DEIVATHIN KURAL # 163 (Vol # 5) Dated 23 Apr 2012

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 163 (Vol # 5) Dated 23 Apr 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 going ahead from the third para on page No 1011 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)


1093. Our AachaaryaaL has clarified in his Bhashyams that though Bhagawat Gita has covered extensively the Karma Marga, it does not mean that it has considered it to be the ‘be all and end all’. Similarly, wherever the Upanishads have emphasised the Karma Marga that is not to be thought of as the main aim, says our AachaaryaaL. In Easavaasya Upanishad there is a mantra which says, ‘Let man keep doing his Vedic Karma for all of a hundred years’. By putting in a condition ‘jijeevishet’, that statement is qualified to mean that the man interested in long life of worldly involvement may do so. That is, this advice is for the one who, without changing track to Nivrutti Marga, wishes to continue in Pravrutti Marga. ‘If you wish to live long, instead of doing things to whatever your whims and fancies take you to, do as directed by Saastraas’, he says. Then in the very next sentence he says that someone who does not get to know his inner reality of Aatma and remains without making an effort to know himself, is as good as the one who has committed suicide! Then he has described the definition of the Self in pure Adwaitam. So the Vedas give preference to Karma only as a prelude to knowing of the Self.

1094. Thus AachaaryaaL gave Upadesa to Kumarila Bhatta highlighting the important philosophies of Aatma Gnaana. At the time of the bodily demise of him, who had been solely and deeply involved in the activities of Karma, AachaaryaaL gave advices to reach a state of peacefulness that just cannot even be touched by Karma. Though in his Avatara work all of Kumarila Bhatta’s knowledge was through his Anushtaanaas, he was inwardly aware that the final thing to know is ‘Nishkaamya, Nishkarma Shantam’! So all it needed for AachaaryaaL to do was to just rekindle his inner awareness. AachaaryaaL’s Avatara was for that very purpose of informing this. So, this was the Yoga of minds between the Father and Son, AachaaryaaL as an Avatara of Siva and Kumarila Bhatta as an Avatara of Kumara alias SubrahmaNya Swami. So, as AachaaryaaL with all Love kept up his Upadesa and Kumarila Bhatta realized that it is futile to keep sticking on to the Karma Marga as a destination. Unless we move on to devotion to Easwara and attain Gnaana and know one’s own reality of being, eternal peace will remain a utopia, Kumarila Bhatta came to understand! AacharyaaL’s darshan and Upadesa virtually erased the heat of the fire from the rice husk. Relate this to Appar’s reaction as a devotee of Siva, when dumped in the cauldron of lime kiln, by Jains. As he was ever inwardly cogitating on Easwara as his Father, he said, “eesan enthai iNaiadi nizhalil”, to mean, ‘ever in the cool shades of my father’s feet, I am blissful’. That was the condition of Kumarila Bhatta here, for whom even the ‘Dushagni’ was not unpleasant due to Sankara’s words as after all, he was his very own Father!

1095. With an overwhelming sense of devotion and gratitude he said, “By your Darshan and kind words of advice, I am honoured and ennobled. I accept your views fully. You know well as to what was my point of view. If at all I contradicted Gnaana Marga and upheld the Karma Marga, you know that it was meant to be a platform for countering the Buddhist’s views on these matters. I had to re-establish the Nitya Karma Anushtaana and various other rituals of Pravrutti Marga which they had virtually destroyed and demolished. Finally when I was doing the Prayaschitta, my last act in expiation; you as the Phala Dhaata have come before me to grant me final redemption! To the one who worked against you in his life time and did not remember you in the final moments of his life; even to him also you have come running to grant salvation!”

1096. He continued, “The whole world should learn about this Adwaita Vedantam and be saved. I am not lucky enough to publicise and propagate this principle. I am in the last legs of my existence, about to drop this mortal coil. There is one Meemaamsaka philosopher cum practitioner, more fervent than me, by name Mandana Mishra in the city of Mahishmati.” (There are three different views about the location of this place. May be it is the same as Vidyalayam near Hastinapur. There is an opinion that this Mandana Mishra was Kumarila Bhatta’s disciple and brother-in-law. If that is correct, he should have been here, when his Guru was about to sacrifice his life in Prayaschittam! Anyhow, but for these minor differences, as said earlier about Kumarila Bhatta, the past history about Mandana Mishra, his meeting our AachaaryaaL, and their interactions are very similarly reported in all the versions of Sankara Vijayam books. Kumarila Bhatta continued to talk about Mandana Mishra.)

