A Digest of Paramacharya's Discourses on Saundaryalahari (DPDS - 1)

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Namaste.

For the benefit of those who do not know about the Paramacharya here

is a brief biographical note:

Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swamigal (1894 - 1994), also called

the Paramacharya, was the sage of Kanchi in Tamilnadu, India, who

was so simple, humble, profound, enlightened, compassionate,

scholarly and full of Grace that he naturally and effortlessly

touched the hearts of men and women, prince and pauper, around the

world. Ascending to the Headship of the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt at the

age of thirteen as the 68th pontiff in the line of succession from

Adi Sankara, he ministered to the needs of the afflicted and the

distressed and spread the message of compassion and of a return to

the most treasured ancient values. After a mission like this full of

action for almost half a century which included a 30-year walking

pilgrimage of the entire subcontinent of India, he laid down his

headship and devoted his time, for the next forty years, to severe

penance for universal welfare. Not one of those thousands who had

his darshan every day missed to feel the soul-stirring presence

of 'the Living God' in their veins.

A small note on the objective of this digest.: The name `Digest'

itself is too much of a claim by this writer, who is currently

studying the discourses in Tamil (on Soundaryalahari – a 100-sloka

piece, in Sanskrit) of the Paramacharya, in `Deivathin Kural' –

meaning, `The Voice of God' – in Tamil, in the sixth volume of the

seven-volume series of that name, recorded by and, rewritten in,

the inimitable style of, Ra. Ganapathi. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan,

Mumbai, it appears has published an English summary of this. But

instead of trying to read that English version, I decided to test

myself whether I had understood at least a part of the Acharya's

thoughts. The best way of testing oneself is to try to communicate

to others. The ambaaL group does have, in its membership, a number

of readers interested in the subject. Some of them know Tamil and

probably would have read Ra Ganapathi's book in the original. Some

others may have read the English version. On earlier occasions

several posts on this list have taken up this subject of

Paramacharya's discourses on Saundaryalahari. But the purpose of

this digest is TO BRING THE ADVAITA PART (and the relevant questions

that arise usually in the discussions that are very common in the

group postings) TO THE FOCUS AND ACQUAINT OURSELVES WITH THE

PARAMACHARYA'S VIEWS, WONDERFUL ELABORATIONS AND COMMENTS ON THE

SUBJECT. In consonance with this objective, it is not the

intention to cover all the slokas even out of the 42, the only

ones which the Paramacharya himself has covered in full (he has

covered another 37 in part, another 10 just in passing, and has not

touched at all the remaining 11, which are sloka Nos.19, 32, 68, 72,

76 to 81, 85). Even within the exposition of a particular sloka,

large portions may have to be omitted by me. In spite of all this

the `Digest' – contrary to the meaning of the word - is likely to

be rather long, about 50 to 60 (only an estimate as of now) two-

page postings (around 1000 words each), three or four times a week.

Note that the original extends to 754 pages (pp.577 to 1331 of the

sixth volume). The attempt shall be made, therefore, to be as brief

as possible. But, wherever it is found that the Paramacharya's

already lucidly forceful and simple explanations cannot be `digested

through a further precis or summary', one will have to resort to

almost a close (or free !) translation of his words as reported by

Ra. Ganapathi. And also note that, (1) I, as the digest writer,

cannot be expected to dwell on those portions of the discourses that

are not reasonably clear to me, and (2) it may be easy to pull out

just a sentence here or there from what I write and see wrong or

absurd meanings in it; if this happens let us remember to go back to

the Paramacharya himself and try to understand his explanations in

entirety, rather than spend time at straws in VK's imperfect

digest. With these preliminary words let me start on this venture,

which is actually a swAdhyAya-yajna, that is, a yajna of study. May

the Paramacharya himself as well as my own Guru and father, (late)

Sri R. Visvanatha Sastri, guide me in this endeavour and see that I

don't misrepresent either the Paramacharya or the Soundaryalahari !

 

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On the organization of the `Digest': The entire exposition is by the

Paramacharya. So the first person pronoun, wherever it occurs, is

his. The `I' of advaita-vedanta is always within quotes.

Additional explanations given by Ra. Ganapathi are so acknowledged.

Parenthetical remarks by him, like `with a smile', `after a small

pause' etc. that all refer to the speaker, the Paramacharya, are

repeated, if at all, as they are in the original, within

parentheses. My own remarks, if any, shall be properly demarcated.

And note that the Paramacharya most often refers to Adi

Sankaracharya as `Our Acharya'.

V. Krishnamurthy

A Digest of Paramacharya's Discourses on Soundaryalahari - 1

 

"How could Adi Sankara, who preached the jnAna mArga, have promoted

this work (Soundaryalahari) of bhakti? It cannot be his," say some

who profess `Philosophy'. But our Acharya was not a professor who

isolated philosophy as a separate discipline. Having written very

profoundly on advaita and its deepest implications in his several

Bhashyas and the other works of his, he promoted the spiritual

pursuit of the common man by writing and talking about the need to

follow one's swadharma by Karma and Bhakti. His intent was to raise

the common man from his own level. For this purpose he went from

one pilgrim centre to another all his life and composed hymns after

hymns and also established yantras in temples.

The philosophers argue: JnAni says everything is One. But Bhakti can

happen only when there is the duality of the devotee and the deity.

Therefore, they say, the jnAni can never be a bhakta. These

philosophers cannot themselves claim to have the Enlightenment of

advaita ! But there have been those who could have so claimed, like

the sage Suka, Madhusudana Saraswati or Sadasiva-brahmam. If we

carefully study their lives we will know that they were devotees of

God in the fullest sense of the word and have themselves written

works of Bhakti. Even in our own times Ramakrishna Paramahamsa has

been a great devotee of Mother Goddess and Ramana Maharishi has done

works of devotion on God Arunachalesvara. Again, on the other side,

great devotees like Manikka-vasagar, Nammazhvar, Arunagiri-nathar,

Tayumanavar, etc. have themselves been convinced advaitins, and this

is reflected in innumerable flashes in their compositions.

If a jnAni should not do a Bhakti composition, then I would say that

he should not also do a work of jnAna. Why am I saying this? Let us

go back to the definition of a jnAni. ` The world is all mAyA; the

thinking of people as if they were separate separate jIvAtmAs is

nothing but Ignorance' - with such a conviction through personal

experience, they have thrown away that Ignorance as well as its

basic locus, the mind, and they live in the non-dualistic state

of ` `I' am everything' – such should be the status of the jnAni;

shouldn't it be so? Such a person preaching, or writing a book, even

if it be about the subject of jnAna – is it not a contradiction?

Unless such a person thinks there is a world outside of him and

there are jIvAtmAs outside, how can he think of `teaching'? Teaching

whom? And when we look at it this way, all those great teachers of

jnAna should really not be jnAnis ! What power will there be for

such a teaching about jnAna from teachers who are not jnAnis

themselves?

 

(To be continued)

 

PraNAms to all devotees of ambaaL

profvk

[Guest guest]

Respected Prof.V.Krishnamurthy ,

 

Thank you so much for starting the series on Paramacharya's work on

saundarya-lahari. . This is INDEED a great 'sadhana' by itself. I

have also been reading Paramacharya's 'deivathin kural' in both tamil

and English - it is full of 'gems.' but sometimes i cannot understand

some of it in one reading...

 

Prof, V. kRISHNAMURTHY , you write ... (Paramacharya's words)

 

"Such a person preaching, or writing a book, even if it be about the

subject of jnAna – is it not a contradiction? Unless such a person

thinks there is a world outside of him and there are jIvAtmAs

outside, how can he think of `teaching'? Teaching whom? And when we

look at it this way, all those great teachers of jnAna should really

not be jnAnis ! What power will there be for such a teaching about

jnAna from teachers who are not jnAnis themselves?"

 

Very INTERESTING !!!

 

as has been mentioned, Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was a great

bhakta but he was a great jnani too. (a self-realized soul who had

transcended dulaity.) but, our Thakore even after attaining samadhi

came down from the plane of samadhi to be in the company of devotees

to enjoy the bhava of 'bhakti '... and also impart 'teaching' to

others...

 

here is what shri ramakrishna says...

 

"The Vedas speak of seven planes where the mind

can dwell. When the mind is immersed in worldliness

it dwells in the three lower planes... The fourth

plane of the mind is at the heart. When the mind dwells

there, one has the first glimpse of spiritual

consciousness. One sees light all around. Such a man, perceiving

the divine light, becomes speechless with wonder and

says: "Ah! What is this? What is this" His mind does

not go downward to the objects of the world. The

fifth plane of the mind is at the throat. When the mind

reaches this, the aspirant becomes free form all

ignorance and illusion... The sixth plane is at the

forehead. When the mind dwells there, the aspirant sees the

form of God day and night. But even then a little

trace of ego remains. In the top of the head is

the seventh plane. When the mind rises there, one

goes into samadhi. (Paraphrased: Then there is the

direct perception of Brahman.)... Generally the body

does not remain alive after the attainment of

samadhi... After the well is dug one generally throws away

the spade and basket. But some keep them in order to

help their neighbours. The great souls who retain

their bodies after samadhi feel compassion for the

suffering of others. They are not so selfish as to be

satisfied with their own illumination " (gospel of sri ramakrishna )

 

I guess this was the case with Adi SHANKARA, Shri Ramakrishna, shri

Ramana maharishi, shri Aurobindo etc .... who though both jnanis and

bhaktas , chose to retain the material body to 'illumine' others!

 

thank you once again, Prof. Krishnamurhy...

 

Hari AUM TAT SAT...