DEIVATHIN KURAL # 147 (Vol # 5) Dated 22 Mar 2012

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 147 (Vol # 5) Dated 22 Mar 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 the middle of page No 913 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)

952. The mother was very happy seeing the boy return from the mouth of the crocodile without any damage! In her sense of happiness, she forgot about the fact that her son had taken Sannyaasa! She said, “Thank God that you are saved! Come on, let us go home. My only ambition now is that before I close my eyes forever, I should see you married off!” Listening to this AachaaryaaL was surprised. He said, “Amma! You seem to have forgotten the fact that you have given me permission to take up Sannyaasa! Till now I was only your child and from now, I am the child of every mother! Yes, I am everybody’s baby. Every mother who gives me ‘Biksha’ is my mother only. Please do not think of yourself as my only mother. You are one amongst many. I am to receive the Gnaana Upadesa from a Guru. All of them in that lineage as my Guru are all my fathers. Once I attain to Gnaana and then do Upadesa; whosoever by that comes to the right path by listening to Upadesa from me are all my children.

953. If I were to have children, I have to have a wife, isn’t it? This moment I have married her! Her name is Shanti (aka Peace)! In the state of utter loneliness the Peace that is prevailing, is the nubile young woman whom I have been married to. The sloka in Vairaagya Satakam, written by Neelakanta Deekshidar has been suitably used as the words of Aadi Sankara Bhagawat PaadaaL by PeriyavaaL here, “biksha – pradhaa jananya: pitaro gurava: kumaarakaa: sishya: I ekaanta – ramana – hetu: shaantir – daietaa viraktasya II” – meaning ‘for a man who has forsaken all desires and taken Sannyaasa, all those who give him alms are mothers; all the tutors and teachers are fathers; all the disciples are children; the peacefulness in absolute loneliness is the wife’! You only have to give me permission to proceed, he said.

954. “What? You mean to say that you are leaving me and going away? Even in my end days, I have to suffer due to this separation, is it?” His mother cried unable to bear this impending separation. He promised her, “Since I am going away now, I will compensate by being with you in your end days. You have to only think of me and I shall return. Despite being a Sanyaasi, I shall do the needful in terms of all the rituals including ‘Antima Dahana Kriya’, of confining your body to flames in the approved manner. The mother managed to console herself and allowed our AachaaryaaL to proceed. If you have a question as to whether a Sanyaasi is permitted to do such rituals as, ‘Antima Dhana Kriya’, I have already answered you by saying that, when it comes to such people, such excellent specimens of humanity, what they do is the Dharma. Moreover, the answer I give now is applicable too!

955. Mother is a position higher than everything else. So it is said in all the Saastraas too. What you owe the mother is called the ‘Matru RuNam’. You can get away from all the debit accounts and over drafts. You can get away from what you owe your father, by doing a particular Yaaga known as ‘SouthraamaNi’, but not from what you owe your mother! It is specifically said so in Dharma Saastraas that the only way the indebtedness to ones mother can be paid off, is by doing the Antima Kriya in the specified manner and reaching the Mother’s Soul to its destination in the heavens! If you have brothers, this can be handed over to them and the indebtedness can be cancelled and then, and only then, can one get away with it! As the only son, to be true to his responsibility, AachaaryaaL just could not have taken Sannyaasa at all. But this was an Avatara of the very divinity, after due check back with the-would-be parents, as to whether there should be one son or a hundred sons! Moreover it was the divine intension to do his all for the upliftment of all Dharmic and Vedic methods and procedures. It was the coming into being of the very root cause of all Vedas, Dharmas and Saastraas in human form as a Sannyaasa Guru! So the one son so born took up Sannyaasa. He was a divine Avatara alright, but, she was a normal human being, isn’t it? So her due had to be paid off, in all fairness, isn’t it? So her satisfaction is sacrosanct! Anyhow, her ‘Antima Karyam’ and Samskaara had to be done systematically. May be he did not intend doing other periodical monthly and annual Samskaaraas.

