Kanchi Mahaswamigal's Discourses on Advaita Saadhanaa - (KDAS - 74)

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For a Table of Contents of these Discourses, see

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SECTION 59: SHRAVANAM AND

SUSHRUUSHHAA (RESPECTFUL SERVICE)

Tamil Original: http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/dk6-132.htm

 

First there is shravaNaM. It stands for the receiving through

hearing/listening of the teaching of the mahAvakyas from the Guru. Along

with that he teaches also several other matters about tradition

according to Brahma-vidyA ShAstra. He also tells you several

methodologies of how to reflect through DhyAna on the non-difference

between Jiva and Brahman. Receiving all this through hearing is also

shravaNaM.

 

It does not mean that it is just hearing through the ears. One has to

receive it in the heart and hold on to it. This is what is formally

called shravaNaM. When we refer to the action of eating we usually refer

only to the action that takes place in the mouth. Actually the purpose

is to get it into the stomach and get it digested and absorbed into the

blood. The mouth is only an external organ whose action is termed

'eating'. So also the external organ, the ear, does something and we

name it shravaNaM, but it really means that what the ear consumes has to

be digested in the mind and intellect as 'nectar' of upadesha and

finally it has to be absorbed in the heart. When the 'Vinayakar Ahaval

says *yen cheviyil yellaiyillaa aanandam-aLittu* it means it goes

through the ears into the heart and creates Bliss there.

 

Sound is what belongs to the all-permeating space principle. That is why

there is importance to shravaNaM of receiving the teachings that are in

the form of sound. Our Veda-mantras are the sound-chains that have been

caught as such, so as to be accessible to our ears, by the Rishis

through their extra-sensory powers, in the form of subtle sound

vibrations that emanated in space from the very breath of the Lord .

What they heard through their subtle ears should also be heard only by

our physical ears and not be written down and learnt - this is the rule.

Then only the quintessence of the teaching that has to reach the

heart-space, the Source of everything, will go through by tracing the

Universal Space, the breath of the Absolute, and the breathing

paramAtmA. Hence the importanc of shravaNaM.

 

Another thing. When we learn from a book, the book, being an inert

object, may show the writing but it will not feed us the life behind the

writing. It is when the letters come through the live medium of the

Guru or the Acharya who has known the essence of the Teaching, that the

upadesha enters as a living message.

 

Furthermore, only when there is the upadesha coming from the Guru there

happens the disciplic bhAva (*shishhya-bhAva). The humility and the

sense of smallness are necessary for the destruction of the ego. The

thought that "I am doing the very difficult jnAna yoga sAdhanA"

certainly will bloat the ego; it is only the sushruushhA that one does

to the Guru - who is himself in that enlightened state - that will knock

you on the head and constitute the strategy for killing the ego.

[Note by VK: The Tamil word the Mahaswamigal uses

here as an attribute of the Guru is *anubhavi*.

The literal English equivalent would be 'Experiencer'

A few paragraphs later, the Mahaswamigal himself explains

what *anubhavi* means.]

 

I said 'sushruushhA'. The Tamils wrongly call it 'sishruushhA'. If we

go by the root word for sushruushhA, it is related to 'shravaNaM'. The

root 'shru' means 'to hear'. It is from this that both the words

'sushruushhA' and 'shravaNaM' have come. The direct meaning of

'sushruushhA' is 'to long to hear'.

 

The meaning of 'to long to hear' when related to the Guru, is 'to long

to do what is heard'. It is not just hearing that matters. The heard

matter may be to one's liking or not. Either way there is no question of

discarding it or leaving it just there after a word of appreciation.

Without any scope for liking or disliking, what is heard must be put

into practice. Thus 'sushruushhA' in its extended form has the meaning

'to long to practise whatever is going to be heard'.

 

'Listen to what is said', we usually say. We find fault by saying 'One

is not being heard'. On all such occasions what we mean by 'heard' is

'heard and done'. Similarly, 'to long to hear for the very purpose of

doing what is going to be heard' is *sushruushhA*.

 

To do what one is told one needs a lot of the quality of humility. Once

the quality of humility is there, a natural desire will arise to do

service to him before whom we are humble. In other words respectful

humility will automatically breed the willingness to serve. It is that

service that has come to be known as *sushruushhA*.

 

'Go to the Guru! Fall at his feet! Listen! Do service! Serving him get

the upadesha of jnAna from him! --*tad-viddhi praNipAtena pariprashnena

sevayA*, says the Lord.(B.G. IV - 34). *praNipAtaM* is 'straight fall'.

'pAtaM' is fall. 'nipAtaM' is a clean fall. 'Pra-nipAtaM' ( =

*praNipAtaM*) is a very clean, straight fall, as a total surrender.

*pari-prashnena* means by a constant and repeated questioning. That is

exactly 'sushruushhA'. As soon as He says that, he adds 'sevayA',

meaning 'by service'.

 

The matter unwinds here by a chain of one thing leading to another. The

way the Gita shlokas appear here tells us that one gets the

jnAna-upadesha from a guru only after one has abdicated all karmas and

become a sannyAsi. "More than the yajna that one does in karma yoga with

external accessories, the internal yajna of jnAna yoga is superior. All

karma finally terminate in jnAna" says He in the previous shloka. Having

said that, immediately he follows: "The jnAnis who have directly seen

the Truth-that is, experienced - will teach you jnAna. Go to them,

fall straight at their feet, question and listen repeatedly, and serving

them, learn". This occurs in JnAna-karma-sannyAsa-yoga. When we put all

these together, it is clear that he is talking about getting the

Brhma-vidyA teaching from a jnAni only after throwing off karma and

taking up sannyAsa.

 

The sequence goes like this. First we hear by the ears. The very

hearing is done for obeying what we have heard. This is sushrUushhA.

The inseparable part that comes out of this is the humility. And from

that the respectful service. Thus starting from hearing by the ears it

leads on to service. And the service itself has got the name of

sushruushhA. In due course of time people came to think that sushruushhA

means service; its original meaning of 'listening' disappeared from

vogue.

 

But, more than the sushruushA of respectful physical service, the Guru

considers as great (and is pleased at) that sushruushhA by which the

disciple receives, with a clean heart, with the intention of carrying

out in practice, the teaching imparted by the Guru with all the humility

and the respect it deserves. He will not think as greatly of the

service that the disciple does for the Guru's physical comforts as he

would, of the spiritual progress that the sishhya makes by properly

benefitting from the treasures of the Atman that the Guru transmits to

him. It is the proper sushruushhA of the ears that constitutes the

greatest sushruushhA of service. ShravaNa-sushruushhA is what is

superior in the eyes of the Guru. Instead of his being served by the

disciple, he would rather have his disciple rise spiritually with the

instrument of the upadesha he transmits. But from the point of view of

the disciple, however, both kinds of sushruushhA must rank equally

important. One should receive the upadesha from the bottom of the heart

and obey accordingly in practice; and one should also consider the

dispenser of the upadesha as Ishvara himself, surrender to him and do

all kinds of respectful service to him .

 

The mantra that is taught does half the job and the Grace of the teacher

completes the other half!

 

Where is the scope for all this when one learns from books?

 

SECTION 60: IS AN ENLIGHTENED GURU AVAILABLE?

 

 

 

To be Continued)

PraNAms to all students of advaita.

PraNAms to the Maha-Swamigal.

profvk