Bharata Guttu

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

For a long time I have been intrigued by the legend of Vyasa

composing 'kUTa' (secret and difficult) questions as a challenge to

Ganesha, his scribe, to slow down his speed of writing the

Mahabharata while Vyasa dictated it.

 

One chapter in the Vol. 3 (of 7) of the book 'Voice of God' [English

translation of the Tamil original Deivattin Kural] mentions 1000 such

questions! (one after each 1000 shlokas). I chanced to see another at

the following site:

 

http://www.kanchiforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1932 & start=50

 

" ajnAnena AvRitaM jnAnaM

 

For this shloka occuring in the Bhagavad Gita, the rare meaning that

Sri PeriyavaaL told me in saMbhASaNaM (conversation) when he was

camping in a place called Mahagav:

 

PeriyavaaL : Know that there are Guttu Shlokas in Bharatam

(Mahabharata)?

 

Myself : These are Guttu Shlokas because they were composed to reduce

the speed of PiLLaiyar's (Ganesha's) writing.

 

PeriyavaaL : There is a Guttu Shloka in Gita! You know?

 

Myself : Don't know.

 

PeriyavaaL : ' aj~nAnenanAvR^itaM j~nAnaM tena muhyanti jantavaH |

j~nAnena tu tadaj~nAnaM yeSAM nAshitamAtmanaH || ' (5.15,16)

 

" Atma who is jnAnarUpam (in the form of knowledge) is veiled with

ajnAnaM (ignorance). People are deluded because of that. If the

ajnAnaM is destroyed by jnAnaM , Moksha will be attained. "

 

Isn't this doctrine puzzling, confusing? How can ajnAnaM veil

jnAnaM ? If it is veiled, how by that same jnAnaM will ajnAnaM be

destroyed? -- is the confusion. Vinayaka blinks. In those few seconds

Vyasa has readily composed the shloka s of many chapters.

 

For this puzzle that comes in the fifth chapter, he gives the answer

in the tenth chapter!

 

teshAmenukampArtham ahamaj~nAnajaM tamaH |

nAshayAmi AtmabhAvastaH j~nAnadIpena bhasvatA ||

 

To show mercy on the bhaktA s who always sing and think only about me

and melt by those acts in their hearts, I as the jnAna rUpi (form of

knowledge) enter the state of mind that remains akhaNDAkAram (not

fragmentary, entire, whole) and is known as AtmabhAvam (state of the

soul), reach the prati-bimbam (reflection), strengthen the jnAnam and

set aside (the veil) of ignorance.

 

(In other words, svarUpa jnAnam by itself will not set aside

ignorance. It only notifies its presence. But if the same svarUpa

jnAnam is reflected by the mano vRiddhi (expansion of mind) that

results from continued experience of the state of meditation on the

Vedanta Maha Vakhyas after studying and reflecting on them, that will

immediately burn the ignorance. Even if the sun has the svabhAva

(inherent nature) to burn cotton, it burns the cotton only when the

rays touch it through a special lens!

 

In this way, PeriyavaaL has the capability to give answers for many

Guttus.

 

Glossary:

sandarbhaH - occasion, circumstance, stringing/collecting together,

arranging, mixture, union, "

 

If readers know of other such instances, kindly post them.

 

 

 

Regards,

 

Sunder