Kanchi Maha-Swamigal's Discourses on Advaita Saadhanaa (KDAS-28)

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

 

For a Table of Contents of these Discourses, see

advaitin/message/27766

 

For the previous post, see

advaitin/message/28426

 

 

SEC. 18: SHAMA AND DAMA (Continued)

 

A sannyasi is called ‘yati’. The Tamil name ‘Ethiraj’ is

only a mutilated version of ‘Yatiraja’. ‘Yati’ means a

Sannyasi. The direct meaning of the word is one who has the

quality of control or one who has controlled. Shri Ramanuja

is usually known also as ‘Yatiraja’. The words ‘yama’ and

‘yata’ both indicate ‘control’ or ‘discipline’. The divine

Yama is one who controls every one by fear. He takes them

to his locale where they are controlled and punished; so

his locale is called ‘samyamanI’. That matter of Yama

pertains to control of others. But the matter of ‘Yati’ is

control of the self. So the Shastras such as the Gita talk

of such a ‘yati’ as ‘yatAtmA’ or ‘samyatAtmA’. The forced

controls take place in the city of SamyamanI whereas the

Sannyasi who has strict self-control is called ‘samyatAtmA’

or ‘samyamI’. Here the control is of the mind and of the

senses. In other words he who has acquired ‘shama’ and

‘dama’ is the ‘yati’ or ‘sannyAsi’.

 

The Lord says (IV – 39) *shraddhAvAn labhate jnAnaM

tatparaH samyatendriyaH* -- the one who has, with shraddhA

(faith and dedication), controlled all the senses and thus

is a ‘samyatendriya’, attains JnAna. Actually He has

symbiotically combined here shraddhA, shama and dama , all

three occurring in sAdhana-chatushhTayaM!

 

In describing the attributes of a sthita-prajna, He says:

“Just as a tortoise draws its head into the shell whenever

there is danger, a human being should withdraw his senses

from the sense objects into himself” and thus emphasizes

the need for sense-control, by giving this beautiful

analogy. Whenever the senses go outward helter-skelter on

their own, it is danger time for the human. The tortoise

has to draw its head into the shell only when it smells

danger; but the human has always to do this withdrawal. The

Lord underscores this fact by using a simple additional

word, almost innocuously as it were, namely, the word

*sarvashaH* in that verse II – 58. *sarvashaH* means

‘always and by all means’ ! : *yadA samharate cAyaM

kUrmo’ngAnIva sarvashaH*.

 

In Brihadaranyaka Upanishad the entire divine community

gets the advice: (V – 2 – 1) *dAmyata*, meaning, ‘Keep

your senses under control’. The story goes as follows: Not

only the Divines, but the Humans as well as the Asuras –

all three species went to PrajApati, their Creator to get

advice. They were told by BrahmA only a single letter “da”

and were also asked whether they had understood it.

 

Generally every one knows one’s own weakness. So if

somebody tells him a message in a disguised way and asks

him to understand what he needed to understand, they will

get the message in the way they think it was applicable to

them. To understand something oneself this way has also a

greater value. It will stick. One will not find fault with

the fault-finder, for the curiosity to decipher the message

will win!

 

That is how, in the story of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the

single letter ‘da’ was conveyed by BrahmA to all the three

species (devas, asuras and manushyas) at the same time but

each one of them understood it to mean differently. They

understood it to stand for the first letter of a message

specially intended for them. The divines took it to stand

for ‘dAmyata’, that is, ‘control your senses’. The Creator

agreed with their interpretation of the message.

 

The humans took it to mean ‘datta’ that is, ‘Give: Do acts

of charity; be charitable’. This also was approved by the

Creator.

 

The asuras took it to mean ‘dayadhvaM’, that is, ‘Be

compassionate’. Again the Creator gave his approval of this

interpretation.

 

The Acharya in his Bhashya has commented on this that the

three categories of people – devas, manushyas and asuras –

are all of them in the human kingdom itself. People who are

generally known to be good, but still do not have their

senses in control are the ‘divines’. People who have no

charitable disposition and are greedy are the manushyas in

the classification, because man’s greatest weakness is

greed and the consequent absence of a charitable

disposition. People who have not even an iota of compassion

in their hearts are classified as asuras. In other words,

all the three messages of advice are for humanity.

 

The moral of all this is that even those who have many good

qualities do lack the quality of self-control. This is

because the attractions of sense-objects have power to draw

man into the vortex of mAyA. So the process of getting out

of those attractions can be very difficult. ‘dama and

shama’ -- it is not necessary to separate them as two

things; even for the divines the control of both the mind

and the senses was what was advised – this control is what

should be achieved with great effort. One should not leave

off the efforts after a few failed attempts. One should not

have a feeling of let-down by defeats in this effort. Trust

in God and persistently make the efforts. Keep the practice

without losing heart.

 

(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.

[Guest guest]

Professor-ji, what a Divine coincidence ! While you were posting your

message on Swamigal's discourse , i was also posting my message

on 'Guru' and both of us referenced the three 'D's from the

Brihadarnayaka upanishads !

 

on reading your latest post, Professorji, i recall a beautiful poem

penned by none other than the great mystic KABIR DAS !

 

Here IS THE HINDI VERSION

 

Hirna Samajh Boojh Ban Charna ||

 

Ek Ban Charna Duje Ban Charna

Tije Ban Pag Nahin Dharna ||

 

Tije Ban Mein Panch Paardhi

Un Ke Nazar Nahin Padna ||

 

Panch Hirana Pachis Hirni

Un Mein Ek Chatur Na ||

 

Toye Mar Tero Mas Bikawe

Tere Khal Ka Karenge Bichona ||

 

Kahe Kabira Jo Suno Bhai Sadho

Guru Ke Charan Chit Dharna ||

ihrnaa samaJa baUJa bana carnaa..

