DEIVATHIN KURAL # 98 (Vol # 6) Dated 14 Dec 2012

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 98 (Vol # 6) Dated 14 Dec 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 page No 667 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)

140.  As Easwara is 'सत्यं-शिवं-सुन्दरं' and 'सत–चित–आनन्दं', so is his inalienable counterpart AmbãL, as the form of love.  So, to soak and merge in her flood of beauty is to melt in her flood of love!  When we do so, we are immediately transported into her inner state of Adwaitam of Ãtma Ãnandam!  If the beauty is different from love it ends in temporary happiness.  But when love itself becomes beauty, as in her, what else can be a better way for eternal bliss?  Since we absorb this love beautifully, it becomes the best route to Moksham, as Thiru Moolar says in Thiru Mandiram, "அன்பே சிவமாவ(து) ஆரும் அறிந்தபின் அன்பே சிவமாய் அமர்ந்து இருப்பாரே".  That stanza in Tamil says that 'God is love.  Anyone who realises that God is Love, just remains in the eternal state of bliss and love as Siva!' So also is the message of the 22nd sloka ('भवानित्वं') and the 99th sloka ('सरस्वत्या लक्ष्म्या') of Soundarya Lahari, in which her indivisible complete state is described.  So the statement that through appreciation of beauty we can attain to Moksham, is not an exaggeration!

141.  How else are we to imagine, as to what AmbãL looks like and what will be her defining characteristics?  Here what we are trying to do is to define the indefinable and delineate the infinity and eternity!  Will she be green, red or black?  Actually she has been depicted in all these colours.  Brhma is said to have four heads and Siva has five and SubrahmaNya has six.  How many heads should we imagine for AmbãL?  When the Vedas say that in the Viswa Roopa or Virãt Roopa, God is said to have a thousand heads, we are not able to comprehend such forms!   From the Meenãkshi with two hands to the eighteen handed Mahishãsura Mardhini, she has many forms.  She has her hair in braids or falling in every which way and sometimes with a crown or tiara in her head.  Somewhere she is fully clothed and wearing all sorts of ornaments, while elsewhere she is unclothed, with blood all over her body with a garland of skull bones!  When so many depictions are there, which form is to be accepted as hers?

142.  If you ask like this, my answer to you is, "My dear Sir or son, whatever the form, the most important aspect is love.  So think of her or imagine her as the very form of supreme love!"  "How to imagine that Sir?  I am not able to do so!"  If anywhere, some good man without any expectations is wholeheartedly distributing food to the poor and hungry, free of cost, go and stand there and look at his face.  More than the man receiving the alms look at the face of the man serving the humanity thus, so full of love and happiness!  By looking at this, is your heart not melting a little?  If the man doing this once or twice in a week or month to a hundred or thousand people, think of the heart of him or her, who is feeding all the millions and zillions of life forms all over the world, forever since the eons of time!  Think of the love and compassion of kindness on that face by multiplying or geometrical progression or whatever!  That my dear, is the form of AmbãL!  KãruNyam is LãvaNyam – kindness is beauty, Sir!  Rest, bodily beauty is no beauty at all, my dear!  If you cry a little or get angry and if you by chance happened to see your face in the mirror, you do not yourself like it, isn't it?  The real beauty is that body and face of AmbãL, which is formed without any anger, tears, disease or disgust!  Just take it for granted that, if we can in our imagination think of the highest form of kindness and love, that is the form of AmbãL. 

143.  "Having said that all the power of that peaceful Brhmam is AmbãL's, why should we emphasise the love especially?  In this worldly life, are not all problems, worry, fear and hatred also arising out of that very power only?  Then why and how can we call it pure love only?"  That is right but, in the world there are so many shades of love such as mother's love, love between siblings, love between husband and wife, love of devotees for God, and love between friends, isn't it?  All that is derived from Para Shakti's kindness and compassion, isn't it?  So you do your meditation like this.  Though she has a form of all sorts of feelings as anger, as fearful and what not; such Bhaava-s do not give any peace or satisfaction to your mind.  So, think of her as the very form of love that will be pleasing to your mind and heart.  As we accept her within our limitations, that illimitable Para Shakti may be limited to the one factor of love.  But do your Dhyãna assuming that love is illimitable.  From Gomukh to Ganga Sãgar, Ganges is the same river.  But, in the high mountains of Himagiri, where the river is falling into a deep ravine with tremendous force and noise, can we bathe in that river?  Even in the plains we prefer to have a dip in the river in places where it is not too deep or too fast, without any eddies and where there are no crocodiles.  Though the whole thing is the same Ganges River we look for where it is safe and comfortable.  Similarly, whatever be the varying character qualities of Para Shakti, you select the qualities as being kind, compassionate and full of love, for you to do the Dhyãna. That is how our ancestors have identified her as the power of Krupa and Anugraha.   

