Maha Periyava speaks

Maha Periyava  speaks

Abstracted and  Translated by

P.R.Ramachander

(When I was  lad I was attracted  by  small book lets  published by rama Krishna mission  titled, Rama Krishna Paramahamsa  speaks, Vivekananda  speaks etc  . One of my aims was to bring out a book called “Maha Periyava speaks”

Jagadguru Shri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swamigal (20 May 1894 – 8 January 1994) [birth name: Swaminathan], also known as the Sage of Kanchi was called as  Mahaperiyava (meaning, "A venerable sage") and  was the 68th Jagadguru of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.

     He was a very great Saint who has given several  discourses  to people visiting him,.These  has been compiled in a book form   and was  called  “Deivathin kural( voice of God) .

    I always thought   that we must have a very tiny book let  with the above title  . This month  The tamil Magazine called  “Kumudham Bakthi “ brought  a slightly bigger  book with this title. This has got 29 sections.

  I have  read it again and again , made  a small abstract of each lecture   and then translated  in to English. These  easy to follow   advices of “Maha Periyava”  would make  our   life meaningful. God bless  all those  who read it,.) 

Mahaperiyava's discourses has been written as magnum opus based on Hindu philosophy in a Tamil book titled - "Deivathin Kural" (Voice of God).

1.We can see  God

It is impossible  to explain,

What is sweet  to one,

Who does not  know  ,

What is sweetness ,

Similarly   to a person,

And to one  who does not  ,

Know   what is Godliness,

We cannot   explain  God.

2.What  offering we  can give to God?

A devotee  wanted  to give,

To his god  , what  he does not have,

After  great search  he found out,

That  God    does  not have mind,

And so  he  offered God  his mind.

3.The  stable mind

I f a lamp  keeps on shaking  ,

WE would  not be  able  ,

To see   anything   clearly ,

And similarly if our mind,

Keeps on jumping    from,

One thing   to another,

WE  cannot   feel God clearly.

4,Do not get angry

Like the rubber  ball ,  thrown on a wall ,

Comes   back   and hits  us badly,

Anger  thrown   against  others,

Comes back   and hits us badly,

Take a  selfie   when you are  angry,

You would not  like   your photo,

Imagine   how  our mind  ,

Would look like  , if we can,

Take a selfie  of   our angry mind.

5.To live  nicely

When a  machine  works constantly,

We stop it , lubricate  it  and rest it,

Our  ancestors  told   that  if we keep on working,

And eating  , do we need  a rest  by  not eating,

And lubricating  our mind  by praying  to God?

6.Everything is one.

Though we   eat  very many   sweets or even sugar,

We are able   to enjoy  only   the taste  of sweetness always,

Like that   whichever  God   we pray  , in whichever  form,

And whichever prayer, we  get mental  peace  .

7. We  can control mind

When we  get million dollar  lottery ,

For a second  our breath stops  and revives,

When suddenly   our close    relative  is no more ,

For a   second    we are not able to breath,

Proving that mind   has  something to do with breath,

And so by  controlling breath, mind can be controlled.

8.Ills  would  disappear

We wash ourselves  , our cloths  and our teeth daily,

And we never think  , we need not  do it one day,

Should we not clean  our mind  daily , by ,

Thinking and meditating  and praying  to God,

Will  our inside  not get dirty , if we stop it one day?

9.Anna dhana  (Charity  of food)

Gita   says that  a person   who only   eats food,

For himself   and never gives it to others are sinning,

The only   charity  which   can fully  satisfy a person,

And make him say , “This is sufficient” , is Anna Dhana(Charity  of food)

10., I , you  and that

There is only  one   sun in the sky  , but if we sprinkle,

Water  on the floor  , in each drop we   see a  Sun,

Like   that   there  is only   one God  to all of us,

But   he   appears  in every one’s mind  as very many gods.

11.The  seat  of God

If you see   a tin  not coming up the  water,

If you examine it  , it would be filled   with mud,

The more , more   mud we take out of it  ,

It starts   floating and similarly  , if we want,

To God to sit in the   throne of our mind,

Our mind should be clean of bad thoughts.

12, Sandhya  vandhana

At   dawn and dusk  the mind  is calm,

And the  wind   of  godliness  blows at these  times,

I request all  people to say  “Hari , hari…” at dawn

And “Shiva..Shiva..”  at dusk, so that  mind achieves  concentration.

13.North is  problem

Our  ancestors  advised us  , not to sleep ,

With head towards  north  and a few  generations,

Called  it blind belief but now  scientists have  ,

Identified  the north –South  electro  magnetic  waves,

And  are   advising us  to do same thing.

14.Navaneetha  mind

When we churn butter  comes out of milk,

But milk gets diluted   when mixed   with water,

And butter  floats and never  gets diluted.

While living in this world   , we should ,

Be like butter, floating all  over and not attached,

And the God who wants to have our   unattached  mind,

Is called “Nava  neetha(butter)  chor”  and “Chitha(mind) chor”

15.tHe cause of the act

When baby eats mud , mummy  ties  his hand ,

And   when the baby cries  , she laughs, “A cruel monster”

Thinks   the baby  without understanding  his mother,

Our Ambika(goddess)  , some times    ties   our hand  ,

And without understanding    her  good intentions,

We too call her “Cruel monster” , what  a tragedy?

16,Try to be a baby

When we  pray  and  worship  our goddess ,

In the form of a baby  , our mind   also  would become that of a baby?

If we  become “anger proof  “ and passion  proof” ,

She would become  our mother  who feeds  us “wisdom milk”

Our  villagers  knew it and called  their baby goddesses,

As “Kathayi (karthyayni) and “”  and “BHattarikaa”

Let us all  worship our gods as babies  with a  baby mind

17.Learn before  quarter  of your life span

We  consider  that  a human being  can live 100 years.

The first quarter(Kaal) of it  is the   age  to study,

Can we call  it “Kaal age” or  College and If ,

We  do not  concentrate  on learning  at this age ,

We would  not  be able  to learn anything in life.

18.Learn devotion

The  central aim of  learning  is to know   God,

But  nowadays  those who  learn do not believe in God,

The central aim  of getting knowledge  is getting humility,

But  those   who learn nowadays   are  proud,

Though our  girls get knowledge , they are not submissive,

Most of our students   have  lost devotion to teachers,

Though what   we learn or taught   has not changed ,

We have changed and this would  mean ,

WE may get knowledge  but we will  not get intelligent

19.Social  service to repair our temples

Our age  old temples , where  we  used to pray God,

Need lot of repair    and rebuilding and I feel,

That each and every  one of us  have  to contribute  something.

It need not  be always  monetary  donation  but,

Some  voluntary   effort  and we have  to learn   from,.

Saivite  saint Appar , who used  to cut the grass around  the  temple.

20.Where  is happiness?

Real  happiness  does not come   to us  from outside,

But  comes  deep from our mind and it comes,

When we  identify   some thing as ours and ours only,

Suppose we get more and more yield   we get happy,

Suppose  one year yield decreases   we feel sad,

And suppose  we sells  and buyer  gets  ,

Much high yield   next year   , we get   sad.

21, All are  his work

When we get  in to trouble  or get worried,

If we go to the temple   and  tell him our complaints,

Slowly we   get in to the habit  of remembering that God

In trouble and joy and  peace  and joy would fill our life.

22.   Mastery of speech

God has given only   man the   ability  to speak,

So that, he chants   the name of god and if,

He does not do that, God may decide,

That  there is no use  in giving this ability to him,

It has been told that  in this Kali age,

The best  and most easy  of  praying God ,

Is repeating   his name  again     and again.

23.What is prayer?

It is true that  we should not beg from God ,

But in Gita, human   beings are   classified,

As Not only as those  trying or getting salvation,

But those  who pray to get  cured  of  diseases,

And also those   who pray  to get wealthy,

Indicating that  God does approve  our asking him.

And so   do pray, pray   for anything  you like.

24Service to others

.Every one  should   do service   to others,

The rich can give money    and the poor service,

Wise people   who are not rich can teach the  people,

Without   expecting any thing and once people,

Decide   to help other do their   best possibility,

The world will improve  and no one   will suffer.

25.Our Dharma

There  is a lot  of quarrel  based on religion and caste ,

If all people do the prescribed  proper method of living  for them,

Without anger  and passion , without   bothering  ,

To compel others to  change their  Dharma,

The world   would be a quiet peaceful  place to live.

26.Good thoughts

We  are  all  always sad and sorry  without any joy,

And we are  always worried , about, who will help us ,

To come out of this  life  of problem but if we  understand,

That  catching hold of god  firmly    and coming  ,

Out of misery is the only   way  out, our life will change.

If we   are drowned in  mud,  we need   to catch  ,

Something  firm to  get  out of there   and that is God.

27.  You can become that

.The water  of all sacred  rivers  joining the  sea,

Would  become  sea water and cannot be identified,

Like that if we  understand   we are  a part of god ,

From  that second , we   would  become him.

28.Think that  which is only good

If mind thinks  always   about something,

It changes  in to that thing  and even doctors agree to it,

And if we always  think of God  , the ocean of love and mercy,

We ourselves would become  people  pervaded with love and peace,

It seems when Sita in Lanka   was always  thinking of Rama,

She had a doubt that  she will become Rama  and Trijata,

Her friend told , true, and Rama  there  would become  Sita there

29.Hari and Shiva are one

 When we go to a new place  , we do not know  ,

Which is east  or west and even if you  enquire  and know,

When we proceed further we would  get further confused,

But if we remain at the same place  we would be able to identify  directions,

Initially  when we   start  devotion to gods  , we wil get confused,

Whether Shiva is our god   or Lord Vishnu  is our God,

But when our devotion becomes   firm and matured,

Such differences would not  occur   to us.