"maRRai nam kaamangaL maaRRu"- (PART 13)

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“Kaama” as true “purushArtha”:

The story of Sage Yagnyavalkya in the Brihadaranyaka

Upanishad

----------------------------

 

 

After they have patiently heard the theory of “kaama”

expatiated, students of Vedantic philosophy generally

encounter a rather intriguing but genuine doubt:

 

Is “kaama” Vedantic “purushArtha” or Vedantic “hita”?

 

In other words, does “kaama” constitute a “Goal” of

Life or, is it far more accurate to define it as

“Means” (“hita”) to greater goals in life?

 

This confusion over “Ends and Means” arises in our

minds because “kaama” is indeed fundamentally

dualistic in nature. While on the one hand, “kaama” is

a ‘Goal’, an earthly Pleasure-Principle that human

beings everywhere honestly aspire to attain, on the

other hand, in so far as it is raw, elemental Power

--- a primal source of spiritual energy in life --- it

also rightly constitutes “hita” (‘means’). In other

words, although “kaama” is neither inherently good nor

bad, it is a Power eminently capable of both use and

abuse by Man. It is capable, accordingly, of bestowing

in equal measure both the greatest Good as well as the

greatest Evil upon Man. Thus, in as much as it is

recognized that without “kaama” no progress anywhere

is possible, including progress on the spiritual path,

it is as much Vedantic “hita” as it is “purushArtha”.

 

The same genuine doubt arises in the minds of the

student of the TiruppAvai too. When we read the prayer

of the “aaypAdi”, the cowherd-girls in the 29th

stanza: “maRRai nam kaamangaL maaRRu” (“Change Thee, O

Lord, the Desires of our lives”) the question that

immediately strikes us is this:

 

“What “kaama” are the “aayapAdi” girls talking about?

Is it “kaama” the “purushArtha” (Goal) or “kaama” the

“hita” (Means) they have in mind? Is it the ‘Goal of

Life’ that is sought to be changed or is it the ‘Means

to the goal’? What truly is the significance of the

Vedantic prayer-call of the TiruppAvai -- “maRRAi nam

kaamangaL maaRRu”?”

 

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

 

It is to the Bhagavath-Gita, once again, that one must

turn for help to clear the confusion between “Ends”

and “Means”. There are 2 wonderful verses in the

Second Chapter of the Gita which are so very

illuminating in this regard:

 

"shriibhagavaan-uvaacha:

 

(1) “prajahaati yadaa kaamaan sarvaanpaartha

manogataan.h .

aatmanyevaatmanaa tushhTaH sthitapraGYastadochyate ..

2\.55..

 

(meaning): “Thus spake Sri Krishna: O Pârtha, when Man

gives up all varieties of desire for mere

sense-gratification (“kaama”), and when his mind, thus

purified, finds satisfaction and fulfillment in the

Self alone, then does he discover that the Self itself

is indeed the greatest root or source (“sthitapraGYa”)

of Pleasure and Joy (“tushhTaH”)”.

 

(2) “aapuuryamaaNamachalapratishhTha.n

samudramaapaH pravishanti yadvat.h .

tadvatkaamaa yaM pravishanti sarve

sa shaantimaap{}noti na kaamakaamii” .. 2\.70..

 

(meaning): “A person who remains undisturbed by the

incessant flow of desires —-- he who may be likened to

the great ocean that remain always full though rivers

flowing into it are sometimes in spate and sometimes

dry —-- such a person alone achieves Peace; not the

man who is constantly striving to satisfy or fulfill

such desires”.

 

Beyond the greatest of pleasures, the Gita declares

above, that mere senses may afford us in the world,

there is an infinitely greater Joy and Peace, a

greater pleasure of satisfaction -- or “kaama”, that

is -- called “tushhTaH” and “shaanti”, which the human

Mind discovers and experiences the moment it has

learnt to free itself from the bewitching spell cast

upon it by ordinary, commonplace “kaama”. So long as

desires in life remain centered around personal

gratification, so long does one continue to remain

ensnared in an unending but futile “cycle of “kaama””

(described elsewhere in this series of postings -

#12). So long as “kaama” is pursued –- or, to put it

more accurately, so long as it continues to be

“misused” or “abused” as means of spiritual power

(“hita”)—- i.e. pursued as mere means for base

self-fulfillment, so long does the true nature of

“kaama” as a higher Goal in life, as an Ideal or

“purushArtha”, always remain beyond our comprehension

and grasp.

 

***********

 

In the “BrhadAranyaka-Upanishad” there is a

magnificent passage that describes the scene where

Sage Yagnyavalkya is on the point of renouncing all

pleasures and comforts of the world (“kaama”) and

taking to 'sannyAsa'.

 

He divides his wealth between his two wives, KAtyAyani

and MaitrEyi. The first wife, on receiving her share

of the wealth, takes the news of her husband's

impending 'sannyAsa' in her stride and quietly retires

to her own station in life. But the younger wife,

Maitreyi, does not give up so easily. She demands an

explanation from YagnyavAlkya as to why and wherefore

his decision to renounce the delight of the world

(“kaama”).

 

"Sir, you are leaving home", Maitreyi says, "you are

leaving home because, you say, greater Joy is to be

found in the renunciation of wealth and pleasures of

conjugal life than there is in their continued

enjoyment. What is such ‘Joy’? Won't you tell me about

it?"

 

YagnyavAlkya replies, "You have always been a loving

one to me, O MaitrEyi! Now that you ask this question,

you have become even dearer to me than before!"

 

The Sage then proceeds to deliver a stirring

exposition on the true nature of human love and

affection... i.e. “kaama”, the Pleasure-Principle of

life.

 

"Why is a wife is dear to her husband, O MaitrEyi? Not

so much for the sake of giving pleasure or happiness

to the wife as for the sake of pleasure and happiness

his own inner self derives by it, isn’t it? Similarly,

a husband becomes dear to a wife not for his sake but

for the sake of her inner self? Our children too are

so dear to us... not for their own sake but for the

sake of the inward pleasure of our self. So is the

case with the love that we cultivate for all the

wealth and possessions we have in this world. We are

filled with love for it all, not for their intrinsic

sakes but for the sake of the pleasure (“kaama”) the

self within each one of us derives there from.

 

“We have affection for a person or for a thing because

it pleases and delights the self within. Does it not

therefore stand to reason, O Maitreyi, that this inner

Self deep within us is itself essentially of the

nature of pure affection, of pure love and joy

(“kaama”)?

 

“So my dear Maitreyi, it is to know this Self ---

independently of everything else attaching itself to

it or otherwise associated with it --- that I now wish

to forsake all things dear and desirable to me, and

take to the renunciation of 'sannyAsa'.

 

“When we know the Self itself to be the very root and

source of Pure Love (pure “kaama”)... and as being

truly independent of all worldly objects, entities and

persons that may come to be associated with or in any

way related to It... then do we begin to realize there

is nothing in the world greater than the Self itself

that is both primal and ultimate source of Love and

Joy (“kaama”)! Everything else in the world, without

any distinction, then becomes at once, as if by sheer

magic my dear Maitreyi, truly joyful and supremely

lovable!"

 

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

 

In the collection of mystic poems called

“peria-tirumOzhi” of the great Tamil saint

“Tirumangai-AzhwAr” there is an extremely beautiful

verse that echoes the very same sentiments of Sage

YagnyavAlkya in the "BrhadArAnyaka-Upanishad".

 

“Slave to carnal desires that I once was”, sang the

AzhwAr,”I went looking for delights in every

pleasure-den of this world. Then one sudden day,

thanks to the sacred ‘mantra’ called ‘nArAyaNa’, I saw

the Truth that my search had all along been in vain!

For “kaamanaar thaathai”, the “Father of all Love, all

Joy and all Desire”, He, after all, was close at hand

living within my own breast! So I forsook Desire, once

and for all, and chose instead, Desire's Father!”

 

“sEmamEvEndith theevinaiperukkith* therivaimaar

uruvamEmaruvi*

oomanaar kaNda kanavilumpazhudhaay* ozhinNdhana

kazhinNdha anNnNaaLgaL*

kaamanaar thaadhai nNammudaiyadigaL* thammadainNdhaar

manatthiruppar*

nNaamam nNaaNnuyya nNaaNnkaNdu koNdEn* nNaaraayaNaa

ennum nNaamam.”

1.1.3 (“peria-tirumOzhi”)

 

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

 

When we witness the examples of great souls like Sage

YagnyavAlkya and Saint Tirumangai-AzhwAr, the truth of

the matter begins indeed to slowly dawn on us too that

“kaama”, in its very absolute sense, has a truly

platonic dimension; and that dimension makes it both a

self- and senses- transcendent Ideal of Life, and

therefore, a true Vedantic "purushArtha" indeed.

 

When the seed of such a lofty realization plants

itself in our hearts, grows then a brand new desire

within us: the Desire to master our desires.

 

The Desire to master our desires is the whole secret

of spiritual transformation. It is an overwhelming

spiritual urge to somehow transform all our

self-centered, self-gratifying passions in life into

the sort of self- and sense- transcending Desire that

the likes of YagnyavAlkya or Tirumangai-AzhwAr in

sought to attain in the world. It is Desire for life’s

truly highest goal -- the summum-bonum called “parama

pUrUshArtha”.

 

It is such Desire, such sublime "kaama" indeed, that

the "aaypAdi" girls had in mind when they sang out the

prayer of the TiruppAvai --- “gOvindha! maRRai nam

kaamangaL maaRRu!”.

 

(to be continued)

 

Regards,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

 

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