Kanchi Mahaswamigal's Discourses by Prof VK ?

[Guest guest]

Namasthe All

 

I have been reading Prof VK's translation of Kanchi Mahaswami's discourse on

Advaitam for a while and dont see it after the may 5 ?

I'm wondering what happened to this excellent work by Prof VK. Any updates ?

 

Regards

Hari Ramasubbu

 

On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 6:46 PM, V. Krishnamurthy <profvk wrote:

 

>

>

> Kanchi Mahaswamigal's Discourses on Advaitam

>

> KMDA – 20

> (For KMDA – 19 see #44811

> This series started with #43779)

>

> Tamil original starts from http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/part4kural315.htm

>

> Note: In these discourses, `the Acharya' refers to Adi Shankaracharya. The

> speaker is the Kanchi Mahaswamigal.

>

> Man perishes by all his five senses

>

> `Viveka-Chudamani' is a magnificent work of spirituality. It was written by

> our Acharya. In one of its shlokas this matter of the five senses occurs. He

> refers to the fact that there are five non-human beings, each one of them

> meets with its end because of the excessive desire through one of these five

> senses, whereas the human being allows himself to be clouded and overpowered

> by all these five senses and thereby perishes. He not only warns us, but

> feels very sad for us.

>

> The deer perishes by the sense of sound. The hunter plays a horn-like

> instrument. The desire of listening to the music which enraptures the deer,

> makes it stand in a dazed inactivity and the hunter makes hay.

>

> The elephant invites its captivity by the prospect of the sense of touch.

> In the forests of Mysore, known as Khedda, they dig up ditches big enough to

> hold elephants, and then cover the ditch up by thick vegetation. The male

> elephant that is to be caught comes from one side of the ditch and on the

> opposite side they have a cow-elephant which they have already caught. The

> male has a dire desire to feel and enjoy the touch of the female. In that

> delusion, not recognising the ditch below the vegetation, the elephant runs

> on it and falls into the ditch by its own weight. And it is caught.

>

> The moth voluntarily meets its end by the attraction of `form' – the form

> and glow of a flame of light. The fish courts death through its desire to

> bite the bait in the fish-hook. The bumble-bee on the other hand imprisons

> itself in the folds of the big champak flower, because the scintillating

> smell of the flower, which captivates even us human beings, attracts it into

> the inside of the flower.

>

> Thus these creatures attain their `panchatvam' (= death) by one of the

> `pancha' (= five) senses – a beautiful punning by the Acharya in his

> Viveka-chUDAmaNi shloka:

>

> " shabdAdibhiH panchabhireva pancha panchatvam-ApuH svaguNena baddhAH /

> kuranga-mAtanga-patanga-mIna-bRungA naraH panchabhir-anchitaH kiM // "

>

> `kuranga' is deer. `mAtanga' is elephant. `patanga' is moth. `mIna' is

> fish. `brunga' is bumblebee.

>

> `naraH': Man, `anchitaH' has been captivated `panchabhiH': by all the five

> (senses). The question `kim?' indicates the helpless situation in which man

> is entrapped by all the five senses, whereas just each one of the senses has

> been the cause of the extinction of a creature.

>

> I was talking about Desire and Happiness and that led me on to talking

> about the complete extinction of man at the hands of the senses.

>

> Permanent Happiness will not arise through Desire

>

> But we should not conclude so pessimistically that this is what always

> happens. I only wanted to show to you that it also happens like this many

> times. We always see happiness and misery occurring in a mixed fashion. Even

> if one is addicted to drinking, which affects his intelligence, family life

> and his own health, we have to note that there may be a certain happiness

> for those few moments of his drinking. A restaurant may also serve something

> very tasty and enjoyable; but even then when one sees the bill and the

> after-effects for the health of unhygenic food, one gets into the mode of

> unhappiness more than the happiness. At a music concert when the performer

> is at his best we feel that we really had more than the worth for the money

> we have spent; here the happiness and unhappiness balance each other very

> well. If the performer had bungled for some reason, our unhappiness will be

> more. If he had performed exceedingly well then the happiness is more than

> the unhappiness. And when we get a free pass for the concert and the vidwan

> had done exceedingly well, then it is pure happiness unsullied by any

> unhappiness!

>

> Alright. But did this happiness remain for ever? One went for the concert

> to get over the mood of dullness and depression that one had in the family

> living. And one certainly enjoyed the concert and the happiness was hundred

> percent. Because even the entry was free. And one returns home with all

> those good thoughts of the musical evening; in fact one is hoping to

> expatiate on that enjoyment at home to all the other members of the family.

> But what happens at home? A censure is awaiting him for arriving so late in

> the night for dinner and all the happy mood thereby changes over to one of

> unhappiness! And, in fact, if it happens after food that the bedroom is

> stuffy, with no cool air and also a lot of mosquito bites, one actually goes

> to the extremes of depression, in spite of the happy evening of a musical

> feast.

>

> Pepople go to the Races and also win a lot of money. But when the prize

> money is in one's hands is the happiness permanent? By the very posssession

> of that money new problems and worries arise. In fact many of man's miseries

> and unhappy moments arise from his possession of money and property. Of

> course there are in this world people with money who never go through any

> misery, live happily and die. But God knows, they also have to answer in the

> other world for whatever they did in this world to acquire that money –

> maybe they had to be unfair to somebody, maybe they had to pay bribes for

> their professional uplift, maybe they had to chase away people who came for

> charity or donation. Some way or other, desire for money and property does

> not leave a man unhurt in the long run.

>

> Even a happiness, with no mixture of sorrow or pain, that arises from a

> desire fulfillment is only a temporary happiness. The hot shower is

> comforting for some time but after some time the same begins to torment us.

> A vidwan may be sending you into raptures of good enjoyment of music, but

> how long can you hold on to it? You will be bored after, say, five or six

> hours of the same.

>

> The drink known as BadAm-khIr (an almond milk-shake) is certainly a very

> tasty and enjoyable drink. But how many glasses will you take. After the

> first few glasses, you will run away from it. Any such pleasure is

> time-bound. But desire for such pleasure never satiates. One goes on

> desiring for more and more of the pleasure. Even a voracious reader of books

> stops at some time from his reading and `wants' to do something else. But

> there is another point. The boredom or distaste that is generated is not

> itself permanent. The next day we want the same thing the same way!

>

> (To be continued in KMDA – 21)

>

> PraNAms to all advaitins.

> PraNAms to Kanchi Mahaswamigal.

> profvk

>

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