The other day as I was talking to Annapoorni, she mentioned about an US based guru, who in the course of a lecture talked about as to how today, more and more western thinkers are able to delve into the profound wisdom of Hindu religion, and are able to express these in English language so very beautifully. He went on, I believe, to express a view that perhaps, Lord Krishna Himself has indeed chosen to manifest Himself thru this language.
Arun had said sometime back about his being much more inspired by western authours, to do his “nitya karma” than any of our own spiritual and family elders. I had also felt that the western authors mastery over our own spiritual texts will be so complete, that we will all one day probably learn the Vedas and the Puranas from them.
Why is it that our Acharyals anugraha bhashanams are invariably confined to expositions in very simple and almost kindergarten style, our dharma/scripts as compared to illuminating pieces from many of the western authors? Is there perhaps a deliberate intent on His part, as it is unlikely that He is not capable of more profound expressions? This has been a part of my jignyaasaa, over sometime now, till I happened to read an article from the “enlightening expositions” by our Acharyal, and a funny/vague answer came to me which I thought is worth sharing.
Muktika Upanishad, I understand, declares, that in order to attain realization of the Brahman, besides elimination of desire, anger, and greed, one has to rid himself of three “vasanas” (material tendencies) namely, Loka, shastra, and deha vasanas. Vasanas are mental seeds which sprout feelings, without a preceding deliberation.
Loka vasana has to do with our fascination for conducting ourselves in a way which wins accolades all the time, which is an improbability, considering that even Sita, the exemplar of chastity, had to undergo an ordeal by fire.
Shastra vasana deals with (a) obsession with study, (b) preoccupation with many subjects and (c) Extreme fastidiousness with regard to observing aacharam.
As to the first there is this story of Bharadwaja rishi, who took it upon himself to study/master of all the Vedas and had to take 3 successive births and yet wanted a fourth, as he felt he had yet to complete the task. Veda vyasa took pity on him and impressed on him the futilty of the exercise and the need to stop this, as it would be an impossible task and instead meditate on the absolute.
As to the second, Durvasa rishi was once an invitee to the assembly of Lord Mahadeva. He had carried with him a cartload of books, and Narada made fun of him by comparing him to an ass carrying a huge burden. Though irritated, he is said to have realized, and Lord Mahadeva Himself initiates hm into knowledge of “atma”.
As to the third variety, in yoga vaashishta there is a story of one Dasura, who it seems was unable to locate a single spot on earth, adequately pure for him to do his religious rites!!
Finally the deha vasana: this is also of 3 varieties.(a) identification of the physical body with the ‘atma”. (b) Fascination for grace and (c) similar fascination for a flawless body. I would imagine that further elaboration of these is really not necessary, except a brief point about the third; striving to rid one from diseases is one manifestation. As per the scriptures the body by its very nature a repository of what is unclean. Gratifying or trying to rid this of all flaws should make no sense (Maitri Upanishad).
There is this famous saying in Tamil, which roughly translated would correspond to “ where a connoisseur of stones, sees only the stone in a stone figurine of a dog, a lover of the animal on the other hand sees only the dog”. Very similarly, when some one sings and the music is sublime, one who loves it, is quite oblivious of the lyrics, and for the fellow obsessed with lyrics, the music is quite lost. It’s rare to find one who is totally merged with both.
Going by the Shastra vasana analogy, when one is totally fascinated by some profoundly inspiring language, the ultimate realization may just elude him. Like an intoxicant, the language part would probably so permeate, that he may not be interested in “liberation” part at all. Whereas, if like a foot soldier, one were to just obey orders, slowly but surely there will be the advent of “paripakkuam” leading to ultimate realization.
Acharyals bhashanam are not even “orders”; they are mild reminders to foot soldiers like us, what we should do, in too simple language to lure us into any attachment even to this aspect, in our paths to find the ultimate truth. Of course if you are fascinated by even this language, there is really not much harm, as it is a jeevan mukthas vachanam.
As I had said, this is a kind of interpretation that comes to my mind. And I have shared.
Love
Vichu
The profundity of a message lies in its simplicilty. Finery in narration has an objective - the objective is to capture our attention. Our mind then begins to work, spinning various explanations/images till we settle on a script that gives us satisfaction.
ReplyDeleteA satisfaction that is available first hand for us all to experience in simple day to day occurences like watching the sunrise, like watching the phases of the moon or like drinking water after realising that one had been thirsty yet so immersed in the temporal world that one forgot to drink a glass of water.
The greatness of a speaker lies in the ability to convey profoundity in simple terms. The way to understand a simple message is to realize that we are in a complicated state of mind which we need to un-complicate.
Great blog to start the new avatar.
Dear Chittappa
ReplyDeleteI completely second your views. The topic of why Acharyal's Anugraha Bhashanams are so uninspiring figures time and again in our thoughts. I think you have come very close to answering it. Scintillating discourse and intellectual stimulation, alas are perhaps not the best medicine for our worldly ills.
I noted Arun's point that he is more inspired to do his Nitya karma by Western authors. Maybe on that count the discourses of Indian spiritual leaders, whoever they may be, need to connect better. I think the youth of today connect better when you explain things and appeal to their mind and reason. Given that, there is a need for more and more Indian spiritual teachers who can connect with our educated youth, and present our traditional wisdom in the right way.
The Bharadwaja and Durvasa anecdotes are interesting and drive home a nice point. Book knowledge by itself can only take you so far, and must be supplemented with real action--regular practice of nitya karma, or contemplation, or chanting or whatever else.
ReplyDeleteOn western authors appealing more to me than some Indian authors, it is a matter of content, style and language. I like spiritual, (not necessarily religious), content. I like the style to be clear and authoritative. As far as content and style go, I am certain that there is fantastic Indian reading to be had. Sankara's writings, for example, are beyond doubt intellectually stimulating, broader and deeper than I can ever fathom, and brilliantly eloquent. But it is unfortunate for me that I am more or less illiterate in both Sanskrit and Tamil, the languages in which most of these works exist. Which brings me to the last, perhaps most practical reason I like western writings--they are in English!
Another clarification. I cannot remember a single time when Acharyal's speeches were anything but inspiring. There are a few books by others in the bhakta gang that have been disappointing, though.
Also, "I like western writings more" is a bit broad. For as little as I read, that gives me too much credit! Here are a few books that I have liked--in my opinion, they are all, like Naresh points out, simple yet profound.
Neale Donand Walsh - Conversations with God (1,2,3), Friendship with God, Communion with God.
Ken Wilber - Grace and Grit, No Boundary.
Eckhart Tolle - The Power of Now.
Brian Weiss - Can't remember the title.
Deepak Chopra - The Way of the Wizard
Quite a few other titles in the bookshelf at Cypress that I love browsing (over and over) when I visit Bombay!
By the way, western or not, I have never been able to get past a few pages of even the most basic of books by Bertrand Russell!
And eastern or not, the Call of the Jagadguru, by R. Krishnaswamy Aiyar, did not quite do it for me either.
Do you guys have other recommendations?
Arun
Hi Arun,
ReplyDeleteNice to hear from you. Is Kalyani happy/able to cope with the pressure of a new job? I can only hope she does not fall into the category of people who are unable to be as happy as they are when there is pressure all around.
Talking of reading, after a 2plus months in Mumbai, when Walsch, and another new book "secret" was the mandatory diet in any conversation, you would be surprised when I tell you what I found Umesh reading, when I came back. You must have guessed it partly; "secret" , and the other book? Neil Donald Walsch! none other, and the title "When Everything Changes, Change Everything".
Jignyaasaa exercise to know ourselves, is defenitely full of surprises, and can be a very humbling experience.
Incidentally, I forgot to tell you all about what Durvasa maharishi did with his load of books. He threw it into the sea, says the story. I once said this to our man in Chennai, and his daughter came down like a ton of bricks on me..... That's another story probably worth narrating after the mandatory period when sensitive documents are declassified and released for public view!!!!!
Love
Vichu
Many years ago, in Hyderabad, one of Appa's close friends introduced us to the world of Puttaparthi Sri Sathya Sai Baba and we were given a copy of the book "Oka Chinna Katha", which translates from Telugu as "A small story". This book caught the attention of three generations with small stories and parables with morals and profound meanings.
ReplyDeleteI just made a Google search and as expected, found a site where there are 52 stories from the book Oka Chinna Katha
I have asked Rishabh and Supriyaa to read them as well. By and large, the stories are simple but some difficult words are also in them. The story 3 - Feeling behind the Act, fits into paropakaaram theme very well.
Ganesh