DEIVATHIN KURAL # 153 (Vol # 6) Dated 08 Apr 2013

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 153 (Vol # 6) Dated 08 Apr 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 second paragraph on page No 1048 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)

 722.           The die-hard man of Saivam will say that Swami that is, Siva is the 'Uyir' or Life and AmbãL is the 'Udal' or body!  While the radical man of Sãktam will have an exact opposite point of view and say that AmbãL is the Uyir and Siva is the body!  Amongst the more experienced 'anubhavis' of whichever category will give equal importance 'सम प्रदान्यं'to both and so it is written in the Sãstrãs. As a part of such equality, they are mutually and reciprocally the body and life of each other!  Without looking at the differing points of view of Saivam, Sãktam, Visishtãdwaitam, Sãnkhyam and Adwaitam; the Jagat that is discarded as Maya in Adwaitam, is considered as the body of Paramãtma and his property in the others!  NirguNa Brhmam as it remains untouched and unrelated to anything else, these words of connection as the body and its owner and or the source and the out-come have no relevance. 

723.            But in the practical state of the transactional reality, the Jagat has been seen as the body and the inner permeating Paramãtma has been mentioned as the owner of the body, as held by Visishtãdwaitam!  Further the author says that this 'double equality' – 'उभयसाधारणत्वं' between AmbãL and Swami is mutual and reciprocal.  The religion, that relates this parity or equality known as 'samata' between Swami and AmbãL in five different ways, is known as 'Samayam'!  The five points of parity are, one – same place of residence; two – similar form; three – similar job; four – similar state and status; five – similar names such as, Siva – Sivã, Bhairava –Bhairavi; including the owner – owned relationship as pointed by our ÃchãryãL! 

724.            When Siva as the NirguNa Brhmam is treated as the Life, AmbãL as the SaguNa Brhmam is the body from head to foot with all the blood vessels, nerves big and small and all the other body parts.  As the life leaves the body one day or the other, in the case of all of us, it does not happen in this case of the relationship between Siva and Sivã! There is no destruction of the one and a period of widow-hood for the other.  Neither that body nor the life in it has any destruction or deterioration ever!  For Parameswara AmbãL is not only the body but also the 'KarNa Kavacham' (eternal golden armour) that can never be removed! 

725.            The body that is seen outside is like the appearance of the world outside!  Till there is the mind, the world will be appearing!  In deep sleep / Samãdhi / swoon; when the mind is defunct or erased, there is no world seen!  When the mind is defunct, there is nobody here to see the world.  Then what is the body, who is the owner of the body, who is Sesha and Seshi?  In deep sleep and a swoon both are not seen and so there is no duality. For the Gnãni who has reached the stage of Samãdhi, when there is no mind, there is no world to mind either.  In the absence of the world, the power that runs the world is also not there.  There is no Jiva Ãtma to be owned with a Parama Ãtma as the owner.  For knowing this status of a relationship between two entities, there has to be a mind as the knower.  But that mind is no more. He is not in the same stage as deep sleep or the swoon either, since instead of the nullity of zero-ness he is experiencing the oneness of Adwaitam as established by our ÃchãryãL!    

726.            He is training us to see everything, (starting from the mind that is a part of the experience of all people other than that Gnãni, all things of the world including the Pancha Boothas), as another form of AmbãL.  For this purpose only he told us that if the Brhmam is the 'Uyir' or life, think of the world as the 'Udal' or body to start with.  The whole world under one term 'Jagat' is AmbãL only. The cause of all duality this mind, is also AmbãL only.  That is how he starts the next sloka No 35 – 'मनस्तवं', meaning, ".My Dear Mother, You are this mind, responsible for all the confusion, commotion and mischief!"  "If I ask you as to 'Who you are', the counter question is as to, where is the question arising from?  That is in my mind, isn't it?  That mind is also you only!" 

727.            If we go through the Gnãna Marga, the end stage is 'Mano Nãsa' that is, annulment of the mind, isn't it?  Here we are being trained to getting used to the idea that the mind itself is nothing else but AmbãL only, thereby disarming the mind of its capacity for mischief and confusion!  Then she herself will fetch us to the mindless space of 'Parãkãsa' the wide expanse of 'Dahara Ãkãsa'.  "But that is not visible now!" That is alright.  Now you are seeing the wide expanse of a blue sky, don't you?  Look at it also as AmbãL only and your own mind will become like that Ãkãsa'.  Then our ÃchãryãL tells the Mother – 'व्योम त्वं'.  Why only the sky, all the five basic elements (पञ्च भूता:) by which this Jagat is made-up of are all you only!  After the sky, the next is the air known as 'Marut', that is Vãyu, that is also you only, My Dear Mother!  As the son of Marut, the Vãyu Kumara Ãnjaneya is known as 'Maruti' isn't it?  So after 'मनस्तवं' and 'व्योम त्वं', you are also 'मरुत् + असि = मरुदसि'!

728.            What is after the air?  It is the fire or 'Agni' which is also your form only, isn't it?  Do not the Vedas say that, "You are effulgent by the heat of your austerity" (in Durga Sutra)?  So the fire is also you only!  He says so in a more elegant way!  Fire spreads wherever the wind drives it isn't it?  So, for the Agni, Vãyu is the charioteer known as Sãrathy!  So the poet says 'मरुत् सारथि: असि '! Then without further 'ado' he comes to the point that all the water is you and so is the earth, another form of your self – 'त्वं आप: त्वं भूमि:'!  Starting from the Moolãdhãrã till Vishuddhi, in the five KuNdalini Chakras, she is the five basic elements of the Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space.  Above them in the Ãgnã Chakra, she is the Manas, as he explained in the 9th Sloka starting with the words, 'Mahim moolãdhãre'.  Why keep on beating around the bush?  There is nothing other than you anywhere – 'त्वयि परिणतायां न हि परम्'!  By that word 'pariNatãyãm' the poet means, by her metamorphosis everything else have come into being!  So there is nothing other than you anywhere – ' न हि परम् '! 

729.            Whatever has been said so far are only the first two lines of the sloka: –

'मनस्त्वं व्योमस्त्वं मरुदसि मरुत्सारतिरसि

त्वमापस्त्वं भूमिस्त्वयि परिणतायां न हि परम् |'.  In the balance two lines he says that, so as to metamorphose yourself in to, that is, transmute into the body of the universe, as the wife of Parameswara you assume the 'Chidãnanda Roopam': –

'त्वमेव स्वात्मानं परिणमयितुं विस्व वपुषा

चिदानन्दाकारं शिवयुवति भावेन बिभृषे ||'.  To be the being 'Sat', happily aware of its being so is the totality of 'Sat-Chid-Anandam'!  Instead of just being the 'Sat', to be aware as the Gnãnam and be happily experiencing the bliss – is the job of AmbãL as we have been saying all along!  In sloka No 8, this was mentioned as 'Chidãnanda Lahari'!  Thus these two principles of 'Sat' and 'Chit' join together as Siva and his consort Sivã or Siva Yuvathi or Siva Patni.  The reason as to why the 'chid' enlarges in to 'Siva Patni' is so that it may metamorphose in to the Universe – 'त्वमेव स्वात्मानं परिणमयितुं विस्व वपुषा'.

730.                     There is no gain in Brhmam knowing itself happily and end there!  So as to transform into ever different forms, it reached the Chit and Anandam!  This in other words is the underlying philosophy of Sãktam!   This is an idea that is not there and not mentioned in the Adwaita Siddhãntam at all!  In Adwaita Siddhãntam, the creation of the world is not an issue at all.   "That is just something that came into being by Maya.  There is nothing much to talk about it as to the why and how it came about!  When the whole of Maya is to be ignored and set aside, what is the meaning of analysing the why and how of it?" That is how Adwaitam deals with the matter of Maya.   It is only in Sãktam and other such traditions the reason and cause of the creation is much discussed!  The one 'Chit' the Master Mind or the Universal Knowledge and Awareness, as the one big and many small brains, as so many big and small centres of knowledge and awareness; causes the enactment of the one big act of Leela made up of so many small scenes!  When we think of the drama of Maya as the total reality, we get lost in total delusion! 

731.            As opposed to this when we give consideration to the fact that, in all that happens in this world of Maya is also the same Chidãnanda Rasam, and that for the 'Sat' that is the basis, at the position of the better-half there is the Heroine whose play is Anandam, whose drama is bliss for the viewers, to get an understanding of the influence of the power is what all this drama is meant for; we can also come to an understanding without taking ourselves too seriously!  Like we see so many dramas, cinemas, TV Serials, tear-jerkers, reality shows, dance-dramas and horror movies; we will learn to look at the world and all that happens on this stage as a play, as a display of Parãsakti's Leela, as an expression of her imagination.  Thereby soaking in that 'Chidãnanda Rasa' we will learn to merge in the trueness of the 'Sat'! 

732.            In this sloka there are two places where there is a reference to this fact of 'pariNãmam' or conversion or transmutation – first when the poet says, 'tvayi pariNatãyãm nahi param' meaning, 'There is nothing other than you who has transmuted'; and again when he says, 'tvameva swãtmãnam pariNamayitum vishwa vapusha' meaning, 'So that you may transmute yourself as this world of appearances'! In Adwaitam there is no talk of change, or conversion or transmutation! So there can be no question of 'pariNãma' in Adwaitam!  Brhmam that does not undergo any conversion puts up a fictitious show as though it is undergoing changes.  Only Sãnkhyam calls the Jagat as a transmutation of nature by nature!  Here it is that tenet that our ÃchãryãL also has talked about.  He has made use of what Sãktam has said about this situation.  It is very interesting to note how our ÃchãryãL, has gone out of his way to accommodate varying view-points of people, especially in his Bhakti Granthas, so as to take them along and enable them to become more liberal instead of remaining too stuck in strait jackets!  It is a subject worth researching, as to where all our ÃchãryãL has gone out of his way and in doing so, one is likely to come across many interesting details!  If you are ceased of a question as to, 'Could he have done this or said this', you are likely to come up with an answer, "Only He could have done this or said so!"

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva