VEDA DHARMA SASTRA PARIPALANA SABHA (Regd.)
Kumbhakonam
Publication No. 17
Our country is called by the
name of India. From Himalayas, right down to Kanyakumari, it is all
India. This land was known as Bharatabhumi in olden days. For the
welfare of people living here, Sastras have been produced. There is a
Sastra for the purpose of keeping the body healthy and avoiding
untimely death. That Sastra is called Ayurveda. This Ayurveda teaches
many methods for extending human life span and leading a comfortable
life so long as one is alive. Ayurveda has taught ways to cure people
here of diseases by using herbs produced in this country. But people
took to western methods of cure as the government did not encourage
Ayurveda. Once the government started to be run by ministers drawn from
amongst our people, Raja of Panagal established a school of Ayurveda
in Chennai, considering that the medicines from our own herbs are alone
suitable for us and other methods will cause adverse effects. This
school was not extended even a thousandth of assistance given to
western system of medicine. However being well versed in Samskrit, the
Raja of Panagal was keen to encourage our Sastras. Had he lived a
little longer, he would have contributed more to this cause. Now it is
only Ayurveda that is encouraged a little by our government; our
Mathematics etc. are still not supported by our government. They teach
the western sciences alone to our children. Ayurveda got a little
encouragement because the Raja of Panagal became a minister.
Like Ayurveda dealing with
human body, there is a Sastra for every aspect of life. There are now
many theories in western countries also. But they have been developed
by them in the last hundred years only. They developed these sciences
and got benefits by spending money, only after having ruled other
countries and thus becoming rich. In our country too, in olden days,
brahmanas were given grants by kings and encouraged to do research in
Sastras. Four thousand years ago, our Sastras had reached a level of
development higher than the current stage of growth of sciences in
western countries. These Sastras alone are suitable for our bodily
comfort as well as spiritual wellbeing. We should not discard them. We
should attempt to practise our indigenous methods in agriculture too.
Be it agriculture, medicine or spiritual wellbeing, the benefit from
our own Sastras will not be obtained from sciences of other countries.
The western country has cold climate; medicine or architecture has
evolved there suited to that. They eat food from table; their
architecture aims at construction of house suited to that. We eat from
leaves sitting on ground. If we construct houses as per their
architecture, our rules of conduct cannot be followed. Our arithmetic is
very easy. One can easily make computations using indigenous systems
like ‘Ensuvadi’, ‘Kizhvai Ilakkam’ etc. Shirt, fountain pen etc. are
not required for the mathematics of our country. We can compute just
mentally. If we do not have a particular type of knowledge in our
country, we can take it from others. Discarding our knowledge and
learning others’ knowledge is not correct. There are excellent sciences
with us for construction of houses, farming, medicine and mathematics.
In music, they know only two ‘Melakartha’ ragas. As per our own
science of music, there are 72 ‘Melakarthas’. If any of our sciences is
gone into oblivion, we can learn it from them. It is a big folly to
discard our own sciences totally. In Manusmriti, it has been stated
that if the bride’s character is good, she may be considered even if
her lineage is not so good. If gold is lying in a drain, should we not
take it? So also, we can learn a science even from a lowly person. But
one should not lay down a rule that we should learn it only from that
person. In our schools, we should teach our own sciences relating to
this world as well as the next; extra knowledge can be taken from
outsiders. Surgery has been described in our Sastra called ‘Susrutam’.
Whatever instruments are in use these days in hospitals, they are all
described in this text. There is a book called ‘Encyclopaedia
Britannica’ in English. It is edited and republished once in every
twenty-thirty years. All matters are covered there in detail. While
talking about each science, its history is also mentioned. Details of
the place and time of its initial origin and who transmitted it at what
time to other countries are all given there. Sciences of astronomy,
medicine, astrology, surgery, mathematics, languages, metaphysics,
grammar, arboriculture etc. are all covered there. While talking about
surgery, it states that this science was known in India first,
transmitted via Arabia to Greece, then to Italy and later spread
through entire Europe. Though they accept that other sciences existed
in India in ancient times, they clearly concede that they learnt
surgery only from India. Our sciences of medicine and astrology were
translated into Arabic and then carried forward to Europe. The
westerners were unaware of surgery; they learnt it only from India. Our
ancient system of surgery is now not known to anyone; the reason is
absence of encouragement of kings. Now when our people have attained
their rights, the small beginning made by the Raja of Panagal may
spread later. Manu has advised that we should not reject the science of
other countries; but should accept them. Learning our own sciences is
alone national education. The benefit of knowledge is spiritual gain
alone. Dharmasastra has been created only for that. It is Arthasastra
which teaches kingly dharmas. Sukraniti, Chanakya tantra etc. are
Arthasastras. Dharmasastra teaches how one can advance without
accumulating sins. Atma is eternal; body is transient. If science of
the body is in conflict somewhere with Dharmasastra, one should follow
Dharmasastra only. If the doctor advises us to consume the medicine
called cod liver oil, Dharmasastra prohibits it. There we should choose
to follow Dharmasastra. There is no need to indulge in matters of
government, which would spoil our spirit. Hence in matters of conflict
between Arthasastra and Dharmasastra, one should reject Arthasastra
alone.
Dharmasastra teaches about
our daily activities. It shows the way to reach the supreme state by
following Iswara’s orders and doing bhakti.
There are certain outer signs
of being the slave of Bhagavan. In schools there are groups like
Scouts etc. They have a certain sign. There is a belt worn as a sign of
being a servant in court of law. There is a sign worn by the
recipients of the title of ‘Sir’ from the government. Nobody is shy of
wearing such signs. But people are shy of wearing the Tulasi necklace
of Iswara. Books dealing with spiritual wellbeing are Vedas, Sastras,
Agamas, Puranas, Itihasas etc. Itihasas are actually Puranas only. The
root of all of these is Veda. Dharmasastra teaches as to how we should
conduct ourselves at home and the conduct of the lineage. It is twofold:
Acharakanda and Vyavaharakanda. Eighteen Maharishis like Manu,
Yagnavalkya and Parasara have written Dharmasastra. Veda is indeed the
base of all of them. Religions based on Veda are known as Vedic
religions. The rest are ‘Nastika’ (atheist) religions. Jainism,
Buddhism etc. preach that there is no Iswara or that Veda is not the
authority. The teachings of Jaina, Buddha et al are the basis of those
religions. Saiva, Vaishnava etc. are Vedic religions. Saivism is even
known by the name of ‘Vedic Saivism’. Periya Puranam (the Tamil epic
detailing the life stories of 63 Saivaite saints) mentions ‘Veda neri
tazhaittonga’ (for the fertile growth of Vedic path). Nammazhvar has
been described elsewhere as ‘Vedam Tamizh seidan maran Satakopan)’ (the
great Satakopan, who wrote Veda in Tamil). Nammazhvar is also known as
Satakopan. In Vishnu temples, after having darshan of the Lord, they
place ‘Satakopam’ on the head of the worshipper. Its import is placing
Satakopan and other great devotees on the head. Satakopan, who is at
the feet of Bhagavan, is placed on the head. Such Vedic religions have
as their base five texts including Veda. They are generally known as
‘Vaidikam’ and not named after any one person. Christianity was
established by Christ; but our religion was not started by any one
person. Krishna says he came only for making people realise Veda. Veda
has been in existence from time immemorial. Iswara caused Veda to
appear in the hearts of Maharishis and blessed us with Veda through
them. It is not possible to say when Vedas came first into existence.
Vedas etc. are the authorities for the six systems of worship we
follow. (The six systems are worship of Ganapati, Siva, Ambika, Vishnu,
Subrahmanya and Surya). Veda is common to all these six systems.
Agamas are separate texts for
each system. We have Saiva Agamas, Amba Agamas, Vishnu Agamas, Ganesa
Agamas, Kumara tantram etc. Agamas tell us how to install and worship
each of the respective Devatas.
There are 28 Saiva Agamas and
64 Devi Agamas. In each Agama, there are two parts; Vamabhaga (left
hand) and Dakshinabhaga (right hand). The reason for these two
divisions in the Agamas is the Dharmasastra, which stipulates strict
rules of conduct for some and relaxed rules for some others. Brahmana
should not drink liquor, whereas drinking is not so condemnable for
certain others. These rules are weighty for some castes. Even castes,
who eat non-vegetarian food, are prohibited from eating certain animal
foods.
The Vamamarga practice was meant to instruct even the eaters of
animal food to offer it first to Bhagavan and then to eat. Those who are
expected to follow Dakshinachara are criticised if they adopt
Vamachara. (Vamamarga was described by Sankaracharya as the path of
offering liquor and non-vegetarian food to Easwara). Societies, which
stand for kindness towards animals, object to offering animals to
Easwara in pursuance of Vamamarga. In butcher’s shops, many animals are
killed every day. These Societies for kindness to animals do not
protest in front of those shops. But they will protest the killing and
offering of an animal by a Pujari in a village temple to the deity. It
is correct that no animal should be put to trouble. But no fault will
attach if the stipulation of Veda is followed with devotion. Sri
Kannappa Nayanar offered animal food to Bhagavan, who accepted it. This
is because there was only devotion in the mind of Kannappa; there was
no thought of committing fault. It is not a fault to do something with
devotion, even if it appears sinful.
But the Society for kindness to
animals protests if brahmana performs yaga or if Pujari offers an
animal to God. Every day many animals are killed for the food of the
whites. Why are these Societies not looking into it? There is no evil
thought in performing yaga and offering animal to God in village; hence
there will be no sin. Sastra stipulates that the guest should be
offered a cow and that the guest should release the cow to roam as it
pleases. It is only out of compassion to animals that Sastra stipulates
in this manner. Siruttondar (a Saivaite Nayanar) offered the flesh of
his own son as food to the guest. This only indicates that we should
renounce everything totally.
There are four divisions in
Agamas. They are Charya, Kriya, Yoga and Gnana. Before we go into it,
let us refer to another issue. All timeless systems of religion are
Vedic religions alone. But modern researchers say that Veda came from
the north and they had a different book in the south; Aryans were
Vaidikas and southerners were Dravidians; thus these researchers create
quarrels. It is said that in Samskrit, there were nine basic texts of
grammar. Out of them, Eindram is one; this was written by Indra. It is
said that the oldest grammar text in Tamil, Tolkappiam is based on this
Eindram. It is not possible to say on the basis of books in our country
that there was a religion different from Vedic religion. Certain Tamil
words explain this. ‘Yagam’ is denoted by ‘Velvi’ in Tamil; ‘Veda’ is
‘Marai’; ‘Achara’ is ‘Ozhukkam’. How does the word ‘Marai’ mean Veda?
Veda describes that which is unseen or hidden; hence it is called
‘Marai’ (hidden) in Tamil.
Such words exist from ancient
time in Tamil. Hence the matters they refer to, must be ancient,
without beginning. When ancient Tamil books refer extensively to Vedas,
Yagas and Paramasiva, it is not correct to say that Veda came from the
north. They also talk about Agama, Charya, Kriya, Yoga and Gnana.
Charya talks about activities to be performed by a devotee of Iswara.
It is in ‘Kriya’ that temple is covered. One might ask: God exists
everywhere; why to confine him to a stone. Though we say that God
exists everywhere, that thought is not present in our minds. If the
thought that God exists everywhere is present in the mind, will anyone
tell lies, or indulge in evil deeds? It is true that God exists
everywhere; but this is not enough for us. We have to obtain His grace.
How to worship Him in order to get His grace? This is what the Agama
teaches. There is the ray of Sun; every ray is indeed fire. But when a
cloth is exposed to Sun, it does not catch fire. When a lens is held
against the Sun and the cloth is held below the lens, the cloth catches
fire. The lens enables close convergence of many rays of Sun.
Electricity is everywhere. To bring it out, a power station is needed.
In the same way, for making the grace of the omnipresent God available
to us, temple is needed. People complain of the lack of purity of the
Gurukkals (Temple Pujaris); they say: what if everyone goes inside. We
should remove impurity from the temple and not introduce new
defilement. If a thief enters a house, does anyone remove the latch and
leave the house ever open? Maharishis have created large pilgrim
centres and temples in such a manner that their sanctity is not
affected by ordinary impurities. That is why we should go and have
darshan in those places, though there would be a temple in our own
place. We should purify the temples by removing the existing pollution.
One should not change the tenets of religion with political ends in
view. If we interfere haphazardly in the working of an electrical
machine, we will lose our body. If we interfere in the working of the
machine of Spiritual Welfare, we will lose Atma. It is but proper to
remove the existing deficiencies. If we make attempts to keep the
temple pure, the Gurukkals and trustees will return to the right path.
What is new will not last long. When new flood water comes in the river
during the month of Adi (Ashadha), it will eat into the banks in some
places. We do not worry about it. We need not get angry with new
passionate ideas. It will go away on its own. What is permanent in this
world? Dictators have ruled at some times in the past. Now the
communist system is becoming popular. Nothing is permanent. Just by
permitting everyone to go inside the temple, not all will go there. If
we go and apprise the people of what is proper, they will listen. The
reason why temples do not function properly is that we are not going
there. Such matters are covered in the ‘Kriya’ part of Agama.
Next is ‘Yoga’. It talks
about how Atma should merge in Iswara; how one should meditate on Him.
The final state is covered in the ‘Gnana’ part. This is what Agama is
about. Dharmasastra teaches us as to how we should conduct ourselves on
our own and in relation to others.
Agama tells about the methods
of worship. There are 28 Saiva Agamas. Each of them has four parts.
These are all our indigenous Sastras. We do not read them; hence there
is no awakening. All education is western; hence there is desire to
behave like them. Swadeshi is being indigenous on the outside as well
as inside. Being western inside, why to show Swadeshi outside? The
reformists do not know our Sastras. As they have not read them, they
become angry. We should not get angry with them for their actions. We
need to be kind with our opponents too. We should be telling them the
principle of our religion. Agama, which was not cared by anybody, is now
gaining some currency. Agama also talks about village deities. In
those temples there is still a lot of power. Pollution has not entered
there too much. Like other religionists going with shoes inside the
temples of Siva and Vishnu, they do not go into temples of village
deities. As there is wealth in the temples of Siva and Vishnu, they go
there for seeing the fun. As there is not much wealth in the temples of
village deities, pollution is less. When there is fall where there is
much rise, the fall will be swift. It is only in the Tamil and Telugu
countries that higher purity was maintained. Now it is here that
impurity is higher. The north Indian brahmana may sport a moustache and
smoke hookah; even if he has shaved his head, he will still have a
small tuft of hair. In our part, people have fully cropped head. In the
north, there are disciples of Acharyas of the south. The pure habits
of our area attracted them so much. As you travel towards south, impure
habits like eating leavings of food of others, cigar, hookah, fish,
non-vegetarian food etc. are all less. But the English culture is more
here. Englishmen came here first! We have more of their habits. In
northerners, though Achara (ritually good conduct) may be less, devotion
is higher. In Gujarat, you find more of peaceful nature and firmness.
That is the place where Bhagavan Sri Krishna lived. That is the area
where Gopikas expressed their devotion. Hence devotion is greater. In
Maharashtra, there is more of passion and devotion. In the Telugu
country, you find more of harshness and devotion. In Bengal, there is
more of deceit and devotion. The Tamils do not involve themselves in
anything. If others work, we occupy the leader’s position in time. As
all are intelligent here, there is none to follow a leader. In Gurjara
country, 70 percent of people do not eat non-vegetarian food. There the
term ‘Vaishnavas’ means those who do not eat non-vegetarian food. In
our area, there is no restriction on eating animal food for those
Vaishnavas who are not brahmanas.
In Veda, Agama, Dharmasastra,
Itihasa and Purana, the ways of spiritual wellbeing have been taught.
Itihasa tells all dharmas in the form of stories. Purana tells about
each dharma as a story. These dharmas are eternal. There is no person’s
name associated with our religion. The Acharyas who came in between
only emphasised certain paths. Sri Ramanuja said devotion is supreme.
Sri Sankara said Gnana is supreme. In the 56 countries (listed as parts
of Bharat in ancient texts), countries like Persia are also included.
We must make all people accept and practise our dharmas. In our
Sastras, there are many paths laid down for advancement in this world as
well as the next. In the books of other religions, methods have been
taught for achieving comfort in the present life alone. But in our
Sastras, ways have been taught for being comfortable as long as one
lives here; also for achieving good state after death without
difficulty. As we do not study our Sastras and act according to the
principles laid down there, we always worry and suffer. Our prayer is
that Iswara may bestow good Gnana on us for us to go through our
Sastras as far as possible, to learn from those who know well and thus
to get rid of our present troubles and reach the supreme state.
VEDA DHARMA SASTRA PARIPALANA SABHA
Translated by: P R Kannan, Navi Mumbai
© Copyright Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham
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