flyers, walkers and runners; valleys, dales, plains, hillocks and mountains; animate and inanimate forms of existence; snow, rains, floods, rivers, lakes and oceans; will all simply disappear! But possibly evidently he is enjoying himself too, isn’t it? Even before creation, he was enjoying himself only as Sat – Chit – Aanandam only, isn’t it? Being blissfully aware, wasn’t he? Still, for some reason beyond our comprehension, with Maya as a tool, he has created so many of us all with the whole array of odds and sorts, hasn’t he? Though all this is reabsorbed to absolute quietness at the end of each Kalpa in the Pralaya, like a cycle it is all happening again and again, isn’t it? Again and again is he not making us go through the wringer, going round and round in the giant cart wheel of birth and death?
180. However much we think on these lines, we can never understand his purpose. Being ‘ekam eva advitiyam’ that is, ‘one without a second’, he goes on, despite our being perplexed as to what is the cause of such creation! What can we do about it? Though some talk high philosophy that, “There is nothing as creation, it is all appearances of Maya, ‘like a black cat in a dark room, which is not there’”, for the question, “Why is there something as Creation”, the answer is always a vague, “It is all God’s recreation!” We do not know God’s nature and we cannot understand. So, though we may wonder as to why should he do all this disturbing his own peace, in his very peaceful state he goes on enacting all the drama on the world stage! After all is said and done, he initiates, inaugurates, runs, makes-up, wears the guises, directs, photographs, dances, sings, and continues to carry on doing all that, doesn’t he? In his agenda, except during the period known as ‘Pralaya’ like taking a break, there is never an end, finis, closing of curtains! Evidently all the chaos of the world is only in our understanding and minds and not in his!
181. “That is all right, Swami! Instead of answering my question as to why should God feel compelled to undertake the onerous job of an Avatara, you are talking about why and how God will never close shop! This is only side stepping my question, isn’t it?” I am coming to that only. Let us take that in the world stage, there is an occasion when Adharma is about to totally vanquish Dharma and God decides (that is takes a ‘Sankalpa’), ‘Let there be re-establishment of Dharma’! Can this ‘Dharma Samsthaapana’ be eternal? Can he make such a decision? He cannot and that is my point! The whole pleasure of existence is based on relativity, comparison and contrast, gradations and variety! If the whole world becomes all Dharma it will be quite unbecoming, drab and monotonous! God’s Leela, play has to have variety. Instead of just one side there has to be many sides. The tug-of-war to be interesting there has to be at least two sides pulling in opposite directions, isn’t it? If you cannot kick the ball you have to kick at least the opponent or the referee, between you me and the goal post! Then only the match will be lively. In life there has to be the opposites, winning and losing; surprises and disappointments; anger and satisfaction; crying and laughter; good and bad; piety and crassness and so on. If everybody becomes good and nice, there will be dharma but no drama! Even God can get bored in the bargain. The very world is known as ‘misra lokam’, that is a world of mix. Total evil and mischievousness is in the Asura Loka, all pleasure and happiness is the Deva Loka and Gandarva Loka, absolute quiet is the Tapo Loka or Satya Loka; while this world ‘misra loka’ of ours, is meant to be a blend of all sorts! Having given some amount of freedom to man to do many things, to be good and or bad, fun lies in his application of this freedom within restrictions. If everybody becomes well behaved, then it will become a Dharma Loka and God can close shop!
182. If everybody follows all the moral rules, no new karma will accumulate. All the old balances will get cancelled by and by. Then everybody will be relieved of this attachment to Maya Loka and all will attain to Moksha. Then this creation will have to come to an end. So instead of the created world bringing it to a close, the creator himself will call it quits, isn’t it? “What is this, we created the world for fun and these people are cancelling out all that! Why should I let them finish it, let me do so myself!” That will be his logic. God needs this Leela of Creation and variegated ‘misra loka’ of infinite possibilities. So what I said was that, if he had a choice between making the world all morally correct and righteous on the one hand and closing shop on the other; he will opt for closing shop! Talking about God’s Leela, I have also had some fun! (PeriyavaaL laughs saying this!)
183. “So OK. Instead of permanently making the world all nice and goody – goody, let him just wish (‘sankalpa maatra’) that there should be some temporarily longer period of ascendency of good over evil and not bother about taking an Avatara. That is my point”, says this ‘never – give – up’ easily disputant. If God were to do that, God will not have even the little bit of peacefulness that he has, as of now! Every moment like a ticking clock he will have to keep doing only, ‘sankalpa maatra’! You are saying, “Why should God take an Avatara”, out of concern for his being inconvenienced, isn’t it? God as ‘Niraakara, Nishkriya, Nirvikalpa, Nishkaamya and NirguNa’ anyhow remains totally unaffected. But is involved only as the SaguNa Brhmam that is something like a dynamic Chief Executive Officer! Since he is anyhow omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, we need not be overly concerned about his concerns! God is anyhow the ‘antar yaami’, the indwelling spirit in all of us, in every iota of existence. Then in Avatara-s too his involvement is either full or part as in ‘amsa avatara’! So, whether he does by ‘sankalpa maatra’ or by Avatara whole or part, we will leave it to him. So instead of ‘sankalpa maatra’, being fond of play himself, (like some of the cinema directors do, showing their faces at least in some places in some scenes and enacting a character role in some,) God makes his appearances at times!
