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.