DEIVATHIN KURAL # 175 (Vol # 5) Dated 17 May 2012

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 175 (Vol # 5) Dated 17 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 last para on page No 1089 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)


1197. In the priority as to who is God, Mother comes first, then the Father and then the Guru. Once he had the Darshan of the Guru and Parama Guru, he had the wish to see his Mother and Father. Who is the mother and father? In the last slokam in AnnapoorNa Stotram, our AachaaryaaL himself has said, “maataa cha parvati devi: pita devo maheswara:” Though he is an Avatara of their combined presence, he still wished to express his love for his parents as a child. (There is a special word ‘vaatsalya’ in Sanskrit, for the love between the child and parents. I wonder if there is a parallel synonym in English for that word other than ‘calf love’! Like all of us he would have gone to many temples and had the darshan of many of the idols of the resident deity. Whereas we would have only seen the idols made of stone or metal, he would have seen that very deity that the idols represented! He now went to Kailasa where Paarvathi – Parameswara are said to reside. He is supposed to have gone there by the power of his austere penance. He prayed to them with complete devotion. The one entity had become two as AmbaaL and Easwara and was visited by the third as an Avatara Sankara, thrilling at each other’s sight!

1198. His darshan should not end with his enjoyment only, thought Parvathi – Parameswaras. They decided that there should be a permanent record of this visit and like giving a present to a child they gave a gift that would be remembered by the whole world for days to come. Parameswara gave our AachaaryaaL, five crystal Siva Lingas. This is on record in both ‘Siva Rahasyam’ (9th Amsam, 16th Chapter) and ‘Markandeya Samhita’ (72nd Kandam, 7th Parispandam). In ‘Siva Rahasyam’, though it is given that this event occurred in Kaasi, the gift is mentioned as five Siva Linga-s of Kailasa. So also, it is said in ‘Markandeya Samhita’ that the present were five Siva Linga-s. Then the names in both the references match. They are said to be, Yoga Lingam, Bhoga Lingam, Vara Lingam, Mukti Lingam and Moksha Lingam. In addition, the details about where these five Lingams were installed, is given in ‘Markandeya Samhita’. Yoga Lingam went to Kanchipuram Matam, Bhoga Lingam to Sringeri Matam, Vara Lingam reached Neelakanta Kshetra in Nepal, Mukti Lingam went to Kedaari Nath and Moksha Lingam was installed in Chidambaram.

1199. There is much meaning in their being Spatika Linga-s. Amongst all Siva Suktas, Rudra Prasnam is the most important one. In it, please note what the initial Dhyana Sloka has to say. It goes, “aapaataala – nabhastalaanta – bhuvana – bruhmaaNda – maavispuraj – Jyoti: spaatika linga – mouLi vilasat – poorNendu vaantaamrutai: I astokaaplutam – ekam – easam – anisam rudraanuvaakaan japan dyaayedeepsita siddhaye adruta – padam vipro abhishinchechivam II”. A Brahmin who is entitled to do formal pooja with proper mantras, if he is desirous of effectively gaining the advantages as expected, should be chanting the Anuvaaga known as Rudra Prasnam, without over speeding (adruta – padam), chanting it with the correct intonations of up and down as well with the correct pauses for obviating breathlessness; while doing Abhishekam for the Siva Linga. The Siva Linga, as per tradition may be made of Spatika (crystal) or BaaNa (a unique stone available only in Narmada River bed) or Swarna (gold), or Rasa (a naturally occurring stone of Mercury and Sulphur) or Maragatha (that is, Emerald). It is thus the Abhishekam should be done while the chanting of Rudram goes on. So also this should be done for Nataraja Murthy also, (that is Siva in the form of Nataraja), because he in any form is one and the same, ‘ekam eesham anisam’. This is what is said at the end of the sloka.

1200. Before that, the sloka tells us as to how the form of Siva is to be meditated upon. The effulgent fire extending from the nether worlds of ‘Paataala’ to the far reaches of this sky going beyond the mighty spheres of the Universe enlightening the whole of macro cosmos! God is that form of light as ‘Jyotir Lingam’ – a symbolic representation of light – that is a Spaatika Lingam – made of Crystal! Imagine God to be the form of a brilliant effulgence, on whose head is the full round Moon – ‘mouli vilasat poorNendu’. (‘Poorna + Indu = poornendu’.) If the form of God is a visible material body with the hands holding a deer and goad, wearing the matted locks; then he has only the thin sliver of the third crescent moon (that is the second evening after, New Moon and the next. The first evening after New Moon the crescent can never be seen from the earth!) God in the form of a Spatika Linga has the Full Moon on his head! That is why the Siva Lingams installed by our AachaaryaaL adorned by the Full Moon are known as ‘Chandra MouLeeswara’. From that Full Moon Amrutam or Nectar is flowing – ‘vantaamrutai:’. The Nectar is flowing as ‘astokam’ – that is plentifully pouring out! The third crescent moon can give only a trickle of Amrutam. But since this is a Full Moon it is abundantly flowing and Siva is not only drenched but fully soaked and covered – ‘aaplutam’. So if you also pour a bit of water, he is happy and who would not like to make God happy so easily?

1201. Even if the representative Siva Murthy, instead of being a Spatika Lingam, is in any other form; even then while doing Abhishekam with Rudra Japa, the Lord Siva is to be thought of as a Spaatika Lingam only, as it is closer to the truth, the ultimate Truth! That is the reason why Parameswara handed over five Spatika Lingas to our AachaaryaaL. Better than SakaLam (with form) is SakaLa NishkaLam (that is, formless form) is closer to Adwaitam. Lingam as a formless form is closer and if that happens to be a Spatika Lingam, it is still nearer to the truth! Adwaitam talks of the end idea or philosophy as ‘NirguNa Brhmam’ isn’t it? Spatikam is like that, colourless, transparent virtually unseen as an excellent demonstration of what is the principle of NirguNa Brhmam! Spatikam like Brhmam is spotless, colourless, clean, transparent and translucent! When you do Archana with any flower with whatever colour, the Spatika Lingam will be seen to be of that colour. This seeming adoption of the colour characteristic is like the way the NirguNa Brhmam permits superimposition of so many forms, colours and characteristics, while still remaining unsullied as itself! This omniscient, omnipresence is cool in the light of the moon, indicative of its extreme compassion. As there are five elements, five vital breath, the God with five faces (namely Sadyojaata, Vaamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha and Easaana) having five responsibilities of (pancha krutya:), gave our AachaaryaaL Pancha Lingams!

1202. The knower, the thing to be known and the knowledge; like the seer, scene and seeing; are known as ‘Triputi’. Adwaitam says that these three are one and the same. Here the giver is Siva, receiver is Siva and the thing given or received is also the same – five Siva Lingams! Here I am reminded of a slokam wherein, our AachaaryaaL himself is described as the Chandra Mouleeswarar. It is in the Avatara Sarga of ‘Maadhaveeya Sankara Vijayam’ (2nd Sargam, 90th Slokam) – “moordhani himakara chihnam nitile nayanaangam amsayo: soolam I vapushi spatika – savarNam praagnaastam menire sambum II” When the child Sankara was born as an Avatara of Siva, some of the visitors could see clear signs of his being an Avatara of Siva, like marks or moles. On the head there was the sign of the moon – ‘moordhani himakara chihnam’ – that is ‘Chandra MouLi’! In the fore head there was the sign of the third eye – ‘nitile nayanaangam’! On the shoulders there was the mark of the Trident – ‘amsayo: soolam’! The whole body was shining and transparent like the crystal Spatika – ‘vapushi Spatika – swarNam’. The child which looked like this, was recognised by the knowing ‘Seers’ as the very Sambu – ‘praagnaas tam menire sambum’!

1203. When the father Maheswara has sanctioned the five Lingams, will the mother Paarvathy keep quiet? She gave a Stotra Script to our AachaaryaaL. That is the ‘Soundarya Lahari’ that stands first amongst all prayers describing the beauty of the Goddess. Markandeya Samhita calls that sloka as the ‘soundarya saaram’, that is the concentrated essence of beauty. She blessed AachaaryaaL with that Sloka for the benefit of the whole world. There is total uniformity between the Markandeya Samhita and Aananda Gireeya Sankara Vijayam, in reporting about Easwara giving five Siva Lings to AachaaryaaL, their names and places where they finally reached. In Aananda Gireeyam, that sloka is called as ‘Ambikaa Stava Saaram’, for the sake of ‘Jagat Anugrahaaya’ as it says. Blessings given to the Jagat Guru is the same as blessings that is given for the whole world, isn’t it? ‘Soundarya Lahari’ means ‘Waves of Beauty’! AmbaaL is like an ocean of beauty. That beauty which cannot be defined is indicated by the poem in words.

1204. In it each sloka is like a wave. AmbaaL has many forms. This sloka is her form as Sundari. Out of the ‘Dasa Maha Vidya’ forms, here she is the ‘Ati Devata’ of ‘Sundari Vidya’ that is Sri Vidya, also known as the ‘Tripura Sundari’ of the ‘Sthula’ (gross), ‘Sookshma’ (subtle) and ‘KaaraNa’ (causal) worlds as the mother incarnate with love of compassion, support and sympathy! It is the same principle of Brhma Tatvam that is the Mother, known as Tripura Sundari as well as LalithaambaaL!

(To be continued.) Sambhomahadeva