956. It is given in Dharma Saastraas themselves that , when a householder has a son and then takes up Sannyaasa and then dies as a Sanyaasi, his son in Poorva Aashrama (that is, the biological son) is not required to do any of the Karmas, but only what is known as the ‘PaarvaNa Sraardam’ on the 11th and 12th day. Using the same logic, if a Sannyaasi is entitled to the 11th and 12th day PaarvaNa Sraardam, as the only son, even a Sanyaasi should do the Dahana Samskaara, to his mother, in all correctness. When it comes to a question as to what is right and what is wrong; Bhagawat Gita says that the ‘Saastraas are the PramaaNam (that is, the authority)’ – Gita, Chapter XVI – 24. Our AachaaryaaL who has quoted this often in his debates and Upadesas could not have done or intended to do something forbidden by the Saastraas. So, we should not presume that he relaxed the words of the Saastraas in any way!

957. Further what is said in the Saastraas is that, the Sanyaasi is not required to have a bath when he gets to know of the death of any of his relatives in Poorva Aashrama, including his own son! But for his parents, he is required to bathe at once with the clothes that he is wearing, that is, immediately on getting to know of the news, without even a change of dress! If that is the equal level of importance given to one’s biological father and mother; elsewhere the mother has been given a higher state of relevance from the point of view of a Sannyaasi – Quote – “sarva vandhyena yatinaa prasur – vandhyaa hi saadaram”! That means, ‘Everybody should respect a Sanyaasi. Within the Sanyaasis, those who have done less number of Vyaasa Pooja should be respectful to those who have done more! All others, even if they are elders, should be submissively prostrating and thereby expressing their respects to a Sanyaasi. In this phrase ‘all other elders’, even the biological father is included and not the mother! It is not enough if he is respectful because there is such a rule as ‘prasur – vandhyaa’, but, with due respect, ‘hi saadaram’! So, that is how our AachaaryaaL promised her of his return as and when he would be required in her end days, just by wishing for his presence and went out in search of his Guru!

958. Why Does He Need a Guru? He has chanted the ‘Prysha Mantram’ and has taken Sannyaasa, isn’t it? Now, what is the need for yet another Guru and formalities? If that is your question, let me clarify that having taken the vow of celibacy and abnegation from all sorts of indulgence, if one dies, there ends the matter. But if by chance you continue to live, then you have to formalise your vow by approaching a proper Guru, take PraNava Mantra and Maha Vaakya Upadesa from him while accepting the order of Sannyaasa. If your question is about his being Easwara Amsa and as to what is the need for him to go through the rigmarole such as taking PraNava Mantra and Maha Vaakya Upadesa, my answer is that, once you are born as a human being, you have to demonstrate as to how well you can go through it all in an exemplary manner, with the right attitude, panache and style! Had he not gone to a Guru, people are likely to claim that, “Our AachaaryaaL himself did not go to a Guru formally, why should we? It is enough if we read these Mantras and Maha Vaakyaas in the books! Or we can do it in our own style, why not?” So whether he needed or not, so as to not set a bad example, he did everything as per directions of the Saastraas!

959. In Bhagawat Gita, Sri Krishna is saying, “na me parthaasti kartavyam trishu lokeshu kinchana” (III – 22), ‘that there is nothing that I have to do or get done in all the three worlds’! ‘But, see how active I am! Just now I am the driver of your chariot. I have gone as a messenger for you Pandavaas to the court of Kouravaas! I have fought with demons and so on. By all this, is there some personal gain that I am keen about? I have to act like every other human being. Otherwise, do you know what will happen? Krishna himself is doing nothing, and why should we be too keen on all these activities? If everybody thinks on such lines, the whole world will come to a standstill! In the whole society, there will be utter chaos. Once a society loses order and cohesion, it is as good as being destroyed. By being the one who has set in this trend of anarchy, I would be responsible for its destruction! So having come on earth as an Avatara, I have to act in a responsible manner.’ The same line of thinking is applicable here. It is exactly like that our AachaaryaaL ventured out in search of a Guru. Having started in the Malayala Desa of Kerala, he went all the way to the banks of the Narmada River in the middle of India and fell in the feet of Govinda Bhagawat PaadaaL!

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva.