"maRRai nam kaamangaL maaRRu"- (PART 25)

[Guest guest]

The Story of Saint Poosalar: Conquest of “kaama”

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through Sublimation of Desire --

“bhakti yOga”

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In the old and Vedic traditional way of life, one of

the ways in which people seem to have gone about

dealing with the problem of "kaamic" feeling (i.e. of

undue attachment and possessiveness towards the

homestead) was to gently "deflate" it.

 

"Deflation" of "kaamic" passion was accomplished in

much the same way as one would deliberately deflate

"tyre-pressure" on a vehicle whose wheels are seen and

felt to be "bouncing around wildly on the road" due to

over-inflated tyres. Similarly, when the pressure of

"kaama" builds up -- when the wheels of life are

over-inflated with the hot air of our unwanted or

unruly passions, so to speak -- it makes Man's earthly

journey intolerably bumpy and jolted. It is at that

time then that he must pull over, stop the vehicle,

get out and "deflate" those "kaamic" tyres a little.

 

The ancient Indians practised 2 principal ways to do

the job of "deflating" the passion behind the "kaama"

associated with the "homing instinct". The first one

was an (i) extrinsic and practical way and the second

was (ii)a subjective, rather introverted way.

 

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(1) The "extrinsic way" was basically to do with

exercising individual choice in the matter of

constructing and styling the exterior and interiors of

one's home.

 

The individual choice was to either have one's home

reflect through its decor and through objects

displayed in it, one's own personality, individual

tastes and life-style or to have it simply project and

recreate, as far as possible, the general auspicious

air, environment and leitmotifs that generally prevail

within a temple. The ancient equivalent of the modern

life-style that is obsessed with converting homes into

either home-theatres, art-galleries, librarier or mini

green-houses (refer posting #23) was to make the

exteriors and interiors of one's earthly abode

faithfully imitate or nearly resemble, in one way or

the other, the conception of the sacred ambience and

decor as obtains inside the Abode of the Almighty.

 

Old-fashioned interiors of homes in villages or cities

in the olden days in India did not include

"hi-fidelity sound-systems" or "hi-resolution

plasma-screens", and neither potted indoor-plants nor

Persian rugs, neither wall-to-wall book-shelves nor

delicate crystal-glass show-pieces. Instead, from the

front-entrances all the way through to the back-yard

of the traditional home of those days, one could only

see artefacts and accoutrements that were strongly

reminiscent of temples, temple interiors and temple

practices.

 

For example, astride the gates to the house, or upon

it, a visitor to the house would see most probably

either an iconic or grill-work representation of Lord

Vigneshwara. In the middle of the front-garden, one

probaly might come across a little stone replica of

Lord Krishna with a flute on his lips. Next, one would

see, engraved upon the large and ornate wooden beam of

the main-portal leading into the house, a plate image

in bass-relief probably of Gajalakshmi, the goddess of

Prosperity, welcoming everyone who passes through (in

SriVaishnava homes, of course, one would see the

customary insignia of the community: the sacred

"urdhva-pundhra" buffeted on either side by the holy

"shanka" and "chakra" and by the miniature iconic

representations of "siriya tiruvadi" and

"periya-tiruvadi", Garuda and Anjaneya).

 

Then, once you enter into the main living-room,

usually a large sun-lit hall fanning out in several

directions into other inner-quarters of the house, you

are not likely to miss the beautiful Raja Ravi-Varma

portraits and authentic Tanjore painting, all with

their traditional leitmotifs of Hindu gods and

goddesses, avatars and mythological characters, all

hung in gallery fashion right around the adjoining

wall spaces.

 

In the open-shelf spaces in these halls one might

catch sight of pretty little dolls and icons too, made

of plaster-of-paris or wood, artistically depicting

characters and themes from the Ramayana or

Mahabharatha or the "dasAvatAra", the 10 avatars of

Vishnu etc...

 

Inside, deep within the innermost living quarters,

one would see, of course, the traditional "puja-arai",

the household worship-spot. Here would be found an

array of sacramental objects, icons and images,

silverware, copper utensils, silken brocades, bells,

trinkets and other beautiful paraphernalia meant for

daily worship.

 

Lastly, when one goes to the backyard of the house,

one would see a little potted mound on which a single

sapling of the sacred "Tulasi" tree (Basil) would be

found consecrated. This mound would be decorated with

the sacred marks of vermillion and sandal-paste --- a

very special and private place of worship for all the

women-folk of the house.

 

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Now if we must explain the preference of the ancient

peoples of India for converting their homes into

religious-minded imitations of temple constructions,

we must do so only with reference to the basic

intention behind such behaviour. It is plausible to

assume that it was because people of those times hoped

that by making their homes resemble the Abode of God,

they would to some degree dampen and diminish

("deflate")the intensity of "kaama" aroused by the

pride that naturally comes with owning and possessing

one's very own "dream home". Simply by surrounding

oneself at home with varied symbols and icons of the

Almighty, it was believed, would somehow engender a

certain sense of dispassion towards the house; in

other words the proud house-owner would be somehow

restrained from going overboard in life in cultivating

extreme feelings of over-attachment or

over-possessiveness for it; that a certain degree of

"vairaagya" or emotional distancing from his "dream"

property would not be too difficult for his mind to

attain, and thus saving himself from untoward

consequences that may arise as a result of nurturing

far too much "kaama" in his heart -- far too much of

sentimental attachment --- for the Home, for all

things in it and for all home-bound feelings that

result in human bondage.

 

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

 

(2) There was yet another, less extrinsic, more

subjective or introverted way in which people in the

olden days in India sought to control, if not conquer,

"kaama" aroused by the passions of Man's "homing

instinct". It was what we may call "the way of

ritualistic conditioning of one's mind to make it

gradually come to regard one's home more as an

instrument of spiritual atonement in life than as a

source of pleasurable gratification".

 

In the ancient "dharma-sAstras" there is a Sanskrit

couplet which throws a lot of light upon the matter:

 

"panchyasUnA gruhasthasya vartantE'hara-harah sadA

khandanI pEsanI chuLLi jalakumbha upaskarah".

 

We will examine the verse in the next posting.

 

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(to be continued)

 

Regards,

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

 

 

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