DEIVATHIN KURAL # 169 (Vol # 5) Dated 05 May 2012

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 169 (Vol # 5) Dated 05 May 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 second para on page No 1055 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)


1144. My earlier quote of Nehru, the first Prime Minister of this country after its Independence from the British, was from his, ‘Glimpses of World History’. Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru’s statement is not completely correct in saying that, ‘Unlike Buddha who went by the path of love, kindness and compassion; Aadi Sankara AachaaryaaL went by the path of brain and intelligence only’! In fact this is far from the truth. If Aadi Sankara, our AachaaryaaL spoke about Adwaitam and wrote extensively on the intricacies of Uttara Meemaamsai, that is Vedaantam; he spoke and wrote equally on Bhakti, the quintessential path of duality. So many Panchakams, Ashtakams, Bhujangams, Keshaadi-Paada and Paadaadi- Kesha VarNanas, big and small, which are being chanted by millions of devotees till day, are all his contributions! Yes in the matter of Philosophy, he went by Sruti – Yukti – Anubhava, (meaning Vedas, their meaning and personal realization, comprehension and understanding of their import), without giving any scope for feelings to come into play! But for the general Public, he depicted the Gods in glorious splendor, motivated people to visit temples, arranged for repairing and renovating the temples, re-organizing and rejuvenating the procedures for daily, periodical and special day celebrations; giving much scope for feelings of love and devotion to God to come into play! His efforts were equally directed towards the common man and the intelligentsia and so if half his writings were about Adwaita Anubhava, the other half were outpourings soaked in devotion! He himself was an embodiment of grace and compassion that people just fell in his feet calling him a ‘KaruNaalayam’ to mean, ‘a temple of kindness and compassion’! So to think of him as a ‘Varatuu Vedaanti’, that is a dry proponent of abstruse philosophical meanderings; is far from the truth! This fact is borne out by his writings as well as his biographies and the statements by his direct disciples.

1145. Nehru himself seems to have understood this point when he talks about our AachaaryaaL in another book of his, ‘Discovery of India’! Instead of being only a cerebral gymnast, he calls him a philosopher, mystic, a man who not only understood and comprehended his esoteric views but experienced the truth behind his statements, a poet par excellence and what not! Despite all that, instead of standing apart unattached to the normal run of things, he was a very practical, dynamic man of social action that he was an expert in dynamic management of mass efforts with enormous organizational abilities! Not only did he start off a number of systematic organizations but also spun off many such initiatives at the temple / village levels for streamlining the procedures durable enough to withstand the test of time! Prior to him there have never been any Matams in Hinduism. He was the first one to start such organizations and this is what is praised by Nehru. Before him this religion has thrived and flourished by ‘Tapo Bhalam’ (that is, the absolute spiritual power of sacrifice and abnegation by individuals) only. I was quoting Nehru because you would know that he was neither a fan of our AachaaryaaL nor was he too religiously oriented. National Integrity can never be achieved by pretending and play acting as though one is seriously doing some political, social and economic reformations. It has to come from the basic sincerity of all that each one of us is truly representative of the same universal truth of existence. So your love of God becomes mutual love and respect of all living things, your neighbor, region, state, nation leading on to universal brotherhood! Since he was the very form of his beliefs and awareness, he could achieve all that he did in the very short period of his life on earth!

1146. For the general public, devotion to God and Gnaanam of the Awareness of Universal Brotherhood alone can never be fulfilling and satisfying! For them it is more important to do the necessary things to earn the basic necessities of life and make a living! He ensured that all the people contributed their might without their having any grievances against the VarNa – Aashrama arrangement and did their allotted duties in a spirit of mutual respect and love that the whole nation pulled together! If you now compare the two things, his life time achievements with what we are now talking about it; there is a vast difference as between mountain peaks and the gorges. Now, we do not have 6,000 disciples, but only the staff of the Matam and some followers. Still we have to think and deliberate as to who will be able take care of our expenses and give us Biksha, this days food (sustenance) everyday, before we embark on a journey to any of the places. ‘Some unknown power is running the whole world. Do not bother. Just go about telling all people as to what is righteously correct Dharma and whatever is your need, that power will take care! Do not be worrying all the time as to which side of the bread is buttered’ – such Gnaanam comes to me also some time! But did he bother about any such balancing of income and expenditure or advantages/disadvantages of plan A / B or C, when he went around the whole country covering every nook and corner; that too three times, within his short life?

1147. Though the speakers and the media make a big issue of his achievements that he almost brought back the Kruta Yuga itself in this Kali; in fact day to day we are losing all our Dharmas and are letting all our ways methods and procedures vanish into thin air! Even the disciplines and Aachaaraas of just 30 or 40 years back are disappearing to be searched for with magnifying glasses! Brahmins without ‘Kudumi’, that is alright. Ladies not having ‘Madisaar’ (a method of wearing their sarees), it does not matter. People are wearing pants and shirts, are they? It is alright as long as we are not wearing such dresses! Compromises galore, is the order of the day! Then we get the name as being broad-minded and of all things, we get credit for being very catholic! So these garlands of praises are filling up the huge gap between what is and what should be! Was he like this? Without deviating the slightest from the narrow straight line of the rules of Saastraas himself; he could turn an entire population of a whole country which had gone astray by 72 differently competing and clamoring religions; back in to main-stream of what is Sanaatana Dharma!
1148. Instead of looking for places where he and his 6,000 disciples could get Biksha, that is free food and people will be willing enough to be respectable and venerate them with a pooja; he went searching for places where they were against Sanaatana Dharma, possibly ready to even kill him, considering him as an enemy! He went walking everywhere, as there were no roads or means of transportation those days, remember? He did not leave any hill or forest uncovered in his search, making enemies into friends, fans, devotees and disciples! Thus he re-established the Sanaatana Dharma in the whole of ‘Bharata: Khand’, that is the Indian Sub-continent; through that, made all of them part of a huge family and thereby achieved National Integration!

1149. Though debates and counter arguments are restricted to a few set of intelligentsia, the general public accepts their stamp of approval. So our AachaaryaaL targeted and won them over in every city, town, hamlet or village. Once they accepted him as their Guru, their followers did so too. But his social service did not end there. He directly enabled the people to return to their roots of Sanaatana Dharma through temples, poojaas (devotional procedures), stotras and slokas (hymns and prayers praising various deities seeking their benign influence for one’s own ennoblement)! Moreover he put a stop to all forms of cruelty in devotional procedures causing hurt to or even killing animals or other human beings; as well as extreme procedures of self-immolation including corporal mortification, such as ‘Mudra’ – that is, stamping oneself with red hot metal ends, with symbols! He caused the people to give up such habits and adopt pleasant and peaceful methods.
1150. Pacifying the Ugra (Vicious) Devatas. It is not only that he made people give up cruel methods, but he pacified many of the virulently hostile personifications of deities too. May be some of them were derived from much earlier times of divine manifestations, but cruel! May be that some of them were annoyed that people were closing their eyes to the righteous methods of moral rectitude! Crimes have to be punished, isn’t it? So, even the Mother form of AmbaaL in some places started exhibiting certain extreme manifestations! This was further exploited by some extreme sects too. This small, puny, ascetic, recluse, young boy went to all such places. May be the intention of those Ugra Devatas was to enlighten our AachaaryaaL’s greatness, for the entire world to see! But he was not at all interested in self publicity and aggrandizement! His intension was possibly only to just advertise the value of Mantra Saastraas! In all such places he installed Yantras (symbolic representations of Mantras) after due period of chanting of the Mantras, thereby pacifying the horrific and horrendous forms of deities.

1151. In Kanchipuram itself, the Presiding Deity Kaamaakshi herself was a virulent personification then. He installed the Sri Chakra here and made her peacefully gentle. There used to be eight KaaLis (a fierce and violent form of AmbaaL) going in all directions demanding all sorts of sacrifices. He tied them up in the eight directions of the Yantra itself! So as the tradition goes, till date, when Kamakshi AmbaaL’s Utsava Murthy (known as Para Brhma Shakti) is taken out in procession, she is halted in front of our AachaaryaaL’s sanctum for a minute or two, before proceeding further as though taking his permission. Similarly, in Jambukeshwaram / Thiruvaanaikkaaval AkhilaaNdeswari temple, her fierceness was installed in the chakra (circle) of her ear rings and that was made into an ornament for her! Similarly in KoLLur Mookhaambikai, Aalambur Jokulamba (between SriSailam and Kurnul in Nalla Mala mountains), Kamaakhya Temple in Assam and so many other places all over India, our AachaaryaaL has pacified the Ugra Murthy-s of Gods and Goddesses.

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva