Advaita from scratch - Kanchi Mahaswamigal's Discourses - 11

[Guest guest]

Kanchi

Mahaswamigal's Discourses on Advaitam

 

KMDA –

11

For KMDA – 10

see #44264

For the first

post in this series see # 43779

 

Tamil

original starts from http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/part4kural304.htm

 

Note: In these discourses, `the Acharya'

refers to Adi Shankaracharya. The speaker is the Kanchi Mahaswamigal.

 

Why does the ShAstraic karma fail to

give results?

 

If

it is true that even ShAstraic karma can fail to give results, then how

is it that the karmas ordained by ShAstras for the good of the world are

amenable to failure? Does it mean that

the ShAstras are not reliable?

 

It

is not so. That is not the meaning. In

each period or era it may happen that, just as an individual person has to

suffer for the mistakes he has committed, so also when a whole society goes on

the wrong path that also has to suffer hardships. And in that period or era what good we may do

for the benefit of the society appears as if it goes waste. It is only `as if'! We cannot assert that it is a failure. Even though there may not be a visible effect

of the betterment, the collective sin of the society must surely be coming down

because of the ShAstraic karmas done by us. As in individual personal lives so also in the

collective life of the society, the consequences of what has been done have to

be experienced; ShAstraic karmas done now may reduce the suffering

or increase the happiness only a little bit. If this is understood, the questions like: "Are the ShAstras false? Why were the results of the karmas not obtained?" would not arise.

 

What

was the sin committed by us? What is the erstwhile sin accrued by a whole

society? What is the value of the ShAstraic karmas being done by us now?

How much of the old balance of karma

does this reduce? --The answers to all

these questions are unknown to us; that is how God has designed us. Therefore,

without expecting anything called a result or benefit, without pining for it,

we have to keep on discharging our prescribed obligations. The attitude should

be: "Whoever is keeping track of all these and balancing our kArmic accounts for us, let Him decide

when to close the accounts. Let me not question anything. Let me not also

expect anything to happen either way. Let me continue doing my duties". Only if

we keep doing our duties without worrying about the fruits or rewards, can we

follow the dhArmic path delineated in

the ShAstras. Once we begin to look and weigh the results,

we may begin to be swayed by thoughts like "The proper results are not coming

by our doing things the dhArmic way.

Let us look for a shortcut; maybe it is not dhArma,

so what, why not check it out and see whether I get the desired result or

not". To follow the dhArmic path the only strategy is

Disinterested Action (nishkAmya-karma).

 

Chance of Fear is reduced.

 

This

is the starting point of the loosening of the bondage (of karma). As I said earlier, this helps the mind turn towards the

good things to a certain extent and turn away from bad things to a large

extent. When one gets accustomed to this

kind of (Disinterested) action, the mind gets more and more purified and in due

time when it starts doing the dhyAnam

without being engaged in any action, it

learns to stand still instead of getting distracted. When it is bound by such a

discipline and is drawn towards God to a certain extent, to that extent is the samsAra bondage loosened. The mind itself which has been all the time a bondage for the Atman

gets unwound by the Grace of God; now

there is no more an individuality of the JIva

to do any karma. The samsAra bondage is cut asunder; the JIva realises it is the nondual Atman

and gets anchored to that state. That is Mukti.

 

It

is then that duality, the Cause of all Fear, vanishes. When one does karma, when one does the dhyAnam,

duality is inevitable. However the duality that was constantly torturing us to

pamper to the tastes of the mind, think and act in whatever manner our mind

would drag us into, that duality does

not any more frighten us when we sit for dhyAna in the thought of God or

Godhead or when we are involved in the path of a dhArmic karma. Certainly

when we think of God, or, when we think of that impersonal Godhead without a

form, He or the Principle of Godhead is

a second object distinct from the seeker.

But there is no scope for fear that this second object of God or Godhead

is likely to take us down the spiritual ladder as would surely happen in the

case of an occupation of the mind with sense objects of the world.

 

But

there is likely to be another fear, until the mind, becoming one with this

highest thought, vanishes completely. So long as God Himself is an object

outside of us, there is always likely to be a fear of the kind: "What magic

might He not do? Even great devotees have been put to misery by Him by His tantalising

appearance and disappearance! Right now somehow He seems to be in my mind; but

what is the guarantee He may not slip off my mind any time? And we do not know

to what kind of garbage this wretched mind may be drawn into." All this constitutes a fear and any fear is

Fear. Therefore to whatever heights the mind may ascend, because of its nature

of duality it can never reach the state of total fearlessness. But only when the mind is totally free to

roam as it likes it becomes the cause of the largest fear. When it goes along

the path of Bhakti, there is the

minimum chance of fear to arise.

 

The

case of dhArmic karma is almost the same. One sometimes fears that it may tighten

the very bondage it is supposed to loosen. Once we take up Action or Karma, however good or noble it may be,

one has to confront numerous outside objects and people. In dealing with them there are countless

opportunities for anger, frustration and disappoint-ment. One wonders whether

the bondage will loosen, ever. But if only, one is intensely dedicated to the

practice of non-attachment to the fruits of actions then the thought process

will proceed along the lines: "We are trying sincerely to do our best. Even

then these outside objects do not seem to co-operate. Only imperfect objects

seem to come our way. The people, instead of being helpful, are only giving

trouble. Let all that be. Let us try to

carry on as best as we can." And this may avoid the pitfall of getting into

anger and similar wrong feelings.

 

The

bottomline of all this discussion is that whether it be karma or bhakti both

belong to the sphere of duality and they will never take you to the state of

total fearlessness. However, in order to move from this samsAra, which is inbuilt with fear moment after moment, to that

state of fearlessness, namely Non-dulity, the starting sAdhanAs (methodo-logies) are only karma and bhakti. By this

route, we move from the present state of `Ever-Fear' to the state of

`Occasional Fear'. And that leads you on to the state of `No Fear ever'.

 

To

reach that state, what helps you in the beginning is svadharma-karma-anushhTAnam' only. This means the Discharge

of duties that are yours by nature. Naturally the author of the Gita says that

even to die doing svadharma is shreyas

(for the good). (Recall I talked to you about shreyas and preyas).

And the Gita adds: By adopting another's dhArma

it can lead you only to fear.

"svadharme nidhanaM shreyaH paradharmo

bhayAvahaH" (B.G. III – 35)

Here

`bhayam' means the samsAra-fear,

that is, the fear of recurring birth and death.

And

`nidhanam' means death. Even

death in a life of svadharma is `shreyas'.

 

(To be continued in KMDA – 12)

 

PraNAms

to all advaitins.

PraNAms

to the Mahaswamigal.

profvk