DEIVATHIN KURAL # 15 (Vol # 5) Dated 29 Jun 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 15 (Vol # 5) Dated 29 Jun 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 of page No 93 of Vol 5 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated constantly)
9. We know that milk is tasty as it is. Jaggery is also nice and sweet. If both these two things are well heated together continuously while being stirred, we may also know that the resultant sweet meat must taste quite nice. That is known to our brains alright and till we do it, the taste of it is not experienced, till the taste buds come into physical contact with the item. Till the ‘Thirattippaal’ as it is called in Tamil, is eaten and gone inside the system, we do not know the pleasant sensation and satisfaction! When the item disappears from our view and vanishes inside our body, then only we realise its utility!
10. That is, in the matter of ‘in and out’ there seems to be two aspects. When a thing is physically in front of our eyes, its usefulness is not apparent and so is a secret. In the language of Vedanta it is only ‘Paroksham’. When the item loses its form in the process of being absorbed, its effectiveness shines and becomes ‘Aparoksham’! Even when a thing is seen in its gross form if it’s effective usefulness is not known, it is as good as not being there. Is it not so? If we agree that the inner usefulness is more important than its outer form; that stage when its usefulness is not clear will be the ‘Paroksham’ state and when its usefulness becomes apparent that will be ‘Aparoksham’. Please understand that I am not just playing with words! When the advice is understood intellectually it is still ‘Paroksham’ only. When the words of advice are gone, the brain and our understanding is gone and our separate individuality is also gone; then in that stage the essence of the Guru’s words are imbibed, crystal clearly absorbed, known, understood and experienced! That is ‘Aparoksha Anubhuthi’!
11. What is absorbed by the brains is something else and what is experienced by the life in us is something else. Human eyes see things in day light. But the owl is capable of seeing at night. Nowadays they say some night vision devices are being made. Even those make use of the electromagnetic radiations close to the visible spectrum such as infra-red and ultra-violet radiations. The human brain knows reasoning and deductive logic. But the inner being in us is more on intuitive perception call it heart of the matter or whatever!
12. This heart however does not open out so easily. Somehow the trend is for us to give more importance to the brains and intellect than the dictates of the heart and intuition. So anything before they are accepted as true or even remotely possible or feasible, it has to become intellectually acceptable. It is a human fallacy that even the spiritual matters of religion are first subjected to an assessment by the brains as the whether they are OK or not OK! So only after the clearance has been given by the brains acting as the gate keeper, we come to accept the fact that matters spiritual are beyond the ken of the brains!
13. Then we come to the conclusion that there are matters beyond the human brains and so instead of going by reasoning and logic, we start applying our heart to the issue under consideration. For example despite hearing about there being an Aatma or the inner soul and that it is ‘sat + chit + aanandam’ that is ‘being – awareness – bliss’, as said by many Rishis and saints of the past, as given in many books on Vedaanta; we remain unaware and ignorant, not knowing the ‘sat’, or ‘chit’ or ‘aananda’! We remain like a stupid fool but sad enough additionally! After all the rigorous mental gymnastics, tiredly we do come to accept that instead of going by the brains, we should open our hearts a little more in this issue! This is the main tragedy of human behaviour because of his over dependence on the brains and his thinking ability. The problem is more pronounced in people who are more intelligent and learned. The simple common man is not so much troubled as the so called intelligentsia! Blind belief of the proletariat is that much better off than the one trusting his brains.
14. Sruti – Yukti – Anubhava. Our AachaaryaaL who made much use of his brains in debates and whose works are capable of evoking the admiration and awesome respect of the brilliant brains till date, still has clearly directed us not to use our brains for analysing what is given in the ‘Sruti’ that is the Vedas! The stuff that coruscated in to the comprehension of Rishis by divine will is what the Vedas are and they are anyhow beyond human capabilities of analysis! So accept implicitly what is given in the Vedas, says our AachaaryaaL. But to the extent possible he did establish his Adwaita Siddhanta with deep qualitative analysis, raising all possible counter questions and objections and giving answers to all of them! All the Vaidic AachaaryaaLs of all Sampradayas (traditions) such as Madhva and Ramanuja AachaaryaLs of Dwaitam and Visishtaadwaitam have also accepted the Sruti as ‘Sabda PramaaNam’ (sound evidence) without questioning them and interpreted them from their point of view intellectually.
15. For each Siddhaantam that is Principled View Point, it has to be in consonance with three things namely, Sruti (Vedas), Yukti (Intellectual Analysis) and Anubhava (Practical Experience). What is given in the Vedas should be accepted as it is firstly. Then without going contrary to its statements, analysing them while enlarging and elaborating is what is Yukti. Finally these two things ‘Sruti’ and ‘Yukti’ should lead us to ‘Anubhava’ the practical experience in our hearts.
16. The AachaaryaaL themselves might have had the inner ‘SphuraNa’ or flash of comprehension. They may talk about this brilliance in support of their principled view point. Not only those great Mahatmas, even we the common folks do get such intuitions at times. Not all of them can be explained by Yukti. There are occasions such as the Love of the Mother for the child or the out of this world sort of experience while listening to a beautiful piece of music on the VeeNa. Making use of such parallels and examples, the AachaaryaaL may try and make us comprehend his view point, bringing a consonance between Sruti – Yukti and Anubhava.
17. For a man with devotion to God and equal devotion to Guru; the meaning of the principles will brilliantly shine. That shining gleam, glimmer and flash that the disciple gets is what is called the ‘Swanubhuthi’ or ‘Aparoksha Anubhuthi’! This is what is called ‘Enlightenment’ or ‘Illumination’ and or ‘Revelation’ in other religions too! So it is an experience of Enlightenment and not simply a brain wave. Anubhava is the root. The Upadesa by the Guru instead of remaining at the physical, sensual and cerebral level, for it to mature in to an experience of the inner being; devotion to God and equal devotion to Guru are the Qualitative Requirement or QR as an acronym. The ground for that is not cerebral but the heart. The flash of brilliance is not something that happens newly but a revelation of what already exists in all of us. Only that we were blind to it till it is revealed!
18. By sharpening our brains, by Yukti even if we grasp or comprehend, that flash should lead to the experience of the inner light. The devotion is needed so that the experience is not usurped by our pride as though we have achieved something great not attained by others! For our haughtiness to stand aside with humility, devotion to God and Guru are essential, says the sloka.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 14 (Vol # 5) Dated 27 Jun 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 14 (Vol # 5) Dated 27 Jun 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 beginning of page No 87 of Vol 5 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated constantly)
GURU
God and Guru
Other Assets & That Endowed by the Guru.
1. The ancestral house one day or the other will become dilapidated, requiring maintenance, painting, white washing repair and reconstruction. Even agricultural property will require investment in terms of tilling, irrigation, seeds, manure and labour, to be able to give any returns. Some lands even after much application of all inputs become unproductive with time. Then you have failure of the rains, not opening of the sluice gates of the reservoir in time, insects, floods and untimely rains, raising cost of inputs and so on; there are problems galore! Above all there is the ‘sealing’ or ‘capping’ limitations as imposed by law. Even if your parents have left money in cash, there is the problem of daily devaluation of the currency. Then there is the burden of existing taxes and the fear of new taxes being levied; similar to theft and fear of being robbed!
2. Thus, whatever the ancestral property, there is scope for its being lost and its value undermined. Having got some such endowments the legatee becomes greedy and in trying to retain the hold on the property, is ready to go to any lengths such as; harming others, breaking the law, bribing officials, showing cooked up accounts, creating ‘benami’ owners and so on, just to obviate the ceiling laws on ownership of properties. If the value of what he got was as much as a thimbleful, (PeriyavaaL shows his hand by joining the thumb and index finger to indicate that small quantity), the demerits of Paapa he accumulates and negative qualities that he ends up imbibing are as big as the whole world (now PeriyavaaL is showing a widening expanse with both his hands, with a smile on his face)! Even if by some chance the ancestral property is continuing to grow, (due to some merits of PuNya gathered in one’s past life), without illegal and immoral means; we have to keep in mind that “kaadarrtra oosiyum vaaraadu kaaN kadai vazhikke”, meaning that, ‘even a broken needle cannot be taken with us in our end journey’! (That is a quotation from Saint Pattinaththaar’s life!) Let it be palatial mansions, vast landed properties, crores of rupees accumulated in banks (or even in secret accounts in foreign banks) and an equally massive vote bank; none of it, not an iota of it will be useful to us eventually! So, ancestral property and our own accumulations too are not forever.
3. The permanent asset, the one that can never be lost, that which does not require periodic maintenance, that cannot be taxed and not stolen, for which we do not have to go astray to protect and save, that cannot be endowed by parents and cannot be searched for and earned by ourselves also; that eternal asset can be given to us only by Guru! This is not the asset that would not come with us when we depart from this world, it is such an asset that it will ensure that we do not come back to be born again! It will reconnect us eternally with the only reality of Paramaatma! Guru sanctions that Gnaana, of eternal asset for which we do not have to work anymore for retaining or increasing or protecting. That is Guru’s Upadesa which will successively grow to totally erase our very mistaken identity and give us permanent bliss. All other assets are temporary. Guru’s Upadesa gives us what is known as ‘Nitya + Ananda = Nityaananda’, that is eternal happiness.
4. Devotion to God and Guru. For the Guru who grants us with ‘Nityaananda’, what is the devotion should we be displaying? We should be as devoted to him as we are towards God, as it is said in the scriptures: “yasya deve parabhaktir – yataa deve tataa gurow”. As we are devoted to God, ‘yataa deve’- ‘tataa gurow’ – should we be also devoted to Guru – then only can we optimise the Upadesa by the Guru as seen in Svetaswaropanishad and Guru Gita. The sloka runs like this:- “yasya deve paraabhaktir – yataa deve tataa gurow tasyaite katitaahyartaa: prakaasante mahaatmana:”
5. The disciple who has the same devotion to the Guru as he would have for God, is being praised here as ‘mahaatmana:’. For him the words as told by the Guru will shine with inner meaning – ‘tasyaite katitaa: artha: prkaasante’. When it says that the inner meanings will shine, it is not to be construed as being intellectually understood only but, as the essence of the words spoken by the Guru reach the inner being, the Anubhava shines apparently in his heart. (For a few minutes PeriyavaaL closes his eyes in deep absorption and then continues his talk.)
