Bhakti according to Sankara: advaita bhakti - Part 3

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Now we come to the denouement of the Kannappar story and the hair-

raising leelA of the Lord. As usual the priest had decorated the formless

Siva-lingam as if it had a face. The two eyes, nose, mouth and ears had

all been clearly marked. On that day the hunter was approaching the Lord

with his strange (but usual) accompaniments - the bow on the shoulder,

with a quiver of arrows on the back, the bilwa leaves in one hand and the

meat (this day it was pork) in the other hand, both to be offered to the

Lord in respectful obedience. As he was approaching the site, with his

mouthful of the holy river water, he saw a horrible sight. From the right

eye of the Lord blood was trickling down the cheeks. The devotee was

struck with pity and remorse. He threw away everything that he was

carrying and tried to prevent the flow of blood from the deity's face by

wiping it off. But it would not stop! He ran hither and thither to find some

herbs from the forestry, brought some, applied them to the bleeding eye,

but lo!, to no effect. He did not know what to do. At last the thought

struck him. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth; let me pluck my eye and offer it

to Him, thought the hunter, in all seriousness. He immediately pulled out

one of his arrows, plucked one of his eyes with it and stuck it up at the

place from where the blood was pouring out. And the bleeding stopped!

The hunter was enthralled. But his enthralment did not last even a few

minutes, because another miracle happened. The other eye of the Lord,

His left eye, now started bleeding!

Here comes the historic response of the ideal bhakta. He decided to

sacrifice his own other eye also for the Lord. Before he did this, his

rational intelligence was alert enough to tell him that he would not be

able to locate the position of the Lord's left eye, once he plucked his own

remaining eye also. So he did a most wonderful thing. He placed his left

foot on the Siva Lingam and by the tip of his sandal-clad foot held on to

the location of the Lord's left eye, when, lo and behold, the Lord

appeared before him in person and there were rains of flowers from the

heavens. The Lord not only appeared in person but extended His hand

and prevented the devotee from executing his horrendous self-sacrifice.

It was at this point the priest also came out from his hiding place of

hiding from where he had been watching the entire drama with great awe

and wonder. The Lord blessed the hunter, gave him the sight of the lost

eye, and announced to him that he would hereafter be known as

Kannappar - meaning, the one who stuck his eye on the Lord's face --

and after living his full life on Earth he would reach Eternal Bliss of

moksha at the Lord's feet.

Sankara refers to this episode in Verse 63 of his Sivananda-lahari and

cites the hunter's devotion as the model of bhakti. What cannot bhakti

do in its ecstasy?, asks Sankara. The remnants of the once-tasted meat

becomes niavedya (eatable offering to the divine) for the Lord! The

saliva-mixed waterheld in the mouth becomes holy water for the

abhisheka (ritual bath) of the Lord!! The sandalled foot which had

travelled all over the dirt and filth of the forest becomes the indicator for

locating the forehead of the Lord !!! Isa this not the Ultimate of bhakti?

Each of these is a sacrilege. But this devotee who had such an intense

bhakti towards the Lord, in his ecstasy, moves from one impiety to

anothwer. Commentators who have written about this verse of Sankara

have seen esoteric meanings in it, particularly in the gradations of the

above three actions of Kannappar. His devotion is surely not an

ordinary devotion. It is viSesha-bhakti (devotion special) or tIvra-

bhakti ('tIvra' means intense, fervent, powerful) as opposed to the

sAmAnya (= common-place) bhakti which is ritual ridden. Even this tIvra-

bhakti, the commentators say, have three gradations as is coming out of

the first three lines of this four-line verse, each one describing one of

the 'sacrileges' of Kannappar.

The first one is sAmAnya-tIvra-bhakti. He offers the meat to the Lord,

but only after tasting a bit of it to see whether it tastes well. But here the

assumption is the portion of the meat which is not yet tasted must be of

the same quality as the one which has been tasted; it is only an inference

and it could be wrong. To that extent the intensity of the bhakti is only

ordinary.

At a higher level is the madhyama-tIvra-bhakti, that is, the bhakti of

middle-level intensity, exemplified by Kannappar's act of spitting out the

mouth-held river water on the Lord as if it was an abhisheka. The Lord is

the bliss of brahman and is represented by the word 'tat' in the Grand

Pronouncement - tat tvam asi -, which identifies the 'tat' representing

brahman and the 'tvam' representing the individual soul. The mouth-held

water represents the bliss of the individual soul. Kannappar's spitting it

out on the Lord esoterically signifies that the bliss of brahman

imprisoned in 'You' (=tvam) is merged in the bliss of brahman (the 'tat' of

the Grand Pronouncement) represented by the Siva-lingam here.

But still at this level, the analysis goes on, the distinction between the

'You' and the 'That' remains. In the highest level, which may be called the

tIvra-tIvra-bhakti - bhakti of the highest order intensity - even this

distinction of 'you' and 'that' vanishes. Man's greatest enemy is the ego.

This is actually a superimposition by our ignorance on the Self which

resides within. There are two kinds of this superimposition. One is the

attachment to the lower self - technically called tAdAtmya-adhyAsa.

The other is the attachment to everything that one calls 'mine' - this is

called samsarga-adhyAsa. Both kinds of superimposition have to be

eradicated in order to reach the identity of this individual soul with the

paramAtmA. When Kannappar's bhakti takes him on to the stage where

he places his sandal-clad foot on the forehead of the Lord all distinctions

of 'me' and 'mine' had vanished for him. Otherwise he would not have

done what he did. This is ultimate experience of oneness with God. It is

this stage, not experience, that is described as the goal of bhakti and

jnAna. That is why Sankara says this devotee is a model.

 

Prof.V. Krishnamurthy

My two books, one on Science and Spirituality

and the other on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought, Vision and Practice,

can both be accessed at the address:

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

 

 

 

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profvk [profvk]

Monday, June 19, 2000 11:30 AM

advaitin

Re: Bhakti according to Sankara: advaita bhakti - Part 3

 

Now we come to the denouement of the Kannappar story and the hair-

raising leelA of the Lord. As usual the priest had decorated the formless

Siva-lingam as if it had a face. The two eyes, nose, mouth and ears had

all been clearly marked.

 

Madhava Replies:

 

Thank you very much Prof. Krishnamurthyji for telling us the enchanting

story of Bhakta Kannappa.

 

For those who want to know more:

 

Kannappar is a great devotee of Lord Shiva. He lived in Srikalahasti, a very

famous temple town of LordShiva. We can still see the Sivalinga and the

mountain path through which kannappa used to walk in order to perform

abhisheka to LordShiva. Kalahasti temple can be reached through train or

bus. It is 30 miles away from Tirupati (famous temple of Lord

Venkateswara). There is a direct train from Madras. You can reach Kalahasti

from Madras with in 4 hours journey.

 

Yours,

Madhava