144.  The Paramãtma and Parãsakti have been so identified as the Universal Parents, in which they are worshipped as Siva & AmbãL or Vishnu and Lakshmi by different sects of the same Sanãtana Dharma.  In the Saiva Siddhãntam, AmbãL has particularly been described as "அருளதுவே சக்தியாகும் அரன் தனக்கு", meaning 'for Siva she is the power of Grace and Anugraha'.  In VaishNavam too, it is said that it is Lakshmi who kindles Vishnu's kindness and Grace.  That is why it is her name as 'Sri' that is prefixed while naming the religion as Sri VaishNavam.  In fact, it is not correct to say that her 'அன்பு' or love or kindness is one of her qualities.  Actually, it is her predominant nature.  To show off a diamond, the jewellers make use of a black background of velvet cloth, don't they?  Similarly she has some other GuNa-s to depict her 'அன்பு' more prominently.  That is why though she has certain fierce forms, she is 'Soundarya Lahari'.  Otherwise, would they be so extremely fond of the fierce KãLi, as her devotees obviously are, especially in Kerala and Bengal?  If that fierce KãLi appears in a beautiful benevolent form, it will be that much more welcome for her devotees, isn't it?

145.  The flood of beauty of AmbãL is such that, all our dirt of passion and lust, fear and sorrow, hate and jealousy; will all be washed away without a trace!  That beauty itself will sanction all salubrious and wholesome good things in our life.  'Bhagam' is the root word for 'Bhãgyam' or luck.  Bhagam means excellence.  The being in whom all types of all Bhagam-s are abundantly present is called 'Bhagawãn' the most popular name for God, in almost all Indian languages.  The same God Almighty is thought in the feminine form as Bhagawati.  Bhãgyam becomes more salutary when the prefix 'sow' is added becoming, 'Sowbhãgyam'.  When all the wonderful good things of life are present with supreme beauty, that form or Murthy is 'Tripura Sundari' as a name of AmbãL!  So to think of her is to become entitled to all the good fortunes of existence, as our ÃchãryãL says in the 44th sloka of Soundarya Lahari – 'तनोतु क्षेमं न: तव वदन सोउन्दर्य लहरी' – meaning, "The flood of beauty that is effervescing from your face may cause all wonderful excellences in our lives, my Mother!"  Her beauty itself is capable of doing all that – 'Soundaryam' itself can grant all 'Sowbhãgyam', as can be discerned. 

146.  He is saying, "எல்லா க்ஷேமங்களையும் எங்களுக்கு உண்டாக்கட்டும்", so to say, 'let all good, beneficial, salutary and invigorating goodness happen to us'!  The word 'na' in Sanskrit means, 'to us'.  He is not asking for himself, but on behalf of all of us.  For all of us, even for the sake of people who may not be able to pray or have a darsan.  Like there is a poem in Tamil which says, 'If there is one good man in this village, for his sake, all will be benefitted with a rain' – "நல்லார் ஒருவர் உளரேல் அவர் பொருட்டு எல்லார்க்கும் பெய்யும் மழை". That is how, our ÃchãryãL is praying out of his kindness for all life forms!  In Gayatri Mantra too, there is a similar prayer that all people's minds may be encouraged to move in the right direction.

147.  There was a smart character it seems.  When he heard that Gayatri Mantra is meant for everybody's benefit, he is supposed to have said, "Oh, I see! So, it is enough if one man chant the Gayatri Mantra as the benefits will accrue to all, I do not have to do so!"  (Smilingly PeriyavãL continues.)  That would not be correct as everybody may think on such lines.  Here are some more such prayers on behalf of all humanity:- 

sarvesham svastir bhavatu (may everyone experience wellness)

sarvesham shantir bhavatu ( " " peace)

sarvesham poornam bhavatu ( " " fullness)

sarvesham mangalam bhavtau( " " auspiciousness)

sarve bhavantu sukhinah (may everyone be happy)

sarve santu niraamayaah (" " be saintlike)

sarve bhadrani pashyantu (" " see with their own eyes the goodness of life)

ma kaschid dukh bhagbhavet (let them not think sorrowful thoughts while they remain beneficiaries of good fortune.)  You may hear it chanted at this address.        

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvbJUomIX6M&playnext=1&list=PL6F75718D92AA667B

148.  The prayer is chanted for others sake also for the reason that there may be many who are not aware of the Mantra or because they are not entitled to do so or they are simply not able to do so for reasons of sickness, old or young age.  Especially for Gayatri Mantra there are a few more restrictions such as that, if you have not been given the Mantra by word of mouth of a Guru, known as 'Brhma Upadesa', you are not supposed to chant it, though nowadays it is also sung in many tunes like a cinema song!  Otherwise, if we try to be too smart, God who is a past master in his playfulness of 'Leela' can add a 'hi' to the 'na' and make it 'nahi' to mean a simple 'No'!  I told you about prayer to AmbãL, "For us that is, for all people of the world, your beauty of form may endow all benefits"!  When a thing that is pleasant for the eyes is also beneficial, it is clear that beauty and Grace are together.  More than our prayer it is AmbãL's intention to shower her blessings on all of us!  It is her kindness that is a flood of beauty as 'Soundarya Lahari' most certainly!

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva