DEIVATHIN KURAL # 110 (Vol # 6) Dated 07 Jan 2013

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 110 (Vol # 6) Dated 07 Jan 2013

(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 749 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 consonantly)

264.  There is some scope for confusion here.  I said the fourth Tatvam is Easwara with Gnãna Shakti.  Having said that in the first Tatvam itself Siva is with Chit Shakti, which is responsible for all sorts of Knowledge, what I say now may sound like a repetition.  What I said first is the one Gnãnam of the primordial basis of all existence's one and only Chit merged in it.  In the second stage with the second Tatvam, it was awake and aware of itself!  In the third stage/ Tatvam, it was clearly interested in testing its scope and reach.  In the fourth stage / Tatvam the one inward looking Gnãnam is looking out for being expressed in a variety of ways.  When it was the one and only one; it was known as Chit and as the basis for a variety of Knowledge, it is known as Gnãnam, planning for the creation of many worlds.

265.  What is planned in the fourth stage is executed in the fifth.  Plan by brains becomes an action by Kriya Shakti that is Suddha Vidya Tatvam.  By saying this I do not mean that straight away the creation is on.  After deep sleep when you wake up, don't you stretch yourself preparatory to getting involved in action?  Like a wrestler taps himself on his shoulders and the thighs, the fifth stage is marshalling of the forces so to say, the Kriya Shakti is ready for action within the Brhmam of Siva-Shakti.  The oneness of ours is now going to become many as Dwaitam in manifestation, weighing the pros and cons with feelings, intention and awareness is the 'Suddha Vidya' Tatvam. 

266.  Vidya, Gnãnam and Chit are almost synonymous, in three different stages, as there are three different dimensions, so as not to confuse, it is mentioned as Chit when Siva and Shakti are just one; with the sense of duality and awareness it is said to be Gnãnam and just prior to manifestation, it is said to be Suddha Vidya Tatvam; in Sãkta and Saiva Sãstrãs.  From what I said just now we can clearly make out one after the other three different aspects of power, that is, Shakti as Ichcha Shakti, Gnãna Shakti and Kriya Shakti.  To demonstrate that this order is correct, I shall give you an example.  A child is born.  Immediately after it feels hungry and wishes to drink milk.  It starts crying at once expressing its wish and that is Ichcha.  Then it moves its mouth with the action to suck.  This is the dawn of Gnãnam that movement of the mouth is necessary to suck.  Now the mother puts the nipple of her breast in the baby's mouth, with the milk oozing out.  Then there is the action / Kriya to suck on the nipple and gulping or swallowing the milk, which the baby learns in no time!

267.  Unlike Adwaitam, in Sãktam and Saivam, after crossing four stages, beyond the fifth Tatvam of Suddha Vidya, Maya happens to be the sixth Tatvam.  After all the preparatory stages are over in the sixth stage is the creation of the duality and multiplicity of the Universe.  Till then it is only the oneness of Siva-Shakti!  That oneness is never affected by Maya.  After the expression of manifestations, is the hide and seek play as between the mother and her children; the Jiva-s are tied up in Maya without their being aware of their real identity of oneness with the mistaken notion that they are this body-mind-senses-complex!

268.  You have to look at the evening sky with some scattered clouds to see the play of colours; or the snow covered mountains across a valley; or the oceans from the tip of a cape with the Sun setting on one side and the emerging Moon on the other; or see a drop of water at the tip of a strand of grass scattering the sun's rays with such polish and élan that no jeweller in the world may be able to match its beauty!  Still all the range and extent of variety of the inanimate world does not satisfy and provide the dramatic content to the Siva-Shakti Tatvam that could be obtained by creating living beings as Jiva with varying levels of Chaitanyam while still hiding the reality from them!

269.  'That is all right.  Doing so may be playfulness on the part of AmbãL and she can watch and enjoy the world-drama!  But for us, is it not a never ending cycle of expectations and disappointments?  Our agony seems to be for her ecstasy!  What is the use, if there are four or five Suddha Tatvam-s above Maya?  How does it matter to us?  We as Jiva seem to be so tied up within this small circle with Maya as the axis.  What are we to do, to get above this illusion and delusion?'  That can be your question.  The very fact that you are asking that question means that, you are already on the right lines and is on the way out!  That is why our ÃchãryãL, giving importance to Maya and its removal, theorised on the philosophy of Adwaitam!  Saiva and Sãkta doctrines too listing it as the sixth Tatvam have not ignored its importance.  All the philosophical doctrines are meant to show the way out of the maze to man.  So then, the most important problem faced by man being this delusion caused by Maya, none of the doctrines such as Saivam and Sãktam have failed to underline its criticality. 

270.  Though AmbãL remains much above all the Suddha Tatvam-s, what the man as Jiva sees is only this painful involvement caused by Maya and the need to raise above that.  All living things are aware of how they are utterly peaceful in deep sleep.  There is a simple lesson to be gleaned from the act of deep sleep, in which at least one-third of our life time are spent happily; that 'deep-sleep = total lack of involvement, responsibilities and commitments = happiness!'  Without running away from responsibilities and commitments, if we can mentally delink from the involvement, we notice that we are functionally more effective!  If our attitude is on the right lines, our speech and actions are also to the point and appropriate.  That is why, like the PraNava for Parabrhma Tatvam, the Bhija Akshara for the Shakti Tatvam known as Shakti Bhijam is also called the Maya-Bhijam.  Keeping the need to educate man / Jiva with an understanding of Sãstrãs as the main aim, AmbãL is referred as Maya and Maha Maya.  In Durga Sapta Sati (दुर्गा सप्त सति) it is this name of Maha Maya that is repeatedly emphasised and so has Muthuswami Dikshidar has sung the keertana "MaaYe".

271.  "OK.  That is all right!  How can we be beholden to and worship that Maya, when the Sãktam as a religion has accepted that it is AmbãL who as Maya, has befooled all of us hiding the reality from our eyes and making us believe ourselves to be something that we are not!  Having given us the body, mind and senses, given us a world of our own with all the materials and identity with the body with likes and dislikes, love and hatred, need and greed; being pulled in every which direction; is all the job of this power known as Maya, isn't it?  It should be roundly criticised as done by our ÃchãryãL in Adwaitam.  But for the same ÃchãryãL to be worshipping and celebrating the power of Maya is just not justice!  What do you say now Swamiji?" 

272.  If the power of AmbãL were to finish only as Maha Maya, your question is warranted.  But she also happens to be the Gnãna Shakti with the power to relieve us from the delusion of Maya, and give us Anugraha of Gnãnam, isn't it?  I told you already that this separation of Jiva she does, so that, there may be the added pleasure of being re-united!  So she is not only the Maya Shakti but also the Gnãna Shakti, Anugraha Shakti, Prema Shakti and Soundarya Shakti, giving us the Gnãna of Self – Realization!  "These are all powers as I can see.  But starting from Chit, in the powers that you have listed, what are these Anugraha Shakti, Prema Shakti and Soundarya Shakti, that you have stated now?"  These are all included in her powers known as 'Ichcha Shakti'.  What is Ichcha?  It includes love, prema, 'ஆசை and அன்பு'.  To enlarge and expand oneself as the whole universe of things, matter and living forms as so many Jiva is one ஆசை and it does not stop there.   She has love for them as any mother has for her children.  This Mother – Child love is known as 'Vatsalyam' –'वात्सल्यं' meaning the affection one has for one's off-springs.  This word does not have an exact parallel in other languages!  It is the most delicate and tender of all such loves between people!  This word is part of her creation as though!  Because of it, she not only has this love for them she also loves them to come to the realization of oneness with her finally.

273.  As she has pushed them, her children in to Maya, she loves to get them out of delusion too.  So to relieve them slowly and steadily, it is her Anugraha Shakti that will bring us back to senses.  So she wishes to slowly but surely turn us towards her and feel attracted towards her.  So, for that purpose is the Swaroopa Soundaryam and her endearing qualities of love, kindness and compassion.  The first seed is the Ichcha.  We may do things at random, may be due to some compulsions or the force of circumstances.  But her actions are more deliberate and planned.  So in her love and Ichcha there are many forms such as Prema, Anugraha and Soundarya Shaktis.  That which is pure and unconditional love is Prema.  Out of all things that can be done in love, to relieve a Jiva from Maya and grant him Moksha and show the path for it is Anugraha.  If her Anugraha is required for even in passing in educational exams, the true Anugraha is to make us pass in the 'अग्नि परीक्षा' that is, 'ordeal by fire' and pass into eternal Gnãnam of undiluted bliss!  That is the real passage as all other passes are only passé!

274.  Out of Anugraha of all such sanctions, awards and endowments, the best is to make us realise our oneness with the Parabrhmam itself and nothing short of it, isn't it?  But hiding this reality from our minds and we forgetting that oneness with God, thinking of ourselves as another Jiva Ãtma, thinking of us as this body, the mind that launches us in all sorts of activities, the world in which we are functioning, and the bodily experiences that we undergo are also mentioned as Anugraha by the Saiva and Sãkta doctrines.  These are mentioned as 'तनु – करणं – भुवनं – भोगं'; that these four are granted to the Jiva as Anugraha.  In that तनु is this body, करणं is the combination of senses and mind – intellect – intuition and memory; together with 'I'-ness or Ahankãra known as 'Antah KaraNam'; भुवनं is the world of ours and भोगं is the one word for all types of enjoyments/experiences.  "What is this nonsense?  First of all, having hidden our reality from us, we are being cajoled like giving the crying baby a rattler!  These four have to be got rid of and then only we can be attaining to Moksham isn't it?"  If that is your question, the answer is coming!

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva