DEIVATHIN KURAL # 114 (Vol # 5) Dated 18 Jan 2012

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 114 (Vol # 5) Dated 18 Jan 2012

(These e-mails are translations of talks given by PeriyavaaL of Kanchi Kaamakoti Peetam, over a period of some 60 years while he was the pontiff in the earlier part of the last century. These have been published by Vanadi Padippagam, Chennai, in seven volumes of a thousand pages each as Deivathin Kural. Today we are proceeding from page No 706 of Vol 5 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that here in 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated constantly)
624. I said that there are no books available as having been written by Mandana Misra. But in action he had done an enormous number of Yaagas and a whole lot of Karma Anushtaanaas, and fought with others with different views or Siddhaantam-s. Thus he had done yeoman service to that branch of Karma Marga. Our AachaaryaaL won him over with relentless logic and not stopping with that, gave him Sannyaasa and made him one of his own disciples, known by the name of Sureshwara.
625. The Reason for the Avatara of Kumara Swami and Brhma as Ardent Meemaamsakaas. Easwara caused the Avatara of Kumara Swami and Brhma as Kumarila Bhatta and Mandana Misra respectively, even before his own Avatara. I can think of one reason as to why this was needed. It was the complaint from the Devas that caused his own Avatara. Devas benefit by Karma Anushtaana only as they get their Aahuti offered to them in Yagnas. Devas are not interested in anybody progressing in the Gnaana Marga, as they do not get any Aahuti from a Saadhaka in the Nivrutti Marga. This has led to the coining of the proverb that the one ardently following the Karma Marga is known as ‘devaanaam priya’ (beloved of Gods) as he is sufficiently an ignorant idiot!
626. Now when Devas were coming and complaining about not getting their share of offerings; ‘if I come in to the world to talk mainly about Gnaana / Nivrutti / Sannyaasa Marga in which there is no Karma to be even talked about let alone doing it; that will be further undercutting the case for the Devas, isn’t it? It will not be kindness but poor manners too!’ (Saying this, PeriyavaaL laughs.) That must have been the analysis of the situation by Easwara. ‘To make up for a long period of time when the Yagnya related activities had drastically dwindled, let there be some 40 to 50 years of enhanced Yagnya like activities and let the Devas be compensated for lost revenues of Aahuti! For this let Brhma and SubrahmaNya precede my Avatara and develop Karma Meemaamsai in a big way. In the bargain automatically there will be countering of the Buddhist religion to a substantial extent, which will suit our purpose. Then, I should come on the scene.’
627. ‘Since the Buddhists also talk about NirvaNa that seems and sounds like Gnaana only, the general public is likely to be flummoxed as to what is Vedic and what is not?! So let these two precede me and lay a strong foundation for the observance of Karma Anushtaanaas in Vedic methods. Then we will come on the scene and tell the public, “Start by Karma Anushtaanaas only. Then as you mature switch tracks in to Gnaana Marga”.’ That must have been Easwara’s reasoning. Accordingly, SubrahmaNya Swami took Avatara as Kumarila Bhatta and Brhma as Mandana Misra; strongly countering Buddhism effectively and nourishing the Karma Marga.
628. Avatara-s by Indra and Saraswathi: AachaaryaaL’s Service Sans Governmental Support. Just to help Kumarila Bhatta, Indra was born as a regional King as Sudhanva as given in some of the books of Sankara Vijayam. It was but natural for Indra to be interested in wishing to help a person who was going to rejuvenate conduct of Yaagas and Yagnya-s; which in turn will benefit all the Devas. Even earlier, Kumara Swami aka Lord SubrahmaNya was responsible for saving Indra from the clutches of Soorapadma. So, Indra would have wished to express his gratitude in as many ways as possible to SubrahmaNya.
629. I must make an observation here. Kumarila Bhatta to some extent had the support of the local ruler in his efforts to counter the Buddhists. But our AachaaryaaL did not have any of the support from any of the kings of his time, but solely relied on his own intellectual acumen and strength of his own personal experiences and convictions in winning over people’s minds for Vedantam! Mostly Buddhism and Jainism relied mostly on royal patronage in spreading their religions and expanding their hegemony. Then when making an about turn to Vedic methods, in the times of Appar and Thiru Gnaana Sambandar; the Pallava and Pandya kings were won over and the whole lot of citizens were also regained to the Vedic practices, as we notice. There is no such thing in our AachaaryaaL’s history. Anyhow during his time there were no big kingdoms. In Brhma Sutra Bhashyam there is a reference that because there was no empire worth its name and VarNa – Ashrama Dharmas were not being ensured, that there was a total lack of social control and order in the whole country.