184. Everything is God’s Sankalpa. But in action, he shows as though it has been done by some tool of his. At times we find that immorality is on the ascendant. Even that is God’s making only. But it does not mean however that God directly caused such a situation to come about. We hear about despots, corrupt people, renegades, thieves, murderers, and people spreading hate, wrong policies being advocated in the name of religion and so on. So also the opposite of this is done by people only. So it is evident that God does whatever he does through the people only. When Dharmam in waning and corruption and sinfulness is on the increase, he sends great souls as his tools to cause changes in the trend. When they are also not able to make a dent in the situation, he will arrive on the scene himself as an Avatara.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 66 (Vol # 5) Dated 13 Oct 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 66 (Vol # 5) Dated 13 Oct 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 on page No 394 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)
169. All told, what I have been talking to you for so long (in the past 20 issues of Deivathin Kural since 30 Aug 2011), in short is that, in this country of its origin, the Vedic Religion had been badly mauled, duped, misused, abused and gone by default! Many religions some in the name of being Vedic, claiming themselves to be the true Vedic religion, were usurping the rightful place of the Sanaatana Dharma, while some were thriving, having set aside any reference to the Vedas or Easwara or God! There were 72 such religions actively vociferous those days. The state of affairs of this religion was so bad that no human being could have saved it from total annihilation and erasure! Only God could have saved it and that is what happened! Here is where Krishna Paramaatma arrives on the scene! I took his name only in the beginning isn’t it? As a reason for it, we are now coming to the link between the Avatara of Sankara Bhagawat PaadaaL and Krishna Avatara!
170. Krishna said that, the Sanaatana Dharma that he had conveyed as instructions to the Sun once upon a time, that had been passed on from father to son and practised for eons of time had become weakened and ignored and that it is the same Upadesa that he is once again giving to Arjuna now! We saw the slokas in Gita about this. In the elation and euphoria of his picture painting Arjuna had completely forgotten or unaware of the fact that this man Krishna standing in front of him in human form as a relative of his was none other than God Himself in human form! So in reaction to Krishna’s statement Arjuna responds with wonder as to how, Krishna born now could have instructed the Sun, who in turn could have tutored Iktshvaaku, the foremost of the Surya Vamsa (Sun Dynasty), some million years back! “aparam bhavato janma, param janma vivasvata: I katam etat vijaaneeyaam tvam aadow proktavaan iti II” (Gita IV – 4.)
171. For this question, Bhagawan says, “Before this I have had many Janmas and so have you been born a number of times. I know about all of them, but you do not know!” “baheeni me vyateetaani janmaani tava cha Arjuna I taanyaham veda sarvaaNi, na tvam vetta Parantapa II” (Gita IV – 5.) Krishna did not stop with that statement. Had he stopped, Arjuna could have taken him for another human being and would not have questioned him further keeping his doubt to himself as to how could this man be able to remember all the past lives! Even if he had asked a question, it would not have been, “How could you have had so many births?” It would have been, “How do you remember all that?” For us it is no problem since he cannot fool us as though he is just a simple human being and we will not doubt as to how the all knowing God can remember all the past. But, we will have another big question coming up. It is alright for Arjuna to have had many lives and accumulated a bag of Karma and is now born as Arjuna. But this Krishna is God’s Avatara. How are we to accept that he has had many lives? Why should he do so? He knew that there will be such questions. He also knew while saying it that whatever he says is not only meant for Arjuna at that time but are being recorded by Vyasa for posterity. So, without any questions from Arjuna he clarifies thus in the next stanza.
172. “I am not stuck in the jaws of the Law of Karma, having to take repeated lives because of it. I am the stuff of no birth and no death. I am not like the mortal human being undergoing many changes by (prakruti’s) natures’ variations and mind’s vascillations! I am the eternally constant and changeless ‘Avyayaatma’. For all the elements I am the ‘Easwara’. Despite being so (‘api san’), I come into being keeping the Nature which is the cause of all creation under my control, that is ‘situate myself as and when and where required’, ‘prakrutim swaam adhishtaaya sambhavaami aatma maayayaa’.” (Gita IV – 6.) Let us look at the whole stanza, “ajo api san – navyayaatma bhootaanaam easwaro api san I prakrutim swaam adhishtaaya sambhavaami aatma maayaya II”.
173. As the whole universe is seen to appear by Maya, he does not have to subject himself to the rules of nature, to be born. Both the animate and inanimate world is all his appearances only. There is nothing other than God. So this Prakruti, world, universe, nature, Maya, so many life forms are all that one reality only. But these forms do not know themselves. All the forms with life and without life are under the control of nature while the nature is under his control. So for him to be seemingly being born is what is known as Avatara. Continuing the same logic, for the question that is likely to arise as a corollary, as to why does he have to take an Avatara the answer comes in the next two stanzas of Gita IV – 7 & 8. He says, “yadaa yadaa hi dharmasya glaanir bhavati bhaaratha I abhyuththaanam adharmasya tad aatmaanam srujaami aham II paritraaNaaya saadhoonaam vinaasaaya cha dushkrutaam dharma samstaapanaarthaaya sambhavaami yuge yuge II”
174. He started saying that he knew all the past lives and that Arjuna does not. Then he spoke about his past lives. Then he tells us how he comes in to being and why he does so, in these stanzas. What is he saying? Whenever there is threat for Dharma – ‘yadaa yadaa hi dharmasya glaanir bhavathi’, by which the opposite of dharma multiply; that is when there is rampantly more immorality and corruption, to control such eventuality ‘abhyuththaanam adharmasya’; then, ‘tadaa’; I situate myself as and when and where required, ‘aatmaanam srujaamyaham’. What happens when Dharmam is on the decline? The good and saintly people will suffer in the hands of the bad and corrupt. Isn’t it? The saintly well behaved have to be saved and the corrupt will have to be punished. So, ‘paritraaNaaya saadhoonaam vinaasaaya cha dushkrutaam’ and to re-establish the rule of moral laws, he situates himself in every Yuga, ‘dharma samstaapanaarthaaya sambhavaami yuge yuge’! That is the positive promise given by God in Bhagawat Gita!
175. “This is not a temporary change for the better intended. Dharmam has to be re-established. The saintly good people will have to be aided to find their feet and recommence their activities. The sinfully corrupt have to be weeded out from the society. Of course one cannot do away with sinfulness forever as the pairs of opposites will continue their struggle against each other. The very drama of the play of opposites is what constitutes the essence of existence. In the way it happens in this creation, instead of being exactly equal, immorality and sinfulness has the upper hand most of the times. When it goes out hand almost, then the Avatara takes place when ‘sishta rakshanam and dushta sikshanam’ that is saving of the followers and sorting out of the antagonists occurs. Thus every time that God takes Avatara, immediately afterwards the reverse process of gathering of negative forces will happen once again. So, God would like to see that though Dharmam cannot be made permanent, it may be well established. However well that may be established, the pendulum will once again swing in the opposite direction for sure! God is likely to say, “That is alright. Have I not given a promise that I will come back again and again, ‘sambhavaami yuge, yuge’?”
176. Kali Yuga is said to last for 4,32,000 years and the previous Yugas to that are supposed to be lasting for twice, thrice and four times longer durations respectively! So we can be certain that God comes amongst us much more often than just once a Yuga! Then when we look at the fact that this whole Chatur Yuga of 432,000 multiplied by four is only one day of Brhma, followed by another Chatur Yuga for his one night; we can imagine that God has his hands full that, as he closes his shop for one Avatara, must be preparing for the next! In the earlier sloka he said only, ‘yadaa yadaa hi’ meaning as and when. So we should take his, ‘yuge, yuge’ as equivalent to saying ‘every other day, whenever required’! He has said that whenever Dharmam dwindles and Adharmam is dominant, to save the good and saintly and destroy the unholy, he will come amongst our midst. Also since he has promised, ‘paritraaNaaya sadhoonaam’, however much the proliferation of unholy forces it will not be totally one sided, there will still be some ‘holy and good’ to be saved. Most importantly God is not like the human beings of the world, who are stuck in the nature’s reign. He will on his own bring the nature under his reign and take birth, he has said.
177. The Clue for the Secret of Avatara. Why did he say that he comes amidst us having brought the Nature under his control? Here in the Fourth Chapter he says, ‘prakrutim swaam adhishtaaya’. Elsewhere in the same Gita, he says ‘prakrutim swaam avashtabhya’ (Gita IX – 8). These two words, ‘adhishtaaya and avashtabhya’ means the same as ‘vaseekrutya’, that is ‘having brought it under his control’. Actually in both places, that is how our AachaaryaaL has interpreted in the Bhashyam, using the word ‘vaseekrutya’! Here in Chapter Four of Gita, he is talking about how he is taking Avatara for establishing Dharma. There in Chapter Nine he is talking about how at the end of each Pralaya, after total absorption he lets out the life forms once again to go through Karma, that is re-creation after due absorption. In both the places he has used the phrase ‘having brought the nature under my control’. Here is the clue for the secret of God’s Avatara. The clue is the fact that in both places of his Avatara and re-creation of the rest of the life forms after the deluge of Pralaya; he is virtually using the same phrase, ‘prakrutim swaam adhishtaaya / avashtabhya’ and our AachaaryaaL has given the meaning for both these two words ‘adhishtaaya and avashtabhya’ as ‘vaseekrutya’ to mean having brought under control!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.