DEIVATHIN KURAL # 68 (Vol # 6) Dated 15 Oct 2012

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 68 (Vol # 6) Dated 15 Oct 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 468 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)

352.  Bhakti and Hrudayam.  As the devotion and subservient love sprouts and grows, the mind and intelligence that have become very light will be just sucked into the heart by the sense of being, that is Ahankaara.  In Bhakti – that is, in true and sincere devotion – in which the Jivaatma is offering itself as Aatma Nivedanam to the Paramaatma – the Buddhi has no role to play as known to all of us.  The mind has no role to play there.  The mind is either willing to do something determinedly or unwilling for something else due to uncertainty, most of the time, that is called ‘sankalpa (संकल्प) or vikalpa’ (विकल्प).  In true devotion both of them sankalpa and vikalpa, have no work at all.  In that stage, when we totally surrender to God, there is no will of our own telling God, “It is all Thy Will and wish.  Do what you want!”   The feeling of devotion is not like many of the other feelings arising from and felt by the mind. 

353.  Bhakti or devotion is better described by the word Aasakti or आसक्ति in Sanskrit which in itself has the meanings of dependence, trust, love and indulgence.  There are many shades of the feeling of Devotion / Bhakti, as described by Narada in Bhakti Sutras.  Here I am quoting only one of those Suktas, numbered 82.  It lists11 varieties of Bhakti as given hereinafter: – 1.] GuNa Mahaatmyasakti – ‘गुणमहात्म्यासक्ति‘ – Devotion in the wonderful and salubrious qualities of God.  2.] Roopaasakti – ‘रूपासक्ति‘– Devotion for his physical beauty.  3.] Poojaasakti – ‘पूजासक्ति‘– Bhakti in doing Pooja simply with ‘पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं‘, (meaning leaves, flowers, fruits and water), or with all the 64 methods of Aaraadhana. 4.] SmaraNaasakti – ‘स्मरणासक्ति‘– Loving to just remember God.  5.] Daasyaaskti – ‘दास्यासक्ति‘– Devotion in being a servant of God.  6.] Sakyaasakti – ‘सख्यासक्ति‘– To have devotion in being a friend of God.  7.] Vaatsalyaasakti – ‘वात्सल्यासक्ति‘– To be devoted to God in considering him as a child of yours.  8.] Kaantaasakti – ‘कान्तासक्ति‘– Love to treat God as a Lover. 9.] Aatmanivedanaasakti – ‘आत्मनिवेदनासक्ति‘– To be devoted in the sense of presenting oneself to God as an offering.  10.] TanmayataaAasakti – ‘तन्मयतासक्ति‘– Bhakti for the sense that God and Self are one!  11.] ParamaVirahaasakti – ‘परमविरहासक्ति‘– Have devotion for the intense feeling of separation from God!

354.  Now all these loving relationships are there in our day to day life too between man and woman, master and servant, mother and child.  But, when it comes to the devotee’s Aasakti for God, the intensity and depth of feelings get raised to the highest degree. Thus, true devotion is not the work of the mind. Without any of the undulations and vacillations of the mind, this Bhakti rises from the core of our inner being – the sense of ‘I am’-ness – the ‘Ahankaara’!  When the ‘this sense of ‘I am’-ness’ realizes its oneness with ‘that’, it is but natural for it to wish to get back to its roots and basis.  When there is a want, wish, love or any type of desire, Bhakti or Aasakti; there has to be Duality, Dwaitam.  (Smilingly PeriyavaaL says), “Before Adwaitam, there has to be Dwaitam and you just cannot help it from being so!”  At that precise juncture, the only logic of the existence of Ahankaara is to actively wish to re-join its origin and basis!  Then, instead Ahankaara being devoted, the very purpose of its existence will be, ‘so that it may be devoted’!

355.  The point not to be forgotten here is that, this Bhakti occurring at the end stage of Adwaita Saadhana is unlike the devotion that is normally aimed at a variety of experiences of pleasant feelings of love, between two entities!  Otherwise there will never be a day when the Jiva will be ready to give up its existence but, continue to look for variations in its ‘Love to Love you’ encounters with the Aatma!  Those who believe in Visishtaadwaitam will say that to be the ultimate state, when the Jiva continues to retain his separate identity forever to be able to go on being devoted to God!  But here, this Jiva of Ahankaara realises his oneness with the object of his love and dissolves his self into nullity, by melting in Love.  That is the aim here.  So, this love instead of being a cosmetic coating is removal of riff raff by acid – Bhakti is the acid test of Ahankaara. 

356.  Thus this abode of Ahankaara that is Hrudayam becomes the residence of Bhakti and Ahankaara just fades away.  As we go on maturing in devotion, having taken Sannyaasa Aashrama, with love as you go on slowly melting and dissolving the sense of ‘I, Me and My-self’, lovingly by SravaNa, Manana and Nidhidhyaasana; devotion will keep growing in quality and quantity from a trickle to a flood!  By that, what was the gross Hrudayam will be filled by the subtle atoms of devotion totally. 

357.  While talking about the Hrudayam as the place of Ahankaara, our AachaaryaaL has invariably referred to it as ‘Maamsa PiNdam’ ‘माम्स पिण्डं’ – ‘a piece of flesh’ – in his Bhashyam-s.  However that is not to be thought of as totally the gross heart which is the pumping station in the blood circulation system in the human body.  This Hrudayam is something in between the gross and subtle.  The Chakra-s that Yogis talk about such as Moola Aadhaara Chakra at the lower tip of the spinal cord to Sahasra Dala Padma on the top of the head are all very subtle, not seen in the X-ray photograph.  This Hrudayam will also not be caught by the X-ray, but it is not so subtle like the Chakra-s.  But it is this Hrudayam that controls the blood circulation, including systolic and diastolic blood pressures, breathing and permeation of oxygen to all parts of the body and removal of carbon di oxide including the function of the lungs, the nervous system, as well as the digestive system.  All this is controlled through the functioning of the nerves and various pressures as ‘PraaNa – Apaana – Vyaana – Udhaana – Samaana’ (प्राण – अपान – व्यान – उधान – समान).  What can happen in the human body without a sense of ‘I’ in the Hrudayam?  That is why the place of Ahankaara, the Hrudayam has been given such power.  May be due to having such important role to perform, it has been made semi-gross!

358.  That semi-gross-subtle becomes completely subtle when the Ahankaara is made to become very frail and thinned like the space despite its expansiveness, by the practices of Saadhana, to be able to enter the Dahara Aakaasa in the central perforation or the minute pin-hole in the Hrudaya.  This thinning of the sense of ‘I’ is done by the Bhakti.  When devotion matures it shines above all grossness and subtlety as pure Love / Anbu / அன்பு. That is why we call people lacking in kindness as ‘heartless men’.  Sometime we combine both heart and love and say ‘Prema Hrudayam’ or அன்பு உள்ளம்.  We should make a note of the fact that none of the other parts of Antah KaraNam, such as Chittam or Buddhi or Intellect or Ego or even Mind is thus denoted by relating it to its place of being.  Yes, when the egoism is high we do say ‘head weight’! That is a rarity indeed.  The place for ‘Manas’ is the neck and we do not say that, “So and so has a good neck!”  The parts of the Antah KaraNam are like a man sitting in a chair.  He has a space there.  But the chair does not become the man, isn’t it?  (Though now-a-days, people do get too attached to the chair so much, that they think that they are that position of power and that they are nothing without it.  Anyhow that was an aside, by KTSV.)  

359.  Even Hrudayam when it is semi-gross, the occupant is the Ahankaaram I said.  But, those who are too self-opinionated are not thought to be having a Hrudayam at all.  We say that they are heartless, don’t we?  In the subtle heart when it is totally permeated by Love / Anbu / அன்பு, then only we say அன்பு உள்ளம், not otherwise!  When God is considered as living in our hearts, the gross heart is not what is meant, as though God has come in a disguise as a Jiva!  Instead what we mean is that, when our love and devotion has become so intense that, all our grossness has become so subtle and God is the brilliant effulgence in it!  Even if we cannot comprehend all that, we can understand that God is pleased with our humble devotion. 

360.  Hrudaya Naadi-s; Gnaani’s Subsidence and Other’s Death.  It is surprising that many other things unconnected with love or affection also happen out of the Hrudaya Sthaana!  That is due to the wonderful power of Maya of Easwara and because of the fact that Hrudayam is also the abode of the Ahankaara.  We have already seen as to how many of the bodily and mental activities are all controlled by the Hrudayam by all those Naadi-s.  Around the Hrudayam there are many semi-gross Naadi-s that go to the nine holes – Navadwara-s – ‘नवद्वारे’, namely two each of eyes, ears, nostrils and one of mouth, urinary tract and anus; and end there.  When people die, depending on their Karma Vinai balance – all those who have to take birth once again, which amounts to more than 99% of the people of the world, the உயிர் or Life goes out of the body through one of these holes only.  Other than these holes, in the top of the head, there is a very fine hole the size of an atom.  The உயிர் enters the human body through the top of the head at the time of joining of the ovum and sperm at impregnation.  At the time of death of people, who are not to be born again and have no more re-birth pending (other than Gnaani who has attained Mukti while still in the body), their life too goes out of the hole in the head and it is known as Kapala Moksham.  What happens to the Gnaani and who are these people other than Gnaani without a ‘Punar Janma’ – ‘पुनर जन्म? We will see the answers to those questions in the next e-mail.

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva