Post by saidevo on Sept 25, 2012 7:59:11 GMT 5.5
Pages 137-142
Another occasion, SriCharaNar is going to Tiruvottiyur from Tandaiyarpet (Tondiarpet). He is walking, holding onto a covered vehicle that looks like a cycle rickshaw. (It is true that SriCharaNar who is tenderness personified walks softly like Goddess Ambika, but during his saMcAra (wandering) in the outer world, he would only practice the king's style of walking. Look, how fast he moves on! While walking in this manner on the roads, if there happens to be a temple somewhere in the distance, it would be known somehow only to him. His sriCaraNAs (holy feet) would immediately get out of their sandals and start walking on the ground, observing the practice of reverence mentioned in the Shastras. The sandals he got rid of would be kicked several feet behind due to the fast pace of his walk!)
On that day, when he is thus walking towards Tiruvottiyur, a sudden loud noise that freezes the blood is heard. It takes sometime to understand what that amanuSya (not human) noise is due to. Some puppies got stuck under the wheels of a speeding bus. The noise was due to their wail in the last pangs of death. While the people in his retinue finally manage to assuage their feelings, SriCharaNar himself goes on walking like an ivory doll, without slipping away from his regular, straight path.
To the pAriSadas (attendant) who do their kaingaryam (service) to him, the other people share their wonder of the sage's acala (rock-like) state. A pAriSada who has some idea about the inner-depth of the sage says, "He wouldn't know anything about the happenings that the road we are walking now is Tiruvottiyur highway, that a bus went through this road or that the puppies got stuck in its wheels. He is in his one-hour japam."
It remains a wonder for us as to how one who has no consciousness of his physical self could direct his legs and walk.
If Adi Sankara prayed, "Let my sleep be samAdhi; all my saMcAra be my pradakSiNas", for our Abhinava Sankara even saMcAra becomes samAdhi!
The wonder of directing the physical body in a mechanical fashion has been given to Parama Jnanis even in the state where they experience only their Atma.
In the same way, we need to think that the feel of time even in this kala atIta (going beyond time) state, has also been somehow with him, because when that one hour is over, he would dissolve his niSTA (meditation) on the dot of a second.
If the time has not increased by an hour in the clock when he gets up from his niSTA, it would only mean that the clock is wrong. For one who was totally unconscious of the world for a duration of one hour, he would continue his conversation where he left it before his meditation, dragging on with the words, "...Hm, vandhu (now)".
Our Acharya Peruman who is skilled in his experience of the Inner Light, guarded his Ashcharya shaktis (surprising powers) in a secret manner! That in itself is an AshcaryaM! Notwithstanding, on rare occasions his powers that hold surprise and wonder (to the others) would unfold their petals just a little. When SriCharaNar comes to the feel of the outer world after dissolving his state of samAdhi, on some occasions some puzzling words that hold surprise to the onlooker would part and drop out of his mouth. He would utter, lisping like a child, the name of some place and some person there. The onlooker would have no idea of the person, and PeriyavaaL would quickly cut that thread. Later, the same person would come and stand for darshan or a letter would be received from him.
This is not an ordinary thing of surprise that we usually refer to. This should be said as a special surprise. Because in his niSTA he had been united with the Brahman, completely rejecting the world of maya; but then when he gets back to the outer world, if something about that world of maya comes out of his mouth...! Did they say without knowing that nothing concerning a Jnani could be known by another person as it is!
The bhAgyavantAs (fortunate) who know about his inner skills would only laugh, "Does this man do niSTA and then dissolove it? Such changes he displays in his state are only his play!" They would shed tears of joy asking, "Do you think that he is united with ParamporuL only during that one hour and is away from It during other times?" He is the one who has become the act and object of niSTA, crossing the stages of going into and dissolving niSTA.
In the same way that he walks and has the feel of time during the time of his niSTA that is known even to the rustic, he also attends to all the affairs in the outer world remaining in his inner life of anavarata niSTA (uninterrupted meditation)! That is what is talked about as jIvan mukti sthiti (the state of a liberated-while-living). It would be an apacAram (offense) to think that a Jivan Mukta stops at the state of his (external) acts because he does them. It is sahaja samAdhi (natural samAdhi) to remain in the state of samAdhi even during one's physical actions. To remain apart from physical acts while in samAdhi is kevala samAdhi (exclusive samAdhi). Like a child that sucks milk even in its sleep, a Jivan Mukta is seen engaging himself in his world affairs, always immersed in paramAnandam (complete bliss) of the paraveLi (trans-physical).
There is another simile here. To the simile that is told by a Sanskrit verse, our PatthinatthupPiLLai also has sung more or less identically. Those are the shloka and (Tamil) verse that PeriyavaaL fondly recites.
The mantra that Varaha Upanishad gives in the form of a shloka (verse):
pu~Nkhaanupu~Nkha vishhayekshaNa tatparo.api
brahmaavalokanadhiya.n na jahaati yogii .
sa~Ngiita taala laya vaadyavasha.n gataapi
maulistha kumbha parirakshaNa dhiir naTiiva .. 82..
82. As an actress, though subject (or dancing in harmony) to music, cymbals and other musical instruments of time, has her mind intent upon he protection of the pot on her head, so the Yogin, though intent for the time being upon the hosts of objects, never leaves off the mind contemplating on Brahman.
(Translation from: www.shastras.com/108upanishads/varaha/index.html)
PattinatthadigaL's song:
etthozhilaich cheitAlum etavatthaip pattAlum
mutthar manamirukkum monatthe! - vitthakamaik
kAthiviLai yadiiru kaivIsi vandAlum
tAthimana nIrkkudatthe tAn!
The AdigaLAr refers to the action of the women who carry pots of water that they bring from a river. When they walk away from the riverbank, even if they are playful and walk waving both their hands, their mind will always be on their pots.
"He has sung 'mutthar manamirukkum monatthe. irukkum or iRakkum (be or die) who knows?" said SriCharaNar.
We know by reading the biographies of some MahaPurushas that it was as difficult for them to come back from the nirvikalpa samAdhi, as it was to attain it getting united with the SatChitAnanda which is the real Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, after the mind processes and the mind itself fall away. It is said that those uttama vyaktis (lofty people) would remain in that state of samAdhi for days together! The others would have to catch hold and shake them violently, stopping short of beating them, in order to bring them back to the normal world!
Whereas in the case of our Gurunathan who is a Jivan Mukta who has attained the loftiest state, the getting into and later dissolution of niSTA happens very easily.
The cloud ascends the regions of the sky in seconds; and in seconds, it becomes rain and touches the earth. This is also a cloud. This is the cloud that gives to those who cannot withstand the heat and humidity, solace the moment its shadow falls on them and then spreads in the regions of the mind as abhaya hastam (the hand of protection), raining grace and blessings!
Glossary:
abhinava - quite new or young, very young, fresh; modern
anavaratam - uninterrupted, incessant
kevala - exclusive, only, mere, sole, isolated, simple, pure.
sthiti - standing, stopping, staying, remaining in or with; abode, place; situation, rank, dignity; devotion to or occupation with; stability, duration; firmness, constancy, existence, occurrence; state, condition; conduct, procedure; axiom, maxime, rule, custom, usage, boundary, limit; rectitude, virtue.
*** *** ***
Another occasion, SriCharaNar is going to Tiruvottiyur from Tandaiyarpet (Tondiarpet). He is walking, holding onto a covered vehicle that looks like a cycle rickshaw. (It is true that SriCharaNar who is tenderness personified walks softly like Goddess Ambika, but during his saMcAra (wandering) in the outer world, he would only practice the king's style of walking. Look, how fast he moves on! While walking in this manner on the roads, if there happens to be a temple somewhere in the distance, it would be known somehow only to him. His sriCaraNAs (holy feet) would immediately get out of their sandals and start walking on the ground, observing the practice of reverence mentioned in the Shastras. The sandals he got rid of would be kicked several feet behind due to the fast pace of his walk!)
On that day, when he is thus walking towards Tiruvottiyur, a sudden loud noise that freezes the blood is heard. It takes sometime to understand what that amanuSya (not human) noise is due to. Some puppies got stuck under the wheels of a speeding bus. The noise was due to their wail in the last pangs of death. While the people in his retinue finally manage to assuage their feelings, SriCharaNar himself goes on walking like an ivory doll, without slipping away from his regular, straight path.
To the pAriSadas (attendant) who do their kaingaryam (service) to him, the other people share their wonder of the sage's acala (rock-like) state. A pAriSada who has some idea about the inner-depth of the sage says, "He wouldn't know anything about the happenings that the road we are walking now is Tiruvottiyur highway, that a bus went through this road or that the puppies got stuck in its wheels. He is in his one-hour japam."
It remains a wonder for us as to how one who has no consciousness of his physical self could direct his legs and walk.
If Adi Sankara prayed, "Let my sleep be samAdhi; all my saMcAra be my pradakSiNas", for our Abhinava Sankara even saMcAra becomes samAdhi!
The wonder of directing the physical body in a mechanical fashion has been given to Parama Jnanis even in the state where they experience only their Atma.
In the same way, we need to think that the feel of time even in this kala atIta (going beyond time) state, has also been somehow with him, because when that one hour is over, he would dissolve his niSTA (meditation) on the dot of a second.
If the time has not increased by an hour in the clock when he gets up from his niSTA, it would only mean that the clock is wrong. For one who was totally unconscious of the world for a duration of one hour, he would continue his conversation where he left it before his meditation, dragging on with the words, "...Hm, vandhu (now)".
Our Acharya Peruman who is skilled in his experience of the Inner Light, guarded his Ashcharya shaktis (surprising powers) in a secret manner! That in itself is an AshcaryaM! Notwithstanding, on rare occasions his powers that hold surprise and wonder (to the others) would unfold their petals just a little. When SriCharaNar comes to the feel of the outer world after dissolving his state of samAdhi, on some occasions some puzzling words that hold surprise to the onlooker would part and drop out of his mouth. He would utter, lisping like a child, the name of some place and some person there. The onlooker would have no idea of the person, and PeriyavaaL would quickly cut that thread. Later, the same person would come and stand for darshan or a letter would be received from him.
This is not an ordinary thing of surprise that we usually refer to. This should be said as a special surprise. Because in his niSTA he had been united with the Brahman, completely rejecting the world of maya; but then when he gets back to the outer world, if something about that world of maya comes out of his mouth...! Did they say without knowing that nothing concerning a Jnani could be known by another person as it is!
The bhAgyavantAs (fortunate) who know about his inner skills would only laugh, "Does this man do niSTA and then dissolove it? Such changes he displays in his state are only his play!" They would shed tears of joy asking, "Do you think that he is united with ParamporuL only during that one hour and is away from It during other times?" He is the one who has become the act and object of niSTA, crossing the stages of going into and dissolving niSTA.
In the same way that he walks and has the feel of time during the time of his niSTA that is known even to the rustic, he also attends to all the affairs in the outer world remaining in his inner life of anavarata niSTA (uninterrupted meditation)! That is what is talked about as jIvan mukti sthiti (the state of a liberated-while-living). It would be an apacAram (offense) to think that a Jivan Mukta stops at the state of his (external) acts because he does them. It is sahaja samAdhi (natural samAdhi) to remain in the state of samAdhi even during one's physical actions. To remain apart from physical acts while in samAdhi is kevala samAdhi (exclusive samAdhi). Like a child that sucks milk even in its sleep, a Jivan Mukta is seen engaging himself in his world affairs, always immersed in paramAnandam (complete bliss) of the paraveLi (trans-physical).
There is another simile here. To the simile that is told by a Sanskrit verse, our PatthinatthupPiLLai also has sung more or less identically. Those are the shloka and (Tamil) verse that PeriyavaaL fondly recites.
The mantra that Varaha Upanishad gives in the form of a shloka (verse):
pu~Nkhaanupu~Nkha vishhayekshaNa tatparo.api
brahmaavalokanadhiya.n na jahaati yogii .
sa~Ngiita taala laya vaadyavasha.n gataapi
maulistha kumbha parirakshaNa dhiir naTiiva .. 82..
82. As an actress, though subject (or dancing in harmony) to music, cymbals and other musical instruments of time, has her mind intent upon he protection of the pot on her head, so the Yogin, though intent for the time being upon the hosts of objects, never leaves off the mind contemplating on Brahman.
(Translation from: www.shastras.com/108upanishads/varaha/index.html)
PattinatthadigaL's song:
etthozhilaich cheitAlum etavatthaip pattAlum
mutthar manamirukkum monatthe! - vitthakamaik
kAthiviLai yadiiru kaivIsi vandAlum
tAthimana nIrkkudatthe tAn!
The AdigaLAr refers to the action of the women who carry pots of water that they bring from a river. When they walk away from the riverbank, even if they are playful and walk waving both their hands, their mind will always be on their pots.
"He has sung 'mutthar manamirukkum monatthe. irukkum or iRakkum (be or die) who knows?" said SriCharaNar.
We know by reading the biographies of some MahaPurushas that it was as difficult for them to come back from the nirvikalpa samAdhi, as it was to attain it getting united with the SatChitAnanda which is the real Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, after the mind processes and the mind itself fall away. It is said that those uttama vyaktis (lofty people) would remain in that state of samAdhi for days together! The others would have to catch hold and shake them violently, stopping short of beating them, in order to bring them back to the normal world!
Whereas in the case of our Gurunathan who is a Jivan Mukta who has attained the loftiest state, the getting into and later dissolution of niSTA happens very easily.
The cloud ascends the regions of the sky in seconds; and in seconds, it becomes rain and touches the earth. This is also a cloud. This is the cloud that gives to those who cannot withstand the heat and humidity, solace the moment its shadow falls on them and then spreads in the regions of the mind as abhaya hastam (the hand of protection), raining grace and blessings!
Glossary:
abhinava - quite new or young, very young, fresh; modern
anavaratam - uninterrupted, incessant
kevala - exclusive, only, mere, sole, isolated, simple, pure.
sthiti - standing, stopping, staying, remaining in or with; abode, place; situation, rank, dignity; devotion to or occupation with; stability, duration; firmness, constancy, existence, occurrence; state, condition; conduct, procedure; axiom, maxime, rule, custom, usage, boundary, limit; rectitude, virtue.
*** *** ***