Thus Spake the Divine - Way to Purify Impurities

Thus Spake the Divine

Way to Purify Impurities

In this chapter, Poojyasri Maha Periyava brings the subtle identity between Anandham and Brahmam.

If we look at things with conscious awareness, then everything appears blissful to us. Blissfulness or Anandham is the eternal state. If we get to possess this state of wisdom, we will realise that everything is blissful. Blissfulness has no boundaries. It is omnipresent. Wisdom also has no boundaries and there is no place where it is non-existent. However, there cannot be two things, which are eternal and boundary-less. Therefore, blissfulness and wisdom are both one and the same. In the Upanishads, it is stated that Anandham and Brahmam are identical. Since there is no one place in which Brahmam is not non-existent, the same Atma is also one that possesses this wisdom and blissfulness. Therefore, Blissfulness, Wisdom, Brahmam and Soul (Atma) are all one and the same.

We see things only with our eyes. We call one flower as rose flower and the other as oomathai flower (from a poisonous flowering plant). If we look through a flower with the conscious awareness (wisdom), we will realise that it is not just rose; it will be an object of bliss. Similarly, oomathai flower also would emit blissfulness. Since we don’t have that conscious awareness, we see one as the rose flower and the other as something different. But, in reality, all are objects of bliss. This reality is not visible to us because our thought (chiththam) is filled with impurities and lacks focus. If the mirror is oscillating, then the image in that will not be natural and there will be distortions. If the mirror, apart from its oscillations, also has dust over it, then the naturalness of the image will be totally distorted. Similarly, our mind-mirror is also oscillating and covered with dust. Thus, it does not reflect the image of things in a blissful manner.

If you tell a man, who is mentally retarded, to hold a stick for 15 minutes, he cannot do that. But a man with a sane state of mind can hold that stick for 15 minutes. We can hold a thing that has a physical structure. However, if we are asked to keep thinking about a substance for a specific duration of time, we cannot do that. The very next moment, the mind starts hovering over thousands of thoughts as a motion picture. Therefore, as we judge madmen, to the eyes of sages and saints, we also will appear as mentally retarded. Till the time our mind comes under control, all of us can be described as mad, with different kinds and levels of madness. As a dusty, oscillating mirror, our mind is filled with flaws and lacks focus. Once we impose focus on our minds, we will understand the reality.

How to get rid of our flaws? To us, impurity refers to our body. What is the origin of this body? The body is the consequential result of our own sins. Through which medium did we commit those sins? We committed all the sins with various parts of the body, such as hands, legs and mind. If you want to untie a knot, you untie it by reversing the rope’s earlier course. Similarly, we should destroy our earlier evil acts through good deeds and annihilate sins by performing sacred deeds. The sins committed by parts of the body, such as hands, legs and mind, should be made extinct only through those very parts of the body. Practising charity, adhering to rules of rituals and customs, reciting the name of God, visiting different temples etc., are all good deeds. These are the means through which sins can be made extinct. We should use these as means to liberate ourselves from our sins, adopt the path of wisdom and attain the state of boundless wisdom and blissfulness.

The Whole Supreme Being (Akhand) and Fragmented Particles (Khand)

In this Chapter, Poojyasri Maha Periyava elucidates the association between the Brahmam and Jeevan

emphasising on the philosophy of Tat- Tvam.

There is only one sun for this earth. Sprinkle a handful of water on a smooth surface when the sun shines. You will see the image of sun reflecting in each of the drops of water. Though they all are separately reflecting the sun, it does not mean that there are as many suns. Sun is only one. The same way, the light of knowledge glittering onto all living beings existing in this Cosmos is nothing but the reflection of only one Brahmam. This is what Sri Adi Shankara Bhagavadpada has revealed in Brahma Sutra Bhashyam.

The only supreme power or the only supreme wisdom, which forms the source or origin of everything, that same supreme power and boundless wisdom alone has disseminated into fragments within a range and appears as multiple particles. That one substance is “Tat” which means “that”, which is supposed to be the culmination of the Veda. “Tat” refers to ‘that substance’ which “exists there quite far away” above all. In our current state though, it might appear to be at a faraway distance, in reality, it is the one substance that is the whole entirety and which exists both in proximity and at a faraway distance. Veda says, “That” substance (Tat) is only “You” (Tvam) - Tat-Tvam Asi - You are that.

When I say all this, for a moment, it would appear as though we have comprehended the concept well. It would be great if we continue to stay back the same way forever, as we remain at this one moment. But the next moment, we lose sight of this absolute truth. We fall prey to various sorrows because of different kinds of myths. To continue to be blissful forever, we should hold on to someone tight, who remains the absolute truth, the God forever. We exist in different tiny particles. All these tiny particles, when merging with the Supreme Being, transform themselves as the Supreme Being and become eternally blissful.

The one who is the Supreme Being is the only existence. There being various particles are just sheer thoughts. The state of thoughts or dreams is not something that is perpetually true. If we, who are the fragmented particles of the Supreme Being (Whole), endowed with physical forms and attributes (Guna), start meditating on the Supreme Being, and finally reach a stage of meditation with the self, possessed with no-attributes (Nirguna), life will become devoid of any frictions and problems. Prevail will only a state of splendid tranquillity. This is the fruit that Sri Shankara Bhagavadpada has plucked from the tree of Upanishad and given to us.

Before reaching this ripened stage, one has to mature gradually. We have to go through the stages of being a bud, flower, stage prior to full growth, and then the full-grown vegetable or fruit. One has to patiently wait till reaching the ripened stage. If one is hasty to become a fruit while it is still unripe, it will fall off the tree prematurely, losing its value. There is no use of it. Ramalinga Adigal, one of the famous Tamil Saints nervously asks, “Will it fall premature?” We should also have the same anxiety. Till one reaches the stage of maturity as that of a fully ripened fruit, one should continue to perform Pooja, japam (chanting), thapam (penance) etc. Till we reach the culminating stage of Veda, which is the “Tat-Tvam”, we should continue to follow the above- mentioned practices. Only then the fruit will fully ripen. Finally, where does the origin point for that Tat-Tvam exist? It exists only within the self; it exists within the wisdom that penetrates into the Tat-Tvam. This can be realised through one’s own experience.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in & across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture & Tradition.