DEIVATHIN KURAL # 186 (Vol # 6) Dated 13 June 2013

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 186 (Vol # 6) Dated 13 June 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 1289 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)

1084.      In the sloka No 97 that we have been discussing, our ÃchãryãL addresses AmbãL as, 'hara sahachareem adri tanayãm' – 'हर सहचरीम् अद्रितनयाम्', that is, 'the wife of Hara, Parvathy'.  Here 'adri tanayãm' means daughter of the mountains – Himalayas.  In addition to Tri-Murthys, I have been saying that there is another classification as 'Pancha-Kritya- Murthys' and that Rudra and Parvathy are part of Tri-Murthys and that as part of the 'Pancha-Kritya- Murthys', they are Kãmeswara and Kãmeswari at the apex.  As one of the wives of one of the Tri-Murthys, as the power aka Shakti of Samhãra Karta Siva, Parvathy also is like Saraswathi and Lakshmi, in being different from the Parãshakti Kãmeswari; a little lower in position.  But as ÃchãryãL is saying like those two others, Parvathy is also Parãshakti only as non-duality of oneness; she herself being all, it is A-Dwaitam, that is, non-duality and that is, Adwaitam!

1085.      That simply takes him to the principle of 'Tureeya' of Adwaita Sãstrã.  'Pancha Krutyam' is about the five major areas of functional responsibilities in organizing and running of the whole Universe.  Above that five is the base or root Truth iow Satyam and its Shakti iow Power / Source of Energy, as maintained by both Saivam and Sãktam!  Adwaitam does not say that, but finishes with the Fourth i.e., Tureeya!  (I am sure you would have gathered that the above iow is a synonym-acronym for 'in other words' as aka stands for 'also known as' and 'i.e.,' that is, 'id est' also meaning 'in other words'!)  'MãNdookya Upanishad' is the Vedic Proof (PramãNa) for the Adwaita Sãstrã.  MãNdookya Upanishad shows how a Jivan (that is, a person who thinks that he or she is born in this world) goes through or is in one of the three states known as 'Swapna Avastã' (dream state), 'Jãgrat Avastã' (wakeful state) and 'Sushupti' (deep sleep state).  Then it talks about how the basic ('uyir moolam') root of Life that is Brhmam does not sleep even in 'Sushupti'; calling it Tureeya or Chathurtham! On that basis here, our ÃchãryãL after having mentioned the powers of Srushti, Stiti and Samhãra Kartãs, instead of going on to Tirodãnam and Anugraha, the remaining two acts, in the five acts of Pancha Krutyam, goes on to the Tureeya, that is Brhmam!

1086.      In Adwaitam, he does not talk much about the power of Brhmam.  I am saying so because, like some people think, he does not completely refrain from talking about it either.  I have already spoken about ÃchãryãL not being a stickler even for Adwaitam, easily accepting others points of views under certain conditions.  In the Bhashyam for the very first Sutra in Brhma Sutra, ÃchãryãL while describing the defining characteristics of Brhmam says that it is, 'nitya-suddha-buddha-mukta swabhavam' – 'नित्य-शुद्ध-बुद्ध-मुक्त-स्वभावम्', meaning that 'it is of the nature of ever-clean-aware-free'!  While saying that, instead of stopping there, also says that it is, 'sarvagnam' – 'सर्वज्ञं'!  What does that mean that while talking about its Oneness, he feels compelled also to say that it also knows 'All'?  So, it means that, there are other things also and that this One knows them also isn't it?  Then later, further he has added more openly, another quality of that Brhmam as, 'sarva shakti samanvitam' – 'सर्व शक्ति समन्वितं', meaning that 'it has in itself all powers included'!  Further later, in explaining the meaning of the Sutra [II.1.30] 'sarvobhedã cha tat-darsanãt' – 'सर्वोभेदा च तत्-दर्शनात्', accepting the Dwaita state more clearly, he says that Brhmam is having 'vichitra shakti yogam' – 'विचित्र शक्ति योगम्' that is variegated powers!  'Shakti yogam' means, 'to be with or combined with Shakti that is Power in Sãkta language; which is being said in Soundarya Lahari as 'Parabrhmam having Parãshakti as its Mahishi!

1087.      There was one direct disciple of our ÃchãryãL, (elder in age and last of his disciples) known by the name of 'Sarvagnãtma' (about whom I have told you in an earlier issue of Deivathin Kural # 168 (Vol # 5) Dated 03 April 2012).  He says that in the pure principle of Adwaitam, there is no talk of power play of creation and such things.  But still even those who are ardent followers of that philosophy do accommodate the ideas of Karma and Upãsana, in terms of aspiration and efforts for realization of their aim of comprehending the meaning of Adwaitam.  So, from that angle of practical point of view, the Chid Gnãnam as the power in being, as Avidya / Maya do create the illusion of there being a world as defined by the non-absolute entities of time, space and ignorance.  He has clearly postulated thus in those very terms, in 'Sankshepa Sãreerakam' (III.228-9).  Still, without turning the mind towards the play of power – 'சக்திக்கூத்து', since the aim of Adwaita Sãstrãs is to rivet the mind in the placid 'Shãnta Brhmam', and since that is also the aim of our ÃchãryãL, he would cause us to focus on the 'Tureeya Brhmam' only.  When he has not talked much about Shakti or Power as a non-male/female energy even, there is no scope for imagining it to be a female as the wife of Brhmam!   

1088.      Still, despite all that I have said here, the same ÃchãryãL who is the preceptor of Brhma Vidya there, as the proponent of Sri Vidya here shows his keen involvement in this line as the 'friend, guide and philosopher of the common masses'.  So, he is calling Parãsakti aka Kãmeswari as Parabrhma Patni and Mahishi.  As Sri Vidya Tantra also has the same aim of Adwaita Sãyujyam as the end destination, our ÃchãryãL has blended the 'Thureeyam' in the path of Adwaita Gnãna Marga and Siva-Shakti couple in the Path of Devotion of Bhakti Marga of Sãktam.  When he calls AmbãL as Tureeya, he says so not only because she is the fourth beyond the idea of Saraswathi – Lakshmi – Parvathy; but also as the Shakti-Patni-Tureeya of the Brhmam that is Thureeyam!

1089.      "Ambiké!  You are verily the Queen Consort of Parabrhmam as the Mahishi.  You as Maha Maya are responsible for casting the whole universe in the pulls and pressures of duality, causing it to spin and rotate", he says.  That is, he has identified Parãshakti as the Maha Maya of Adwaitam, unifying and balancing the ideas of Adwaitam and Sãktam in one!  While extolling that Maha Maya as 'duradhigama nisseema mahima' – 'दुरधिगम निस्सीम महिमा', he has praised her typically in the language of Sãktam. That word he has used, 'duradhigama' has two meanings.  On the one hand it means unreachable, as well as the one whose orders cannot be transgressed.  The phrase, 'nisseema mahima' means that, it is of immeasurable value and greatness!  In Adwaitam, Maya is recommended to be discarded out of hand as being of no consequence!  Here she is celebrated as Parãshakti with superlative adjectives! 

1090.      Our ÃchãryãL is the most wonderful tutor-instructor-guru unmatched by anyone else in the world, the way he has so appropriately and maturely coached and advised, looking at a whole lot of variety of people in this world as created by AmbãL, the way each one will understand and comprehend, so that he or she may intrinsically progress from whatever their personal level they started in!  So, evidently, his ways have been many, as for the same peak the paths could be many!  Now speaking from Sri Vidya angle, taking a few ideas from Adwaitam and yet others from elsewhere, which could naturally coalesce like mixing sugar and milk, he has made it into a sweet pudding and offered them to us for our consumption and absorption!

1091.      In Adwaitam his NirguNa Brhmam is totally unconnected with Maya.  So as to fetch people keen on the Bhakti Marga of Sãktam to the path of Adwaita Gnãna, he has related that Para- Brhmam and Maha-Maya as a married couple of husband and wife.  Not only that, for the general majority of people of this world, the methods, modes and laws of morality of Sãstrãs far away from Adwaitam; are the vehicles more suitable for their progress!  Our ÃchãryãL will never forget to show the way for the general public as the Jagat-ÃchãryãL that is, the World-Teacher that he is! So instead of stopping at depicting them as husband and wife only, to show that the woman should play the second-fiddle to the man who should take the lead role; having made the Brhmam the Emperor of the Universe shows Parãshakti as his Mahishi, the partner referred as 'the better half'!

1092.      The more we get to know his open mindedness and large heartedness, how liberal are his views and methods of implementation of those ideas, how he refuses to be too strict with his Siddhãntam-s and how he brings parity, cohesion and mutual accommodation even between apparently opposing points of views; one cannot help feeling proud and a sense of enormous gratitude that we have been blessed with such a great soul as our ÃchãryãL!  At the beginning of Soundarya Lahari he had said that Shakti is causing Siva to move.  Now at the end of it in the 97th sloka he is saying that she is causing the whole Universe to spin and rotate.  Look at the beauty of the statement! The moment that one Sivam started moving every particle and sub-atomic particle in the micro cosmos to the biggest macro universe is spinning.  Inside an atom one electron, if it is spinning at the speed of 1,86,000 miles per second, all the planets spinning on their own axis as well as going around the Sun and so it is happening in 'n' number of star families, right up to huge galaxies of stars, that they are all rotating, going round and round.  It is all power, energy and Shakti!  He says, 'vishwam bramayasi' – 'विश्वम् भ्रमयसि', meaning that she is causing the universe to rotate!  Think of it, this young man from Kerala, some 2,000 years back, without ever having been exposed to what is the knowledge of the modern day scientists, is telling the source of all power – Shakti, "Amma!  You are causing the whole universe to spin!"

1093.      Let us look at the world, the earth, Solar System, Milky Way and rest of the universe, just for a fraction of space and time!  Modern astrophysicists say, "In the prevailing gravity-only cosmology, each galactic component (of stars and clusters) must revolve around the galactic center of mass, which should be a point, unless one brings in some 'posited' factors, because galaxies are extended in three dimensions, whereas in the Solar System its planets are orbiting in a plane almost, the orbital dynamics of stars and clusters moving around a galactic center, presents a very huge problem – in comprehending how it happens, without projecting the idea of spiral-galaxies into it!"  Then, every individual's mind is ever in a spin more complicated than what the 'huge problem' of galaxies can ever be!  You will agree that our ÃchãryãL has very rightly coined the words here, 'विश्वम् भ्रमयसि'! 

1094.      Sri Krishna Bhagawan also says in Gita: -

ईश्वरः सर्वभूतानां हृद्देशे अर्जुन तिष्टति |

easwara: sarvabhutãnãm hruddeshe Arjuna tishtati |

भ्रामयन्सर्वभूतानि यन्त्रारूढानि मायया ||

bhrãmayan sarva bhutãni yantrãroodhãni mayaya ||  Now look at the meaning.  It says that, "The Lord dwells in the hearts of all beings, O Arjuna, causing all beings by his illusive power, to revolve as if mounted on a machine!"  Anyhow, one point is very clear that though the gradations may vary, we are all in a spin all of the time, the animate as well as the inanimate parts of the entire universe, undoubtedly!  She who as Maha Maya is putting us all in spin, within this illusory world, also floods us with her Grace and makes us or takes us back to Parama Prema Ãnanda Sivam too, which our ÃchãryãL tells us in the very next sloka!

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva