DEIVATHIN KURAL # 32 (Vol # 6) Dated 01 Aug 2012

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 32 (Vol # 6) Dated 01 Aug 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 page No 220 of Volume 6 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)
AmbaL in the Form of “Desika”
62. For our Matam, AmbaL Kamakshi is very important, like the Life- Line. There is a ‘Mooka Panchasati’, of 500 poems about her by one Mookar who was deaf and dumb from birth. He has referred to her as ‘Guru Moorthe in the very first (Arya Sadakam of a 100 songs, [in 46th one]), where he says ‘Namaskarams to you Amma Kaamaakshi’ – ‘गुरुमूर्ते त्वां नमामि कामाक्षी’! Then in many places he has referred to her as the Guru Moorthe and said that Adwaita Gnaanam is obtained by her Anugraha. In the first Arya Sadakam having described her as DurgaambaaL, Chamundeswari, AnnapoorNeswari, Vaaraahi and as so many other variations to be all the same; towards the end he says that by her Grace and Anugraha, some after surrendering in the feet of the Guru through the practice of SaguNa Upaasanaa or NirguNa Upaasanaa, climb either of those ladders and ascend and reach the pinnacle of Moksha to reside in the pent house luxury of the high raise.
63. सत्कृतदेसिक चरणा: सबीज निर्बिज्य योगनिस्रेण्या |
अपवर्ग सौधवलभीं आरोहन्त्यम्ब केऽपि तव कृपया || Soudavalabhi is the penthouse on top of the high raise palace. It is not simply a building of bricks and mortar. It is a building made of ‘Sudha’ that is, nectar of immortality, that is, Amirtam / अमृतम / அமிர்தம். The cool ambrosia of everlasting life has been given as the name to the scorching heat of the mix of sand and lime or cement! If an unholy thing is to be said in an acceptable way, you describe it by the exact opposite. Don’t we refer to the quintessential fool as, ‘that great ‘Bruhaspathi’? When you have the ‘Sama Bhaavana’ that is, equality of vision, even the worst can be seen as good. There is an inner meaning in calling the ‘pent house apartment of the high raise palace’ as having been made of Sudha. When you venerate AmbaaL by the Yoga path, the PraNa Shakti joins the Paramaatma Shakti at the top of the head sans duality and that is Yoga as well as Moksha. At that time there will be a flow of divine nectar amrita, which is referred here as ‘soudha valabi’. This ‘joining sans duality’ that is referred as ‘Yoga’ happens, when the aspirant Saadhak goes through NiguNa Upaasana, knowing that there will be Amirta Dhaara simultaneously. Without knowing any of this, when the Saadhak simply out of his love and devotion does the SaguNa Upaasana, then also by Her Grace, AmbaaL will submerge him in the ambrosial flow!
64. This SaguNa and NirguNa Upaasana have been referred as ‘Sabijam and Nirbijam’ respectively in the sloka. Whatever the path, the Saadhak ascends from the nether areas of worldly involvement to the rarified atmosphere of Aatma Anubhava. This climb is described here as an ascent step by step of a ladder, that is mentioned as ‘nisreNyaa’. ‘SreNi’ means a row or series and ‘NisreNi’ is a ladder. When Parashakti’s grace is there, then only you come in contact with a Guru and think of surrendering to him. This has been expressed by the poet when he says, ‘सत्कृत देसिक चरणा: ... तव कृपया’. The point to note here is that instead of ‘Satguru’, the word ‘Desika’ has been used. Desika is powerful enough to raise the disciple to the highest levels.
65. If thus Mookar is saying that by the Grace of AmbaaL, you get Desika and surrender unto him, KaaLidaasa has said that AmbaaL herself comes in the form of Desika! When he wrote his obeisance to Shyamala the Goddess of Learning as Shyamala Dhandakam, he added a Shyamala Nava Ratnamala, in which he says, “दयमान दीर्घ नयनां देसिक रूपेण दर्शिताप्युदयां”, beautifully playing with the word ‘daya’ in the beginning and ending with the rhyme ‘udayaam’! AmbaaL’s long eyes are pouring out kindness and compassion. She comes in the form of Desika as the Guru and shows the dawn of vision to the disciple, meaning both clarity and ascendence. ‘Udayam’ is raising like the Sun rise, taking us further higher than where we were, showing the way of ascendence of her blessings.
66. There is much sense in talking about her glance of kindness and at once talking about the Desika’s form. It is the eye sight that enables us to move along a path. A blind person has to be led by another who has eye sight, isn’t it? That means that we have to be dependent on eye sight for being able to move on any path. The feet walk on the path as shown by the eyes. The word ‘nayanam’ in Sanskrit has one meaning as the eyes and another meaning, ‘to lead’. So it is the eyes which lead. AmbaaL’s eyes by the glance of love and kindness, leads us all on the right path towards greater and greater glory!
67. Anyone who is a ‘Satguru’ leads his disciples on the right lines by his ‘nayana deeksha’, that is also known as ‘chakshu deeksha’. Meenaakshi Amman has been seen as the Guru who gives ‘nayana deeksha’ by many great mahatmas. The mother fish even hatches the eggs by her looks alone. So Meenaakshi Amman with eyes like that of a fish, by her kind glance enables the Aatma that is in the egg form of potency in us, to be hatched and bloomed to full growth. MantriNi, Maatangi and Meenaakshi are all her names only. It is about her that KaaLidaasa wrote this ‘Shyamala Nava Ratnamaala’ song. Having hinted about her eyes full of ‘daya’ (that is, kindness and compassion) by which she gives us ‘nayana deeksha’, openly he says “देसिक रूपेण दर्शिताप्युदयां”. Let us all pray that she as the Gnaanmbikai may be kind enough to lead us all in the right path.
Sambhomahadeva