DEIVATHIN KURAL # 83 (Vol # 5) Dated 16 Nov 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 83 (Vol # 5) Dated 16 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 499 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)
320. To Attain the State of Inaction Through Actions. As I said some time earlier, in Saadhana Panchakam our AachaaryaaL exhorts the aspirant to do some 40 specific actions. Through all those actions the idea is to finally raise you to the level of total inaction only, though at the first glance it may sound ironical! Doing things, however much they may be critical and essential for progressing in the right path, are not the mission by themselves. The target is one of absolute standstill! To fetch you there are all the Karma Yoga, Dharma Karya-s, Yagnas, Poojas and Aasana-s including Sravana, Manana and Nidhidyaasana in Gnaana Yoga! Till that maturity is reached, since nobody is able to just be quiet, Adi Sankara, before him the Gita and prior to that all the Smruti-s, have all advised, “Do not go in every which way as prompted by this mind of yours, spoiling your own life and others in the neighbourhood. For streamlining the quirks of the mind and cleanse it by removing all selfish and vicarious tendencies, keep yourself busy by doing all the allotted duties of Karma Anushtaanaas strictly as per the restrictions of Dharma!”
321. Before the mind is dissolved in Aatma, it has to be cleansed of all dirt and spurious inclinations. For achieving this clarity there is nothing more effective than Karma Anushtaanaas for the common man. So to reach the state of absolute inaction there is no other option than getting involved in morally sound activities. That is the end aim of the Veda Saastraas, Gita and AachaaryaaL’s advices in various treatises big and small on Adwaita such as, Praata: Smarana Stotram, NirguNa Maanasa Pooja, Saadhana Panchakam, Aatma Bhodha:, Tatva Bhodha:, Viveka ChudaamaNi, and so many others. Similarly even in his devotional poems addressed to various deities as well as the rivers of India, he has stressed the final attainment of Paramam Padam as the Phalasruti. Thus despite having the Naishkarmya Stiti as the end point, the Karma Yoga has been repeatedly stressed, as in this world of transactions, Karma is the way for cancelling out the past accumulation of negative Karmas, as the accepted truth of all our Saastraas!
322. Method – Work; Aim – Naishkarmya Stiti. So, DakshiNa Murthy Swami thought, “People are not able keep quiet without doing some work or the other. They just do not seem to know as to how to avoid work. For that reason alone, they should be loaded with work to do, mainly as given in Veda Saastraas, while reminding them of the ideal of total inactivity.” That is what he decided to do. As a justification of being involved in work all the time, people say that the practical world runs on various activities only. Still beyond all such methods of the practical world, the genuinely true and ideal state of Moksha is the stillness of the Ideal, isn’t it? Where is the question of methods and procedure there? In that state or stage, there is no second entity, no work or tool or action.
323. The so called practical world is only there, till there is Maya and mind of the man. All this is part of the ignorance that is Agnaana. To get rid of Agnaana and be rid of Maya and Manas; is Gnaana. Such being the case, to ask people not to do anything will sound out of place. At the same time the only way to get out of the vicious cycle of doing Karma good and bad, which makes it necessary to do more Karma and so on; is to tell people about the ideal state of Naishkarmya of total inaction! So the process of reaching that state of total inactivity is through action only! That is why Bhagwan, having started a detailed lecture on Karma Yoga in Bhagawat Gita’s second chapter onwards, describes the state of the man who has gone beyond all this, in the 17th Sloka of the 3rd Chapter. He declares with finality, “ya; tu aatmarati: eva syaat aatma trupta: cha maanava: I aatmani eva cha santushta: tasyaa kaaryam na vidyate II”, meaning, ‘But for the man who rejoices only in the Self, who is satisfied with the Self and who is content in the Self alone, verily there is nothing to do!’
324. So, however much work may be entrusted as required duties to be done, they are all only preparatory spade work for converting the presently unattainable target into something that is feasible to be attained! They are outer works for inner stillness. Thus while emphasising the need for work, we must insist on final state of ‘not doing anything’ for which we must come down on earth as an Avatara, DakshiNa Murthy Swami decided.
325. The works so done are sometimes leading to some negative results also isn’t it? One may wonder as to why does this happen. This happens so as to remove our pride! Ego plays a major part in all our so called noble endeavours of correcting the whole world. We see no end to our capabilities and effectiveness. While doing such actions of social service, inwardly we carry an impression that everybody else is an idiot! The power that creates organizes and runs this world, has so created these checks and balances so that we may not develop too much of a head weight. Otherwise, the doer cannot help feeling a bit satisfied that he has achieved something great. After all, this is a relative world and in it, whatever happens, good and bad also is only relative. So in it, however much we may be aware of need for controlling our pride, success in our endeavour invariably leads to some well deserved satisfaction with a slight tinge of head weight! That is why some failures are also thrown up – that in all the Upakaram that we do, some Apakaram also gets mixed.
326. To explain the pitfalls in the process is not to be construed as pessimism. Nobody is being told not to do any social service. We are telling you to do a variety of social service activities only with love, respect and compassion in your hearts. Simultaneously we are duty bound to point out as to what can go wrong and that there may be times when you may have to face some embarrassing situations. Then only we will be correctly motivated to wish for the end state of inaction. Otherwise, however much one may hear the philosophy we are likely get lost in more and more work, going around in circles, falling back in to the pull of the dualistic whirlpool of this world! Only when we are faced with some failures, we will be constantly reminded of the likelihood of getting stuck.
327. So, instead our attitude should be like this. “Who are we to do anything? We try and do some social service. We never know as to what is going to be the result. There is a God who is apportioning the credit and debit values for ones work absolutely correctly as deserved by each individual. If our services are required, he will rope us in somehow and make us do the necessary service. As Sri Krishna said that there is no work meant to be done by such a Gnaani (‘tasya kaaryam na vidyate’), has also said that the Gnaani neither gains nor looses anything by such work. Immediately following, he goes on to say that for ‘loka Sangraha’ even Gnaanis such as Janaka continue to keep working. So let him make us do whatever, wherever and whenever! On our own we do not have to intend or plan to do anything. Without his inspiration what ‘loka Sangraha’ are we going to do anyhow? Whatever we may plan, however much it may look like noble and great deeds, calling it ‘Seva and Tyaaga’, there will be an element of the ego there. We also know that the moment ego comes in the way, we are far away from our destination of Moksha!” If our thinking is on these lines, then it means that we have grasped purpose of today’s talk!
328. Some people claim, ‘It does not matter whether my personal Moksham happens or not, my work is more important. As long as I get this opportunity to be of use and work for the welfare of the people of the world, I am happy!’ On deeper thinking even this will be found to be an expression of one’s ego only! Set aside your helping others. It is God who has made you, given you a mind and restricted you in a capsule as though of Jeevaatma Bhaava, this separate individuality as an independent entity in this world of Maya. On the other hand the door is open for you to get released from all the ties and realise your oneness with his NirguNa Swaroopa! There is a right royal path of Saadhana for it. When such is the case, for you to say that I am not interested in release is nothing short of Aham Bhaava! Remaining incarcerated in the jail, to say that I will work for the welfare of other prisoners in the jail, is more like a stupid statement. He the God is the Jailor. It is not in your hands to release anybody from the prison. All the Upakaram that you can do is within the shackles of samsaara bhandam only. Then to be adamant that I will enable some people to get some of the silly pleasures of this life within the strictures of this life, when there is an opportunity for the Gnaana Marga, it is both Aham Bhaava and adamantine stupidity!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.