6. Further mulling over it, what can be the import of saying that ‘the secret meanings will shine brightly’? Whatever is hidden or terse or indirect or complicated, will become crystal clear. We can take it like that. When it is said that with God’s and Guru’s Grace, all ‘iha and para’ (this worlds’ and spiritual world’s) benefits can accrue, our brains will also become sharpened and focussed that what was hazy will also become apparent. On deeper thinking we will also know that what I am talking about is not a matter for the brains and intelligence. This inner core of the meaning is not meant for the brains and intelligence anyhow! Because whatever is giving satisfaction to the brains will quickly take us back to the ‘Ahankaara’ which we want to shun and set aside. ‘Adhyaatma Upadesa’ is meant to do away with ‘Ahankaara’, is it not so? The purpose therefore is ‘Aatma Anubhuthi’ or otherwise known as ‘Swaanubhuthi’. There is a foundation or a basis on which the brains rest known as ‘Aatma Chaitanyam’, the inner power of life in us. The differentiation between ‘Jeeva Chaitanyam and Brhma Chaitanyam’ goes, annulled, erased, finished and all that remains is clarity! All dualities and the ducats are over. Seer, seeing and the scenery becomes one. That is the stage of the ‘saaswatha sathyam’ – of the eternal truth. That is the ‘Moksham’ referred by the Adwaitins. This ‘Swanubhuthi’ is also known as ‘Aparoksha Anubhuthi’. Actually our AachaaryaaL has written a grantha by that name!
7. There are two words ‘Paroksham’ and ‘Aparoksham’. Paroksham is what is not known or seen by us and is hidden from our view and perception, remaining as a secret. Aparoksham is opposite of that, what is clearly seen and understood. What is heard and read is Paroksham, theoretical. To know it in experience is Aparoksham, practical. Till it comes to be experienced, we can never be aware of its purpose or usefulness – that is Ananda, pure happiness! We read about Kutraalam Aruvi, the waterfalls and see photographs or hear about it from others who have been there. From the photographs and description do we get the slightest experience of the waterfalls? If we go there and stand for few minutes under the waterfalls, that will let us know what it is to experience it! This is only about an experience of the senses. What we are talking about today is about the experience beyond all bodily, physical and mental experiences! We are talking about how we will get the ‘Aatma Anubhava’ which is known as ‘Anubhuthi’. Even Guru’s Upadesa, even when it is heard and understood by our minds and brains it is not enough; till Anubhava has become Anubhuthi; then it is Aparoksham!
8. There is a bit of a funny thing here. Till Guru’s Upadesa is heard and goes to our brains, there doesn’t seem to be anything very exotic or secretive about it. It seems to be well understood by our minds and brains. Still it is to be considered as Paroksha Gnaanam only. But when it becomes an experience of the inner core of our being, of the Aatma, the very life of ours then and only then, it becomes the Revealed Aparoksha Anubhuthi. The funny thing I talked about is here. Guru’s Upadesa, when correctly heard by our ears, fully received by our brains and clearly understood by our minds; it has an adjective of being ‘a hidden and invisible secret’ – Paroksha title! When it has gone beyond the physical body, brain and intellect; it gets the opposite title of being Aparoksha which means, visibly openly shining and known! How can this be correct?
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 13 (Vol # 5) Dated 25 Jun 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 13 (Vol # 5) Dated 25 Jun 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 80 of Vol 5 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated constantly)
KaLabam
127. In the sloka we have seen in the previous few e-mails, as the Mangala Sloka of Sita – RavaNa Samvaada Jhari, PiLLaiyaar’s name is not mentioned. There is only a rhyme of ‘kalayatu kalabo’. (In Sanskrit, the difference between ‘la and La’ is not made much of. The pronunciation of the letter changes depending on the letters preceding and following. (Here in the English translation we are using the two letters to emphasise the differentiation in pronunciation.) Anyhow, ‘KaLabam’ is a baby elephant. This baby elephant which achieves great end result in fun, simply as though it is only in the act of a prank. Instead of being called by names such as Vigneshwara or GaNesa, that would indicate it’s apparent divinity; He seems to be fond of pet names for Himself. So the poet has preferred to use the word ‘KaLabam’. Similarly Avvaiyar starts her ‘Agaval’ with the words, “seedak kaLabach senthaamarai poom paadach chilambu”. But here this underlined ‘kaLaba’ does not mean a baby elephant. In PiLLaiyar’s feet a mixed paste of saffron, sandal and camphor has been applied. This anointment is mentioned as a ‘kaLabam’ in the ‘Vinayagar Agaval’.
128. Here in the Vinayagar Agaval, the poet Avvaiyar’s intention is to pray to Ganesha as the very form of the Ultimate Adwaita Gnaana Murthy. So, she could not talk of PiLLaiyar as a ‘Baala Leela Raaman’ or a baby elephant! She does give him the exalted names of ‘arpudam ninra karpagak kaLiru’ and ‘vittaga vinaayaka’, since this particular work was meant to give us the secrets of the Yoga Saastra! So she found it necessary to use suitable serious names than child – like names. But she also must have felt the necessity to play with this baby elephant, since she is the eternal grandmother who has addressed all her works to the infants and toddlers of the world! I hope you know that she in her youth prayed to this very Lord GaNesha and asked for old age as a gift so as to obviate any possibility of being way laid into pitfalls of teenage and middle age! So she had to mention the children’s favourite ‘the baby elephant’ as ‘seedak kaLaba’, with the idea possibly of letting those who do understand, may do so!
129. Take it Easy! He is the God to whom all celestials pray to for removal of all obstacles and impediments in their way. Those Deities who are at the pinnacle of their order, within themselves whether they agree or disagree; when it concerns their wishes and powers to sanction the devotees’ wishes; it is this Vigneshwara who has to be prayed to! Let us also pray to Him and by His Grace be devoid of all problems and be happy. (KTSV adds: That reminds me of an endearing experience that I had with my second son Anandji, when he was just seven or eight years of age! This incident happened in Hyderabad, AP. I was annoyed with something, I do not remember with what! Seeing his father in an angry mood this toddler sidles up to me and says in his lisping voice, “Daddy! Light le le!” In Hindi that means, ‘take it easy’. It was simply a Hyderabadi slang mixing English and Urdu. [He had started speaking as a baby only in Lucknow in North India and that too not in his mother tongue of Tamil but in Hindi!] I was flabbergasted at this affront by this youngster! I said, “What do you mean?” He said again, “Wohi to bolaa naa, Daddy! Light le le!” For a moment I paused and a smile came on my countenance! If only we stop being overly serious and take life in a lighter vein, many of our problems will be solved, before they become problems!)
130. The biggest stumbling block is our own minds. Some Kaamam, some fear or expectations such as – ‘this should happen like this’ – ‘hope it happens so’ – ‘but you never know’ – ‘but this man is going to spoil all my fun’ – and so on. Almost all the stress and strain of life are 20% real and 80% self created and unreal! Our own mind itself is the biggest obstacle in our path of happiness. By praying to Vigneshwara, let us also become as innocent as the children and take the life in a lighter vein with instant laughter, never taking life too seriously, being able to look at the brighter side under all situations! Instead of regretting the past and fearing the future, let us become more efficient in the present. The absence of bickering and imagined fears is the secret of a child’s happiness. Though he is a heavy weight as the baby elephant, he is devoid of the weight of mind and heaviness of heart! Let us pray to him to make us like Him!
131. Worries and regrets are not the only weight we have, our sense of our own greatness, pride and infallibility is another great cause for our stress and strain. This worry is the weight of sadness whereas pride is the weight of Ahankaaram. In the case of the first we are at least aware of the need to avoid that. In the case of Ahankaara, we are not even aware of the need to control our pride. So we increase the pressure on ourselves. Just carefully listen to others when they complain about any situation. There will be a whole lot of statements such as, “Do you know what all I have done, I have done this and this, for her (or him) and what returns have I got? Very bad, there is no sense of gratitude in this world at all!” When anyone does a mistake, we are tempted to say, “You know what I would have done in such circumstance”, or words to that effect. By this Ahankaara, we have tied a huge heavy rock to our own neck that is pulling us down at all times, to our own doom! Even a notional progress in the paths of Bhakti and Gnaana will reveal that ‘Kartrutvam’ that is the ‘sense of having done so much’, is the heaviest load that we are all the time belaboured with.
132. What is PiLLaiyar’s attitude, who is praised and cherished by all the Devas, doing the important job of removing the impediments in their paths? Is he making a big issue of it? Like a child he is just playing with the crescent moon on his Daddy’s head, presenting himself as a small baby as though innocently unaware of his greatness! Though big and heavy for appearances, in truth he is as light as the delicate threads of the lotus stem, forever happy and playful. Let that child God enable us to sail smooth in the voyage of our lives. One great man had called him ‘sarva artha prati paadaneika chatura:’ and another great man had said that he is capable of giving what we need that we may not have even fully thought of and not yet formed in to words! Such a loveable baby God PiLLaiyar let Him take care of us by teaching us to take life lightly and sportingly!
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 12 (Vol # 5) Dated 23 Jun 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 12 (Vol # 5) Dated 23 Jun 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 72 of Vol 5 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated constantly)
114. In religious singing of Bhajans and Abhangs you might have heard a word ‘lolaa’, ‘raasa leela lolaa’. To play for something desired is to be a ‘lolaa’; maybe it is for a smile or the hand of friendship. In our sloka under discussion, it is not the PiLLaiyar himself being referred as ‘leelaa lolaa’, but only his tusk. The tusk of the elephant is a very incessantly active thing. It is often compared with a monkey and the human mind for being excessively active.
115. In the narrow lanes around any temple in South India, you will find a high density collection of all sorts of small shops selling a whole lot of exotic varieties of things. Jostling around will also be the Temple elephant returning from a trip to the nearby lake or river for a wash. The elephant is under the Mahout’s control. But the tusk of the elephant is under nobody’s control! At random it will pick up a clutch of plantains from one shop or a coconut from another and a girl’s trinket from yet another! The shop keepers will be yelling at the mahout that he is not effectively controlling the elephant. So as to obviate the shop keepers’ ire, the mahout does a trick. He will give a flower garland to the elephant and tell him, “Hold the garland high above. We are going to the temple and place the garland on the deity’s neck. So better watch out that your tusk does not come down!” Now the mahout does not have to worry about the shenanigans by the tusk anymore! It is said that similarly this mind of ours should be given a mantra with a rosary to hold it steadily on course instead of meandering about in every which way!
116. We were talking about PiLLaiyar’s tusk, when Siva was doing Shashta Anga PraNaam to AmbaaL, resting his Jathaamudi in her lotus feet, when the crescent moon on his head was suddenly invitingly more visible! Here PiLLaiyar’s front end of the tusk is said to be very playful. Later the poet calls PiLLaiyar himself to be ‘leela abhi raman’. So as to avoid ‘repeating’ the word, here the poet is saying that the tusk was playing mischievously, ‘karaagram leelaa lolam’! The tusker’s front end is ‘karaagram’, which is incessantly mobile searching for something to catch hold for just feeling around or sucking or twisting or turning or breaking; as though it has a life of its own!
117. The shining white crescent moon is like a handful of white threads like the substance in the stem of the lotus flowers. The moon’s rays of light are also cool, soft and nice. AmbaaL Paraasakthi is said to be the Kundalini Shakti in the subtle form in every person’s body, as slim and subtle as the thread of the lotus stem; as Lalitha Sahasranaama says, “bisa tantu taneeyasi”. So PiLLaiyar wished to pull the ‘bisa tantu’ like white streak of light and so extended the tip of his tusk towards that, ‘praasaarya’. If you are sitting in the middle of the dining table and bend to a side to reach for a dish a little away, you may be said to be doing what is known as, ‘praasaarya’. So he tried to get hold of the crescent moon from his father’s jathaamudi that was in his mother’s feet!
118. This baby elephant happens to be your dear son and he is playfully trying to make a grab of the decorative piece of crescent moon on your head. Just imagine as to how happy you would have been as a father? To visualise the scene is thrilling even to us! The moon that has been responsible to have given you a title as ‘Chandra Mouli’, when it is being grabbed by the son, you would have felt more thrilled than when you were first coroneted! So the father is happily being entertained.
119. If that is the case of the father, think of the mother here. She would have been more pleased with the child’s play. The father is falling on her feet in all submission. She was showing that she was annoyed. When her loving son makes a grab for the Dad’s headgear which has given him a name and fame known all over the world, she must have thought, “Very good! Let him learn a lesson from the son, not to be too haughty!” In the child’s play, both the parents forgot their quarrel. Both burst out laughing happily – “hridaya smitaabhyaam” – both were laughing whole heartedly. Her anger was a make believe and so also his submission was in fun. Instead of being only a false smile on their faces it became an event to remember to be recorded for posterity.
120. Forgetting their ‘oodal’, both of them wished to ardently embrace the baby and competed with each other in doing so! They both embrace this Baala Ganesha between them –“hridaya smitaabhyaam ahamaha mikayaa sivaabhyaam” – ‘aham ahamikaya’ – saying ‘I will, I will’ in excess of exuberance they were both embracing the baby between them happily!
121. His name is ‘Siva’ and her name is ‘Sivaa’, that is meaning ‘Sarvamangalaa’. So, ‘sivaabhyaam’ means both of them. They are embracing Vigneshwara –“aalingyamaana: sivaabhyaam” – meaning ‘GaNesha being embraced by both’! The pleasure that parents get in embracing the child is mentioned in ThirukkuraL as, ‘mei theendal’ – KuraL 65. In Saakuntalam, there is a description of how, Dushyanta after years of forswearing Sakuntala, meets his son Bharatha in KaNva Rishi’s Ashram, without knowing him to be his son! The moment he sees him there is an uncontrollable urge to embrace that boy. At this juncture KaLidaasa the author too, has described the extreme pleasure that Dushyanta experiences in holding the baby on his lap and embracing it with his hair standing on ends. Similarly Bhavabooti also has described in ‘Uttara Rama Charita’ as to how Sri Rama meets Lava and Kusa in Vaalmeeki’s Ashram without knowing that they were his sons!
122. So, here Siva and Sivaa were thrilled in embracing this loveable baby Ganesha between them. They are not only embracing the baby, they are also embracing each other in the bargain! With both their hands around the baby, they cannot help embracing each other too, is it not so? So, with or without intension their splendorous touch of each other just cancels all differences of whatever sort. Instantaneously, their ‘oodal’ vanishes ending in ‘koodal’! As the Mother and Father of all existence they have to become one in supreme Love!
123. For those parents, we are all children, amongst whom PiLLaiyar is Numero Uno, Number One, the first Son, the Jyeshta Putra. When their hearts are happy together, we are all blessed by PiLLaiyar’s play. He managed what every child in the world would like to see happening, the parents rid of their differences of opinion and any trace of tiff or quarrel! The sloka does not overtly talk about their ‘oodal’ coming to an end. We have to draw the right conclusions from what the poet has indirectly indicated. This wonderful son who could cause his parent to get over their separation and variance, can grant us any and every one of the four fold ‘Purushartha’ of Dharma, Artha, Kaama and Moksha’ and bless us too!
124. Confirmation That This Sloka is Proof of That Sloka! Siva wanted that AmbaaL should rejoin him. He did Namaskaaram to Her. But the one who granted Siva’s wish is PiLLaiyar! I told you about ‘Nyaayendu Sekharam’ and in connection with the ‘Indu Sekhara’ deviated to ‘Sita -RavaNa Samvaada Jharee’, in explaining which I find that there is supporting logic to my original contention. Thus when we get hold of worthwhile material and analyse them, we stumble on to unexpected treasures of gems. This is clear confirmation for the fact that whichever Deity we may be praying to, that Deity too has to approach Vigneshwara for obviating any obstacle in the process of their ‘Anugraha’! So it is sufficient if we pray to PiLLaiyar for whatever our wishes are to be fulfilled, says the earlier sloka.
125. Here in this sloka, though the poet did not intend talking about my earlier contention, there is a confirmation for that! What do we see here? Siva wanted that AmbaaL should rejoin him. So he is praying to her for reconciliation by falling on her lotus feet. That ‘Aaraadhana’ had no effect. What does Sivaa want? Though she is showing her anger, inwardly she wishes also to be rid of her differences with Easwara. Only thing is that she does not know as how to go about it. But in his prank Vigneshwara manages to grant both their wishes, without even being prayed to! This clearly proves that Vigneshwara is capable of fulfilling his parents’ wishes, without even being mentioned as a prayer to him! So it is confirmed that PiLLaiyar can grant us all our prayers, including the unmentioned ones!
126. If that sloka showed that for us human beings whatever we can wish to get from Gods, it is enough if we pray to Vigneshwara; this sloka went one step beyond that even for the wishes of the Apex Couple of Parvathy – Siva, it is by this PiLLaiyar’s help that it becomes possible! What is easily done is said to be a ‘child’s play’! Here the Child God is achieving the desired result without even trying! It looks as though he just did some prank which resulted in his parents coming together again. There cannot be any doubt anymore that he can grant every one of our felt, desired wishes as well as even those felt needs, which we only thought of but did not know as to how to put in to words! Nyaayendu Sekharam talked about that he is capable of sanctioning all wishes – ‘sarva artha’. Here this sloka in confirmation says that he can sanction even the wishes just thought of and not yet put into words – that is only ‘chintida artha’.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 11 (Vol # 5) Dated 21 Jun 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 11 (Vol # 5) Dated 21 Jun 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 65 of Vol 5 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated constantly)
Chitra Kavita
102. In Mysore State, in Chamaraja Nagar there was a poet by the name of Rama Saastry. He has written a small Kavyam in the form of a conversation between Sita and RavaNa. It is named, “Sita – RavaNa Samvaadam”. Though Sita’s name is given first, her participation in the conversation is rather limited. It is RavaNa who talks a lot on each subject selected by him and Sita will disapprove his statement with the most terse and succinct reply (known as ‘Ratna Churukkam’ in Tamil). In each sloka thus the first three lines will be that of RavaNa and the fourth line will be the reply as spoken by Sita. The heading for the book as I said is ‘Sita – Ravana Samvaadam’, as you may be aware that as per protocol names of divine beings are given the precedence. The name of the work is normally mentioned with a word ‘Jaree’ added at the end, meaning a ‘cascade’. It is a fall of words like a waterfall, like the word ‘Sor-pozhivu’ in the Tamil language!
103. In each sloka in the first three lines, RavaNa will either praise himself to high heavens or say something critical of Sri Rama on some flimsy grounds! Sita will counter his statement with the fourth line of the sloka. The poet’s and the poem’s stamp of speciality is in the last line! For RavaNa’s ramblings, Sita will not give a detailed reply. She would simply say, “From what you have said, remove/replace/add so and so letter from/to such and such a word and that (the changed meaning) is my reply!” Applying her direction, what RavaNa said will become the opposite of his original statement! Either it will show RavaNa in a poor light or will be a praise of Sri Rama! Thus the fourth line will stand out as evidence of the poet’s mastery of the language.
104. This will be understood more clearly, only if I give you an example. Let us say that someone is claiming that he has lot of brains. In the Sanskrit he will say that he has ‘jaasti’ brains let us say; now if you replace the letter ‘ja’ in ‘jaasti’ with a ‘na’, the word will become ‘naasti’, to mean no brains! In the name of ‘Rama’ to show that these two letters of ‘ra and ma’ are as important as the life in the body of a person, they used to remove those two letters from ‘Ashta aksharam’ and ‘Panja aksharam’ respectively and show how the meanings of the Mantras change drastically. To make it clear, from “Om Namo NaaraayaNaya” if you remove ‘ra’; it will become ‘Om Namo NaayaNaya’, meaning changes, from ‘prostrations to NaraayaNa’, it becomes ‘prostrations to the directionless’! Similarly, from the mantra “Nama: Sivaya” if we remove ‘ma’, the meaning changes from ‘obeisance to Siva’, to ‘Na Sivaya’ meaning a ‘no to Siva’! These are examples for the changes in the meaning by removal of one letter.
105. One example of adding one letter. Let us say that there is a gentleman whose name is Ranga Swamy. He is normally called ‘Rangu’. Someone says, “In front of your name add a prefix ‘ku’” for example. His name will become, ‘Ku Rangu’ and in Tamil that means a Monkey! To omit a letter from a word is known as ‘Syavitaaksharam’ in Sanskrit grammer, as part of decorative writing. Similarly to add a letter is known as, ‘Ati dattaaksharam’ and to substitute a letter is called, ‘Prati Dattaaksharam’.
106. Thus Sita’s replies were either omitting or adding or substituting a letter, either in one word or wherever it occurs in the previous three lines; was the sort of terse and brief replies that Sita is supposed to have given as a reply to RavaNa! In this vein Rama Saastry has done 50 slokas. He must have had very vast and detailed knowledge of the language to have been able to do so! He started with the idea of doing 100 such slokas, but could not proceed beyond 50 and I am told that his disciple added the balance 50!
107. Slokas with play on letters is known as ‘VarNa Chitra Kruti’. It is interesting to note that in Sanskrit, all these three words have parallel meanings in the Arts of Painting, Music and Literature! For example the word ‘VarNa’ could mean letters, alphabets, colour, musical sound or note. Chitra could mean painting and description. The word ‘Kruti’ could mean a song, piece, work and or magnum opus in any of these art forms! In Chitra Krutis normally we find much scope for brainy, intricate and puzzling work. There are two main divisions in this. One is play on words and the other is play on meaning. The play on meaning is known as ‘Artha Chitram’ and the play on simply the words is known as ‘Sabda Chitram’. In the ‘Artha Chitram’ category, the subdivision with changes in letters giving different meanings is ‘VarNa Chitram’!
108. In this book of ‘Sita – RavaNa Samvaadam’, the poet has given a MangaLa Sloka on GaNesa. It is in this that he has PiLLaiyaar’s prank with the crescent moon on Siva’s hair locks, is described. As a piece it was responsible for bringing Parvathy and Parameswara together again, when they were having a tiff with each other of ‘praNaya kalaham’ and were ardently looking for an excuse to end their dispute! So, as a Mangala Slokam it is really very pleasing. This sloka is not a ‘chitrakavi’ but is naturally very sweet. The poem is like this:-
“kreedarushta adrija angri praNata – siva – siraschandra khande karaagram / leelaa lolam prasaarya spuratamalabhisaa sankayaa aakrashtu kaama: I udyat hrudya smitaabhyaam aha maha mikayaa aalingyamaana: sivaabhyaam / kachchin – naschintidaartham kalayatu kaLabo baala leela abhiraama: II”
109. This small baby elephant GaNapathi is relishing in playing: “kaLabo baala leelaa abhiraama:” This happy baby may grant us all that we wish for: “na: chintita artham kalayatu”. This is the last line. The way it is playing is described in the first three lines. What are we to call it? Is it mischief or innocent play or childish prank or what? Whatever it is, it is simply captivating to be seen and enjoyed!
110. The Inner Meaning of ‘oodal and koodal’! The word ‘oodal’ as I said before is a tiff between two lovers on some flimsy grounds and ‘koodal’ means reconciliation and rejoining! This daughter of Himawaan the Mountain Himaalayaas is ‘adrija’ that is, Parvathy. She is having a quarrel with her husband, as mentioned by the poet, ‘kreedaa rushtaa’, angry because of having some difference of opinion. Poetical tradition demands that the Lover is to fall flat in the Lady Love’s feet to cajole her! If you see in ‘Geeta Govindam’ you will notice that KrishNa falls in Radha’s feet on such an occasion. In ‘Thiruppugazh’ AruNa Giri Naatha describes as to how Lord SubrahmaNya falls in the feet of VaLLi, the damsel of mountain forest tribe!
111. What is the meaning? This Jeevaatma (the man who thinks of himself to be having a separate existence) is the Naayaki. The Paramaatma is the Hero Nayaka. However much the Jeevaatma may rebel, the Paramaatma will somehow win over by whatever means including beseeching, begging, imploring and pleading! In classics there will be a common friend in the form of a ‘saki’ who will be ready to try high heavens to reconcile and reunite the lovers. She will be a messenger between the warring parties. The Guru who reunites Jeevaatma and Parmaatma is that ‘saki’. Though outwardly it will be as between the Lover and the Loved; the inner meaning that is the ‘tatva artha’ will be about the very Love of Life! In our sloka what the ‘saki’ or Guru does, has been done by the Baby Elephant Lord Ganeshwara!
112. Parvathy is sitting with her face turned away in mock anger. Parama Siva goes and literally falls flat in her feet doing a ‘Namskaar’: ‘praNata Siva’! When he bends and brings his head close to her feet, the ‘Jataa Bhaaram’, the weight of his plaited locks arranged in a cone on his head touches Parvathy’s feet horizontally. At that moment the crescent moon on his head is suddenly, brilliantly seen as a shining piece of whiteness! It is now, here that the ‘Chandra MowLi’ episode comes to the fore!
113. When the elephants get in to a lake or pond and start frolicking, they will catch hold of the stem of the lotuses and eat them. The lotus stems have thin white thread like tissues. The grip of the elephants tusk at a time will be catching hold of a few lotuses and pull them out while twisting and turning them, exposing the white thread like tissue in a bunch. This is the favourite eat for the elephants. Now seeing the white streak of the crescent moon, our baby elephant GaNesha is suddenly reminded of the tuft of white tissues of the lotus flower! He had a doubt: ‘spurat – amala – bisa – aasankhayaa’; meaning, “What is this? Is this a tuft of lotus flower stems?” The phrase ‘aasankhayaa’ means, ‘by this doubt or question’. Instead of doubt, we could call it a guess. So he wanted to grab it; “aakrashtu kaama:”! For what, did he go for it? He did so for eating it of course. May be in his desire to bring the parents back he enacted a scene! After all, the poet has finished saying that ‘the child being fond of play and sport’; “baala leelaabhiraama:”!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 10 (Vol # 5) Dated 19 Jun 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 10 (Vol # 5) Dated 19 Jun 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 page No 59 of Vol 5 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated constantly)
93. Let Vigneswara Take Care. The sloka on Vigneswara that touches the ‘tat hetu nyaaya’ in the mangala sloka of ‘Nyaayendu Sekhara’ finishes with the words “sarvaartha prati paadanaika chaturo dwai mature avyaat sa na:”, meaning that Vigneswara with two mothers may take care of us! In the first three lines of the sloka without clearly indicating as to the God being prayed to, it says that, out of the devotees of whichever the God to whom they wish to pray to, those devotees who know the ‘tat hetu nyaayam’ (that is the law of cause and effect), stop at that one who evidently has the power to grant all the wishes of all the devotees as well as remove the hurdles in the path of all the Gods too! Only in the fourth line it reveals that it is this god who has dual mothers, and ‘yat paada pangeruha’ – at whose lotus feet we prostrate; ‘devam yam ekam param’ – as one who is the supreme God; ‘sa: na: avyaat’ – let him take care; it finishes with clarity that it is Vigneshwara being referred to! (KTSV adds: Once again the readers may claim that the sloka could equally apply to Sri Krishna and a whole lot of other Gods! But since it is the Mangala Sloka at the start of a book, we can presume it to be addressing the Vigneshwara that is PiLLaiyar!) The whole sloka is as under:-
“abhyanya amaram aariraada ishataam yat paada pangeruha
dvandvaaraadana mantaraaya hataye kaaryam tvavashyam vidu: I
tat hetoriti neetivid bhajante devam yam ekam param
sarvaartha prati paadana eka chaturo dwaimaaturo avyaat sa na: II”
94. There is a story. One chap went to the Nawaab’s palace for begging for some alms. He was told by the servants of the Nawaab that he had gone to do Namaaz. The beggar said, “Oh ho! Is that the matter? While I have come to ask for what I wanted from the Nawab, he has gone to ask Allah to ask for what he wanted! Is that so? Instead of asking this Nawab who seems to be a beggar like ourselves, why not go directly to Allah and ask for what I want?” Having said so, the beggar walked away from the scene, it seems! Exactly similarly when all the Devatas seem to be dependent on Vigneswara for their successful completion of their endeavours, instead of praying to all and sundry Gods why not approach that one God for our prayers also?
95. Having taken PiLLaiyar as the subject, having fully concentrated in his greatness, though we may talk of him like this, our attitude will generally be such that we will pray to a particular God meant for a particular benefit. There is nothing wrong in doing so. With that if we have a special preference to a particular God as our Ishta Devata that is also natural. Similarly there could be a Kula Devata as the family deity. We should be worshipping them too. But still whatever the Devata, we cannot help doing ‘sukhlaam bharatharam’ and knock on our heads thinking of PiLLaiyar. Whatever the God in front of whom we may go for whatever purpose, even for that deity to become ‘kruta krutya’, that is to be all capable free of obstacles, we have to pray to PiLLaiyar.
96. Gentlemanliness Even in Objections. Mannarkudi PeriyavaaL, when he wrote a book to establish the principle of Adwaitam as true unassailably beyond any reason or logic that can be said against it; with finis inserted the ‘tat hetu nyaayam’ in the very first poem of a Mangala Sloka; which seemingly indicates that our intellectual analysis and acrobatics should remain within the purview and ambit of devotion to God!
97. By this devotional attitude of his, despite being highly erudite, intelligent and knowledgeable, he had no ahankaara or pride. In what I have already said about this fact, we have to add one more aspect very specifically. When people write countering an existing book or are debating on an issue, it is natural to go all out in showing the opponent in a bad light, using all the resources in their armoury. Thus some writers become fond of criticism more than doing anything constructive. Thus it has become almost impossible to maintain decency and decorum in this line. But Mannarkudi PeriyavaaL did not avoid debates and confrontations, while still maintaining the most humane and gentlemanly approach about it. To establish Adwaitam inviolably was his life time ambition that he went out of his way to participate in as many Vidvat Sadas as possible and wrote books. Nyaayendu Sekharam was one such book of his. Like Appayya Deekshidar, devotion to Siva and the principle of Adwaitam were the two pillars of his faith and belief. He has also written a book known as ‘Durjanokti Niraasam’ on devotion to Siva!
98. One of his contemporary was Thiru Visai Nallur Rama Subba SaastrigaL, who was also a Maha Mahopaadhyaaya. Though born as a Smartha (followers of Smruti), he was against Sanyasam and Siva Bhakti! He wrote totally ridiculing devotion to Siva. This was much complained about as it was hurting the sensibilities of many devotees of Siva. So Mannarkudi PeriyavaaL intellectually countered every argument put forward by Rama Subba SaastrigaL and won his argument purely based on the power of his analysis and never did he lose sight of decency. He never wrote a word of hatred and was much appreciated for fairness even in criticism!
99. I spoke about the Mangala Slokam in Nyayendu Sekharam. Related to Indu Sekharam, I am reminded of another sloka that describes another play of PiLLaiyar in fun. As we have seen much of Tatvam and Tarkam, let me talk about that play also. “Indu Sekharam’ means the head where the crescent moon has a place. Everybody knows that Siva is that Indu Sekhara. The baby (Gnaana Sambanda Perumaan) that had drunk the milk of Gnaana, breast fed by AmbaaL herself sung about this moon in the very first song of his as, “thoo veN madi soodi”. This poem is about how the PiLLaiyar as a baby played with the crescent moon in the hair of Siva. A play all children love that also gives happiness to the whole world as it caused the parents of the whole universe, Siva and Parvathy to come together. Nothing can be more pleasing to any child than that which causes their parents to unite! The sloka is about how the baby PiLLaiyar caused his parents to come together!
100. There are some traditions in literature. The Nayakan and Nayaki (in Tamil the Thalaivan and Thalaivi) or in other words the Hero and Heroine; are happy together, nobody finds it interesting, in literature as well as in life! There is to be some separation and then when they are rejoined, there is much cause for celebration. There are varieties in this separation also. If a Ravana comes and takes away the heroine, that is one type. Another one is when the hero falls in love with another woman, like it happened with Kovalan and Madhavi to KaNNagi’s sorrow! For both hero and heroine to be missing each other due to the agonies of separation is known as, ‘vipralambam’. For some imagined anger, some humour, some sorrow with an undercurrent of deep love is ‘Srungaram’.