630. When other Devatas were all coming down to earth taking Avataras, Indra could not have remained a silent observer. So he also assumed a minor role in the drama. If your mission can be completed only with a major help from others, it is a bit of a loss of prestige for an Avatara, isn’t it? May be that is the reason that when Kumarila Bhatta and Mandana Misra were ready to tear the whole of Vedantam to pieces, without anybody’s help, singlehandedly our AachaaryaaL could defeat both of them and thereby display the power of the Avatara. Within these two also, AachaaryaaL did not have to wage a war of words with Kumarila Bhatta. They met only when Kumarila Bhatta was already in his last few days before dropping the mortal coil. But with Mandana Misra, he had continuous war of words, in an organized gentlemanly way, continuously for 21 days!
631. Kumarila Bhatta was a great Grantha Karta (author of books) while Mandana Misra was a great Anushtaana Karta (doer of Karmas) as a family man. So, there was a wife. Brhma as Mandana Misra and Saraswathi as SarasavaaNi his wife, were there. AachaaryaaL in winning the debate with Mandana Misra had to also prove the point that he is a Sarvagna (omniscient). Who could have been the judge in their debate? That role was played by the wife of Mandana Misra SarasavaaNi, as she was an Avatara of Saraswathi Devi, the Goddess of all learning and knowledge.
632. After Kumarila Bhatta and Mandana Misra were born and had already countered and defeated the Buddhists to a large extent, then only was our AachaaryaaL’s Avatara took place. That is even after the petition by the Devas, our AachaaryaaL’s Avatara must have taken place some 50 years later. If you feed after the person eating is hungry enough, then only the food will be well received and absorbed, isn’t it? Similarly I suppose, our AachaaryaaL’s Avatara took place after ensuring that the Avatara will have the necessary impact on the socio-religious conditions. Devas petition had been received. The petition from a suitably well qualified couple of would be parents had also arrived then. ‘Who were the pious would be parents for this Avatara Putra? How did this most pious Avatara take place? Where and in which place did this Avatara occur?’ – We will see answers to these questions after this.
633. History of Kerala. Despite the Avedic environment that was surrounding the whole of India those days, there was one place where Vedic Anushtaanaas had not been given up completely and that place is Kerala. God had pre-decided that he would be born as a son to a very pious Brahmin couple in that Malayala Desam of Kerala, in a place known as Kavadi, as it may be known to most of you all. You may also know that the Avatara’s parents were Siva Guru and AryaambaaL. The Malayala Desam is located on the west of the long series of hills known as Western Ghats. KeraLam is the Sanskrit name. ‘Kera’ is coconut and that entire area is full of coconut trees, hence the name KeraLam. One the one side are the hills – that is Malai and on the other side is ‘aazhi’ or ‘aazham’ so the Malayalam = Malai + Aazham! There is a story about how this narrow strip of land came into being.
634. Parasurama killed and vanquished 21 generations of Kshatriya kings and took their lands all over India, as you may have heard about. The whole world was virtually under his control. By that time he was seized by dispassion and regret! ‘Having taken birth as a Brahmin, it is sad that instead of doing things for the good of the society I have ended up killing so many people! OK, whatever has happened, I can’t even let the past be permitted to be by gone. How can I get away from the responsibility of having to rule all these lands? It is not correct to further get mired in the worldly affairs of administration and management!’ So, he donated all the lands to Kashyapa Maharishi. Why Kashyapa? Because all the animate life forms of this world came into being from him only. People born in Manu’s lineage are human beings aka Man or Manushya. Manu’s father was Vivasvan and his father was Kashyapa. Not only that, he was the forefather of Devas, Dhaityas, Dhanavas, Raakshasaas, Nagas and many others! Though there are many Prajapathis, only he is specially called the Kashyapa Prajapathi. So, ‘let him manage all these men and lands or do whatever’, was how Parasurama thought and donated it all to Kashyapa!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.