GeethA sAstramum nedunthAndaka sAstramum-16

[Guest guest]

Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

In the previous posting we saw that the soul remains inside our body

but doesn’t get affected with all the changes that happen to the

body. One doubt may arise in our minds: We cook food in a vessel.

The vessel outside gets heated and cooks the rice inside. So we find

that the changes that occurs to the outside vessel does affect the

rice inside. Then how is it that the soul inside does not get

affected? Sure the argument is correct. But consider the case of a

stone, which is mixed along with the rice. Does that also get cooked

like the rice? No it remains without any change. So we see that there

are objects that remain without any change also due to the changes in

the outside vessel. Similarly the soul who is a jnana-svaroopan

(personification of knowledge) does not get affected due to the

changes in the body that is made of the panchabhoodhas (land, water,

fire, air and sky).

 

(erappadarkE ennAdhu) Earlier azhvar talked about the shatbhAva

vikAram, the six types of changes that happen to the body where the

last change which happens is the death pertaining to the body. But

here “erappadarkE” refers to the death of the soul. That is

kaivalyam. But it was seen all along that the soul doesn’t undergo

any change? Then how can it die? The soul doesn’t die like the body

that falls down lifeless. But due to the separation from the

paramatma who is the saviour/master (Athmabhoothan) and enjoying once

own soul in the kaivalyam it is considered to be a form of death,

svaroopahAni. Where is this kaivalyam and does the soul have a

possibility to return back and reach the actual moksha etc are

debatable topics not pertaining to our subject now. We will just see

the meaning as per the commentary of swami periya vAchAn pillai and

geethAbhAshyam of swamy emperumAnAr. So here ‘erappadarkE’ refers to

kaivalyam and ‘ennAdhu’ indicates that it is not the lord’s wish to

put us into that ditch instead he always wishes that we go and join

him in the nithya Ananda anubhavam of the nithya vibhoothi like the

other nithya sooris.

 

Where is the proof that emperuman is against us reaching the kaivalyam

and doing athmAnubhavam? Let us track it from bhagavan’s words,

 

“jarAmarana mOkshAya mAmAsrithya yadhanthi yE I

thE brahma tadhvidhu: krisnamadyAthmam karma chAkilam II”

 

[Those who try to get away from the six types of changes like old age,

death etc of the body and reach the kaivalya moksha for athmAnubhavam

away from this prakruthi sambhandam, they should fully know about the

brahmam, adyAthmam and karmam.]

 

The above sloka clearly shows that there is something beyond the

kaivalya moksha that a kaivalyArthi should know. So it cannot be the

ultimate moksha. Since a kaivalyArthi forgets perumal and wants to

enjoy his athma alone it is stealing of emperuman’s property (pirar

nan porul, ‘chOrEna AthmapahArinam’). Atleast for an IshwaryArthi

there is a chance to correct himself and attain emperuman’s thiruvadi

but for a person who has attained kaivalyam there is no way back and

hence it is like athma nAsam. But will that emperuman who has so

much krupai on us leave us like that? His sankalpam is not to leave

us die (‘erappadarkE ennAdhu’).

 

Here it has to be noted that the athmAnubhavam talked about by

bhagavan in the first six chapters has no connection with this

kaivalya moksha. In the first shatkam of bhagavat geetha emperuman

talks about the karma yoga done along with jnana that leads to

chiththa shuddi further leading to knowledge about the athma, which

gives one an in-depth understanding of the athma (Athma

sAkshAtkAram). This is totally different from the AthmAnubhavam,

which a kaivalyArthi wants to attain. So the first stage of learning

is the tattvatraya vibhAgam (existence of three permanant tattvas,

chit, achit and Ishwaran). Then the changes that happen to the body

(achit) and the unchanged nature of the soul has to be realized then

finally the knowledge about the Ishwaran who is our sEshi (master)

has to be obtained that will lead us to surrender with deep love

towards the supreme lord (Jnanam kanindha bhakthi) and attain nithya

mukthi.

 

Most of us get mixed up with the nature of the body and the soul and

concentrate on taking care of the body forgetting the soul. This is

the first stage (IshvaryArthi). The second category is those who

have understood that the body is temporary and this leela vibhoothi

is filled with sorrow and hence wants to get rid of this cycle of

life and death and hence he wishes for a permanent joy but he lacks

to understand the relation of the soul with bhagavan and hence wants

to attain kaivalyam (kaivalyArthi). This is like a person wanting to

forget his problems getting addicted to drinking that again doesn’t

give him a permanent solution but further worsens his problems. The

kaivalyArthi fails to understand that emperuman can get him out of

these samsAric worries and grant him the nithya moksha where he can

enjoy emperuman along with the nithya sooris permanently. The final

category is the jnAni/mumukshu, who understands about the nature of

all the three tattvas and hence wants to attain the divine feet of

emperuman. The different types of bhakthas have been stated by

bhagavan as,

 

“chaturvidhA bhajanthE mAm janAs sukrithinOrjuna I

ArthO jignyAsu arthArthi jnAni cha bharatharishabha II” (7-16)

 

After telling about the kaivalyArthi, geethAcharyan proceeds to do

upadesam (advice) to arjuna about the bhakthi yoga. The knowledge

about the third tattva Ishvaran leads us to bhakthi towards him. How

will bhakthi develop in our minds? We will see in the next posting.

 

(To be continued)

 

Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

Sumithra Varadarajan