DEIVATHIN KURAL # 50 (Vol # 7) Dated 11 Oct 2013

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 50 (Vol # 7) Dated 11 Oct 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 last paragraph in page No 412 of Volume 7 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 continually)

Self-control is a Great Achievement

25.          Thus instead of expecting themselves to be led by others, if the youngsters find a suitable way for themselves to be epitomes of righteousness and correctness in their very attitude towards life and their apparent behaviour, proving to be examples to be emulated by elders too, that would be a great and creditable achievement.  When everybody is looking for adventure of all sorts, why not some venture in to this area of being exemplarily good specimen of human beings that automatically motivates other youngsters to copy and follow.  That is my keen desire.  For this very purpose I pray to Ãnjaneya Swami who is well read, fearless, adventurous and a go-getter more than anybody else, while at the same time being extremely humble as a model of perfection!

26.          It may seem that my prayer is unachievably utopian!  When even elders are not able to apply such self-control, it may seem like a day-dream to expect this from youngsters!  I am not expecting all the youngsters to become such masters of self-control.  I am only expecting some 7 or 8% of youngsters to become such disciplined persons to be emulated by others.  Though what I say seems to be rather difficult, it is the old lot who might have become so used to being uncontrolled that it may be too late for them to mend their ways.  Youngsters are not like that.  Once they have their minds fixed on an aim, by the power of their will, they are capable of achieving it.  The elders may restrict their efforts within themselves. But youngsters with their dynamism and strength of character and courage of convictions can pull others also to their ways.  So, if this seven or 8% people get together and form a group, they can act as islands of revival and rejuvenation for the whole society.  They will be able make a substantial difference in bringing many others to the ways of self-discipline and control, I believe and hope.

A New Type of Students Union

27.          There are Students Unions already functional in universities and colleges, mostly fighting for some rights issue or the other, isn't it?  Instead of them, or let me be a little more liberal, with them, with the aim of making oneself to be gentlemen of honesty, integrity and moral uprightness, ready to persevere; if that small nucleus of 7 or 8% of youngsters come together, that is enough.  That would also prod others into wakefulness.  Instead of jumping about like so many men of conceit with vituperative logic, becoming humble with true Vinaya themselves while making a favourable impression on the minds of other students, if that small percentage of people launch themselves on the path, that would be enough to cause a change in the scenario.  What has so far been an iron-age or coal-age will suddenly become a golden era of revival.

Education and Service

28.          When the irrepressible flow of sensationalism is affecting the student population like a disease, then education is the best medicine for that patient for his comprehensive recovery and growth.  When medicines are prescribed for a patient, it will invariably be accompanied with dietary restrictions.  More than even the medicine the dietary stipulations known as 'patyam' – 'पत्यं' in Sanskrit, does more in the process of recovery and cure.  'Vidya' – 'विद्या' is the Sanskrit word for 'education'.  Compared to a crude and uneducated dolt, an educated person is cultured and refined, isn't it?  Instead of its being only a matter of show and pretention of sophistry, if the 'cultured-ness' is true and sincere, it becomes Vinaya, the genuine humbleness in a person which respects the holiness and divinity in all beings!  The more you are educated, the more you are full of Vinaya.  Thus 'Vidya' – 'विद्या' and 'Vinaya' – 'विनय'; are as important as the two eyes of a person, with Vidya as the medicine and Vinaya as the 'patyam' of self-directed control over one's thoughts, speech and action!

29.          Now if you are humble with true love for simplicity, your worth and value may be shooting sky-high!  The dust of the feet is mentioned as an example.  What is a small iota of existence under one's foot one day can suddenly be raised far above one's head with a suitable wind!  Thus if one is humble enough during the days when one is a student, there is no limit to how far he can raise as a responsible member of the society.  This truth should get registered in the minds of the youthful students of today, as rightful heir apparent for a great and hoary civilization and rich culture, so that they will maintain the standards of such a tradition!  That is my sincere prayer to God.

Ratio between Good/Positive and Bad/Negative

30.          If you take the whole world, there will be a mix of good and bad; of positive and negative qualities.  That is how it has been always since the very beginning of time and it will continue to be so.  Finally this worldly life itself including what we term as good and positive on the one hand and bad and negative on the other; are all unreal and imaginary, assumed and projected as seeming appearances!  That reality is beyond all the seeming bluff.  From here you have to travel to the beyond; from the unreal to the real; from darkness unto light and from death unto eternity!  To make it possible for us to realise and commit ourselves to this journey of life of, 'from here to eternity'; God has filled this worldly life with a mix of good and bad, I suppose!

31.          The world in which we live is known as 'misraloka' – 'मिस्रलोक', a world of all varieties of mix of all sorts of good and bad, and a vast array of a broad-spectrum of gradations of great and small, weak and powerful, micro and macro, adulatory and adultery!  The Asura Loka is all bad and the Deva Loka is said to be all good and in this world of us human beings, it will be a mix as per orders of God.  But if the evil overtakes the goodness so much, we will never able to even undertake the journey, let alone reach 'from here to eternity'!  We should not let it become like that.  In the past Yugas of Kruta, Treta and Dwapara also, Good out-weighed the Bad in the first, was slightly more in the second and almost equalled in the third.  In the Kali Yuga of which barely some 5,000 years only have passed and some 427,000 years are yet due, the balance will change drastically to the worse.  But it will remain a 'Misra Loka' – that is a world of mix for ever and not become 'Asura Loka'. 

32.          If the Sãstrãs which talk about such deterioration of norms also talk about relief and redress, even when the Kali is far advanced, there will always be some 40% of 'Good' as islands of resistance to 'Bad' and 'Evil' tendencies.  We should not let it go down further.  Even when the whole world seems to be hurtling relentlessly towards anarchy and chaos, the few good people should become doubly active to see to it that Good does not become irretrievably lost for ever!  Applying this general idea to the world of youths, I just made a few suggestions as it occurred to my mind.  I do not expect that the whole world will make an 'About Turn' and suddenly become all perfect and hunky-dory, because of my advice!  But at the same time, I could not leave it unmentioned without making an effort to correct and mend, to the extent possible!

33.          Essentially our youngsters are really made of classic material, in my opinion.  As though on the surface of a piece of pure metal a thick coating of dross has been deposited, the youngsters of today are hampered by being seized of by too many unnecessary pulls and compulsions!  They have to be removed by vigorous rubbing and polished to brilliance.  This has to be done by elders of the society by relentlessly making an effort to keep their own self-control at a high level of maintenance and help in motivating the youngsters.  Even when the Bad seems to be dominating, there is space and a role to play for the Good things of life, in ensuring which people of all groups and denominations such as age, financial, social and religious back-grounds have to come together!  I pray to God to sanction so that my views expressed here do become true!  (These talks by PeriyavãL addressing the student population at the primary / secondary and high school level and then the college students, should be read along with Paragraphs 154 to 160 in Deivathin Kural # 16 (Vol # 7) dated 25 July 2013, which is addressed to present day teachers as a profession, so as to complete the Capsule!)

(The next issue of Deivathin Kural will be about the need to take care of the Cows.)

Sambhomahadeva