material comfort and spiritual pursuit

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Dear members,

 

So many of you have sent me e-mail messages expressing appreciation for the

"brilliant" and "scintillating" quotation of the anonymous "AchAryA". Thank

you one and all!

 

While I cannot take any credit for the "brilliance" of the quote itself, I

guess I can certainly take delight in the fact that I could come up with

something appropriate for the occasion and which immediately struck a

sympathetic chord in all of you.

 

Vedic idealism has not died; it is still burning bright in spirit and its

fire still flickers, even if faintly, in the hearts of so many young people

in India and across the globe. One day perhaps there will be a great

all-round Vedic resurgence… and the fire that now flickers might then roar

and glow with glory again….

 

It is important that all of us should be very keen to stay abreast of what

great "AchAryA-s" of our tradition, both past and present, have said and

opined (or are now saying and opining) on various matters of "dharmA" and

"sAstrA". It is important we take effort to study their utterances and also

the trouble to ruminate on them. Without the benefit of their directions and

wisdom not many of us will be able to find our way through the maze of life.

On the contrary, we can easily be either misled or get completely lost on

the way.

 

For many years, I had never really understood why Swami Desikan had stuck so

stubbornly to the values of "vairAgyam" for which he has become an especial

legend for us today. I have often wondered why Swami also was so firm in

rejecting the offer of a royal sinecure that his Advaitin friend,

VidyAranyar, offered to procure for him at the court of the Rayar king then

reigning. On reading the "vairAgya-panchakam" I have often wondered what did

Desikan personally achieve by his almost cussed insistence on leading a

life-style … in Thoopul, Aindai and SriRangam… a life-style that by today's

standards seems hopelessly "third-worldly". What did Desikan stand to gain

by all that show of "vairAgyam" except perhaps the posthumous glory that

posterity today covers him with? Was Desikan's "vairAgyam" a blessing or a

burden on his family? Did his disciples … his "gurukula-vAsi-s" …too suffer

discomfort in his austere and spartan household? Had Desikan no thought at

all for his son, NainAchArya's future?

 

All such questions of mine stood answered when I first read the speech of

the "AchAryA" I just quoted yesterday in my post to you.

 

The following passage from it, particularly, clearly explains (to me at

least) why Swami Desikan behaved the way he behaved when he asked his wife

to trash the gold-filings they found in the rice she was husking one day at

home in Kanchi:

 

"….brahmins alone are permitted by the sAstrA-s to beg

for a living ("Unchavrtti"). But the sAstra also has it that the brahmin

must not accept more charity than what is needed for his bare sustenance. If

he received anything in excess, he would be tempted to seek sensual

pleasures and thereby an impediment would be placed to his inner

advancement. There is also the danger that he would become submissive to the

donor and of his twisting the sastrA to the latter's liking."

 

********** ************ ***********

 

Some members, I notice, have quoted Vedic and "itihAsi-c" sources to show

that wealth acquisition is not outright prohibited for a "gruhastA".

Brahmins are permitted to earn, they seem to say, as much as they want in

any which way as long as it is not dishonest or unrighteous. Also, such

wealth, once acquired, must not be hoarded but judiciously given away in

charity and for noble social purposes.

 

Now, I have no disagreement with what the members have said above. What they

have quoted, I concur, is indeed the intention of the Veda-sAstrA (to the

meagre extent to which I am acquainted with it).

 

But it must not be forgotten that the Vedic precepts these members have

referred to have an underlying assumption: that the system of "varnAshrama"

is being wholly practised by society. The Vedic exhortation to acquire

wealth and spend it wisely is meant for castes other than "brahmins"… it is

intended generally for the "vaisyA" and "kshatriya" castes. For the brahmin,

however, the "veda-sAstrA" unambiguously prescribes nothing but bare

sustenance and a life of constant spiritual endeavour… and "bare sustenance"

has been well defined by my good, old friend SrimAn Vijayaraghavan of

Praxair in his little post yesterday.

 

If brahmins had been allowed by veda-sAstrA to accumulate wealth and then if

they were to be preoccupied the rest of their lives with how to put it to

use wisely, they would all be fit to work only as "economists" and

"investment-bankers" … not vedic practitioners.

 

********** ************* ************

 

My good friend Sri.Vijayaraghavan (to whom I am grateful for gifting me two

years ago with cassettes of Poundarikapuram swami's upanyAsam on

"yatirAja-saptati")also wrote:

 

"The net result (of all these discussions) is: We will continue to do

what we are used to do (may be with a little more guilt). In my opinion, we

carefully listen to all those wonderful sayings and thoughts and even before

they start to bear any influence we carefully bury them and proceed to do

what we are habituated to."

 

How right he is!! But then that is the choice we all have to make in life,

isn't it? To deal with 'guilt' or to deal with 'life'? "To be or not be, is

the question!", said the tragic hero in Shakespeare's "Hamlet".

 

************** ************ *********

 

Finally, many of you, dear members, were curious to know the identity of the

"AchAryA" I had quoted.

 

Even at the risk of being seen to be "praising him personally" on the

"bhakti-list" and earn thereby all your displeasure, I wish to reveal that

the "AcharyA" I quoted was none other than the great AdvaitAchArya of

Kanchipuram (Swami Desikan's native place!): Sri ChandrasekharEndra

Saraswati (popularly known to his disciples as "Kanchi-periavA").

 

adiyEn dAsAnu-dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagavatas,

namO nArAyaNA.

 

 

Even though I have a strong distaste for Advaita (the philosophy), I have

respect for the great Yogis (that adhered to Advaita.) ( Note I

consciously avoided the term Acharyan.)

 

I think the quote speaks nothing but the candid truth.

 

So far, all follow up posts have been quite honest but pessimistic, with

bhagavats merely saying I know I am living a lie, but I cannot do anything

about it. I feel (this is my opinion, which may or may not be not be in

accordance with fact) this is not a good attitude.

 

The mumukshu should exert his will to pursue a course of life that will

minimize the oscillation between happiness and sadness. By perusing a

course that minimizes the oscillation, a jiva will be able to get the best of

both worlds; i.e., the jiva minimizes the misery in the present birth, and at

the same time is guaranteed eternal bliss upon leaving the body

(assuming prapatti is performed.) Transitoriness is misery; the dictates

of the shastras, specify a course of life for the brahmin that seeks to

minimize transitoriness.

 

The grip of avidya-karma in the kali Yuga may be high, but we still have

free will! We can all act to minimize transitoriness and aim for the ultimate

goal of living according to the shastras, the results however are or not

in our hands. How far each one gets towards this ultimate goal

ultimately depends on the will power and the prarabdha of that jiva (for

the paramAtman controls the fate of jivas in accordance with prarabdha

karma.) However, failure to act is nothing but shear cowardice!

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

Venkat

krishNArpaNam