DEIVATHIN KURAL # 52 (Vol # 6) Dated 10 Sept 2012

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 52 (Vol # 6) Dated 10 Sept 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 middle of page No 361 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)

197. Once this attitude of ignoring what is apparently good or bad as, ‘let it be whatever’ matures, we have to train ourselves to practice Titiksha more actively in all good experiences of life also. We have to do this because, when faced with good experiences, it leads to some amount of satisfaction, some natural expectation for more of it and to such agitations of the mind. Whether good or bad, whatever disturbs the equanimity of the mind is to be shunned. Shunning of all agitations of the mind is also tolerance or forbearance only.
198. In Sanskrit there is this word भारः which could mean ‘weight’ or ‘load’. When a load is not considered as too much to bear, such weight (भारः) then becomes bearable. (Look at the similarity and meaning of the words in English and Sanskrit!) When there are no weights on either side of a weighing balance, the pointer is straight. When we put a weight on either side, the pointer is askew. Similarly whenever the experiences are good or bad, the balance is lost! To keep the mind straight, we have to bear both good and bad things of life as just one of those things to be borne silently! That is ‘तितिक्षा’ or what we call ‘forbearance’. Here whatever I called as good or even bad things, are what seem to be so in this worldly life, which may not be intrinsically so, as being essentially part of Maya only! They have one common quality of keeping us getting repeatedly tied, without letting us to even think of the reality of Aatma!
199. There is greater harm in things that are seemingly the good things of life. What is seemingly bad may be easily avoided or abjured. But, what is seemingly good because of the pleasure quotient in it, get us attached for its repeated enjoyment, ever causing us to run after such things. This wish or want or desire is called ‘स्पृहा’. To guard against it is also part of forbearance that we have to inculcate. It is worth its while to bring to our minds as to what Sri Krishna says in Bhagawat Gita, (Sloka 56 in Chapter II). “धुखेश्वनुद्विग्नमना: सुखेषु विगतःस्प्रुह: |
वीतराग भयक्रोध: स्तितधीर्मुनिरुच्यते ||” That means, “He whose mind is not shaken by adversity, who does not hanker after pleasures, and is free from attachments is called a sage of steady wisdom”. So, not being ruffled by difficulties and not allow ‘स्पृहा’ to over dominate us is ‘तितिक्षा’.
200. What relieves us from all dualities of good and bad, happy and unhappy experiences is ‘तितिक्षा’. Erasure of all dualities of bi-polar / dwaitam / dvandwam; means that there is a certain movement towards Adwaitam, isn’t it? When द्वन्द्वं goes, all attachments to this world are resolved and the Gates of Heavens open, as Sri Krishna says in Bhagawat Gita, (Sloka 3 in Chapter V), “निर्द्वन्द्वो हि महाबाहो सुखं बन्धात प्रमुच्यते”, meaning thereby, ‘free from the pair of opposites O mighty-armed, he is easily set free from bondage’! Thus Sri Krishna has shown that the end result of the quality of ‘Titiksha’ to be the very purpose of existence. In the Bhashyam for the Upanishad he confirms this view by saying that, “तितिक्षु द्वन्द्व सहिष्णु:” – (the one with तितिक्षा is a Titikshu) – ‘a titkshu is someone who is tolerant of the pairs of opposites’. If all ‘twos’ go off, all numbers and digits which are only variations of two, go off and one is left with the number ‘one’ only! That is the ‘ekatvam’ / oneness of the Aatman, isn’t it?
201. Whether something looks like sadness or seems to be happiness and then proves to cause unhappiness; we are not to be bothered by such things and be worried or cribbing or complaining. One should not be searching for ways and means of avoiding such things either, as that would pave the way for further entanglement only. All such pairs of opposites should be simply borne with total equanimity and that is our AachaaryaaL’s advice to us; as given in Sloka 24 of Viveka ChudamaNi – “सहनं सर्वदुःखानां अप्रतीकारपूर्वकं | चिन्ताविलापरहितं सा तितिक्षा निगद्यते ||”. That would mean, “Titiksha is the capacity to endure all sorrows and sufferings without struggling for redress or for revenge, being always free from anxiety or lament over them”. The phrase अप्रतीकारपूर्वकं means, without searching for countering ways and means accepting whatever happens. That should be done चिन्ताविलापरहितं – without carping and complaining – सर्वदुःखानां सहनं all sufferings should be borne – and that is सा तितिक्षा निगद्यते – what is called Titiksha – the quality of forbearance! This word Titiksha is of the female gender in Sanskrit.
202. While talking about ‘nitya anitya vastu viveka:’, our AachaaryaaL said ‘soyam Nitya Anitya vastu Viveka:’. Here ‘sa: + ayam = soyam’, it was spoken of in the male gender as the action of ‘search and analysis’ is considered as a quality of the male. No insult is meant here as there are some clear lines of demarcation between female and male characteristics, though nowadays it is rather a fad to claim equality! Women were more prone to flutter about like a butterfly and be rather indecisive giving rise to the proverb ‘பெண் புத்தி பின் புத்தி’. That could be reason for ‘Titiksha’ being female like and ‘Viveka’ being male like! But here it may be noted that, Vairaagyam as वैराग्य: is of the neuter gender. As though to register this point ringing in our minds, our AachaaryaaL has said ‘tat vairaagya’ – to mean ‘that is dispassion’. In dispassion the mind has be like a dead wood or a log. No differentiation as male or female here!
