DEIVATHIN KURAL # 95 (Vol # 5) Dated 11 Dec 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 95 (Vol # 5) Dated 11 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 the middle of page No 577 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)
429. Gowda Paada and Govinda Bhagawat PaadaaL being the immediate Parama Guru and Guru respectively of our AachaaryaaL, have great importance and are almost inseparable from our AachaaryaaL, that I have to talk in detail about them. Moreover there is much already said about Suka in various PuraNas. Comparatively less is known about Gowda Paada and Govinda Bhagawat PaadaaL. So I have to cover their lives a little more in detail. Above all this, starting from Maha Vishnu to Suka the six Gurus are not only important for Adwaitins, but also for people of other branches such as Dwaitins and Visishtadwaitins. Further, for us Adwaitins while Maha Vishnu is the main Guru and also one of the important deities; for VaishNavaas (that is, Visishtadwaitins) and Madhvas (that is, Dwaitins), he is the primordial God himself! Ramanuja Aachaaryaar has special attachment to Parasara. By one of the three commands his Guru had given him he was required to work towards wider publicity bringing name and fame to the memory of Parasara and Vyasa AachaaryaaLs. That is why he named the son of his very close disciple as Parasara Bhatta. All the three sub-divisions of this religion of Sanaatana Dharma hold Vyasa in very high esteem as ‘Moola Purusha’, meaning something like the ‘king – pin’! All the three AachaaryaaLs of Dwaitam, Visishtadwaitam and Adwaitam have written Bhashyam to Brhma Sutra of Vyasa AachaaryaaL. Many of the followers of Dwaitam name their children as Vyasaraaya. One of their Matam is called Vyasa Matam.
430. Similarly Suka Brhmam is also equally venerated by all the three Sampradaaya. With a smile and a chuckle PeriyavaaL added that, after all, his name itself is Brhmam and so he has to be common for all, how else can it be? Gowda Paada and Govinda Bhagawat Paada as total Adwaitins are to be found in the lineage of Adwaita Gurus only. Other traditions do not accept their view points and do not hold them in veneration either. So we are duty bound to know more about them. Prior to that, let us learn at least a little bit about Suka Brhmam.
431. To learn about the experience of Adwaita Anubhuti, there can be nobody as good as Suka. To think of him is to experience that vastness of bliss. He is not only a Jivan Mukta, but had completely wiped out ignorance and lived in the complete awareness of Brhma Saatchaatkaara, from the very birth or even before. Mostly other Brhma Gnaanis are such that, they are initially covered by the residual ignorance of their past lives from birth and by the dint of Saadhana in this life and or by the grace of Anugraha, would have got rid of their ignorance and become cognizant of Brhma Gnaana. In the case of Suka, there was no Praarabda or Poorva Samskaara. From birth he was a Jivan Mukta. No effort at Saadhana as though to attain to or become something. Though it is said the Karma Sesha is the cause of birth, he had no such past karma effect.
432. Normally for all others the very birth in this world is so as to clear your accounts. By doing the required Karma Anushtaanaas we have to cancel all outstanding balances, thereby get a clean chit of Chitta Suddhi. Then only as the slate has been wiped clean, in state of absolute clarity the Aatma Anubhava is seen, discerned or experienced. That is what normally happens. Then how could there be a Jivan Mukta from birth? The only answer that we can give is to say, in God’s scheme of things there is an example for all sorts! May be through him God wished to demonstrate to the world as to how such a person would be! I am not able to say anything else. When the whole world is full of so many ignorant assorted millions of people with much hidden past and with accumulated backlog, at least in contrast there should be one or two of the opposite kind, with total clarity of Gnaana! Just one or two!
433. Yes, one was Suka and the other named Vaamadeva before him in time. Aitareya Upanishad (ii.5) talks about him. While still in the mother’s womb he says, “I have come to know of all crores of Devatas. Do you know as to how I was before this? Countless number of past lives were binding me like with iron chains in fetters. Now I have wings like a huge Vulture or Eagle. So I have come here flying!” By his this statement, we can make out that he was bound by a web of the past and presently while still in mother’s womb, he has had flash of Brhma Gnaana and has already woken into reality! Vaamadeva and Suka were thus Aatma Gnaanis from before their births!
