PERIYAVA'S SPEECH
Periyava's discourse on
"The State of Jeevan Mukthi"
______ __ _
Our Acharya taught Advaita in order that all beings may be redeemed.
We who have come in
that tradition are visiting all sorts of places. When we do so, we are
reminded frequently of
Him and of His Advaita teaching. Now all of us have met here. At this
time, the memory of Sri
Bhagavatpada comes to all of us. This is an important fruit of the
tradition he has left for us
that we should be constantly wandering about. This is not alone. There
is also another
purpose. The Acharya established our religion and the way of dharma
from the Cape to the
Himalayas. He has also given us a command. His command to us is that
we should expound
the various topics connected with our religion, when we perform the Pooja of Sri
Chandramouliswara at the different places to which we go. For this
purpose, He has also
made us bear His name. Therefore our main task is to spread the teachings of the
Bhagavatpada, being in the Sanyasa Asrama. We call those as Acharyas who have
established religion. It is usual for those who have established
religion to refer to our
Acharya as the Bhagavatpada. It is not our habit to utter the name of
those whom we revere.
There is the wish in us, i.e., in all beings, right from the ant
onwards, that we should remain
without dying but each and every being dies again and again and also
is born again and
again. We have heard from the epics that there were many great people who have
conquered death. In recent times, it is known that there was one such
great person of that
nature, Sadasiva Brahmendra. Now also there may be some great ones but
they do not
come to us and tell us what is the medicine that will remove the
disease called death. It is
this highly potent medicine that the Bhagavatpada has taught us. We
can acquire it even
while living. We do not have the sufficient power for getting it after
death. Those of us who
died formerly have taken birth again. Is that not so? Even because of
this what I stated just
now is clear. Similarly one who is not surviving cannot die. Because
we died previously, we
should have taken birth. If we probe thus still further our head will
reel. Let that be.
I said that we couldn't acquire the medicine for not dying after death
and that is known from
the fact that we have taken birth again. In the same manner, we know
that even in the
previous births, when we were living we did not discover this path.
The reason for this is
this: Is that not so? Thus the disease known as birth and death haunts
us all and has been
baffling us. Lord Krishna says to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, II.27.
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jatasya hi dhruvo mrityur dhruvam
janma mritasya cha.
If we find happiness in the process of repeatedly dying and taking
birth we need not seek for
the medicine which will give us the state of deathlessness. We do not
see this to be the case.
For man there was set up a body by someone, somewhere. As long as that
lasts, hunger and
thirst will continue to afflict him. In order to pacify them, everyone
has to go in search of
many things. Because they are helpful for our purpose, there arises in
us the desire for
them. If there is some hindrance in the way, we get angry. It is in
order to remove the
disease consisting of hunger and thirst that all of us go through so
much difficulty. If it is
some other disease, it can be removed through some medicine. But this
disease cannot be
removed that way. It arises time and again, and continues to give us
trouble. If some Siddha
can give us medicine for remaining without hunger, there will be no
need to suffer in this
manner. Some days ago I was at a place in Chittoor district which is a
Theertha for Bugga.
Near that place there are two springs, called Kailasa kone and
Sadasiva kone. The word
"kone" in Telugu means a mountain stream. There are Siva temples at
those places. I went
there. They are merit affording and very pure waterfalls are there.
All around there is a
quietude as well as peace. When performing ablutions and taking bath
there it would occur
to the mind "Let us stay here itself, hereafter we need not go
anywhere. There cannot be a
better place. Yet why do we come back from there? Is it not because of
the torture of
hunger? Those areas are so fine and mentally satisfying. Since this
came to my memory I
spoke about it. When for a man there happens relation to a body, it is
called birth; when the
body relation is removed, it is death.
I said that as long as this body lasts hunger would not leave us. Then
it means that when the
body goes the trouble will disappear. There seems to be an easy way of
achieving this. Now
a days when some people are guilty of some great mistake, or have to
face some unbearable
sorrow they take a revolver, shoot themselves. Can this be a way of
removing the relation
with the body? No, it cannot. Although this gross body goes, there is
some sort of another
body. One has to be wandering somewhere with that one. Again one must
take another
lowly birth. Committing suicide is not the right way. The dharma
sastras say that suicide is a
heinous crime. We have suffered such difficulties earlier by
committing many sins. Along
with them, if the sin of suicide also joins, births and sufferings
will only increase. Even at the
present time, committing suicide is thought to be a great crime. If
one person murders
another he is sentenced to death in the court. What for is this? By
sentencing him to death
will his sin be removed completely? Not at all. That punishment is not
for his good. If he
continues to live he will murder many more. Is that not so? Better
than the death of many in
that manner is the death of one. That is why the punishment is given.
