PART 31 21//22 SANATANA DHARMA
ONE AS MANY ONDRE PALAVAAGA
As already emphasised, the one and only Paramatman is revealed as so many
different deities. If one person develops a great liking for a certain
deity, another chooses to have a liking for some other. To make a man a
confirmed devotee of the form in which he likes to adore the Lord, the
Paramatman on occasion diminishes himself in his other forms.
Tirukandiyur is in Tanjavur district, Tamil Nadu. In the temple here Siva
is seen to be a lesser god than Visnu. He once plucked off one of Brahma's
heads, became thus the victim of a curse and was freed from it through the
grace of Visnu. In the same district is Tiruvizhimalai where it is Visnu
who is seen to be a lesser god than Siva. Reciting the
"Siva-Sahasranama"(The One Thousand Names of Siva), Visnu offers lotuses at
the feet of Siva. When he is nearing the end of his worship he finds that
he is short of one lotus. What does he do now? Visnu, the lotus-eyed, digs
out one of his own eyes and offers it at the feet of Siva. The latter is
pleased and gives him the cakra or discus. Siva is called
here"Netrarpanesvara"(Siva
to whom an eye has been offered); at Tiruakandiyur Visnu is
"Hara-sapa-vimocana"(one who freed Siva from a curse). When we listen to
the story of Tirukandiyur we learn that Visnu is a god of great compassion
who frees his devotees from the most terrible of curses. Similarly, from
the Tiruvizhimalai story we realise that no sacrifice is too great for a
devotee- Visnu offers one of his own eyes to the god he worships, that is
Siva. The question here is not who is the greater of the two, Siva or Visnu.
In the old days we used to have the lanterns in our homes. There were
lanterns with glass on all the four sides- or three sides. Let us take the
latter type. The wick inside the glass is lighted. The three sides made of
glass are painted in three different colours [or only two sides are
painted]. The light burning inside will be seen to be a different colour
from each side. We may take these three sides to represent creation,
protection and dissolution, the three functions performed by the
Paramatman. It is the one Light that is responsible for all the three, like
the wick burning inside the lamp with the three sides.
One side of the lantern, let us assume, is painted red. It symbolises
creation. If we remove red from the pure light of the spectrum, the other
six colours also will be separated. *This is what is meant by the one
becoming the many of creation.* Brahma, the Creator, is said to be red in
colour. Another side of the lantern is painted blue. The first and last
colours of the spectrum are violet and red. The beginning is red (or
infrared) and the end violet (or ultraviolet). Mahavisnu, during the very
act of sustaining all creation, demonstrates through jnana that this world
is not the whole self-fulfilling truth but the disguise of the Paramatman,
his sport. In the fire of jnana the cosmos is charred. This is the state in
which an object, without being entirely disintegrated, retains its form but
loses its colour: it is like a lump of charcoal. Such a entity as the world
still exists, but its own quality, Maya, is burned out and is suffused with
Visnu-"Sarvam Vishnumayam jagat". In Tamil Visnu is called"Kariyan,
Nilameniyan"(one who is like charcoal, one whose body is blue). Blue, black
and violet are more or less similar colours. The light coming from the blue
side of the lantern is Visnu.
The third side of the lamp is not painted. We saw that when all is burnt in
jnana the residue is a lump of charcoal. But if this charcoal is burned
further the ultimate product is ash. It has no form and is just powder or
dust. Now the colour also changes from black to white. White is the colour
close to pure light. All the colours are inherent in that light, which
means all the cosmic functions and activities emanating from the Paramatman
are made extinct, are burned out. Now the Paramatman alone remains. That is
the ashes remain when everything is burnt out- that is what lasts in the
end. It is indeed Paramesvara otherwise called Mahabhasma. Samhara,
destruction, may seem a cruel function. But what Siva does, though
seemingly cruel, is truly an act of compassion because he goes beyond
destruction to unite us with the Truth. When Visnu sportingly bestows jnana
on us the cosmos seems like a lump of charcoal. "Sarvam Vishnumayam jagat,
"we say. But now all the sport has ended and we have come to the state of
supreme jnana: there is neither "sarvam"nor "jagat". Now it is all
"Sivamayam". It is the one lamp that is the light of the Brahman. When it
is seen through the red side of the lantern it becomes Brahma; through the
blue side it is Visnu; and through the unpainted side it is Siva.
Our great men have in the past sung of the One manifesting as
three("Oruvare muvuruvay"). There were great poets in our country who were
not interested in propagating any philosophy or any system of thought- they
were men possessing a broad outlook and an open mind who expressed their
views freely. These poets have said that it is the same entity that is
manifested as the Trimurthi(Brahma, Visnu and Mahesvara) and indeed as the
33 crore devatas. Bana says that the same Object becomes three to perform
three functions, "sarga-sthiti-nasa-hetave". Kalidasa clearly states,
"Ekaiva murtirbibhide tridha sa" (The Paramatman is One; it is this One
that divides itself into three for the three different functions
<https://kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part14/referp14.htm#EKAIVA%20MURTARBIBHIDE%20TRIDHA%20SA>
).
If we were divided into two schools, the one insisting that the Saiva
Puranas alone are authoritative among the Puranas and the other claiming
that only the Vaisnava Puranas are to be relied upon, we would keep
quarrelling without ever being able to take a clear and dispassionate view
of things. "The Truth is One. The wise speak of it by different names".
There is no greater authority for us than this Vedic pronouncement. So all
of us, without making any distinction between the Saiva and Vaisnaiva
systems, must listen to the stories of all deities and be rewarded with
freedom from worldly existence.
Tiruvisanallur Ayyaval was a great man. His real name was Sridhara
Venkateswara. But out of respect people referred to him as "Tiruvisanallur
Ayyaval". He lived some three hundred years ago and was the senior
contemporary of Bhagavannama Bodhendra. Bodhendra propagated devotion to
Rama and Govinda, that is he taught people to sing these names of the Lord.
At the same time Ayyaval spread the glory of Siva by singing his names.
Neither of the two respected any distinction between Siva and Visnu. So the
two of them jointly propagated the "nama siddhanta"in the Tiruvisanallur.
They had respect and affection for one another and established the doctrine
that in the age of Kali repeating the names of the Lord[nama japa] is the
sovereign remedy for all ills. Whenever a bhajana is held obeisance is paid
to these two (first Bodhendra and then Ayyaval) before singing the praises
of the deities.
During a sraddha ceremony Ayyaval fed an untouchable. The village headman
gave the ruling that he had to bathe in the Ganga in expiation. Ayyaval
made the sacred river rise in the well in the backyard of his house. This
story is well known. The incident took place on the new moon of the month
of Karttigai (November-December). Even today devotees in large numbers
bathe in the water of this well in the belief that it is as good as taking
a dip in the holy Ganga.
Ayyaval gives his own account of how Sri Rama broke the bow of Siva.
"Svakara pratipadita svacapah, "this is how he put it. That is Rama broke
his bow with his own hands. The story usually told is that the bow of Siva
was cracked by Narayana and that later Narayana who descended to earth as
Rama broke it completely. Ayyaval does not like the idea of Siva being
represented as inferior to Rama. He does not make any distinction between
Siva and Visnu and believes that Siva is Visnu and Visnu is Rama (so Siva
and Rama are the same). Logically, in his view, the bow of Siva is the bow
of Rama. That is why he says Rama broke his own bow with his hands. All
such acts are needed for his sport, he declares.
MANY PATHS TO ONE GOAL
The Azhvars sing the glory of Visnu and the Nayanmars of Siva. In the Vedas
all deities are hymned in the same way. The Upanishads do not speak much
about deities; they are concerned with truths of the Self. Tiruvalluvar
speaks about God and philosophical matters and his views are in keeping
with the Vedic tradition. But the emphasis in his work is on morals and
ethics. As for Tirumular, he does not deal so much with God, devotion, etc,
as he does with aspects of yoga like pranayama, dhyana, dharana and
samadhi. "Each great man, like each great work, speaks about a particular
system, a particular path. Which of these is to be followed? " such a
question arises in the minds of people. Whatever system or path you follow,
follow it with faith. Do not give it up midway. In the end it will lead you
to the Paramatman. In the beginning the paths may seem different but all of
them take you to the same goal.
*Devar kuralum Tirunanmarai mudivum*
*Muvar Tamizhum munimozhiyum--Kovai*
*Tiruvacakamum Tirumular sollum*
*Oruvacakam **en(ru)unar*
<https://kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part14/referp14.htm#DEVAR%20KURALUM>*.*
The same idea is expressed in the "Sivamahimna-stotra". This hymn
glorifying Siva is by Pushpadanta. He was a gandharva who, under a curse of
Isvara, was condemned to live on earth. One stanza in his hymn says: "Trayi(the
three Vedas), Sankhya(philosophical inquiry), yoga, the Pasupata system,
Vaisnavism- people follow any of them according to their different
dispositions. Like the rivers merging in the ocean all these paths have one
meeting point, the Paramatman. "
It is this spirit of Catholicism that Englishmen exclaim: "Jevhovah, Jove
or Lord!
<https://kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part14/referp14.htm#JEHOVAH%20,%20JOVE%20OR%20LORD>".
Jehovah is the Semitic God of the region of Israel, the home of the Bible.
Jove is another name of Jupiter. The word "Lord" applies to the God of any
faith; it is common to all religions. Realised people in the West also
speak that the one Being is the same, call him by any name you like.
*If the Puranas are read in an attitude of respect and humility and with
the honest intention that we should benefit by reading them, *there will be
no cause for any confusion. We will gain the wisdom to treat them as works
meant for our ultimate well-being. { COMPARE THE CARE OF MAHA PERIYAVA
WORDS WITH SOME ONE ASSERTING YESTERDAY SOME SENSELESS WORDS}
PALM LEAF MANUSCRIPTS
In the old days palm-leaf manuscripts were preserved in almost every house.
They contained the texts of the epics, the Puranas, Sthala Puranas, and so
on. When the palm-leaves were in danger of being damaged, their contents
would be copied with a stylus on new leaves. The damaged leaves would be
consigned to the Kaveri or some other sacred river, or to some pond on the
occasion of Patinettam Per [see next para]
The 18th day of the Tamil month of Adi (July-August) has a special
significance for the Kaveri. The river would be in spate. The swelling
waters on this day are called Patinettam Perukku or Patinettam Per.
Our forefathers went on inscribing on palm - leaves with their stylus until
their hands ached. *They copied old texts to be preserved for posterity*. (AND
ALL GOOD THINGS WERE ONLY COPIED AND PASTED RIGHRT FROM ANCIENT GOODMEN AND
WOMEN} This tradition lasted until perhaps the time of our fathers. People
of our generation have thrown these precious manuscripts into the river
without making copies of them. So much so it is doubtful whether the texts
of many Puranas will ever be available to us. Not only Puranas, but also a
number of sastras. However, some scholars have taken great pains to go from
place to place to collect manuscripts and preserve them in libraries.
The Sarasvati
Mahal Library in Tanjavur, the Oriental Manuscripts Library and the Adyar
Library, Madras, have good collections of manuscripts. The Theosophical
Society Library, Adyar, has done commendable work in this respect.
Sarabhoji and other rulers of Tanjavur took great trouble to collect
manuscripts for the Sarasvati Mahal.
The palm-leaf is called “Eadu” in Tamil. It has two sides with a rib in
between - either of the two sides after the removal of the rib is called an
eAdu. The plantain leaf also has a rib. When it is split across the rib,
each part is an eAdu. For long the palm-leaf was our paper, nature's paper
which was not easily damaged. The letters had to be inscribed on it with a
stylus.
The palm-leaves containing the text of Gnanasambandhar's Tevaram
compositions went upstream against the current of the river Vaigai and were
laid ashore. The spot where the manuscript lodged itself is called
"Tiruvedakam"
("Tiru +edu + akam"). Here the deity lord Siva is called "Patrika
Paramesvara". Nowadays the word "paper" is understood as a newspaper,
magazine, periodical, etc. "Patrika" means a magazine today. The lord
associated with the spot where the palm-leaves, nature's paper, were laid
ashore is "Patrika Paramesvara", which could be taken to mean "the Lord the
journalist". "Patra" and "Patrika" mean the same, a leaf. In the past
letters were written on palm-leaves. That is why a letter also came to be
called "patra".
There is an interesting story about the Sarasvati Mahal. In olden days the
worst injury an invader thought he could inflict on a country was to burn
down it's libraries. When the treasury is to the economy of the nation the
library is to its culture; indeed, the library represents its cultural
treasury. Since there was no printing press then, there would not be many
[palm-leaf] copies available of works, and of some works there would be
only a single copy. To destroy the library of the nation, containing rare
works, would be a greater outrage than looting its treasury or dishonouring
its women. We must be proud of the fact that our sastras on policy strictly
forbid the destruction of an enemy country's treasures of knowledge and its
places of worship, nor do they permit the dishonouring of its women.
When Jainas like Amarasimha lost to Hindu religious teachers in argument,
they themselves wanted to burn their books. But great men like our Acarya
stopped them from doing so. Holding the hands of their opponents they
requested them not to destroy their books. Their attitude was that no work
must be destroyed whatever the philosophy or religious system it upholds.
Conquerors belonging to other countries took special delight in setting
fire to the libraries of the conquered land if it was known to be
culturally advanced. They perpetrated such outrages without reflecting for
a moment on the fact that knowledge is common to all, even such knowledge
as possessed by an enemy. They could cause anguish to the people
intellectually superior to them by destroying their books. It was thus that
during the 15-16th centuries Muslim invaders set fire to the library in
Alexandria in Egypt (it had books collected from the time of Alexander) and
the library in Constantinople (Istanbul) which had been built up over the
centuries by the Greeks and the Romans. Once old Sangam were swept off when
the sea rose - it was an act of nature. But it is due to their cultural
backwardness that foreign forces destroyed the libraries of the country
they invaded.
The Sarasvati Mahal of Tanjavur was once under threat when Muslim forces
had spread all over the south and the Nawab of Carnatic had the upper hand.
For the Muslim invaders burning down the Sarasvati Mahal library was
equivalent to destroying the great temple of Tanjavur
<https://kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part14/referp14.htm#TANJAVUR>. At that
time there was a Maharastrian Brahmin called Dabir Pant who was a minister
to the Maratha Raja (the Maratha rulers here belonged to Sivaji's family).
An idea occured to him just in time to save the library. He said to the
vandals: "This library has of course Hindu books. But it also has many
copies of Qur'an. " "What? The Qur'an also? " The invaders cried. " We
won't set fire to the library in that case, "so saying they departed.
Then came to India Englishmen, Frenchmen and others. They had a thirst for
knowledge and research and were anxious to learn even from foreign sources. The
Germans came to our country and searched for palm-leaf manuscripts to take
home with Them*. **We must be grateful to some of these foreigners through
whose efforts a number of our sastras were rediscovered.* There was, for
example, Mackenzie who was surveyor-general of India
<https://kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part14/referp14.htm#INDIA>. He went from
place to place to collect palm-leaf manuscripts. There was at that time no
special department to deal with them but Mackenzie had them read by experts
and took steps to have them preserved. Mackenzie's men even came to our
Kanchi Matha at Kumbakonam to gather information.
K Rajaram IRS 21524//22524
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