1097. “As Mandana Mishra is a man of means in his part of the country, he has been able to spread Meemaamsai far and wide. He is a great practitioner of his religion that, he has done all sorts of Yaagas such as Soma Yaaga and many more, all the time involved in such activities only. If you influence him and enable him to progress towards Nivrutti Marga, many will follow suit. It is my sincere wish that you must do this.” AachaaryaaL agreed to do so and continued to be with Kumarila Bhatta till the last few moments of Kumarila Bhatta’s life. As the fire lighted in Hanuman’s tail did not scorch him by Sita’s Anugraha, the slowly devastating fire of Dushagni was not at all felt to be hurting to Kumarila Bhatta and was like an application of salve due to the proximity of our AachaaryaaL. The material body was reduced to ashes. The Avatara of SubrahmaNya Swami who had emerged from Agni, born of the six sparks from Siva’s third eye, merged back into the element of fire. Kumarila Bhatta’s last act of ‘sareera tyaaga’ (sacrificing his body) was also exactly as per rules of the Dharma Saastraas! Our religion has that sort of a foundation installed by such wonderfully great souls in the past. So now, however much things may go wrong seemingly, we can rest assured that Karma Anushtaanaas as per Saastraas will never be erased. The sacrifice of life by Mahatmas never goes waste.

1098. Our AachaaryaaL came to Mahishmati to meet Mandana Mishra. ‘Alas, these Meemaamsakaas are paying attention to the impermanent and fleeting pleasures of materialistic life, ignoring the enduring values of the Moksha Marga! We should draw them out into discussions and debates at least and defeat them’, he felt out of his kindness and compassion. Quarrel and fight born of genuine concern for their welfare, unlike what happens otherwise! Just outside the city, on the river there were women folk bathing and washing their clothes downstream and taking water for drinking upstream. Our AachaaryaaL asked them directions for the house of Mandana Mishra. The man whom AachaaryaaL was searching for , had turned the whole city into a world of education and erudition, learning and practicing Meemaamsai, Nyaayam and Tarkam; not only by learned pundits, but by all and sundry, including the women folk and even household pets and birds!

1099. This information has been brought out very nicely in the Sankara Vijayam books. Those ladies answered our AachaaryaaL who asked for directions, in verse form as slokas. In each one of those slokas any one of the principles of Saastraas will be mentioned and then end that, ‘wherever you find that in the forecourt of the house, parakeets of feminine gender are discussing the various aspects of ‘so and so concept’, know that house to be Mandana Mishra’s residence!’ (Refer to Aananda Gireeyam 56th PrakaraNam.) One of the slokas says, “sukhaanganaa yatra giram vadanti - dware tu needaantara sanniruddhaa: - avehi tam mandana mishra dhaama”. In the olden days women hardly stirred out of the house except for bringing water from the well or river or firewood from the nearby wooded area. Here the women are replying in poetry and what they are saying is to tell our AachaaryaaL that, where in the forecourt of the house, female parakeets will be discussing the subtle nuances of such and such Siddhaantam, know that to be the house of Mandana Mishra!

1100. In Madaveeya Sankara Vijayam (which of course closely follows Aananda Gireeyam), the pet Parakeets are said to be discussing the relative merits of different types of ‘evidences’ (PramaaNam). To decide as to what is acceptable and what is not acceptable as evidence is known as PraamaaNya Vaadam. Not only in the courts of law, but also in day to day life one has to be able to differentiate between a reliable information, propaganda, scam, rumour or hearsay. So PraamaaNya Vaadam is something like the Evidence Act of today as part of Criminal Jurisprudence. There are two things as, Swata: and Parata: – PramaaNam. We get to know something. At that moment we also know as to whether we have known correctly or not. Then the confirmation, as to whether it is right or wrong, depending on where it comes from – within or without – is the criteria for swata: or parata:. For example, the sunlight is being reflected by say a tin can causing it to look like silver. Though it looks like a utensil made of silver, we know it to be a tin can. The question is thus, as we know a tin can as tin can or silver utensil as silver utensil; where from does the proof of that knowledge comes; from within or without? Whether the proof is true or false is not the matter! If it is ‘subjective’ knowledge it is ‘swata: pramaaNam’ and if it is ‘objective’ knowledge, it is ‘parata: pramaaNam’. Between ‘Nyaayam’ and ‘Meemaamsai’ also, there are differences of opinion about what is ‘swata:’ (subjective) and what is ‘parata:’ (objective). As per Nyaaya Saastra, both PramaaNa and ApramaaNa knowledge are ‘parata: pramaaNam’ only, whereas Meemaamsakaas are of the view that, ‘even the knowledge (the pramaaNa gnaanam) of external objects, that what we know is correct’ is from our brains only and so is subjective only, wherever it may originate from! The ‘apramaaNa gnaanam’ that we know wrongly comes about outer things and so is ‘parata: PramaaNam’ they say! Such matters it seems were the subjects of discussion between the parakeet pets in Mandana Mishra’s house! With this for identification, our AachaaryaaL searched for and found Mandana Mishra’s residence.

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva