DEIVATHIN KURAL # 60 (Vol # 5) Dated 01 Oct 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 60 (Vol # 5) Dated 01 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 359 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)
119. In the Sankhya Religion from Prakruti (Nature) to Pancha Bhootam (the five basic elements namely, Space, Earth, Air, Water and Fire), and 24 Tatvas (entities of reality) are mentioned amongst which the first mentioned Prakruti is ‘Pradaanam’ that is foremost. In this Universe, for all practical purposes Nature is the foremost predominant principle. Everything else is secondary! Mind, sense organs, the body and our very being is from Nature only. Using the five (pancham) basic building blocks of air, water, space, earth and fire and the three GuNas of Satva, Rajas and Tamas in different proportions; nature creates the whole variety of this universe (Pra-pancham)! Nature is only ‘achetanam’, that it is ‘jadam’, once again meaning that it is inanimate. The animate entity, that stands apart without getting itself involved and is self contained but at the same time is complimentary to Nature, is the Purusha by whose ‘Saannidyam’ or very presence Nature does all these things! ‘The individual man the ‘Jeevan’ has to analyse all these 24 Tatvas and set them aside, devoid of the ups and downs due to the pulls of the three GuNas, releasing himself from the hold of Prakruti the Nature and has to stand apart as the Purusha; that is Kaivalya or Moksha’, claims that religion Sankhya.
120. Reading this above para about the Sankhya Religion, one is likely to observe that, ‘then it looks like what is said in the Gnaana Kaandam of the Upanishads only, this Purusha looks like the Aatma and Prakruti looks like the principle of Maya’. But, the difference lies in the fact that, whereas the Upanishads say that this Aatma is the same as Parama Aatma or Parabrhmam and all the Jeeva Aatma-s are various garbs worn by the same; contrary to that, Sankhyam says that there are as many Purusha-s are there, as there are people in the world! How can this ever be? When only one Prakruti or Maya that is the causal basis of the existence, how can there be many Purusha-s standing apart and uninvolved as an epitome of Gnaana and Peace?
121. Like the Meemaamsai Religion, in Sankhyam too there is no Easwara. It is this principle of Easwara as Sa-GuNa Brhmam that connects the Nir-GuNa Brhmam and Jeeva-s and Jagat. Nir-GuNa Brhmam with Maya as Easwara does the business of Jagat – Jeeva, as per Vedanta. This religion of Meemaamsai maintains that the Purusha stands apart as an uninvolved entity; then it also claims that the very presence of Purusha causes the Jada Prakruti to do all this. By not interposing the principle of Easwara there, the whole argument seems to be illogical. Having obtained Chitta Suddhi (clarity of body, mind and heart) by sincerely and diligently observing Karma, that too without hankering after the benefits of such action, that is by Nishkaamya Karma; then having worshipped Easwara with devotion; then having practiced to concentrate one’s mind as though riveted on one’s aim; when you do Gnaana Vichaara; one may be able to arise from the ties of Nature that keeps us pinned down as though; isn’t it? Instead, what can be achieved by analysing the 24 Tatvas (principles) that are actually required to be discarded and set aside?
122. The dynamic ‘Chetana’ of Brhma (sentient consciousness) is said to be the Causal reason for the existence of the world with all the living beings in it, as per the Upanishads. But Sankhyam holds the insentient Prakruti or Nature to be the Cause! It is on this logic mainly on which our AachaaryaaL established that Sankhyam as a Religion is Anti-Vedic or Avaidic. For the principle of a Purusha (that is Aatma), there is no doer-ship says in Sankhyam exactly like the Vedanta’s contention, but it says that, Purusha has enjoyer-ship and for that reason only Prakruti does this creation, it says. This contention is not acceptable in both for Vedantam and commonsense. ‘To enjoy the pleasures’ is also an action only, isn’t it? So how can it be that, this action-less entity Purusha only partake in the act of enjoyment? Aatma – that is Purusha – is neither the doer nor the enjoyer. That is the truth comprehended by all those who have gone deep into it in meditation. When all their experiences of ‘Aatma Anubhava’ matches, to say that they are not doers but only enjoyers – is against the truth as understood by many analysts of truth as it is!
123. Now let us relate to Yoga as a religion. Yoga is a religion tells us about how to control the mind, like keeping a dog under a tight leash and remain in a state of Samaadhi. It talks about the Ashtaanga Yoga of Yama, Niyama, Aasana, PraaNaayaama, Pratyahara, DhaaraNa, Dhyaana and Samaadhi. These are all acceptable and are being practiced till date by many. Other than accepting the presence of Easwara; it is like the Sankhya religion only. So, the short comings of Sankhya are equally applicable to this also. For the sake of having to have an office for running the world affairs, it accepts the principle of Easwara, more for controlling the mind from getting scattered. Beyond that, instead of being a wholesome religion, it remains more as a physical training methodology only! (KTSV Adds:- In recent times to practice Yoga with your pet dog has been named as Doga. On similar lines, one can have Coga for Yoga with your pet Cats and Roga as the name for Yoga with Rats isn’t it?!)
124. Nyaayam and Vaiseshikam are only cerebral exercises. The rules of discussion and debates are considered in Nyaayam. Vedantam holds the view that Brhmam or Aatma is the only truth. It is wearing the guise as so many Jeevas. By Gnaana we should remove the guise and become one with the Brhmam says, Vedantam. These religions such as Nyaayam and Vaiseshikam hold the view that all the Jeevas and Jagat are all true and not wearing guise and that instead of one Paramaatma, there are many Aatmas. Vaiseshikam which closely follows the religion of Nyaayam analyses the reason for the differentiation of each variety of things, as being the special characteristic of those individual entities and thus gets its name of Vaiseshikam. (Vaiseshikam = special charecteristics.) In this Siddhantam too, the Jeeva Bhaava of individuality is never cancelled and so also there is never an end to the Jagat containing all these variations. It is of the view that all the things of this world are made up of Atoms (ANoo and Parama ANoos which are indestructible).
125. If Saankhyam holds the view that the Jeevan by analysing the 24 Tatvas gets released from his attachments to them and attains Moksha, Vaiseshikam goes about analysing the things of the world like the modern science of Inorganic Chemistry. Finally it gets to the conclusion that this man who is analysing all this, by that very process gets to know that, ‘the world, his physical body and all the things he experiences and enjoys are all made up of so many insentient atoms’ and by that very process gets release from his attachments. So what we found wrong with Sankhyam are equally applicable to Vaiseshikam too. However much you may know about the outer world, how can you achieve the ‘Mano Naasa and Karma Naasa’? As long as you go on investigating the world, you can never know about the Aatma that is the inner world! Like Sankhyam holds the insentient Prakruti as the cause of this existence, Vaiseshikam looks at the insentient Parama ANoos as the cause! So this also was considered as contrary to the teachings of the Vedic Religion which holds the sentient Brhmam to be the cause of all existence. So, these are the Vedic Darsanaas or view points of these six religions, not entirely contrary to the Vedas.
126. Buddhism and Jainism came into being refusing to accept the primordial position of Vedas, as totally new religions. They simply did away with Adhyayanam, Vaidic Karma Anushtaanaas, Upanishads, the three fold paths of Karma, Bhakti and Gnaana, the divisions of the society in to four VarNa-s and individual’s life into four Ashrams. The Do’s and Don’ts that was kept as the general Dharmas meant to be followed by all such as, Ahimsa, Satyam, Astheyam, Brhmacharyam, and Aparigraham (translated in the earlier edition of Deivathin Kural of 30 Sept in Para 115) were kept uniformly the same for all, in Buddhism. Harsher the requirements for all, lesser was the same followed and adhered to! In Jainism they made a division between what was required to be adhered to by Bikkus and the common folk as ‘Maha Vratam’ and ‘ANu Vratam’, with the latter one on a more liberal scale. Since both these two religions did not have VarNa – Aashrama Vibhaga, even the ANu Vratam became difficult to be followed. As it was believed that the negative Karma could be cancelled out by giving much self inflicted ‘Srama’ (toils of abnegations) the very religion came to be known as ‘SramaNam or SamaNam’!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.