434. In the recent times there has been Sadasiva BrhmendraaL, whose name will come to our minds, the moment you think of anybody as a Jivan Mukta. He has spoken very reverentially about Suka in ‘Guru Ratna Maalika’. The sloka is like this: “janani jataraadiva syavanyo jagato naadravat – aatmavit – vipadbhya: I anahantam – aham tam – aatmavantam bhgawantam sukam – aasraye prasaantam II”. Rhyming beautifully in the second line especially, BrhmendraaL says, “I take refuge in him, who is without pride, knower of the Aatma, is ever established in the highest of peaceful state, is of the form of that Bhagawat Swaroopa and is called Suka”. That is the latter part. Let us see the meaning of the first part. “Even as early as slipping out of the mother’s womb itself, the one who does not collapse by life’s tribulations by his clarity of inner awareness”. The phrase ‘janani jataraat iva’ reminds us of our AachaaryaaL’s, ‘punarapi janani jatare sayanam’ line in Bhaja Govindam!
435. If we review that one sloka about Suka occurring in the very preamble of Bhagawatam (1st Skandha, Chapter 2, 2nd Sloka), it will be as good as a total description: “yam pravrajantam anupetam apetakrutyam dwaipaayano viraha kaatara aajuhaava I putreti tanmayatayaa taravo abhinetustam sarva bhoota hrudayam munim aanatosmi II”. Starting with a ‘yam’ meaning ‘whom’, the sloka finishes with ‘tam aanatosmi’ meaning ‘him I pay my respects to’! It is referring to Suka AachaaryaaL only. But his name is not to be found in the sloka anywhere! It says that he is, ‘sarva bhoota hrudayam munim’, meaning ’the Muni who resides in all hearts’. The inner reality in all of us is the same Aatma, who is the sage, saint, muni, renunciate, yogi, realised soul or call him what you want! In the next sloka he is referred as the son of Vyasa as the Guru of all Saints and Sages! There have been many Brhma Gnaanis alright. But only that one man is called Suka Brhmam. Actually to call what is ‘sarva bhoota hrudayam’, the heart of all living beings as that one man in that one physical body; somehow sounds to be a restriction than a reverential praise! So his name has been intentionally left unsaid, it seems. Still we cannot say that his name has been left out. There is a word ‘dwaipaayanam’ and another word ‘putreti’. The name ‘dwaipaayanam’ indicates Vyasa and ‘putreti’, meaning, whom Vyasa called ‘my dear son!’
436. Then after ‘yam’ there is this word, ‘pravrajantam’, meaning the one who is ever moving. Without calling anything as my body or abode or place or country, the one who is ever mobile is the Sanyasi! That is why the Sanyasi is called the ‘parivrajaka’. The sloka says that Suka does not live in any one place and is ever dynamically on the move. Then he is said to be ‘anupetam’ and ‘apeta krutyam’, meaning he has not been given the ‘pooNool’ and not done any of the Karma as given in the Saastraas! Even before being given the ‘Upa Nayanam’ he seems to have crossed the need for doing any of the Karmas as required in the Saastraas!
437. If all this had been said about anybody else, we would have thought of him very highly as someone who has gone across the ocean of worldly involvement. (Please do not relate to the conditions existing in the modern world wherein the majority are not yet given the Upa Nayanam or even after having been given the PooNool are not even wearing it or are not doing any of the Karma Anushtaanaas as required of them. They cannot conveniently think or claim that they are also like Suka Brhmam! For them the touch stone is their worldly involvement. They are not just involved, but deeply stuck in the mire of involvement!) Setting that aside, what did we see about Suka in the previous sloka in Guru Ratna Maalika? While slipping out of his mother’s womb itself that is even before the body touched the earth it had already the knowledge and awareness uncorrupted. Such a child only after the passage of a few years will be referred as ‘anupetam’, isn’t it? When you say that someone is not yet retired, when do you say that? Only when that person is old enough, is it not so? You do not say that about a young man or even a middle aged person. So when we say ‘anupetam’ he must be five and above, is it not so? Those days the Upanayanam would have been conducted at less than eight years of age including the duration in the womb. If the child is having the necessary aptitude and intelligence, as per Saastraas, five plus is good enough. When he was a Gnaani already before birth, to say that he is a Gnaani at about five years of age is a bit of a come down really!
437. To show that there is no deterioration only, the word ‘pravrajantam’ has been used even before saying ‘anupetam’! The hint is about the incident when Suka ran away from Vyasa’s Ashrama and the forest in which it was located. The child ran away. The father ran behind him and could not catch up with the child. So he was shouting, “Putraa, Putraa!” He could not have run immediately after birth, but had that aptitude. By the time he could put into action his intention, he was big enough and not yet given the PooNool and so the word ‘anupetam’!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva,