Pasuram 11: Kattu Kaṛavai

Muhil Vaṇṇan

Bhakthi

Recap of the key concepts from the first 10 pasurams on Bhakthi

1. Nayika Bhavanai
2. Bhagavatha sambandam
3. Ananya sheshastvam
4. Ananya saranatvam
5. Ananya Bogaathwam
6. Bhaagavatha Sheshatwam
7. Eshwara-sya cha sow-hardyam
8. Edurs-cha Sukrudam
9. Vishnur Kataksham
10. Adwesham
11. Abhimukyam
12. Saadhu Samaagamam
13. Bakthi Upasanam
14. Bhakthi Upayam
15. Saadhya Bhakthi
16. Saadhana Bhakthi

Now that we have drilled down into bhakthi concept very deep, one must be thinking is there an easy pill out there? (Wish there was one). But let us remind ourselves, the key concept here, is to elevate the soul and  make it so pure that it  can cross Viraja Nadhi. In Bhagavath Geetha, Sri Krishna says "Nacha puna Raa vartathey", which means only Jeeva that will be so fit  that it does not want to return back will be selected.  Let us set aside the topic of what will happen or what will I get after crossing Viraja river for later discussion and focus on how can a soul made fit?

Nithya Karma

So, "Is it enough to just do Saranagathi,  Bhakthi and Samashrayanam and leave your Nithya-Karma?" 

This pasurum discusses about a bagavatha who performs Nithya Karma. Going further; what is Karma and what is Nithya Karma? 

Bhagavan Sri Krishna was brought up as Vaishya and lived his life as a Kshathria. At every  stage he performed his Varna-ashrama dharma to set an example. In previous explanation, we have described karma very briefly as balance sheet. Though, balance sheet was apt name to describe its purpose, for the  definition and explanation purpose, let us retract that word and rename karma as bag of sins/pavam/abacharam gathered from various janmas. There are various way to gather sins, and just for the explanation sake let us list few:-

1. Krithaan ( Due to not performing tasks properly)
2. Akrithya ( Due to not performing tasks at all)
3. Bhagavatha abachara (Talking bad about Bhagavan)
4. Bhaagavatha abachara (Talking bad about/or doing bad things to Bhaagavatha)
5. Asakya (hating a person for no reason). And so on (hence the term Nanavitha(unnumbered) abacharas). for detailed list, please go through Bhagavatha maha puranam.

Every birth adds up the count in the bag of sins. The overall list of sins is called Sanchitha karma out of which there will be subset of abacharas that will be selected to be atoned  in a given janma called Prarabya karma. So jeeva takes a birth to compensate the pavam and in turn ends up creating several ( analogically : moving one step up and falling 100 steps down).  Shastras created anustaanam (procedure) to remove the sins :

1. Nitya Karma Anustaanam – Daily obligatory duties like Sandhya Vandhanam; performing which will not give punyam(good deeds) but not performing will cause pavam(bad deeds). only reward by doing this avoiding is getting new pavam
2. Naimityaka Karma Anustanam--Occasional obligatory duties like performing rituals on eclipse etc similar to Nithya Karma, this also have no reward
3. Prayaschitta Karma Anustanam– Rites for removal of sins like Candrayana Vrata
4. Kaamya Karma Anustanam– Rites done to attain desired results like Puthrakameshi yaga for getting child or Jyotistoma Yaga for reaching Heaven; Usually used to achieve low human needs and should be abstained from if your ultimate aim is to not go back to the new birth cycle.
5. Nishiddha Karma – Forbidden action like killing/ taking revenge etc. 

Since we are all trying trying to attain perfection and main aim of our satsangam is for cleansing the soul, let us only discuss the first three as last two are performed by either Aishwaryarthi or Kaivalyarthi. As per our previous discussions we know that we are all part of primordial Nature( Moola prakruthi) which is made from mixture of  Sath, Rajas and Thamas gunas and there is Athma(which has Budhi) made of pure Sath Guna inside us. Let me explain the scenario that may lead to an abachara without your knowledge. for example you take a sankalpa to chant bhagavan's name and following steps happens behind the scenes.

1. Your Budhi passes the sankalpa to Manas.
2. Manas passes the instruction to indriyas(organs.)
3. indiriyas waits and reciprocate back to manas.
4. Manas conveys the status back to budhi.


In the above simple 4 step process, if Manas/Budhi or some other external factor causes a problem, then the sankalpa is not completed and this will cause abachara. 

With this explanation, lets classify karma  that adds up into our day today life into two broad categories as follows:-

1. Niyatha Karma( Known mistake)
2. Aniyatha Karma( Happens without one's knowledge)

According to Shastras all aniyatha karma gets burned by performing nithya and naimithika karmas anustaanam. According to Sri Krishna there is no place in this world for people who do not perform nithya and naimithika karma (and no place in any other world).  Prayaschitta Karma is to atone Niyatha karma ( known mistake) that may be caused by indirect effect (accidentally) in current janma. 

One may ask, what does karma yoga mean then? What happens if I have not performed any Nithya Karma or missed few? We shall discuss these in the next pasuram's explanation . 

Kōvalartam Poṛkoḍiyē

Andal in this pasuram invites a beautiful girl who is a daughter of great man, who has performed all his nithya karmas or naimithika karma  perfectly (as an example a milkman milking countless cows while making sure their calf gets enough food) to join the satsangam.
They all came and stood in front of her house's courtyard because lord Krishna has a special interest in this courtyard ( because of her father's karmas). Andal mentions that her presence in satsangam is a great wealth to Krishna Anubhavam. Please wake-up!

Why does a person who performs karma properly need to wake up? one who performs karma is just fulfilling the requirements of day to day life. Changing the karma to karma yoga (by performing 3 renunciation) will lead to purification of soul. The idea is : if you make your practices as pure as possible and get yourself closer to aathma (cutting rajas and tamas gunas). The 3 renunciations are discussed in the next pasuram.

Thiruppavai - Pasuram 11

தமிழ்

கற்றுக் கறவைக் கணங்கள் பல கறந்து
செற்றார் திறலழியச் சென்று செருச் செய்யும்
குற்றம் ஒன்றில்லாத கோவலர்த்தம் பொற்கொடியே
புற்று அரவு அல்குல் புனமயிலே போதராய்
சுற்றத்து தோழிமார் எல்லாரும் வந்து நின் 
முற்றம் புகுந்து முகில் வண்ணன் பேர் பாட
சிற்றாதே பேசாதே செல்வ பெண்டாட்டி நீ 
எற்றுக்கு உறங்கும் பொருளேலோர் எம்பாவாய்

English Text:

kattu kaṛavai kaṇangaḷ pala kaṛandu |
 cettār tiṛal azhiya cennu cerucceyyum |
kuttram onnillādā kōvalartam poṛkoḍiyē |
 puttaravalgul  puna mayilē! pōdāray |
cuttattu tōzhimār ellārum vandu | nin
 muttam puhundu muhil vaṇṇan pēr pāḍa |
cittādē pecādē śelva peṇḍāṭṭi | nī
 ettukku uṛangam poruḷ ēlōr empāvāy ||