 

ek bana carnaa dUjao bana carnaa

tIjao bana pga nahIM Qarnaa..

 

tIjao bana maoM paMca parQaI

]nako naj,ar nahIM pD,naa..

 

paMca ihrnaa pccaIsa ihrnaI

]namaoM ek catur naa..

 

taoe maar torao maasa ibakavao

toro Kala ka kroMgao ibaCaonaa ..

 

kho kbaIr jaao saunaao Baa[- saaQaao

gau$ ko carna icat Qarnaa..

 

 

Translation

Oh Deer Graze With Knowledge and Discrimination ||

 

Graze in the First Forest, Graze in the Second Forest

But Don't Tread into the Third Forest ||

 

The Third Forest has Five Hunters

Don't Let them See You ||

 

Five Deer and Twenty Five Female Deer

None Among them is Sensible and Shrewd ||

 

Killing You They Will Sell Your Flesh

Your Skin will be Used as a Covering ||

 

Says Kabir Listen Oh Practicing Aspirant

Offer your Mind at the Feet of the Guru ||

 

Explanation

Traditionally, in Indian spiritual terminology, the Deer symbolizes

the senses. However, the more latent meaning of a Deer is our

pleasure-seeking desire. Fundamentally, each one of us is looking for

pleasure and that search is what is alluded to, in this song, as the

grazing of the deer.

 

The "third" forest is the physical reality guided by our senses.

The "second" forest is the mental world that is guided by our

mind/intellect - included in this are the visions and sounds heard by

sages in meditation. Perhaps, Kabir does not see the internal visual

and sound experiences much different from a mental state where

thoughts are the driving force. The "first" forest is the true

spiritual realm where oneness with the ultimate is complete. So he

says its okay to graze in the first forest of oneness and the second

forest of meditation/practice but not in the third forest of physical

and sensual pleasures.

 

Why? He explains that in the third forest the pleasure-seeking

tendency is at the mercy of the five sensual stimuli (sight, sound,

smell, taste and touch) that are the hunters. He warns that one

should stay out of their line of attack/vision.

 

The deer identifies so completely with the five senses that it takes

on the form of five deer seeking the pleasures offered in the third

forest. Each of these five senses of perception combined with the

five motor organs of action (mouth, hand, feet, excretory and

reproductive) makes a combination of twenty five different ways (five

multiplied with five) in which the physical world is experienced.

While, none of these experiences are permanent, all twenty-five

pleasure-seeking ways of the physical world continue relentlessly.

Kabir says that none of these pleasure-seeking methods are shrewd

enough to see this obvious truth.

 

Eventually this pleasure search at the physical level ends

unsuccessfully with the five sensory hunters "killing" the spirit of

the search. Each of these modes become non-living/dead reality that

serve as mere external display for feeding, beautifying and adorning

the physical world.

 

So what is the way out of this bleak and hopeless reality? Kabir

explains that the root of this transient mode of pleasure seeking is

the mind. And therefore instead of controlling the senses, the mind

needs to be tamed. But that's a daunting task in itself. Therefore

Kabir, in all humility, says that the mind should be offered at the

feet of the Guru (within) to show the way, directing it inwards to

the true storehouse of pleasure - one that is abundant with

everlasting ecstasy.

 

– Maalok

(www. boloji.com)

 

Is that not wonderful that a 'deer' is often used as a metaphor in

all scriptural writings in Hinduism ! in another verse , Kabirji

says "The musk is in the deer, but it seeks it not within itself but

roams about in the forest looking for this gragrance or scent " -

meaning the 'Reality is within but a wandering mind looks for it all

around." In Ramayana , also, Marichi comes in the guise of a

beautiful 'deer' ( maya maan) to lure Rama away - Maya or avidya maya

is also 'alluring , deceitful, seductive ' this is also called 'mriga

thrishna ' - mriga means deer and trishna means 'thrist' - like a

deer hankering after desires .

 

in prahlada stotram ,there is a verse describing this mrigha-thrishna

 

kutra Asishah: sruthi sukhA: mriga thrishNa roopa:

kva idam kalEbaram asEsha rujAm virOha:/

nirvidyathE na thu janO yad api ithi vidwAn

kAma analam madhulavai: samayan durApai://

 

" People know fully well that long life, wealth and prosperity though

pleasant, are only a mirage at the time of their enjoyment. Yet, they

try their best to attain them; And, they do not show any inclination

for renunciation."

 

Yes . this material life is a 'bondage' and this why Adi Shankara

Bhagvada pada says in the Viveka chudamani

 

"The seed of the samsara tree is ignorance, identification with the

body is its shoot, desire is its first leaves, activity its water,

the bodily frame its trunk, the vital forces its branches, the

faculties its twigs, the senses its flowers, the manifold pains

arising from various actions its fruit, and the bird on it is the

individual experiencing them. ( verse 145 )

 

AND ONLY BY THE GRACE OF THE GURU, CAN ONE REALISE 'I AM THAT' -

 

Tat Twam Asi !

 

Hari Aum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

advaitin, "V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk>

wrote:

>

>>

> SEC. 18: SHAMA AND DAMA (Continued)

>

> A sannyasi is called `yati'. The Tamil name `Ethiraj' is

> only a mutilated version of `Yatiraja'. `Yati' means a

> Sannyasi. The direct meaning of the word is one who has the

>