DEIVATHIN KURAL # 190 (Vol # 6) Dated 21 June 2013

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 190 (Vol # 6) Dated 21 June 2013

(These e-mails are translations of talks given by PeriyavãL 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 1316 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)

1127.      There are many words with shades of differences for humbleness such as modesty, humility, chastity, contentment and subsidence are all 'adakkam' (that is, contained or included) in the Tamil word 'adakkam'.  Hence, there is a Tamil saying, 'adakkam amararuL uikkum adangãmai ãriruL uithuvidum' – 'அடக்கம் அமரருள் உய்க்கும், அடங்காமை ஆரிருள் உய்த்துவிடும்', meaning 'humility can easily fetch you amongst the immortal beings and arrogance will reach you to eternal darkness or damnation! So, if we thus start being subservient to Parãshakti, in the end we will become inalienably one with her in Adwaitam!  As this last sloka teaches us a lesson in 'adakkam', it paves the way for quintessence of all education that is, Brhma Vidya and its soul and substance the Adwaita Anubhava!  This is the Phala Sruti unsaid by our ÃchãryãL – the surprise bonanza.  Only when you have someone as the doer or Karta, the 'I' or me, then only that someone will bargain for the effect of one's actions.  If he slowly and gradually reduces himself to a perfect zero of nullity, he or she does not vanish but, only the pride is erased!  How to achieve this Adakkam with a capital A?

1128.      But, how to subside the mind and ego?  The only way is to think of Parãshakti.  Since we do not know as to how she will look like and in what form she will come before us, she is beyond our thinking.  But here in Soundarya Lahari, ÃchãryãL has picturized her in a way that we can understand and comprehend.  By his words of expression he has drawn a complete picture from the head to foot, adding beauty to beauty from her crown, ('kireetam te haimam' – 'किरीटं ते हैमं', meaning your crown is the snow of Himalayas), decorating every part of her body, face, neck, hands, wrist, hips and feet with ornaments of beautiful words with beautiful meanings; finally making himself a trinket in her feet!  To decorate her by words and thoughts is the medicine for putting down our ego and pride.  As our ego subsides, if we return those items which are the cause of our ego such as mind, intelligence and abilities, back to her as her ornaments; that will effectively put a full-stop to our conceit.  When not only words, any art, any capability or knowledge, if they are assigned as her gift and returned back, the sense of me and mine will automatically dissipate.  That attitude itself will become a tool for self-improvement and ennoblement. 

1129.      Thus, our ÃchãryãL has devised an easy gadget, by describing the mother who is the very form of beauty, in beautiful words and feelings, to enable us to read and absorb, singing his words happily, by our love for AmbãL!  It is that love, as I told you earlier that became a flow of beauty, that is, Soundarya Lahari.  So, as we repeatedly read it and meditate on the words, meanings and her divine being, each one of us will become a flow of beauty in mind, thought, speech and action!  This is another Adwaitam wherein the stotra of adulation, the aim of the eulogy and the reader; all are one as Soundarya Lahari!  Oops, I beg your pardon!  I have left out the author, the poet aka Sahitya Karta!  Though he disclaimed being the author, how can we leave him?  He is the biggest Soundarya Lahari, isn't it?  On the one side he is the Soundarya Lahari by his effervescent love of AmbãL and on the other side he is the Soundarya Lahari by his compassion for the well-being of all of us!  It is to join these two sides only he has composed and written these 100 slokas.  Normally it is the custom to join two sides by constructing a bridge.  Here he has joined the sides by letting the flood flow!

1130.      By repeatedly bathing in the waters of Soundarya Lahari, by merging and soaking in it, we should also become that!  Does it mean that we will become 'body-beautiful' as they say in some advertisements for gymnasiums or some diet supplements?  We do not have to become bodily beautiful, but attitudinally we will become certainly beautiful and also in the eyes of the world!  We will look beautiful because of the unique aura of grace imparted to our being and body by our love that every part of our body will also look beautiful!  If there is a Mahatma who is an ardent devotee and Guru say, look at the devotion that he causes in the minds of his followers.  (In fact, anybody who comes across such a person even by chance becomes a follower instantly.  Take the case of Ramana Maharishi, Sai Baba, Mata Amritananda Mayi, Sri Sri Ravishankar and amongst many such others, including PeriyavãL himself whose words are these e-mails known as Deivathin Kural; are all examples of what he is describing here!  In a tremendous outpouring of emotions and feelings, he said these few words, some in a staccato narrative and some haltingly, using some of the phrases occurring in the text of Soundarya Lahari, as adjectives in describing our ÃchãryãL, befittingly incorporated!  If ÃchãryãL said that he has used AmbãL's words in describing her; here PeriyavãL has used the words of ÃchãryãL in eulogizing him!)

