DEIVATHIN KURAL # 76 (Vol # 5) Dated 02 Nov 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 76 (Vol # 5) Dated 02 Nov 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 457 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)
257. This Avatara was to be from another form of Parameswara we said. Parameswara has many variations in forms such as, KalyaNa Sundara Murthy, Somaaskanda Murthy, Nataraja, Bhairava and so on. Which one is to be the source? We have already seen that the Avatara Purusha is to be a Guru in the Ashrama of Sanyaasa. So, the source should also not be a husband and wife combination. Because, when the husband goes to the earth, the wife will also accompany, isn’t it so? Even Bhairava has a wife by the name of Bhairavi. That too he is a fear invoking and awe inspiring form. So it will not match the requirement of a very peaceful composure of what the Avatara had to be. For these reasons, the one without a life partner in tow, absolutely alone, calm and a quiet ocean of peace, abiding within oneself in deep apparent inactivity, as the Nishkriya, Nishkaamya Murthy known as the Aadi Guru, DakshiNa Murthy had to be the source for this Avatara, was the divine decision.
258. One point should be made clear here. Though sometime Siva seems to be unaccompanied by his wife, it is never that they are apart from each other, even when he is in the form of DakshiNa Murthy. Similarly even when AmbaaL is seen to be in the form of Bala Tripura Sundari or Kanya Kumari or Durga Devi, though she may seem to be alone, they are never separated from each other! Siva and Sakti cannot be separated. NirguNa and SaguNa Brhmam-s are (respectively) what is known as Siva and Sakti. Both put together is Para Brhmam. To play on the world stage in many ways, giving poses, teaching many lessons, imparting many principles, enacting a variety of roles with varying sentiments and tastes; sometimes they are seen to be together as a couple and on occasions seen to be singularly alone!
259. Even when sitting quietly as the embodiment of total Gnaana as DakshiNa Murthy, in him as inner the potential power of all the dynamic abilities unseen by the mortal eyes of ours is the very AmbaaL herself. Without that power behind him that Nishkriya Murthy could not have come down as an Avatara at all! Having come down as an Avatara, but for AmbaaL’s presence, he could not have gone around the whole of the country from Kanya Kumari to the Himalayas thrice; writing copiously all those treatises, Bhashyas, slokas etc; visiting each small and big villages and towns debating and arguing with the whole lot of scholars of other religions and defeating them; and organizing and reorganizing the procedures in so many temples installing the Bhakti Chakra in Guruvayoor, the Dhana Lakshmi Chakra in Thirupati, and the Sri Chakra in Jogulamba temple in Atmakur, near Kurnool; pacifying the Ugra Kamakshi in Kanchipuram; invigorating both the paths of Devotion and Gnaana, revamping the whole of Sanaatana Dharma’s principles, procedures and rituals; all that in a matter of about two decades that too!
260. The name of that Avatara is Sankara Bhagawat PaadaaL, our AachaaryaaL! The name Sankara is “sam + kara = Sankara”, meaning ‘doer of good things’. The word ‘sam’ in Sanskrit means ‘the highest good’ and ‘kara’ means the doer; that is, one who is relentlessly doing all the noble deeds. If the Nishkriya DakshiNa Murthy becomes so full of energy, how does it happen? The cause of all that Sakti is Para Sakti, AmbaaL who is in him in a subtle form as Ichcha Sakti, Gnaana Sakti and Gnaana Sakti, always and forever with him!
261. Saakta – Saiva – Vaishnava AachaaryaaL. About our Guru it is said that he is all class of Saakta, Saiva and VaishNava rolled in to one, “antah saakto, bahir saivaha, vyavahaare tu vaishNavaha”. Inside he is full of power and energy and also a Sakti Upaasak (devotee of Sakti); so ‘antah saakto’. Outside he is all white with the white ashes of Vibhuti smeared all over his body and wearing the Rudraksha Mala, that the onlookers may wonder that may be Parama Siva has come in human form! In ‘vyavahaare’ that is in action, in his dynamic continuous activities and achievements he is Vaishnava. Every time he gives blessings he says, ‘NaaraayaNa, NaaraayaNa’ – ‘kriyate naaraayana smruti:’ a Siva Avatara who is chanting the names of NaaraayaNa in his heart all of the time!
262. What is the idea of calling Vishnu the Kriya Sakti and Vyavaharik Sakti? It means that he in male form is Vishnu and in female form is Sakti, AmbaaL herself! As Sankara is in male form outside, in the name of AmbaaL’s male form he did everything that he did. Without showing outside, inside he was AmbaaL only. So much of motherly love, he was full of. So, he is ‘antah saaktaha’. Sakti means love and grace. No Siva without Sakti. For Siva to know that he is Siva there has to be Sakti. When Sivam expresses as grace, it is the power of Sakti. Without her ‘vimarsa’ (criticality) his ‘prakasa’ (brilliance) will not be known to the world, it is said in philosophical parlance. But unlike male-female couples Sita – Rama and Radha – Krishna, this Avatara had to be a Sanyaasa Avatara. So, the Avatara had to be from the Yogeswara DakshiNa Murthy.
263. Mahavishnu will always be keeping Lakshmi openly with him. Literally he has a place for her on his chest! Instead when he had to take an Avatara as say, Nara-NaaraayaNaa; then he was not seen as complete ‘poorNa Avatara’ but only as ‘amsa avatara’ or partial Avatara! But here now, to subjugate the Kali Yuga’s virility, complete divine power had to come into play, but as a Sanyaasi. Even from this point of view, it was conveniently appropriate that the Avatara had to be from the total Sivam of DakshiNa Murthy. Thus with all correctness and aptness, this Avatara of Sri Sankara took place.
MANGALAMAYA DEIVA GURU – SALUBRIOUS DIVINE GURU
264. It is the greatest good fortune of the world that God himself was to come down on earth as an Avatara as the Guru! Whether we say so or not, Paramaatma the God is the Guru. In the Upanishad Paata Krama that is in systematic teaching of Upanishads, the God is invoked in the form of Guru to whom we are to pay obeisance and convey our surrender unto him, before commencement of the studies. All Upadesas rest in the Vedas. It is Brhma who gave the Vedas to the world. By the Veda Mantras he created the worlds. He gives us the Brhma Vidya while chanting the four Vedas by his four mouths. But even Brhma is the creation of God. Brhma got the Vedas from God directly. So it is God who installs the Brhma Gnaana Prakasa in our Buddhi. So, it is the practice to say, ‘Me who is interested in Moksha surrender unto the God’, before starting the study of the Vedas, as given in Swetasvatara Upanishad, “yo brhmaaNam vidadaati poorvam yo vai vedascha brhiNoti tasmai I tam ha devam aatma buddhi prakaasam mumukchurvai saraNam aham prapadye II”
265. There is ‘Sruti PramaaNam’ (that is scriptural evidence) to show Paramaatma Guru is in the form of Parama Siva. The root of all Vidya (knowledge/education), are the Vedas. Brhma who is forever chanting the Vedas is referred as the ‘Hiranya Garba’, whose birth was being watched by Maharshi Rudra; it says in one place. In another place, it also says that he is the creator of Brhma. Since he is referred as Maharshi, he is the Aachaarya who gives us Upadesa. In both the places, there is a prayer that, ‘he may grant us enlightenment’! Sivam and Subham are synonymous, meaning what is pleasantly beneficial and salutary. There is a Mangala Paata Sloka (for doing reading with intonations called paaraayanam) of Upanishads which says that Brhmam is wholesomely auspices and bestows all boons to the person chanting – “ati KalyaaNa roopatvaat nitya KalyaaNa samsrayaat I smartrooNaam varatatvaaschcha brhma tat mangalam vidu:”
266. Such a person who is Subham, Kalyanam, MangaLam and such salubrious qualities is to give boons, what can that boon be ? As this sloka occurs in the Upanishad Paata Krama, it cannot be anything else but Gnaana! The giver is Sivam and the boon he gives is also subham, mangalam and kalyanam. It is all he only. Thus Aadi Sivam himself is come down to us as an Avatara as Aachaarya Sivam. “OK! Finally you have come to the Avatara, isn’t it? Who is the father, who is the mother and in which place was the Avatara? You have not said anything about these details so far!” Please bear with me a little. Once there is a divine wish, it is as though the thing is done, isn’t it? Still at once, Easwara by himself did not take birth in some city or place to some father and some mother! We have some more preambles to cover!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.