Kanchi Maha-Swamigal's Discourses on Advaita Saadhanaa (KDAS-25)

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Namaste.

 

For a Table of Contents of these Discourses, see

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For the previous post, see

advaitin/message/28324

 

SEC. 18: SHAMA AND DAMA (Continued)

 

The Prakarana works of the Acharya are unique in describing

the advaitic experiences. One can also get from them the

rationale and procedure of SadhanA regimen in a systematic

way. On the other hand when we want to get at the siddhanta

(conclusion) by analysing the pros and cons of Vedanta, we

have to give weight to his Bhashyas. And we may be

surprised to note that in these very Bhashyas he has

sometimes interpreted shama and dama in a way contrary to

their traditional usage! In fact this has raised even some

controversy among scholars. Remember I told you earlier

that the sextad of qualifications with the exception of

shraddhA has been mentioned in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. In

his commentary at that point, the Acharya has interpreted

‘shAnta’ (one endowed with shama) as ‘one who has

controlled the goings-on of the outer senses’ (*bAhyendriya

vyApArata upashAntaH*), that is, the one who has reached a

position generally accepted to be the state of ‘dama’; and

he has interpreted ‘dAnta’ (one endowed with dama) as ‘one

who has released himself of the thirst (tRRishhNA) of the

inner organ, the mind, (*antaHkaraNa-tRRishhNato

nivRRittaH*), that is, the one who has reached a position

generally accepted to be the state of ‘shama’. On the other

hand, in his prakaraNa work, Viveka-chudamani, he goes with

the general trend of meaning. But this need not raise a

debate or controversy. He wrote the Bhashyas almost soon

after he was initiated into Sannyasa in his youth. Shama,

dama both point to ‘control’ and he might have thought it

fit to talk of sense-control first and then only of

mind-control. And later when he travelled throughout the

country he might have decided to follow the accepted

tradition among the scholars.

 

‘dama’ and ‘shama’ both imply a control on oneself by

oneself. So when we generally talk of self-control in an

integrated sense of both mind-control and sense-control, we

may rightly use either ‘dama’ or ‘shama’ alone. In

BrihadaranyakaM when BrahmA teaches the divines

generally to be humble, he just says “dAmyata” thus using

only the word ‘dama’.

 

An alternate name for Bharata, the son of Dushyanta and

Shakuntala is ‘sarva-damana’, meaning one who controls and

reigns over all. It was because of the dominance of her

beauty that Damayanti is so called. The God of Death, Yama,

is called ‘shamana’ because he calms away the life of every

one, be he a king or a pauper, when the time comes for it.

>From the word ‘dama’ the two words ‘damanaM’ and ‘dAnti’

have been derived; so also from the word ‘shama’, the two

words ‘shamanaM’ and ‘shAnti’ have come. The words

‘shamanaM’ and ‘shAnti’ are more frequently in use than

‘damanaM’ and ‘dAnti’. We say ‘ushhNa-shamanaM’ and

‘pitha-shamanaM’ for controlling heat and bile,

respectively. Also ‘krodha-shamanaM’ for controlling anger.

Though ‘control’ is generally the intention here, the

connotation is more mild and points out only to a softening

rather than a violent control. The word ‘shAnti’ itself

connotes a calming down and stands for a peaceful process

or state where the intensity of control does not surface.

 

‘shAnti’ is the state of calmed mind; ‘dAnti’ is the state

of calmed senses. Usually sannyAsis are given the

attributes like ‘shAnti dAnti bhUmnAM’.

 

Note by Ra. Ganapthy: In the Mutt the Shrimukham of the

PithAdipati (head of Mutt) includes this as one of the

attributes.

 

The eyes and ears can close themselves and stop seeing or

hearing. The hands and legs also can be tied so that they

are incapable of any action. But even then the mind will be

having its own goings-on without any discipline. Even

though the senses are not experiencing anything, the mind

can imagine them and go through all the rumblings and

turbulences. When the senses act they act only by the

promptings of the mind and for the satisfaction of the mind

or fulfillment of the desires of the mind. So what is

necessary is to immobilise the mind in order to stop all

the multifarious activities of the senses.

 

It is because of this importance of mental control and

discipline that sAdhanA regimens talk first of shama and

dwell on dama later.

 

Of course an objection may be raised: “If shama is achieved

then automatically dama is also a part of it; so why has

it to be dealt with separately?”

 

The complete control of the mind – what is also called the

‘death of the mind’ (*mano-nAshaM*) occurs only almost at

the last stage. We are here talking about the penultimate

stages. Of course one has to try to control the mind right

from the beginning. But the attempt at such control will

only succeed temporarily. The moment the eyes see a tasty

dish or the nose smells something familiarly pleasant, all

discipline goes to the winds. The legs take you to the

dish, the hands grab it, and the mouth begins to chew it.

Thus even the mind was having a little control of itself,

the senses perceive the sense object and that starts a

yearning and that does havoc to the control of the mind.

Until we reach a spiritual height, our mind behaves like

this – that is, controlled when the sense objectrs are not

in the perception-range of the senses, and losing control

when the senses ‘sense’ the objects of temptation. Those

are the situations when the ‘eyes’, ‘ears’ ‘nose’, ‘legs’

‘hands’ etc. have to be imprisoned and bound. This is why,

‘dama’ is mentioned as soon as ‘shama’ is mentioned.

 

(To be Continued)

PraNAms to all students of advaita.

PraNAms to the Maha-Swamigal.

profvk

 

 

 

 

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

 

Latest on my website: Shrimad Bhagavatam and advaita bhakti. Introduction.

Chatushloki Bhagavatam. Vidura and Maitreya. Kapila Gita.

Dhruva charitam. JaDabharata, Ajamila Stories. Prahlada Charitram.

 

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/VK2/Bhagavatam_Introduction.html

 

and succeeding pages.