1131.      If someone is an ardent devotee of AmbãL why do our eyes tell us, "Look at him without closing your eyes even for a second?"  Like we say, 'thãyaippola piLLai noolaippola selai' –   'தாயைப்போல பிள்ளை நூலைப்போல சேலை' – meaning that we see the mother in the child; we see AmbãL in our ÃchãryãL and in his words!  Once AmbãL's 'Swaroopa', her form and her CharaNa are installed in one's heart, however angular, crude, dark, ugly and disfigured he may be, being deaf or dumb, with protruding teeth or pot-bellied; he seems a child that has drunk the milk of Gnãna, innocent, happiness effervescing, over flowing with love and absolutely fetching that you do not mind standing on your heels behind a thick multi-layered crowd, just to have a glimpse of that person!  Let it be a bald head, since it is bent in AmbãL's feet, it is as attractive as wearing a gold crown – 'kireetam te haimam' – 'किरीटं ते हैमं'!  Still, how beautiful it is to look at, his having prayed to her feet repeatedly saying, 'tava vadana Soundarya lahari' – 'तव वदन सोउन्दर्य लहरी'; that you wish to do Namaskãr to him saying the same words!

1132.      How does it matter if he or she is blind?  Those eyes also are pouring out honey-like AmbãL's Grace, don't they?  So those eyes are also 'dara dalita nilotpalam' – 'दर दलित नीलोत्पलं' only!  The mouth may not be much to look at.  But as they are showering the sweet and kind words of AmbãL they seem fetchingly red like the coral and Bimba fruits – 'vidruma lata and bimba' – 'विद्रुम लता & बिम्बा' and seem to be AmbãL's mouth itself!  Let whatever be his or her complexion, in the endearing love of divinity and its echo of its kindness towards all living and non-living objects, to our minds it is 'jayati karuNã kãchid aruNa' – 'जयति करुणा काचिद अरुणा' as the reddish halo of benevolence, as felt by us.  If that person's every movement of the hands seem to be bestowing blessings on the world, can there be a greater benefit from the ochre pouring from Lakshmi's feet or redness of 'nava naLina rãgam' – 'नव नलिन रागम्'?  Don't we wallow in the dust wherever such a person walks with our inner self experiencing bliss that very instant?  That place is the lotus feet of AmbãL where the bee of our inner self wishes to merge in that is, 'karaNa sharaNa shat charaNa' – 'करण शरण षट् चरण'!

1133.      When someone becomes or realises the fact of his being a child of AmbãL, his form becomes different.  His eyes, face, words, actions, gestures and so on; they all change, metamorphose.  The inner beauty becomes apparent not only on the face but in the whole body, attitude, outlook and behaviour!  That is how we should aspire to become Soundarya Lahari.  For that, by repeatedly submerging in Soundarya Lahari, we should become or really realise, understand and comprehend our being her children!  We should call her 'Mother of all expressions', 'vãchãm Janani!' – 'वाचं जननि!' and say here are your words as your song of love and obeisance – 'vãgbhi: stutiriyam' – 'वाग्भि: स्तुतिरियम्'.  Thus our ÃchãryãL has taken this baby of 'words of praise of AmbãL' to AmbãL and completed Soundarya Lahari!  In Sivãnanda Lahari, he made the stotra the words of a nubile damsel and got her married to Siva.  For a male God the author has to assume oneself to be the aspiring 'Nãyika' and do the self-surrender.  As our AmbãL is the Mother, the poet has taken the form of a child surrendering to the Mother.  So here since the poet has nullified himself to a perfect zero, the magnum opus Soundarya Lahari has been made into a baby and handed over to the 'Vãchãm Janani' and completed.  In that path, he has made us all into babies and asked us to get attached to her.  Not only told us but with extreme compassion paved the way and shown us.  It is his blessings that we should be reading these slokas, ever singing the praise of AmbãL with these words and melt ourselves in bliss, in that ocean of love.

1134.      As a blessing and greeting for that, doing the pooja by this very stotra, to finish in MangaLa Ãrati, the end sloka has been made into a 'Neerãjana Vidhi:' by ÃchãryãL.  The lighted lamps of Thiru Kãrthigai festival not only enlightens the area but endows happiness and 'janana nivrutti' – 'जनन निवृत्ति' meaning relief from the cycle of repetitive births to all life forms including humans, animals, birds, insects, plants and all animate and inanimate objects.  So when the Jagat Guru is praying to Jagan Mata, let us also join with the prayers that 'sarve jana: sukhino bhavantu & lokã: samastã: sukhino bhavantu' – 'सर्वे जना: सुखिनो भवन्तो & लोका: समस्ता: सुखिनो भवन्तु', meaning let all people world over may be happy and comfortable and let all worlds be pleasantly at ease!

Nama: Pãrvathy Pataye!

Hara Hara Mahadeva!

Sambhomahadeva