203. In Viveka, that is judicious discernment, there is much cerebral work of reasoning and deduction involved and so it is a man’s work as though. So our AachaaryaaL correctly used the word ‘sa:’ meaning a ‘he’ of the male gender and the word ‘viveka’ is Sanskrit also happens to be of the male gender. The words ‘sama’ and ‘dama’ are both in the male gender, as they do indicate ‘pourusham’ or active maleness. After having defined the qualities of ‘sama’ and ‘dama’, when he says ‘manasa: sama uchyate’, though it is maleness indicated, it is not so definitely mentioned, as done in the case of Viveka, with a ‘sa:’. Having brought in the control of the senses, limbs and mind, it is only a state of abiding in oneself, as he says, “स्व लक्ष्ये नियत अवस्ता”, without too much emphasis on the gender of it. But talking about ‘dama’, of the physical control of the senses and limbs, he has emphasised the maleness clearly by saying, ‘स दम: परिकीर्तित:’ – ‘he is praised as ‘dama’! When the mind and senses are running away in apparent revolt, you do need much manly effort and control, I suppose.
204. ‘Uparati’ is evidently female in gender here. If active dynamism is maleness, quietness of cessation of activities has to be the exact opposite as femaleness. So it is ‘uparati: uttamaa’ – उपरतिरुत्तमा evidently the quietude of a high priestess! Then ‘Titiksha’ is clearly defined as a female characteristic of forbearance and tolerance. The Earth is thought of as ‘Bhooma Devi’ having extreme tolerance and forbearance, “பொறுமைக்கு ஒரு பூமாதேவி”, for all the digging, dumping and drilling we do on land, underground and in the bottom floor of the oceans!
SHRADDHA
205. In ‘Samadhi Shatka Sampathi’, the next is Shraddha meaning, faith, belief and confidence. Like Titiksha it ends in ‘the aakaara’ sound, as being another word of the female gender. In faith and trust, it is a belief that Saastraas must be correct; what elders say has to be taken on face value. Such a deep belief and confidence in the words of elders may be parents or Guru or men of honesty and integrity in the society is Shraddha. Till women were not much in to studies and research and analysis; they were high in this quality of Shraddha. Even till now, it is the women who have been holding high the flag of religious beliefs and faith in our Sanaatana Dharma till date! I do not know what the future holds in store for them and our religion.
206. I told you earlier that the very religiousness (आस्तिख्यं) of the common folk is based on this quality of Shraddha only. If there are a certain number of non-believer agnostics amongst men, amongst women there may be less than one fourth of that number. Even the wives, mothers and daughters of agnostics may still be going to temples, and keeping up the traditions and outer signs of our religion. So it is in the rightness of things that this quality of faith, Shraddha is within the ambit of femaleness quite correctly. In the beginning of this talk, I told you about Shraddha and said that towards the end of my talk on Saadhana, I will touch upon this in greater detail. It is that second level – higher grade Shraddha that we are in now.
207. Now an aspirant on the path has come to know much and has persevered much towards attainment of that Gnaana. He has analysed as to what is, ‘Nitya Anitya Viveka Vichaara’, has accumulated dispassion towards all that is ‘Anitya’; has learnt to control and vacating the mind of all thoughts, through ‘mano laya’ to ‘mano nigrahaha’ and has progressed in patience and forbearance and has now arrived at Shraddha. But why should it be so? Isn’t faith and belief the necessary qualities in the early stages, when we have made no progress what so ever in ‘Aatma Saadhana’? There we could have been told to have Shraddha as a quality. Now that we have made some inroads in to Saadhana, what is the need for bringing this subject once again? The answer is that, for that very reason that we have made some progress there is a potential danger that this quality of Shraddha may be weakening and needs to be reinforced.
208. In the initial stages, we were not aware of the intricacies of Viveka, Vairaagya and Indriya Nigrahaha; as we were rather a cypher of uneducated innocent idiots! In that state of ‘gnaana soonyam’, we could have an instinctive trust and faith in the words of elders and the Saastraas. We could have had the natural humility born of that naivety. But now after some substantial progress, there is certain danger of pride or ‘अहङ्कारं’, (without knowing it to be so), we are likely to have the feeling that we will understand when we come to ‘आत्म साक्षात्कार’. In truth there may be many things beyond our minds and comprehension, because that final stage is not understandable at the mind level!

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva