By Periyava Translation from Tamil: V. Krishnaraj
http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/part1kurall01.htm
ஸ்வாமி என்றால் என்ன?
:
தெய்வத்தின் குரல் (முதல் பகுதி)
Swami: What does it mean? : Deivathin Kural (First Part) Swami
We
surmise, upon seeing a house, that a builder must exist. We come to know
of the engineer of the building. The same is true of a car. It came into
a form to serve a useful purpose. The home and the car did not
spontaneously take shape. An intelligent being must have created it, we
assume. This goes with all objects. There must be a plan and a creator
or maker of all objects.
If that is so, there must exist of a Builder of the universe, with the
later (universe) bound to multimodal disciplines and universal laws. He
made it possible for life to exist on earth, in addition to Nature made
of objects with multiple utilities. These are created with a motive.
There must exist a great power to manage and maintain these objects.
We know who put together the cottage we occupy now.
Who made the plantain tree? We cannot see with our eyes the maker
of the tree. But someone made it. In a plantain tree, we see layers of
leaf stalks in perfect order. The maker has arranged them beautifully.
We cannot show or identify the creator of the mountain, the stars, the
moon… They came into existence long ago. We may ask how to identify and
show the maker. This rose flower came into existence after the plantain
tree. Day before yesterday, it was a bud. Now it is a beautiful blossom.
There are hundreds of petals with minute veins and fragrance. It
flowered right before our eyes. Yet, we do not see the maker of the
flower. We think we are the
intellectuals. Consider this. An animal that goes around Chennai returns
wonder-struck and not knowing anything it has seen.
Likewise, we live in this universe, not knowing its origin…
The one who is more intelligent than man kept him like this (with
ignorance). Rose flowers blossom
under its own Dharma. So are the fixed mountains, the roving stars…
under their own Dharmas. It is apparent one Engineer made all these. It
is apparent there is one order under Kāraṇa-Kārya principle (Principle
of cause and effect) that bind the whole universe, the maker of which is
one Supreme Intellect. The self-enamored,
the self-assured and the self-described intellect, which is man, must
know the Greatest Intellect of all times, because not only He is the
First and the Foremost Intellect of all times but also a good Being. The
Greatest Intellect having planned and created all these, exercises his
power to protect all with compassion. He does us good, if we offer
worship, knowing all these were his bounty and realizing that our
intellect is a grant from him. Only He is Svāmi.
Our intellectual endowment, though meager by comparison, is evidence of
his existence. The footprints help us identify the thief.
The footprints of Svāmi, who stole our heart, mind, and soul, are
the tracks seen all over the world. Our comprehending intelligence is
evidence of his footprint. There must be a proven base or repository for
our intellectual endowment which is proof (of his immanence) and his
footprint.
We are the evidentiary proof of extant Svāmi. Can we ever draw the
person-specific dermatoglyphics (ரேகைகள்) on the
palms? We see a great city
layout because of the intelligence of man: roads, rails, highways,
buildings, monuments… More surprising and complicated is the wonderous
layout (anatomy) of God-created leaf: petiole, midrib, lateral veins,
sublateral veins, terminal veins, borders…
The objects in this world are the evidence of that Great Thief’s
dermatoglyphics (Palm lines). (We see his palm prints and fingerprints
in all objects of the universe.) As the thief remains in hiding, The
Great Thief -Svāmi-is also in hiding. Vedas say repeatedly that the
Thief of all thieves hides in the cave (the cave of the heart).
http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/part1kurall02.htm
(Tamil Text) What is the meaning
of Svāmi? Svam means possession
or property. Svantham (சொந்தம்)
is what we own. That is our property. Temple property is called in
Kerala ‘Dēvastham.’ The Owner of the property is Svāmi. Uḍaiyār is the
Tamil word for Svāmi. The carvings on the rock walls of the temples have
Uḍaiyār meaning Gods: Tiru-c-ciṛṛampalam-uḍaiyār, Tiru-venkatam-uḍaiyār,
Tiru-nākēcchura-uḍaiyār, Kapālīṣvara-uḍaiyār… Guru and God one for
Vaiṣṇavas and they say Srī Rāmānujar is Uḍaiyavar. Svāmi is the owner of
property, I said. What property? We and the entire Universe are His
property. All that you see, feel, breath, touch, imagine, deduce…are the
property of That One (second to none).
Thāyumāṉavar quotes God, “All are mine.”
People say this is his property and this is my property. In
truth, all the properties we claim as ours are His. If he is not extant,
this universe does not exist. Neither do we. The properties we claim as
our own do not exist. We think we created
anew the house we live in and the car we drive. Scientists invent and
make new machines. All the raw materials are the creation of Svāmi. We
modified and tinker with what Svāmi already made. We created nothing
new. Creation of an element and an atom is an impossible task for the
scientists. Could a scientist manufacturing bombs and machines…make a
small leaf with a beautiful complexity? The One who makes
all, owns all. That is why He is Uḍaiyavar (Svāmi) and called such.
Don’t we do whatever we wish with our property? Likewise, if we, the
property of Uḍaiyavar let Him do whatever with us according to His wish,
we carry no burden and remain in joyousness. We, in an egoistic
fit, say ‘I, Me, Mine,’ and wander aimlessly. If you realize He owns
this, that, and everything else, we will not ramble sporting the I-ego
or I-ness. If we do not entertain personal desire and aversion as our
right and realize it, there is no weary wandering for us. Perfect
tranquillity! Svāmi, as a
word, declares that we do not own ourselves, He has, by His Will, the
right to dispose us any way He can, and we are His property. This
realization is Bakthi’s supreme aim, also called Saraṇāgathi.
The Call of the Divine
Love and Grace
We see the
head of the family tries to bring peace and quiet in the family if there
are any problems in the family. The same is true of the leaders of the
country, trying to quell any uprising, find solutions to political
problems… When world Dharma is in jeopardy resulting in major upheaval,
who will resolve it?
Only God can
do it. God becomes man and Nāyaṉmārs and resolves the hardship.
Nāyaṉmārs
play the role of Guru and show the path of wisdom in resolving doubts
and difficulties of their own families, country and the world and shine
as the remover of hardships.
The elders,
when we approach them, morph our difficulties into happiness. The mind
gets joy. If you stand in front of the sanctum, peace is obtained. We
receive salubrious feelings as obtained from a cool fragrant breeze from
a flower garden. In life, we get courage, energy, and self-confidence.
The truth is they feel these positive sentiments daily. Only
people with full faith and Bakthi, feel happiness, fellowship,
and energy.
The elders love all people. They are disciplined, involute into their
souls and melt with compassion. By these they remove the miseries and
unhappiness of the people of the world. They worship God for the weal
and welfare of the world.
Their austerity, great grace, service, and their immense virtue make
this world prosperous and we bear witness to it.
The elders
have deep and extensive knowledge in many arts and human endeavors. They
are not only the walking deities but also walking universities.
Because of them, the nation advances, the world prospers, the
languages flourish and their knowledge seeds future generations.
They have
delivered lectures often citing quotations from Sastras, Puranas, and
Vedas for the advancement of human life and purification.
Those rising voices, instead of being blown off with the wind,
stood steady, became the divine voice, got memorialized on the printed
page and became a great treatise now. Sorṇamūrthy’s
thoughts became the concepts.
There is a
plethora of grace in the loving words of Ācārya Swāmigaḷ.
All cannot delve into Puranas, Itihāsas, Vedas, Dharma sastras…
The elders read all these treatises and handed us the Nectarian essence
of these books.
We can hear
and read about the Hindu religion’s greatness, our cultural uniqueness,
God’s multiple forms (polytheism), Vedic principles, explication of
life sciences, multidisciplinary Sastras, and the Tattvic
principles, all in a lucid language of the laity.
They are a
treasure house of great grace and knowledge.
The laity, upon reading them, can become Pandits.
The scholar can become a professor. Man can become divine. Tiru R. Gaṇapathy
beneficiary of love, grace, and blessings of Periyava, the author of
this series of Deivathin Kural greatly benefited from audiotapes, Kalki
publications, teachings of Hindu religious leaders, and lectures by
elders of other religions,
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