By Periyava
Translation from
Tamil: V. Krishnaraj
Krishna Says and
Kamban Says
Kaṇṇaṉ = Krishna
கண்ணன் சொன்னான்,
கம்பனும் சொன்னான்! : தெய்வத்தின் குரல் (முதல் பகுதி)
1-11
Kaṇṇaṉ Says, Kambaṉ Says: Deivathin Kural 1-11
Ātmā is the basis of all.
It transcends and goes beyond body, breath, mind, intellect… How is it?
Confusion. Krishna Paramātman causes confusion in many ways and then
makes it crystal clear in one strike.
“I am in all objects. All objects are in me.
Krishna says in BG 6:30,
yaḥ1
mām2
paśyati3
sarvatra4
sarvam5
ca6
mayi7
paśyati8
It means Krishna is the Ātmā and the basis of all objects. Since he says
he is in all objects, does it mean the objects are his basis? We may be
confused on the correctness of the statement.
यो मां पश्यति सर्वत्र सर्वं च मयि पश्यति ।
तस्याहं न प्रणश्यामि स च मे न प्रणश्यति ॥६- ३०॥
yo mā paśyati sarvatra sarvaṁ ca mayi paśyati
yaḥ1
mām2
paśyati3
sarvatra4
sarvam5
ca6
mayi7
paśyati8
yaḥ1
=
He who; paśyati3
=
sees;
mām2
=
Me [the Self of all beings];
sarvatra4
=
in all things ;
ca6
=
and
[who]
paśyati8
=
sees;
sarvam5
=
all things [sara-asaram = mobiles and immobiles];
mayi7
=
in Me;
aham10
=
I;
na11
&
praṇaśyāmi12
=
am not lost;
tasya9
=
from his [vision]. ca14
saḥ13
=
And he; na16
praṇaśyati17
=
is not lost;
me15
=
to Me.
6.30
6.30: He who
sees Me in all things
and
who sees all things in Me, I am not lost from his [vision]
and he
is not lost to Me.
That Swamy or Ātmā is the basis of all is the correct one. Since he is
in all, it does not mean the objects bear Krishna’s burden. Because of
him, they have a form, a name, and a life. If he does not exist, they
don’t exist. Therefore, they are not his basis or support. He is the
creator, the mover, and the shaker of all.
Srī Krishna says this clearly.
Īśvara,
abiding inside in all beings acts like a puppeteer. We are all puppets
in his hands.
ईश्वरः सर्वभूतानां हृद्देशेऽर्जुन तिष्ठति ।
भ्रामयन्सर्वभूतानि यन्त्रारूढानि मायया ॥१८- ६१॥
īśvaraḥ sarvabhūtānāṁ hṛddeśerjuna
tiṣṭhati
īśvaraḥ1
sarva-bhūtānām2
hṛt-deśe3
arjuna4
tiṣṭhati5
īśvaraḥ1
= The Supreme Lord;
tiṣṭhati5
= abides;
hṛt-deśe3
= in the place of the heart;
sarva-bhūtānām2
= of all beings.
arjuna4
= O Arjuna; [Isvara] bhrāmayan6
= spins; sarva-bhūtāni7
= all beings; [as if] ārūḍhāni9
= mounted on; yantra8
= a machine; māyayā10
= through Maya.18.61
Bhagavan again causes confusion. Once he said, “I am in all objects. All
objects are in me.” At another time he said, “No objects exist in me. I
am not in any object.” See
below BG Verse 9:4. Here Atma as a Tattva has transcended all.
मया ततमिदं सर्वं जगदव्यक्तमूर्तिना ।
मत्स्थानि सर्वभूतानि न चाहं तेष्ववस्थितः ॥९- ४॥
mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyaktamūrtinā
mayā1
tatam2
idam3
sarvam4
jagat5
avyakta-mūrtinā6
idam3
= This; sarvam4
= entire; jagat5
= world, universe; tatam2
= is pervaded; mayā1
= by My; avyakta-mūrtinā6
= unmanifest form. sarva-bhūtāni8
= All beings; matsthāni7
= exist in Me; ca10
= and; aham11
=I; na9
= do not; avasthitaḥ13
= exist; teṣu12
= in them. 9.4
9.4: This entire universe
is pervaded with My unmanifest form (Avyakta-mūrtina). All beings abide
in Me and I do not abide in
them.
(All beings depend on Me and I do not depend on them)
When asked, “Why cause confusion,”
I am not understood by everyone. (
nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya)
That is my
Yoga Māyā (yogamāyāsamāvṛtaḥ).
नाहं प्रकाशः सर्वस्य योगमायासमावृतः ।
मूढोऽयं नाभिजानाति लोको मामजमव्ययम् ॥७- २५॥
nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya
yogamāyāsamāvṛtaḥ
na1
aham2
prakāśaḥ3
sarvasya4
yoga-māyā5
samāvṛtaḥ6
aham2
= I; samāvṛtaḥ6
= covered by; yoga-māyā5
= creative power; na1
= do not; prakāśaḥ3
= manifest; sarvasya4
= to all.
ayam8
= This; mūḍhaḥ7
= deluded and foolish; lokaḥ11
= world; na9
= does not; abhijānāti10
= know; mām12
= Me; [as] ajam13
= unborn; [and] avyayam14
= imperishable. 7.25
7.25: I do not manifest to
everyone, veiled by My Yoga-māyā. The foolish do not understand me as
unborn and unchanging.
Does it dawn on you?: Is this the kind of Upadēśam must I have? Nothing
is understood.
If you think deeply, you will find clarity to dispel this confusion. If
Bhagavan told, “I am not understood by anyone,” it means, “if there were
a thousand people, all thousand people will not understand him.”
The meaning of “I am not understood by all,” would be, of a
thousand people, 999 may not understand and at least one understands
Bhagavan. He said, he was not understood by all and he did not say, he
was not understandable by everyone. The implication is he is
understandable by a few.
Who are these few? The Jñāṉis, not afflicted by Yoga Maya, offer clarity
on Bhagavan’s apparently contradictory statement: I am in all objects.
No object is in (with) me.”
There is floral garland on the street. It was dusk. A hapless person
stepped on it and panicked saying, “Aiyō, Snake, snake!” The garland and
the snake are one. Once he discovered it was a garland, he understood
there was no snake. What was the basis for the snake? The garland.
As the garland is taken for a snake, the Ajñāṉi’s (the Ignoramuses) are
confused thinking oneness of Brahman as many in the universe. The basis
of this universe is Braḥmam.
“I exist in this universe. The universe is with me.” What is the meaning
of this? The snake is in the garland. In the snake exists the garland.
There are truths in both statements and the two-way argument.
For the man vociferating about the snake, the snake swallowed the
garland. In his sight, the basis is the snake. Having abandoned the
ignorance and realizing, ‘This is truly a garland,’ in the knower of
truth, the garland hides the snake within it. The garland appears as the
basis.
He who is enveloped by Māyā sees universe as Satyam; in truth Īśvara is
the basis for and the bearer of the universe.
For the person who rejected the phenomenal universe by Jñāṉa,
Īśvara
appears as all and himself. In Jñāṉi’s Nirvikalpa Samādhi
(Undifferentiated union with Swamy), Prapañcam
(universe) will not make its appearance. When Prapañcam
does not exist, its existence in
Īśvara or its containment inside
Īśvara is patently wrong. From the perspective of ignorant perception,
body, breath, mind, intellect…are the apparitions. Upon the dawn of
Jñāṉam and when Supreme Bliss is felt, the bliss state comes beyond the
phenomenal world. Srī Krishna Paramātman abiding in the perfected state
of Jñāṉa declared, “No
objects exist in me. I don’t exist in any object.”
Some ignoramus mistook the garland for a snake. Can we tell
justifiably whether snake was in the garland or garland in the snake?
Kamban says:
Alaṅkal
means garland. Aravu means snake. ‘Alaṅkalil
thōṉṛum poimmai aravu’ (= In garland appears the false snake). Likewise,
the five great elements
(space,
air, fire, water, and earth) join to delude us as the solidity of
the phenomenal world. Whom must it see to disappear as the snake and
present itself as the garland? That is
Īśvara,
who as the destroyer of Māyā is Rāmachandra Mūrthy.
Kambar the supreme Vaishnava sang Sadagōpar Anthāthi referring to
Namāzhvār. He describes it with perfect clarity in the language of
Advaitam.
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