101. Play acting as though they are having a tiff is ‘pranaya kalaham’. In Tamil this is known as, ‘oodal’. When the separation is due to some flimsy reason, both will be keen on rejoining. But some false sense of prestige may come in between. Both of them then, would be looking for an opportunity to reconcile. If the poet is smart enough he will create such an occasion and bring the hero and heroine together, to add zest to the proceedings. When there was an occasion when Parameswara and AmbaaL were temporarily separated in ‘oodal’. This baby PiLLaiyar happened to play with the crescent moon on his Daddy’s (Chandra Mowli’s) locks that caused the happy reunion of his parents forgetting their anger! I have to tell you about the book where this scene is described.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 09 (Vol # 5) Dated 17 Jun 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 09 (Vol # 5) Dated 17 Jun 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 53 of Vol 5 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated constantly)
84. Tatachaariyar responded first, using it as an opportunity to have a dig at devotees of Siva! He said, “vishNo: sudhoham vidinaa samoham dhanyas tatoham sura sevitoham I tataapi bhooteshu sudoham eteir bhooteir vrutas chintayateeha saasta II”. That means, “If you ask me as to what is troubling the mind of Saasta, the answer is this. I am the son of Vishnu. So I am as important and great, equal to Brhma, respected by all the Devatas! But still, I also happen to be the son of the leader of all ghosts the Bhootesha”. Bhootesha is Siva.” The phrase ‘tataapi’ (that is underlined in the text) means ‘but still’. The second line of the sloka starts with that, ‘tataapi’! Despite being the son of Maha Vishnu and respected by all Devatas, I also happen to be the son of this leader of ogres, ghosts and other horrendous ephemerals! When there are very pleasing and loveable names of Siva as, Sankara, Easwara, Sambo, Pasupathi, Nataraja and so on, the very selection of the name ‘Bhootesha’ is derogatory.
85. If there can be a leader who could control those horrendous ephemerals it is an honour indeed showing the power of command of Easwara and the son of such a person can really be proud of it! Parameswara ensures that, the power of these unsavoury elements are not given a free reign of play but, kept under a tight leash and made use of for the welfare of the society. So he is Bhootesha. It is worthwhile noting that Parameswara is also Mahadeva as the head of all Devatas! Out of his three sons, one son is made responsible for the Army of all Devatas. That is SubrahmaNya the Deva Senapathy. All others other than the Devatas have been divided into two parts and Siva made his other two sons responsible for them. So PiLLaiyar is ‘Bhoota GaNaadi sevitam’ GaNapathi. Saasta Ayyappa has a name as Bhootanaatha as the Gayatri Mantra in his name is, “bhoota naathaaya vidmahe bhava nandanaaya deemahi tanno saastaa prachodayaat”.
86. To control and command the Bhoota forces is a matter of pride for Saasta. The fact that these mischievous trouble creators are kept disciplined under a commander like Saasta, outside the villages as the security guards for the living area of human beings, is a great social service done by Saasta. Since Tatachariyaar was not aware of the good works of the forces under Siva and his administration, thinking this to be a matter to be ashamed of, he conveniently made it look as though it is a disgrace for Saasta and thus completed his sloka: “Though I am proud to be the son of Maha Vishnu, equivalent in name and fame to that of Brhma the creator, respected by all the Devatas; as the son of the leader of the Bhoota GaNaas – ‘eteir bhooteir vruta:’ – as surrounded by these Bhootas, –‘chintyateeha saasta’ – Saasta is feeling bad with shame and worry!” – finished Tatachariyaar!
87. But Tatachariyaar’s poem did not cause the Saasta’s statue to take off its index finger from the nose! As we have analysed, Saasta as the commander of the Bhoota forces cannot possibly be ashamed of his position and status. The sloka by Tatachariyaar, though was having literary merit, was not evidently factually very correct. So there was no reaction on the statue of Saasta. The King now looked at Appayya Deekshidar and he gave out his version as to why the statue of Saasta was seemingly thoughtful. He also answered as though it was the thought process by Saasta.
88. Appayya Deekshidar said these words as though spoken by Saasta, “ambeti gowreem aham aahvayaami patnya pitru – maatara eva sarva: I katam nu lakshmeem iti chintayantam saastaaram eede sakalaarta siddhyai II” As per Deekshidar’s poem, Saasta is thinking, “I call (aahvayaami) Gowri as (amba + iti = ambeti) Mother, as she is Siva’s wife. All my Father’s wives are my mother-s as Maha Vishnu in Mohini Avatara is also my mother only.” That is how Vigneswara considered Ganga as a mother. “Having Easwara as the father and Maha Vishnu as mother, I do not have to be confused about my relation to Gowri as all my father’s wives are my mother only - ‘pitru – maatara eva sarva:’. So Parasakti Gowri is also my mother – ‘ambeti gowreem aham aahvayaami’. But the question that remains to be answered is, “What is my relation to Vishnu’s wife Lakshmi?” ‘katam nu Lakshmeem?” We also cannot give a suitable answer to this question!
89. Who is Lakshmi? She is the wife of Maha Vishnu. It is Maha Vishnu in the Avatara as Mohini, the mother of Saasta. Now, what is your relationship with your Mother’s wife? One of the names of Saasta is Harihara Putra. So now, what is the relationship between Saasta and Lakshmi? This is the puzzle. We have heard of many relationships such as, uncle, auntie, brother, sister, step-father, step-mother and so on. Especially in Tamil, we have special names for more intricate relationships such as, chitti, chittappa, periappa, periyamma, athai, athimber, shaddagar, chakkalathi and so on, without parallels in other languages! Only Saasta has this peculiar relation of having a mother’s wife! “katam nu Lakshmeem?” This ‘nu’ is the question mark. I pray to this Saastaa who is deep in thought as to what is this relationship of his with his mother’s wife is to be taken as, “iti chintayantam saastaaram sakalaartha siddhyai eede”! “Let him clarify this situation, as he is capable of granting all blessings”, saying so, Deekshidar finished his sloka.
90. We were discussing PiLLaiyar and suddenly how have we deviated to this Ayyappa episode? There in the sloka about PiLLaiyar, it finished with the statement that he is capable of ‘sarvaarth pratipaadana chathura:’ and here too Ayyappa is described as capable of granting all ‘sakalaartha siddhim’! So they are both well connected. So also, the authors of both the slokas are related as great-grandfather and great-grand son! Deekshidar in his sloka has not ridiculed or looked down on any one. He has exhibited his superior intelligence, word power and also deep devotion to all the Gods! When we do not know as to why Saastaa is in a state of quandary, with due humility he says with clarity that Saastaa will solve the puzzle also! By so saying Deekshidar is also indicating his humbleness that without God’s blessings, by brain power alone we cannot solve this puzzle or any puzzle!
91. More than all this, you will agree with me that what Deekshidar has pointed out as the puzzle about which Saastaa is thoughtful, seems to be the correct interpretation. So in truth it is this question that could have seized the attention of Saastaa as seen by the Sthapathi when he sculptured the statue. So when Deekshidar correctly identified the problem, the hand of the statue removed the index finger from the nose and resumed the same form as seen anywhere in any temple! When one stone statue moved and removed the index finger from its nose, I am sure all the bystanders at the scene must have put their index fingers on their respective noses!
92. When we talked about PiLLaiyar that he has a special name as having two mothers, ‘dwai mathura’, it came to my mind that Shanmuga has six mothers and that led to a discussion about Ayyappa’s quandary. It is good that thinking of the eldest son of Parvathy – Parameswara as a couple, we could think of all the three sons of theirs.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 08 (Vol # 5) Dated 15 Jun 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 08 (Vol # 5) Dated 15 Jun 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 49 of Vol 5 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated constantly)
75. This is a well known story. Manmatha the Cupid (also known as Kaama) tried to distract Siva when He was deep in meditation. Siva in anger opened His eyes, including the third eye! Six sparks flew out from the third eye, erasing Manmatha the Cupid. The six (Six in Tamil is AaRu) sparks were received by the Ganges River (River in Tamil is also AaRu), in SaravaNa Poigai, turned into six Babies. Parvathi pacified Siva, came to SaravaNa Poigai, collected the six Babies from Karthigai Women and the six Babies became one SubrahmaNya, the second son of Siva. Parvathy pleaded with Siva for the continued life of Manmatha and he was granted the same to live unseen. Symbolically Parvathy took Manmatha’s sugar cane bow and flower arrows as her own! That is how till date we see the effect of Manmatha in action but, do not see him in person! So, the River Ganges is Siva’s second wife and Subrahmanya Swami is known as Ganga Putra!
76. PiLLaiyar the first son continues to treat her the Ganga also as His Mother and claims the name of ‘Dwai Mathura’, (meaning Dual Mother’s son) though His younger brother SubrahmaNya should actually claim that title rightfully! The fact that PiLLaiyar claims that title of ‘Dwai Mathura’ is indicative of his large heartedness with love towards all, so that the step mother may not feel neglected. Whereas PiLLaiyar was created by Parvathy by collecting the sandal paste, turmeric and other fragrant unguents from her own body by her own hands! This eternal celibate GaNesha looked at all women as his mother only! Though in a lighter vein (Soundarya Lahari Sloka 51), AmbaaL is said to have looked at Ganga as a competitor for Siva’s attention ‘sa rosha’; PiLLaiyar looked at her as his mother only!
77. To gambol in the waters of a river is a favourite sport for elephants. You cannot say the same thing about other animals such as a cow, buffalo, lion and tiger. They would rather avoid a river except when necessary. Buffalo prefers stagnant water and or a mix of water with grime and muck, may be to get rid of the insects pestering its body! Only elephant is fond of water sports. It has this special equipment of a trunk with which it can suck in water and create a fountain of water to play with others. With that big body, the elephant loves to play in water swimming effortlessly. In the forests when the elephants move about in big herds, it is a scene to be seen and enjoyed the way they are thrilled when they reach a water source and create a commotion in fun and frolic. May be that since PiLLaiyar has an elephant face, he has this special love and attraction for Ganga as a mother. There is beautiful description of elephants playing in water in Bhagawatham in the story about Gajendra Moksham!
78. If someone is noticeably hard hearted it is the normal custom to ask him as to whether “He is also born in a mother’s womb?” If and when we point out someone as the son of such and such a mother, we automatically indicate that he is a warm hearted and loving person. As ‘Dwai Mathura’ he is doubly warm hearted. Then his name itself is ‘Pillay’ (which means a son), like we have so many names in English ending with a suffix of ‘son’, such as ‘Frederickson, Williamson or Peterson’! He is the respectable son of two mothers, this PiLLaiyar!
79. If he is ‘Dwai Mathura’, his younger brother SubrahmaNya is known as ‘Shan Mathura’, as he is the son of the Karthigai PeNdir (women) who breast fed the six babies in SaravaNa Poigai, a lake being an off shoot of the Ganges, immediately after their being born. Come to think of it, this younger brother SubrahmaNya has two mothers plus six! Parvathy as Siva’s consort, Ganga as the recipient of the six sparks at Saravana Poigai and the six Karthigai Women who took care of the six babies! In the ‘Shan Mathura’ Parvathy and Ganga are not included! As the son of Karthigai PeNdir, he has another name as Karthikeya.
80. The Problem about Ayyappa’s Mother! Talking about the mothers of PiLLaiyar and SubrahmaNya, one funny incident comes to my mind. There is a third son of Parvathy – Parameswara couple. He is the Ayyappa who is becoming much famous recently. (In the last few decades the number of devotees going to Ayyappa temple in forests of Kerala after a vow of abstinence for 42 days, has increased many folds reaching astronomical proportions!) He is said to have been born with Siva as the Father and Mahavishnu as the Mother in his Mohini Avatara. Though I am saying that it is a funny thing, this episode has given much grist to the so called ‘Paguthu Aridal Iyakkam’ of Tamil Nadu who are critical of all Hindu Religious beliefs!
81. The story is like this. In the 16th Century, there was one Appayya Deekshidar a great scholar, singer poet of Tamil Nadu. Though a hard core Adwaitin, he was an ardent devotee of Siva. Those days the devotees of Maha Vishnu were rather aggressive in spreading their own beliefs and sect. Appayya Deekshidar’s efforts were as a counter to that. So he was forced as though to establish and propagate the superiority of Siva and Siva Worship. His contemporary was one Tatachaariyaar who had the patronage of end rulers of the Vijayanagara dynasty. He was an ardent devotee of the Vaishnava tradition doing much to convert the general public to become pro-VishNu and anti-Siva! This was the cause against which Appayya Deekshidar was highly motivated. Though true Hinduism is one which accommodates and embraces all variety of views and sects; at times there have been such spikes of odd and errant behaviour by some, off and on! Though Tatachaariyar’s line was anti-Siva, Appayya Deekshidar was not against Maha Vishnu at all. As I said earlier, he used to refer to AmbaaL, Siva and Vishnu as ‘Ratna Thrayam’ the three gems of the Hindu religion as the very forms of the Parabrhmam! He has quoted many references from the Sruti and Smruti scriptures to prove his points.
82. Once a King went to a temple with both Tatachaariyar and Appayya Deekshidar. That king might have been Ramaraya of Vijayanagara Dynasty or Velur Chinna Bomma Naickar or Tanjore Veera Nrusimha Bhupaala. The name of the King is not important. The fact was that the King went accompanied by these two very learned stalwarts of devotees of Siva and Vishnu. In the temple there was a statue of Ayyappa the Saastha. Unlike the normal posture of sitting on his haunches, this Ayyappa was having his index finger on his nose in deep thought as though! The King asked as to why the Devata seems to be in a novel posture?
83. The temple authorities answered the King. “This statue had been made many years back, we do not know when. The Sthapathy who sculpted the statue, is said to have had a vision of Ayyappa in a posture of puzzle and perplexity. He made it as seen by him, without knowing the reason as to why Ayyappa was in such a state of quandary. At that time the Sthapathy had said that, some time in the future an all knowing pundit (‘sarvagna’) will visit the temple and explain the reason for Ayyappa’s perplexity and then the statue will regain the normal posture, as seen in all other temples. Since then many great people have visited this temple and have given many reasons for Ayyappa’s quandary. But since the reasoning was not correct, till date the statue continues to be like this.” The King looked at the two erudite scholars accompanying him questioningly.
(To be continued. We will know as to why Ayyappa had his index finger on his nose in a posture of contemplation in the next e-mail.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 07 (Vol # 5) Dated 13 Jun 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 07 (Vol # 5) Dated 13 Jun 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 first para on page No 44 of Vol 5 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated constantly)
65. Though the mind of ours may spread its roots of interest in all directions, you have to let it go in its own way and slowly but steadily endeavour to bring it back to the path to attain ‘chitta eikagratha’ of one pointed focus. Right from the beginning it cannot be suppressed. If you force the mind like that, the mind will rebel and will either become depressed or go in the opposite direction towards madness. What our religion does, is to let it enjoy the thrill by the variety of salubrious qualities of divine beings and start emulating them. Make the mind appreciate the eternal value systems of noble souls and start imbibing them in one’s life gradually. The aim is to enable the mind to cleanse itself and as it matures cause it to tend towards the morally upright and socially correct behaviour, thereby slowly start being interested in Adwaitic principles.
66. So, in Hinduism we have a whole series of equally wonderful Divine beings to choose from; PiLLaiyar, SubrahmaNya Swami, AmbaaL, Siva, Vishnu, Rama, Krishna, Hanuman, Aiyappa and the Nava Graha-s. Differences galore are already fitted in, in matters of procedures of worship; soulful prayers as Bhajans, Abhangs, Tevaram and Divya Prabhandam songs; decorations of the Utsava Murthys, temple premises and the whole city and its surroundings; fasting followed by feasts of choice delicacies as eats of all tastes to be offered as Neivedyam-s; with different important days for celebration spread throughout the year! The idea is to get us interested in the high value systems of life, without becoming aware that we are being tutored to do so! Let us raise ourselves by ourselves, weaning this mind of ours from its deep involvement in the affairs of this world, making the process pleasureful in the bargain in which this ‘many God’s’ arrangement does help immensely!
67. Children become very happy and interested when you show them multi coloured pictures or toys. We are all only children in matters spiritual. So, instead of being ashamed of the ‘Pantheon of all those Hindu Gods and Goddesses’, without the boredom of having only One God; let us play with all of them with the idea of ‘more the merrier’! As far as possible let us enjoy the sweet feelings of elation from our sense of devotion to our Gods, all of them. For the present let us revel in, ‘mixture, Avial (a South Indian culinary preparation of all varieties of Vegetables in curd with grinded coconut), kichdi (a North Indian preparation of rice, cereals, pulses and vegetables) or goulash’ and go on to the oneness of Adwaitam, whenever it happens!
68. To highlight greatness of the subject taken up for discussion, it was depicted that as per ‘tat hetu nyaayam’ it is enough if you restrict yourself to worship of Vigneshwara alone and that would serve the purpose or fit the bill. But it is not to mean that we should all give up our devotion to all other Gods or that they should all be packed for the dust bin of posterity! The very gentleman who wrote this sloka used to worship all the Gods. Instead of restricting to Vigneshwara Pooja, he was much used to Siva Aaraadhana. It is not enough to intellectually establish a concept. It is the human mind that seems to have a greater say on how we respond to these things. Once it is a matter of Bhakti that is, Devotion; we are told to set aside the Buddhi and Intellect!
69. So let the Buddhi level Nyaayam remain whatever it happens to be, in our present stage if that does not give us satisfaction. Let us go about for Ishta Devata worship, Sakala Devata Pooja that is, all deities worship or a suitable mix of both depending on which period or date is important for a particular God as per the calendar! Simultaneously analysing the situation sensibly, we see that all that we want or need, can be obtained through worship to this one God certainly. Even while worshipping any God for any required or felt benefit, while doing the initial ‘sukhlaam bharatharam’ tapping on our heads with our knuckles thinking of Ganesha, let us be clear in our hearts and minds that with this one God on our side, our life’s endeavour will prove to be fruitful, successful, and meaningful!
70. Because Ganesha is capable of granting all the benefits that could accrue by prayers to any of the Gods, the last line of the sloka says, “sarvaartha prati paadaneika chaturo dwaimaaturo (a)vyaat sa na:”. That would mean, ‘PiLLaiyar Himself could either grant all our wishes or whatever is needed for our recovery and refinement or by His influence and recommendation cause other deities to do the needful, as He is capable of that, ‘sarvaartha pratipaadaneika chatura:’. ‘sarvaartham’ means all aims to be achieved. For this human life there are supposed to be four types of ‘aims or tasks to be achieved’! They are called, “dharma – artha – kaama – moksha”, meaning ‘righteousness – means or wealth – desires to be fulfilled and release from being bounded!’ This PiLLaiyar is very much capable of giving all that we ask or need, of this worldly and the other worldly (of ‘Iham and Param’)! That also means that there can be nothing that he cannot grant!
71. Kaama or desire which is the main motivator for our passionate involvement in ‘Iham’ of this worldly life gets us so bogged down, that we become incapable of raising above and thinking of the other side of life that is ‘Param’ at all. If so, what is the use of our existence that too as the most refined of all life forms, capable of reasonable thinking, logical analysis and intelligent conclusions? That is why to correctly prioritize our fourfold aims of life, Dharma has been kept as the first, to mean that we may endeavour to fulfil our needs, wants and desires of Artha and Kaama in an orderly and Dharmic rightful way, keeping the eventual aim of Release from involvement , in one’s mind always!
72. Kaama that is all types of desires small and big are ever in our minds. To fulfil those desires we need many things, resources, status, influences, opportunities and power. This is what is provided by the next item in the agenda, the ‘Artha’. This Artha also first of all enables us to live up to the requirements of Dharma. So Dharma is like a common denominator for the other three lest we get bogged down by Adharmic methods for obtaining Artha and fulfilling Kaama! If we go astray from the Dharmic, it is not only that the fourth item of Moksha is denied to us, but we get in to a never ending vicious cycle. But if we adhere to the ways of Dharma in obtaining Artha and enjoying the Kaama, as time passes and we mature with experience, we will be automatically guided to the final aim of Moksha.
73. The one who could give us all the fourfold ‘Purushartha of Dharma, Artha, Kaama and Moksha’ is this, ‘pratipaadana – eka – chathura:’ who could give us all that we need for our eventual ennoblement. That is this ‘dvai – maathura:’, meaning this man with ‘two mothers’! How is that? We have known him by many names as, GaNesa, Vigneswara, Vinayaka, Gajanana (elephant faced), Lambodara (big bellied) and so on! But never do we know him to have two mothers! In the sloka anyhow his name has not been otherwise mentioned!
74. Who are those two mothers? One is AmbaaL, OK. The other is Ganga, the River Ganges, who is sitting on Easwara’s matted locks! It is the custom to consider her as Siva’s second wife. AmbaaL’s eyes are capable of depicting love, pleasure, compassion, anger, fear, surprise, humour, expectation, pride, pain, disgust and disappointment. Though they are said to display different shades of all the Rasas on various occasions; as described in ‘Soundarya Lahari’ (Sloka 51); on seeing this other Lady Ganges, Ambal is described as feeling a mix of anger, jealousy and dislike; ‘sa roshaa gangaayaam’! But this PiLLaiyar as an embodiment of love and respect treats her equally as a mother and claims the name of the Son of two Mothers ‘dwai maathura’!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 06 (Vol # 5) Dated 11 Jun 2011po

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 06 (Vol # 5) Dated 11 Jun 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 first para on page No 37 of Vol 5 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated constantly)
54. Included at the end of the last e-mail, was a list of 64 ways in which Sri Lalitha Parameswari is given Rajopachara and Devopachara-s ceremonially, mentioned as “chtushshatyupachaaraadhya” in Lalitha Sahasranama. This is explained in detail in Parasurama Kalpa Sutra. Variety is path to Unity in Hinduism. In another mantra She is said to be capable of creating a series of worlds in split seconds, “Unmesha nimishotpanna vipanna bhuvanaavali:”. She is “sahasra seersha vadana sahasraakshi sahasra paath”, having thousands of heads, face hands and legs! In God’s play, there are also occasions where instead of praying to the entire Pantheon of Gods, some people have their Ishta Devata, owing their allegiance to one particular Rama or KrishNa or PiLLaiyar or Muruga or Hanuman. They are very clear in their minds that they are never going to approach any other God come what may! Their one pointed devotion gives them the total focus and as a result they are happy with their Ishta Devata and seemingly get all their wishes fulfilled through Him or Her! But, even such ardent devotees of one God of Siva or AmbaaL, claiming that they could never think of any other God; are not able to set aside this PiLLaiyar. Without an initial prayer to GaNesha they are not able to do the worship of their Ishta Devata! So, even if we were to ignore all other Gods, we are not able to give up PiLLaiyar.
55. Such ‘only my Ishta Devata and none else’ type of devotees are rare. Normally the majority have the attitude that they think, “We do not know which God does what and when! Why give up on anyone and miss out on the likely benefits and more importantly why should we be on the wrong books of anybody?” If you go to a big temple we notice that there are so many big and small sanctums or niche for many divine beings. In a Siva temple there will be separate Sannidy or enclosures for AmbaaL, PiLLaiyar, SubrahmaNya, Durga, Dakshinamurthy and Nandi will be found directly in front facing Siva, while all the 63 Nayanmaars may be found lined up around the inner Praharam. In the PerumaaL (that is the Vishnu) temple the Sannidy may be different with a place each for the Thaayar, Garuda, Aanjaneya, Aazhvaars and AandaaL. If we believe in both the sects, satisfy ourselves with visiting both the temples and also visit any other smaller temples for Chitragupta or Ayyanaar on the way. But the one common factor in all these temples is that there will be an important Sannidy for Ganesha as GaNapathy or Vinaayaka; while in the PerumaaL temple he will be sitting as the Thumbikkai Aazhvaar known as Vishvaksena with a wide Naamam on his forehead, accepting our ‘dhobir karaNam’ sit ups and prostrations quite happily!
56. I am asking you to think about as to what happens if instead of considering Vigneswara as ‘ekam param devam’, we think of Him as one given the job of ‘removal of obstacles’ amongst many Gods with their own allotted jobs, what happens to the ‘tat hetu nyaayam’? That is his special attribute that, despite being in-charge for one department of the spectrum of many responsibilities, He is also capable of sanctioning any of our needs or wishes! How is that?
57. What is his allotted job? It is removal of obstacles i.e., ‘Vigna Nivaaranam’. Without prayers to Him, worship to no other Gods can happen without difficulties. Moreover, when there are problems in the very process of sanctioning ‘anugraha’ by other Gods, those can be resolved only by this Vigneswara. Easwara sets out for Tripura Samhara and promptly is faced with difficulties. The axle of His chariot is broken! So, he realises his mistake of not praying to Vigneswara first, though they have a Father – Son relationship! So Easwara starts praying to His son PiLLaiyar and then goes on his intended endeavour! There are many stories of Vigneswara coming to the help of Gods in various difficulties. That is why this one is special to be prayed to in any form of worship of any of the Gods.
58. For health we pray to the Sun, for education we go to Saraswathy, for money and wealth Lakshmi and so on to a different Deity for every type of benefit to be obtained. None of them depend on each other for anything. The Sun does not need the assistance or permission of Lakshmi or Saraswathy. They are all capable of independent functioning. Yes, they also do not need each other’s sanction. If for some reason if they are not able to grant the devotee’s prayer in their respective area of responsibility, they have to seek the help of this Vigneswara invariably! Whatever the deity, they cannot keep quiet when it comes to obstacles in their respective portfolio management.
59. Instead of worldly benefits if the request from the devotee is for ‘Atma Gnaana’ that is, Self Realization as asked for from Easwara or AmbaaL or Maha Vishnu; even in their case for obviating problems, they have to be dependent on Ganesha. So even if we do not consider him as ‘sarva phala dhaata’ and are doing our worship to Easwara or AmbaaL or Maha Vishnu; still the initial pooja is for Ganesha only! It is here that the devotee who knows, ‘tat hetu nyaayam’ deliberates in greater detail. “OK! Let Ganesh instead of giving all the boons and blessings, let Him be a power capable of removing obstacles only! Still whatever the deity, they have to seek his help just to be able to do their jobs. So, all those Gods to be able to do our job, the ‘hetu’ is this Ganesha only. So, he evidently has a clear hold on them all and the ‘OK’ power and ‘Veto power’ seems to be only in His hands! His recommendation is inalienably necessary! Otherwise when that deity endeavours to satisfy us there could be problems. The concluding derivation is that it is enough to pray to this one God and the needful will be done!”
60. The devotee who knows this logic of ‘tat hetu nyaayam’, thinking on these lines, is likely to come to the conclusion that there is no meaning for approaching any other God; when all that can be asked for from any other God, can be obtained by being devoted to Ganesha; it is likely to cut out the need to pray to any other Gods. ‘What have we got to gain by praying to any other God or Gods, as ‘tat hetoreva tat hetutve madye kim tena?’ So he gets whatever through Vigneswara. ‘Tat hetoriti neetivid bajate devam yam ekam param’! That phrase ‘neetivid’ means the one who knows this logic. Such a person places all his trust on Vigneswara only and gets his needful done through Him and stops at that! All this analysis in contained in that one sentence of that sloka that I have explained for so long!
61. Because I told you all this for so long, do not for a moment come to the conclusion that I am recommending all prayers to all Gods should be stopped forthwith and that you should restrict yourself only to praying to Ganesha. I have been explaining the sloka by Mannaarkudi PeriyavaaL, which he had given as the Mangala Sloka for his book Nyayendu Sekharam as a counter to Anatarayar’s Nyaaya Bhaskaram. As I told you, as the Nyaaya Bhaskaram was anti-Adwaitam, Mannarkudi PeriyavaaL’s book was for re-establishing the Adwaita principles. So, please do not come to the conclusion that I am asking you to pack off all other Gods and become devotees of only GaNapathy by any chance! As I said sometime earlier, variety is the spice of life.
62. God has to conduct this drama of the worldly life with as much variety as you and I cannot even imagine. We also seem to enjoy more with variety in whatever we do. As many people as there are in the world there are likely to be as many ways of doing anything. Depending on one’s attitude, level of understanding and maturity; our preferences for God’s are also likely to vary. Saastraas also traditionally have deemed that we have to pray to Goddess Lakshmi for wealth, Saraswathy for all types of Vidya, Sun for health, for removal malefic influence of the planets we have to do Rahu – Ketu Pooja and so on. That is what is believed by the common man also.
63. On the day of ‘Sani Peyarchi’, when Saturn is said to move, we should be in Thiru NaLLaaru to see the congregation of people. On Magara ViLakku day there may be some 3,00,000 people in that small saddle of the hill feature in Kerala of Ponnambala Medu of 500 yards width and a kilo meter length, with another 3 Lacs coming in and a 3 Lacs crowd on the way out! Look at the crowd at Maha Maham on the Ganges every six years. (Though it is supposed to be held every 12 years, because they have a half Maha Maham also, it happens every six years!) The number of pilgrims walking up the 14 Kilo Meters visiting Vaishno Devi from Katra, every day of the year is all the time increasing! Finally, I must mention the ‘Giri Valam’ that is the circumambulation of some 14 Kilo Meters around the ThiruvaNNamalai hill, attracts anywhere up to 10 Lacs of people on moon lit nights. There are many such religious occasions which attract enormous crowds throughout the year in various places throughout India! I have not listed them all. The reason that they converge on such occasions is that, they are hopeful of getting some glimpse of the end direction and destination!
64. The point I am making is this. Less than one in a million reaches the end of such a journey of Adwaita Saadana and raises above all variety towards Oneness! This is a simple multiplication of at least a thousand by a thousand as suggested by Sri Krishna in Sloka Number 3 of Chapter 7 of Bhagawat Gita! “Among thousands of men, one perchance strives for perfection; even among those successful strivers, only one perchance gets to know Me in essence.” Till then Variety is the quintessence of existence. Even for your own Ishta Devata, the tendency is to try out a variety of dresses and decorations! Today in the Temple if we decorate our Utsava Murthy as an Emperor, tomorrow we wish to dress Him up as a Bikshaandi, the begger with a scull bone for a bowl! That is the way of Life!
(To be continued.) Sambhomahadeva.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 05 (Vol # 5) Dated 09 Jun 2011

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 05 (Vol # 5) Dated 09 Jun 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 30 of Vol 5 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated constantly)
44. Let us summarize the purport of the past few paragraphs to grasp it clearly. All Devatas do pray to PiLLaiyar. Then only they are able to do any of their jobs without hindrances. Whichever Devata endeavours to proceed without praying to PiLLaiyar, He is capable of hindering their plans. So, it means that He must be more powerful than them all! Nowhere is it said that He has had to approach other God’s help or assistance. So it is clear that He is all capable. So, whatever can be granted by them, He can do so Himself. This fact is borne out by the various names of PiLLaiyar in various temples. After much is said and done He is known as, Lakshmi GaNapathy, Vidya GaNapathy, Vijaya GaNapathy and so on. That means that, He is capable of granting all wealth like Lakshmi, endowing all knowledge like Saraswathy, sanction all victories as AmbaaL and so on. That He can give us all that we are seeking can be discerned from His being called the ‘Sarva Siddhi Prada GaNapathy’! Many temples have come into being for Him with names such as ‘Siddhi Vinayaka and Varasiddhi Vinayaka’, due to this capability of His. For other Gods, there is no such adjective as ‘Siddhi’ added to their names anywhere!
45. Thus it is clear that He is the original primordial root cause of all Gods! The scholar of Tarka Saastra knows Him to be the stuff of ‘Ekam Param Devam’! Then he applies the ‘tat hetu nyaayam’ in his worship. He thinks: ‘Each Devata granting each type of boon are like the shop keepers of the Provision Store or Hard Ware Stores or Druggist / Chemist. None of them can give you anything without sanction from this PiLLaiyar. Whereas He is like the owner-proprietor of a super market mall, where all your needs are available. There is no limit to his powers to sanction. So why bother to go to any other Gods or Goddesses? If one investment can give you all the required needs, why bother with any other investments? By one means if you can have all the returns directly, why go around in circles making use of many means for some indirect returns? If for one ‘tat’ or purpose of praying to one particular Devata, we have to first approach PiLLaiyar, and it so happens that he can Himself grant us ‘this tat’ as well as ‘that tat’, why not make prayers to PiLLaiyar and be done with it? That is what is meant by “tat hetoreva tat hetutve madye kim tena?”
46. Anyhow without first doing a pooja to PiLLaiyar there is no worship of any deity done. First we have to start with a ‘sukhlaam bharatharam’ with the knuckles tapping on the head. So then why go for any other procedure for any other deity? Without His permit other deities have no possibility of granting any of our prayers and He is also capable of granting any of our wishes. Such being the case, it is enough if we pray to GaNesha. A devotee, who knows the ‘tat hetu nyayam’, knowing PiLLaiyar to be the one supreme God, finishes with His worship: ‘tat hetoriti neetivid bhajante devam yam ekam param’. Instead of only the preamble procedure for PiLLaiyar and then an elaborate worship of any other deity, the devotee does the whole pooja for PiLLaiyar!
47. There could be a slightly different approach too. It is true that there are different deities for different divine sanctions for the devotee. So we can assume that instead of keeping all the control in his own hands, keeping only the removal of obstacles within his purview, he leaves it to other deities to play their allotted roles, so to say! Because, what is said about PiLLaiyar is also applicable to many of the other deities as all powerful, ‘ekam param’! It is true that the One God only is seen as so many Gods and all the animate life forms and inanimate things of the universe are also its manifestations only. But we are not aware of the real identity of ours due to Maya whereas the deities cannot be subject to the delusion of Maya. They all must be knowing and aware themselves to be made of the stuff of the one Supreme Being only! May be not all the Gods are aware but, at least the important ones, as established with reasoning by Appayya Deekshidar as ‘ratna thrayam’, Siva, AmbaaL and Maha Vishnu, should be above the delusion of Maya. Even in their worship, we do the initial Vigneswara Pooja to start with, do we not?
48. So, the normal custom for all those deities is to play their allotted role only without showing off all their omnipotence. In our Sanatana Dharma, we have a whole Pantheon of Gods with a variety of different decorations, preferred offerings, devotional procedures and appointed roles; such arrangements deemed to be the making the one God Paramaatma only! These are said to have been revealed to great Rishis, with separate Mantra, Tantra and Procedures for worship. In that ‘removal of hindrances’ is the allotted role of Vigneswara, like a portfolio for individual ministers in a governing body! So, he is like the departmental head for the specific job of ‘removal of hindrances’! So now can the ‘tat hetu nyayam’ be applicable here?
49. While forming a ministry, each minister is given a clearly defined job such as finance, police, home and so on. Anyone of them may be capable of holding any of the department. In a democratic set up, even if you are not very conversant with your job, you may be able to make do! But anyhow, you cannot simply interfere in other department’s job and issue orders. Till yesterday you might have been in one line and with the shuffling of ministers you may be in another job, a day later. But you have to remain in your own domain, is it not so? In the divine administration of the world’s governance too such must be the normal arrangement. When I say the normal custom; I know that there could be extraordinary situations.
50. One deity – it could be Vigneswara or anyone else – any deity, while granting the devotee’s wish from the highest level of awareness as omnipotent, instead of only one type of blessing, may sanction all one wishes for! When the devotee especially surrenders to that one God with the conviction that, “I will not go to any other God”, instead of keeping it restricted to their scheduled role, may grant it all. When the surrender is total, not only any small deity like a Grama Devata or Vana Devata or even to Mother, Father, Guru or one’s own Husband; God may grant it all in appreciation of one’s sincerity and integrity. But such cases of total surrender are very rare.
51. It is human nature to go through every experience in as many varities as possible in whatever we do. Differences in tastes make food more enjoyable. You need the whole range of colours Violet, Indigo, Blue, Yellow, Orange and Red; as well as many of the shades in between to make dresses, sceneries, paintings, photographs and life in general more colourful! Music has to be in various Ragas, Taala and speeds of slow, fast and super fast. That is why they say that ‘variety is the spice of life’! Do we not need it in the case of Gods and devotional procedures too? The state free of mind, thoughts, actions & aspirations comes only at the end. The state of Samadhi / Nirvana / Adwaitam comes only after all varieties have been gone through.
52. To reach that stage, we have to make use of this mind. The mind that is ever capricious and fickle has to be got hold of first to get interested in the very process of devotion. So here is where the variety amongst Gods and in the approach to divinity helps. The SaguNa Upasana of God in so many forms as humans, animals, birds and plants is peculiar to Hinduism. As per God’s promise to come amongst our midst as and when required to put down increasing immorality and re-establish Dharma and the balance between good and evil; means that other than being the ‘antar yaami’, the immanent power in all of us; He also comes as so many Avataras. So, as He or She that primordial force does assume many forms amongst the living beings of this world. So you need to have as many varieties of devotional procedures. Variety of mantras, songs, bhajans, decorations and so on, have to be there. For one you offer a Bilva leaf (Aegle Marmelos), for another the Tulasi (Basil Thyme) and for yet another a tuft of grass will do most sufficiently! That is why a whole range of eats are offered as Prasada to different Gods such as, pure butter and Vella Cheedai to Krishna; Modakam that is Kozhukkattai to PiLlaiyar; fresh honey from the forest and Thinai maavu to Muruga!.
53. You might have heard in passing that Lalitha Parameswari is offered ‘chatus shashti upachaaradya’, that is services offered in elaborate Poojas are supposed to be 64 in numbers! They are as follows:- 1. ‘Padyam’ – Water for the feet. 2. ‘AabharaNaavaropaNam’ – Removal of jewels. 3. ‘Sugandha taila abhyanga:’ - Smearing with scented oil. 4. ‘Majjana shaala pravesha:’ – Entry in to the bathing hall. 5. ‘Majjana mandapa maNipeeta upaveshaNam’ – Seating on the jewelled seat in the bathing platform. 6. ‘Divya snaaneeyodvartanam’ – Dusting with scented powder. 7. ‘UshNodakasnaanam’ – Bathing in warm water. 8. ‘Kanaka kalashachyuta sakala teerthabhisheka:’ – Bathing with sacred waters from divine rivers and other water sources from all over the land from golden pots. 9. ‘dhouta vastra parimarjanam’ – Drying with a clean dry cloth. 10. ‘AruNa dhukoola paridhaanam’ – Decorating with red silk saree. 11. ‘AruNa dhukoola kuchottareeyam’ – Decorating with red silk upper. 12. ‘Aalepa mandapa pravesha:’ – Entering the anointing hall. 13. ‘Aalepa mandapa maNipeeta upaveshanam’ – Seated on a jewelled seat on the platform of the anointing hall. 14. ‘chandana – agaru – kunkuma – sangu – mrugamada – karpoora – gorochanaadi divya ganda sarvaanga vilepanam’ – Being anointed all over the body with sandal, amyris, kunkuma (reddened ochre), sanku an odoriferous bark, musk, camphor, kasturi (another form of musk from a cat), gorochana (a yellow pigment from the hump of the cow). 15. ‘kesha bhaarasya kalagaru dhoopa:’ – Perfuming hair-locks with the smoke of the black agaru. 16. ‘Mallika maalati Jaati champaka ashoka shatapatra pooga kunkumalee punnaaga kahlaara mukhya sarvartu kusumaalaa:’ – Decorating and garlanding with flowers and buds of all seasons such as, Jasmine, Maalati, Jaati, Champaka, Asoka, White Rose, Areca, Punnaaga, Kahlaara and such. 17. ‘BhushaNa mandapa praveshanam’ – Entering the jewellery hall. 18. ‘BhushaNa mandapa maNipeetopaveshaNam’ – Being seated in the seat in the jewellery hall. 19. ‘NavamaNi makutam’ – Wearing the crown of nine gems. 20. ‘Chandra sakalam’ – Wearing on the head the jewel shaped like a crescent moon. 21. ‘Seemantha Sindooram’ – Placing sindura on the forehead. 22. ‘Tilaka Ratnam’ – Fixing of a gem in the centre of the eye brows. 23. ‘Kaalaanjanam’ – Black collyrium for the eyes. 24. ‘Phalee yugalam’ – Twin circlets on the nostrils. 25. ‘MaNikundala yugalam’ – Pair of jewelled ear-rings. 26. ‘NasabharaNam’ – Nose ornament. 27. ‘Adhara yaavakam’ – Application of paint on the lips. 28. ‘Prathama BhushaNam – Primary ornament that is the Thaali or Maangalya Sutra. 29. ‘Kanaka Chintakam’ – Wearing of gold necklace. 30. ‘Padaka:’ – Pendant in the necklace. 31. ‘Maha Padaka:’ – Large pendant. 32. ‘Muktavali:’ – Pearl necklace. 33. ‘Ekavali:’ – a single strand of 27 pearls. 34. ‘Channaveeram’ – An ornament worn cross wise on the chest from the shoulders. 35. ‘Keyura chathushtya yugalam’ – Pair of bangles on the shoulders, two each on either side. 36. ‘Valayavali:’ – Series of bangles. 37. ‘Urmikavali:’ – Series of rings on the fingers. 38. ‘Kaanchidaama’ – Waist ornament with bells. 39. ‘Kateesutram’ – inner girdle around the waist. 40. ‘Sowbhaagya aabharaNam’ – Auspicious ornament. 41. ‘Paada Katakam’ – Bangles for the feet. 42. ‘Ratna Noopuram’ – Anklets of gems. 43. Paada Anguleeyakam’ – Rings for the toes. 44. ‘Eka kare Paasa:’ – Noose on one hand. 45. ‘Anyakare Ankusa:’ – goad on the other hand. 46. ‘Itara kare pundrekshu chaapa:’ – Sugar cane bow on the third hand. 47. ‘Apara kare pushpa bhaana:’ – Arrow of flowers in the fourth hand. 48. ‘Sriman MaaNikya Paaduke’ – Pair of auspicious sandals. 49. ‘Swasaana veshaabhi: aavaraNa devataabhi: saha Maha Chakra adhirohaNam’ – Entering the great Sri Chakra attended by the ‘aavaraNa’ deities similarly dressed. 50. ‘Kaameswara paryanga niveshaNam’ – Being seated on Kameswara’s lap. 51. ‘Amrutaa sava chashaka:’ – Cup to hold nectar like liquor. 52. ‘Aachamaneeyam’ – Sipping water. 53. ‘’Karpoora Veetikaa’ – Scented betel. 54. ‘Aananda Ullaasa Haasa:’ – Smile indicative of bliss. 55. ‘Mangala Aartikam’ – waving of burning camphor in front. 56. ‘Chatram’ – Umbrella. 57. ‘Chaamara yugalam’ – Pair of whisks made of the tail hair of Chamari deer for causing the air to move. 58. ‘DarpaNa:’ – Showing of mirror to adjust her decorations to her satisfaction. 59. ‘Taalavruntam’ – Palmyra fan. 60. ‘Ganda;’ – Smearing of sandal paste. 61. ‘Pushpam’ – Placing of flowers at her feet. 62. ‘Dhoopa:’ – Incense. 63. ‘Deepa:’ – Light. 64. ‘Neivedyam’ – Varity of eats being offered as prasadam.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.