Let this be.
The body is a great disease. Committing suicide is sin. Remaining
without death is the
supreme state. All this I have said. What is the way to reach that
state? It is this that the
Bhagavatpada has taught us. In each and every religion the respective
preceptors have
taught a particular method for gaining this end. The Saivas sponsor a
method. Another
method is taught by Vaishnavas. Different from these two, others show
a third method.
Many other means have been expounded. The Bhagavatpada does not
discard any of them.
They are all acceptable. But through them there can only be a
temporary remedy for this
disease. The root-cause of the disease will remain attached to us. A
man gets malaria. We
give medicines like quinine. If these are given the fever stops. But
will this do? If we are
able to get some medicine, which will remove the cause of this fever
so that it will not recur,
will that not be supremely valuable? Curing the disease called the
body through the methods
taught in other traditions is like taking quinine. For temporary
relief we must take that also.
Accepting all the various means the Bhagavatpada teaches another
method, which is
superior to all of them. I have already stated that we cannot take
this medicine after death.
At that time all our faculties like the eyes, the legs, etc. would be
devoid of any power. The
Purusha suktha is chanted every day at the time of the Pooja. In that
suktha the following
mantra occurs:
tam evam vidvan amritha iha bhavathi
nanyah pantha vidhyathe yanaya
The meaning of this mantra is: He who has known this Self very well
becomes one who has
attained the state of deathlessness even in this birth. For gaining
this state there is no other
way. Amritha means moksha. To those who have gained moksha there are
no birth and
death. Therefore moksha is called amritha. The disease called the body
is not something,
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which has come to man anew. It has come from countless time and
without our knowledge.
We require only the experience of those who have had this disease
cured by taking the
appropriate medicine. Even like this disease the medicine which is
meant for this is also
stated in the beginningless Veda. We write a book. Before the writing
it was not there. The
Veda is not like it. It was not written by someone. The conclusive
view is that it is like the
perennial teaching. I shall tell you about it when there is time. In
the passage cited above
there is the word iha (here). Therefore even while this body lasts, it
is clear, the state of
deathlessness can be gained. This way alone is the best. Why? If as is
stated in other
traditions this state is to be gained in another world, we cannot know
about it now. Those
who have gained it will not come back and tell us about that
experience. The purport of the
passage is that Self-knowledge is the means to the state of
immortality. I said that the
disease consisting of hunger and thirst is common to all beings. In
order to satisfy it there
are required instruments such as eyes, tongue, etc. The mind too is
needed. Through the
mind we come to know which objects are good and which are bad. With
the help of these
instruments we acquire many objects. In order to protect them there is
required a house; in
order to help us a wife, son, relations, friends and others. Without
stopping therewith, we
begin to have great conceit in them, thinking they are ours. If there
is pain for the
instruments—eyes, legs, etc. we imagine that the pain has come to us.
If the body gets
emaciated, we think that the suffering is ours. From this, is it not
clear that we have not
understood our true nature? Although sometimes we say "This is my
mind", "this is my eye,
my body", etc. separating ourselves from them, yet at the same time
the conceit of identity
does not leave us as is evident from such statements as "I am tall",
"I am short", etc. The
medicine, which will destroy this, is Self-knowledge alone. It is
customary always to find the
proper medicine for a particular disease. If one takes on oneself on
account of ignorance,
the troubles which are not there and suffers as a consequence, the
proper medicine for that
is the knowledge that these do not belong to one. If we realise that
the body is not ours then
the disease called the body will go of its own accord. For the sake of
this, one need not
commit suicide nor is there required a search for some other means. By
these methods, the
connection to the body will become only all the more. This I have
stated already. The
Bhagavatpada has taught us that we should realise bodilessness even
while the body is
there. This is immortality (amritha), release (moksha).
tadethat asarirathvam mokshakhyam
–Sutrabhashya (I, I,4)
This is what he has said. You may have many friends. So long as you
think they are yours
you will regard what are their happiness and misery as yours. Let us
suppose that at some
time later they themselves become our enemies, then we will not have
any relation with their
happiness and misery. May be, we may think that they should experience
some misery. Why
is it so? In regard to them, the conceit "mine" has gone. In the same
manner, we must treat
our body. Here before us there hangs a plantain/stem. If that dries up
do we dry up? We
must often think of our body as a piece of flesh, which is tied up,
nearer than the
plantain/stem. Because we have the conceit "I", "I" it has taken root
in us. We must
constantly reflect thus. Desire, anger, hatred, fear, all these belong
to the mind and not to
me. Hunger, thirst, etc. belong to the body, they are not mine. If we
do so then the deepseated
conceit will disappear little by little. In the Upanishads it is
taught that our Self is
extremely pure. Iswara is the one Reality that is all-pervasive, pure
and blissful. Everyone
should realise that we are truly that Isvara. The body, etc. that are
seen by us are different.
We are different. Thus we must know the distinction.
tam svaccharirat pravrheth munjadivesikam
dhairyena tham vidhyacchukram amritham
Katha Upanishad vi, 17.
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Just like drawing out pulp from the munja grass the Self should be
separated bravely from
the body. Then it will be seen to be pure and deathless. This is the
meaning. We see a thing
here – there are two: the object and the subject.
What is seen is different from that which sees. The body is what is
seen, therefore the one
who sees, the Self, is different from it. He who thinks that the Self
is what is seen is an
ignorant person. This is stated in the Kenaupanishad:
avijnatham vijanatham, vijnatham avijnatham
To them who think they know, it is not known. To them who think they
do not know it is
known. This is the meaning. Let this be.
If we wish to remain without death, the disease consisting of the
body, etc. should go. He
who is without body is Iswara. So we should always have the
contemplation "I am He".
Some persons would say verbally "Iam He" (soham, soham) while sitting
and while standing
up. Unlike this it is better to utter the statement after knowing its
meaning. It is very easy to
say that we should think that the body is not ours. It is difficult to
realise this in practice. If
somebody beats us is it possible for us to think that there has been
no beating, that there is
no beating, that there is no pain? By what means can we achieve this?
If it is not possible to
think that there is no body, we must begin to think that all the
bodies in the world are ours.
This is the remedial means. By thinking so, when others suffer we will
think of going to their
help. The happiness and sorrow of others will become ours. The thought
that whatever we
do is not for us will automatically arise.
It is this that is taught by the Lord to Arjuna in the Bhagawad Gita.
All things should be
performed as an offering to God. Therefore we must toil for others
always. Every action that
we do must be offered to God. Always we must have the contemplation "I
am He". As I said
yesterday, we must constantly raise the slogan, "namah parvathi
pathaye". This is the state
of having left the body even while living. In the sastra this is
called jeevanmukthi.
asariram vava santham na priyapriye sprisata
This passage of the Chandogya (viii, xii, I) gives the same teaching.
The meanings are
pleasure and pain never approach a man who lives without body. This is
the meaning. The
medicine taught to us by the Bhagavatpada for remaining without death
is the same. This is
given in the form of a verse by a great person. This verse has been cited by the
Bhagavatpada in his Brahmasutra bhashya (I, I, 4).
gaunamithyathmano satthve putradehadhi badhanat,
sadbrahmathmahamithyevam bodhe karyam katham bhavet.
The Self usually is distinguished into three. Gaunathma (the
figurative self), mithyathma (the
illusory self), and mukhyathma ( the principal Self). Our son, friends
etc. their pain and
pleasure are ours. This conceit is in every one. Have I not said this?
This is gaunathma.
Gaunathma means figurative self. We know we are different from the
son, friends and
others. Even then, the conceit that we are they come to us. So, this
has been stated to be
gaunathma. The conceit of "I" in the body etc. is mithyathma.
Separating the pure Self and
realising it to be Brahmin and that we are. That is mukhyathma. If the
two gaunathma and
mithyathma are given up the relation to the son, friends, the body,
sense organs, etc. will be
removed. Then there will arise the knowledge "remain as the true
Brahmin" After that there
is nothing that has to be done. This is the meaning of the verse cited
above. Therefore all of
us should endeavour to acquire this medicine which is true knowledge
as taught by the
Bhagavathpada, our supreme Preceptor. Then we shall gain always the
pure state of
bodilessness and the supreme bliss without any blemish. In order to
achieve this, we must
always think of God and perform good deeds. Sri Chandramauliswara
should bestow His
grace on us for this. This is our prayer.
[Translated in English - Courtesy: Shri T.M.P.Mahadevan]
knr
--
If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
Happy moments, praise God.
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God.
Painful moments, trust God.
Every moment, thank God
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