DEIVATHIN KURAL # 102 (Vol # 5) Dated 25 Dec 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 102 (Vol # 5) Dated 25 Dec 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 631 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)
(Note: There has been a factual error in Deivathin Kural # 101 (Vol # 5) Dated 23 Dec 2011. Make the following corrections please. For the existing para 501 read what is given below within Quotes.)
QUOTES.
501. Having handed over all his knowledge of the Maha Bhashyam, Gowda Paada searched for a Guru who is a Jeevan Mukta who could teach him Aatma Gnaana. He learnt that Suka AachaaryaaL was in Badrikashram those days. From the banks of the Narmada River he found his way to Badrikashram in the Himalayas and surrendered to Suka, who gave him Sannyaasa and Gnaana Upadesa. The one who did the Upadesa was a Brhma Gnaani from birth as we have seen earlier. He then remained in Badrikashram totally merged in Brhma Gnaana and came to be known as Gowda Paada AachaaryaaL, finding a place in the ‘Brhma Vidya Guru Parampara’! (Later Chandra Sarma took Sanyaasa Upadesa also from this Guru – Gowda Paada AachaaryaaL.)
END QUOTES.

505. Suka was the very embodiment of Gnaana. But, that does not mean that you cannot have devotion. It was Suka who narrated the devotional story of Bhagawatam to King Parikchit. Our AachaaryaaL though steeped in Adwaita Gnaana, has not left out any God or Goddess for whom he has not written slokas of devotion! Similar is the case of Gowda PaadaaL. On the western shores of India in Goa there is a place called Shiroda, where there is ‘Gowda Paadaachaarya Matam’ of Gowda Saaraswata Sect. See the national unity in this! Goa is located in KonkaNa Desa in the border of Karnataka, one of the five Dravida States of Yore. Saaraswatas are originating from Kashmir one of the five Gowda States. Govinda Bhagawat Paada is a Kashmiri. Gowda Paada is a Gowda. In that Guru Parampara, our AachaaryaaL is a Dravida from Kerala!
506. For Gowda Paadaa’s Maandookya Kaarika, our AachaaryaaL has written a Bhashyam. At the end of that Bhashyam he is singing praise of his Parama Guru Gowda Paada saying, “Gowda Paada out of his infinite kindness has given to the mortal human beings so deeply mired in the worldly affairs, the nectar of Gnaana that is not so easily available to even immortal divine beings known as Amaras, a name derived from the very Amirtam or Nectar which they are said to have partaken!” Further he says that his Parama Guru is venerable amongst all who are highly respectable – ‘poojyaa abhi poojyam ‘. I do fall on his feet to pay my respects to him – ‘parama gurum amum paada paatair natosmi’! People are stuck in the cruel and inescapable grasp of crocodile’s mouth which is the birth – death cycle in the ocean of life. So, AachaaryaaL says, “Gowda Paada, out of his infinite kindness, using his Gnaana as the Mandara Mountain, churns the ocean of milk that is the Vedas, brings out the Nectar of Adwaita Amirtam and distributes it to the people of the world”. Prostrating to him our AachaaryaaL falls (paata) in his Parama Guru’s feet (paada) – that is, falls in the feet of Gowda Paada. With great Mahatma’s names it is the tradition to add a respectful suffix as ‘Paada’. With the same meaning in Tamil, we add the suffix ‘AdigaL’.
507. The one whose feet, is our end destination is called the ‘Paada or PaadaaL’. Here the one who is falling in the feet of Gowda Paada has a name as Bhagawat Paada that is the very form of our own journey’s end, ‘Easwara CharaNaaravinda Swaroopa’! Our AachaaryaaL and his Guru are the only two persons with whose names it is the custom to add the suffix ‘Bhagawat Paada’ instead of just ‘Paada’; as Govind Bhagawat Paada and Sankara Bhagawat Paada.
508. There used to be a system in the olden times, to give at the end of each chapter / Adhyaaya / Canto; details of the author as written by disciple of so and so, by such and such a person by name, title of the book and chapter number or end of the book; known as ‘Pushpikai’ or Colophon, like the Footer in today’s terminology. In our AachaaryaaL’s books while making such colophons, instead of saying ‘Bhagawat Paada’, he is referred as God Himself, ‘as Bhagawaan’ – for example – ‘iti Sri Govinda Bhagawat poojya paada sishyasya – Sri Sankara Bhagawata: krutow’! OK! We finished the story of Gowda Paada in Badrikashram, sitting in Aatma Nishta under the feet of Suka Brhmam! What happened to Chandra Sarma whom we left with all the knowledge of Maha Bhashyam, on the banks of Narmada River? How and when did he become Govinda Bhagawat Paada?
