Advaita from scratch: Kanchi Mahaswamigal's Discourses -1

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Namaste all.

 

Prostrating to His Holiness the Kanchi Mahaswamigal, I start this new series of translation of about 145 sections (running to 487 pp. of printed matter) of discourses in Tamil of his, serialised on the subject of advaita. This is titled "ADVAITAM" – which is the nominative singular of the Sanskrit word in the neuter gender, and which means `Non-duality'. Earlier I had the opportunity to translate his discourses on `Advaita sAdhanA' which detailed the formal means and methodology to reach the advaita goal. Now in this series he talks on the topic of advaita itself and in conformity with his style he takes us (by the hand!) from the rock bottom base level to the peak. As usual, whenever he says `the Acharya' or `our Acharya' he means Acharya Adi Shankara. God willing, these posts are planned to appear on Mondays and Thursdays for probably 40 weeks.

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Kanchi Mahaswamigal's Discourses on Advaitam

 

KMDA – 1

 

Tamil Original starts from: http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/part4kural282.htm

 

Who are the Devas and Asuras? War and Peace.

 

 

There is a story in Chandogya Upanishad that once upon a time the devas and asuras fought against each other.

 

[Note by VK: Usually `devas' are translated as

`divines' or `gods' and asuras are translated as `demons'.

Most often I am going to use `devas' and `asuras

without using English words for them.]

 

 

When our Acharya wrote his commentary here, he says "The devas mentioned here are nothing but the sense channels purified by proper observance of rites and obligations. And the asuras mentioned are the same sense-channels associated with objects of enjoyment". Further he goes on to say rather very clearly that this fight between devas and asuras is the eternal fight going on within each living being (sarva-prANishhu prati-dehaM devAsura-sangrAmo anAdikAla-pravRttaH). In other words, the flows of the senses of the JIva towards external objects are the asuras and those that draw them inward are the devas; the fight described in the Upanishads is the struggle that takes place within each JIva between these two opposing channels of flow.

 

But mark it! Let us not think that the Acharya belongs to that group of people who, in modern times, claim that "All these puranas are only symbolical and allegorical. The events described therein never took place in reality". The Upanishads do dwell on the devas and asuras in several other places. For instance, in Kenopanishad, it is said that the Supreme Lord ensured the victory of the devas. In such places the Acharya does not refer to the devas as just symbolic. When he comments on the word "devAdi kAraNaM" in Brahma Sutra he conclusively says: "Just as we live in this earthly world, the devas live in the heavenly world. They are also subject to the attractions of the senses as we are; and so they have the consequent experiences of defeat, distress and jealousy, etc. And so like some of us, they also have the opportunity of getting dispassion, and then enquiring after Brahman and also obtaining advaita-mukti thereafter."

 

However, in the Vedas and Upanishads at some places they do use the symbolism of devas and asuras to bring home a philosophical truth. This is called `artha-vAda'. That means the story is not for story value; the story is only a strategy to convey a truth. In the Acharya's opinion, the above mentioned story from Chandogya Upanishad, belongs to this category. Here the word `deva' does not refer to a particular set of beings who are intent on sense enjoyment, but refers to, in fact, personifies, those powers which divert the JIva from mundane sense pleasures to a permanent bliss. There is a chapter (Ch.16) in the Gita titled `daivAsura-sampad-vibhAga-yoga'. There Lord Krishna provides a long organized list of divine qualities and demonish qualities. Beginning with fearlessness and pure sAtvic thought, he goes on to mention charity, askesis (tapas), straightforwardness, non-violence, truth, sacrifice, peacefulness, absence of hate, of jealousy, of anger and of hate towards others, infinite patience and sympathy in the face of all bad behaviour, absence of enmity, of jealousy and of malice. He calls these divine characteristics (daivI sampat). It is actually a divine treasure-mine. These are the ones which are allegorised as fighting with their demonish counterparts.

 

The demonish counterparts of these called Asuric characteristics are also listed by him. Showing off, pride, malice, hurting words, ignorance -- all these are Asuric. Doing just the opposite of the do's and don'ts of the scriptures named as `pravRtti and nivRtti', behaving in an animal fashion, .. so goes on the list. Whatever helps us get release from the bondage of samsAra and takes us towards mokshha is called a divine trait or treasure and whatever tightens us up further is called a demonish trait. And after thus explaining the two he comforts Arjuna by saying `Oh Arjuna, don't you worry about where you belong; you are born with divine traits'. All this shows only that the divine and demonish powers are only the traits that pertain to the JIva.

 

In fact all of us do recognise this continuing war between the divine and demonish. On one side we do hear some one speaking to us from the inside: Do good, don't succumb to the senses, visit the temple, meditate, be of service, and so on. On the other side we also feel a prodding to do just the opposites of these. Unfortunately, most of the time we go the way of the latter prodding. And later we regret it, we are ashamed. And that is when we try to follow the first voice. But again the other voice rises up louder. And we slip down. Again we make a determination and try to ascend the ladder. It is almost like the ascent on a slippery ladder by one who is all smeared up with oil. In spite of all this even when there is no active effort on our part, there is a distant voice inside which keeps saying `Do it this way. Your desire to go the other way is not proper'. Thus there is a constant fight between these two powers inside of us. This is the mental struggle daily going on between good and bad tendencies inside of us.

 

The technical word for `tendency' is `vRtti'. It means `flow'. It is flow of thoughts – `citta-vRtti'. Each kind of flow is a vRtti. In a single moment we have hundred different thought flows in our mind! Maybe ninety of them are bad and ten of them good. The good vRttis are the divines, `devas' in Sanskrit. The bad ones are the demons – `asuras'.

 

Why does the demonish flow arise?

 

The demonish traits win ninety-nine per cent of the time. During that one percent of victory for the divines, one is very happy. There is a kind of fulfilment. The heart is delighted. But again darkness sets in. And we feel `let the asuras win'. And they do win and keep on winning. If we think about it, in all these winnings, the deeper mind still feels unfulfilled! It is still confused and confounded. One almost weeps that this mind has led us into this mire of sorrow. We determine `Never more shall I allow this to happen'. When such a determination is really strong, we are able to slow down the rise of bad tendencies that arise next time. But after one or two such occasions of success, somehow, without our knowing it, that flow – maybe it is desire, anger, jealousy, or hankering after possession – something takes over and we are carried by the current of material seeking. Thus the demonish powers take over and they turn out in due course to produce debit entries in our karmic account book.

 

And this is the kind of question that Arjuna asks Krishna in Ch.III, shloka 36 of the Gita.:

What impels a man to commit sins, Oh Varshneya, even against his wishes, as if he is constrained to do so by some force?

 

(To be continued in KMDA-2)

PraNAms to all advaitins.

PraNAms to Kanchi Mahaswamigal.

profvk