Chandra Sarma’s Story.
509. Before we talk about as to what happened after receiving the Maha Bhashya Upadesa from Gowda Brhma Raakshasa, we have to know as to what was his life in the previous birth. In his previous life, this Chandra Sarma was none other than Patanjali himself! Mahatmas have both powers to give boons and blessings as ‘Anugraha Shakti’ as well as, power to curse or ‘shaapa’. He did both to Gowda Paada, isn’t it so? He gave him a curse to become a Brhma Raakshasa and also gave him the ‘Anugraha’ that he transferred all the knowledge of the Maha Bhashya in one go to Gowda! Then for a number of years there was no one who merited enough to receive that knowledge, as I told you. Patanjali was worried about this state of affairs that despite carrying out God’s orders of writing the Bhashyam, the knowledge remained bottled up, being of no use to the world! The Saastra was to be publicised and the disciple’s curse is also to be lifted. Not finding anyone to fill the qualitative requirements, he himself took another Avatara as Chandra Sarma. Thus the Guru Patanjali became a disciple to his own disciple and learnt the Maha Bhashyam from him and wrote it all on fig leaves.
510. If you ask me as to why should he have to write his own work, the only answer can be that all that happened before the Avatara cannot be expected to be remembered. More over once this human form is assumed even Avatara Purushas are covered by some shade of ignorance with varying intensity. So the Patanjali Avatara was going towards Chidambaram and met Gowda Paada as a Brhma Raakshasa on the banks of the Narmada River and thus learnt the Maha Bhashyam as well as wrote it down! After Brhma Raakshasa got his Gowda roopa back and went in search of Suka Brhmam, Chandra Sarma also got down from the tree and started back home with his bundle of fig leaves manuscript.
511. Having not slept for days together, he was very hungry and tired. With just the bundle of fig leaves beside him he fell asleep. As luck would have it a goat came there and started munching the leaves! After many troubles and tribulations, the Maha Bhashyam written in the blood of Chandra Sarma was lost to the world! In God’s Leela such things do take place. Whatever one may say, the whole world is still never the whole and remains incomplete! Luckily the goat only ate a part of the bundle. Rest is what is available for the world, thus getting a name as, ‘Aja Bhakshita Bhashyam’ to mean, ‘The Bhashyam Partially Eaten by the Goat’!
512. Chandra Sarma got up and to his shock, noticed that his manuscript written so arduously had been partially lost. What to do? He picked up the balance and was on his way. He reached Ujjain. There he came to a trader’s house. In the houses of the past, outside the house on either side of the entrance, there used to be a raised platform known as ‘ThiNNai’. That place is meant for wayfarers to rest, protected from rain and sun with walls on three sides with the roof of the house extending to cover it. He kept his bundle of leaves manuscript and went to sleep. For days together he was sleeping like a log!
513. The house owner had a daughter. She rather liked this wayfarer with an apparent brilliant aura around him! She took pity on this man who evidently was extremely tired and thus sleeping on for days together without getting up! She decided to try and save his life. She knew as to how to treat such cases, as she had some knowledge of Vaidyam, treatment of patients as per the Ayurveda methods of treatment. She brought cooked rice and mixed it with curd. This she applied on his stomach, rubbing it in. By the root of hair follicle the nourishment entered the system. You may wonder if anybody can be fed like this! There is such a method in our Vaidya Saastraas. Nowadays, people inject through a needle directly in to body and give intra venous or intra muscular injections. But in our Ayurveda methods, there is a procedure using the root of the human hair. The ‘Navarakkizhi’ method uses this to introduce medicated oils through a body massage in to the human body.
514. After a few days of such treatment Chandra Sarma could get enough energy to wake up. His first concern was to see if his bundle of leaves manuscript was safe enough. From deep sleep of being unaware he had woken up into the ‘jaagrat avastha’ of wakefulness. The Maha Bhashya bundle was also safe and sound! He picked his bundle and started out! The owner of the house stopped him. He said, “This is very funny! My daughter has been working day and night to revive you from a death like condition as she has taken a liking for you! Here you are, without even a word of thanks, ready to go? She has saved your life, man! First you better take her permission to do whatever!”
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.