You are here: SriPedia - Oppiliappan - Archives - Apr 2006

Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00012 Apr 2006

 
Apr 2006 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


   The Story of Saint Poosalar: Conquest of ?kaama?
   ------------------------------------------------ 
         through Sublimation of Desire -- 
         ---------------------------------
                   ?bhakti yOga?
                    -----------

In the old and Vedic traditional way of life, one of
the ways in which people seem to have gone about
dealing with the problem of "kaamic" feeling (i.e. of
undue attachment and possessiveness towards the
homestead) was to gently "deflate" it. 

"Deflation" of "kaamic" passion was accomplished in
much the same way as one would deliberately deflate
"tyre-pressure" on a vehicle whose wheels are seen and
felt to be "bouncing around wildly on the road" due to
over-inflated tyres. Similarly, when the pressure of
"kaama" builds up -- when the wheels of life are
over-inflated with the hot air of our unwanted or
unruly passions, so to speak -- it makes Man's earthly
journey intolerably bumpy and jolted. It is at that
time then that he must pull over, stop the vehicle,
get out and "deflate" those "kaamic" tyres a little.

The ancient Indians practised 2 principal ways to do
the job of "deflating" the passion behind the "kaama"
associated with the "homing instinct". The first one
was an (i) extrinsic and practical way and the second
was (ii)a subjective, rather introverted way. 

                   ************

(1) The "extrinsic way" was basically to do with
exercising individual choice in the matter of
constructing and styling the exterior and interiors of
one's home. 

The individual choice was to either have one's home
reflect through its decor and through objects
displayed in it, one's own personality, individual
tastes and life-style or to have it simply project and
recreate, as far as possible, the general auspicious
air, environment and leitmotifs that generally prevail
within a temple. The ancient equivalent of the modern
life-style that is obsessed with converting homes into
either home-theatres, art-galleries, librarier or mini
green-houses (refer posting #23) was to make the
exteriors and interiors of one's earthly abode
faithfully imitate or nearly resemble, in one way or
the other, the conception of the sacred ambience and
decor as obtains inside the Abode of the Almighty. 

Old-fashioned interiors of homes in villages or cities
in the olden days in India did not include
"hi-fidelity sound-systems" or "hi-resolution
plasma-screens", and neither potted indoor-plants nor
Persian rugs, neither wall-to-wall book-shelves nor
delicate crystal-glass show-pieces. Instead, from the
front-entrances all the way through to the back-yard
of the traditional home of those days, one could only
see artefacts and accoutrements that were strongly
reminiscent of temples, temple interiors and temple
practices.

For example, astride the gates to the house, or upon
it, a visitor to the house would see most probably
either an iconic or grill-work representation of Lord
Vigneshwara. In the middle of the front-garden, one
probaly might come across a little stone replica of
Lord Krishna with a flute on his lips. Next, one would
see, engraved upon the large and ornate wooden beam of
the main-portal leading into the house, a plate image
in bass-relief probably of Gajalakshmi, the goddess of
Prosperity, welcoming everyone who passes through (in
SriVaishnava homes, of course, one would see the
customary insignia of the community: the sacred
"urdhva-pundhra" buffeted on either side by the holy
"shanka" and "chakra" and by the miniature iconic
representations of "siriya tiruvadi" and
"periya-tiruvadi", Garuda and Anjaneya).   

Then, once you enter into the main living-room,
usually a large sun-lit hall fanning out in several
directions into other inner-quarters of the house, you
are not likely to miss the beautiful Raja Ravi-Varma
portraits and authentic Tanjore painting, all with
their traditional leitmotifs of Hindu gods and
goddesses, avatars and mythological characters, all
hung in gallery fashion right around the adjoining
wall spaces. 

In the open-shelf spaces in these halls one might
catch sight of pretty little dolls and icons too, made
of plaster-of-paris or wood, artistically depicting
characters and themes from the Ramayana or
Mahabharatha or the "dasAvatAra", the 10 avatars of
Vishnu etc...

Inside, deep within the innermost living quarters, 
one would see, of course, the traditional "puja-arai",
the household worship-spot. Here would be found an
array of sacramental objects, icons and images,
silverware, copper utensils, silken brocades, bells,
trinkets and other beautiful paraphernalia meant for
daily worship.

Lastly, when one goes to the backyard of the house,
one would see a little potted mound on which a single
sapling of the sacred "Tulasi" tree (Basil) would be
found consecrated. This mound would be decorated with
the sacred marks of vermillion and sandal-paste --- a
very special and private place of worship for all the
women-folk of the house.       
                   
                   ************

Now if we must explain the preference of the ancient
peoples of India for converting their homes into
religious-minded imitations of temple constructions,
we must do so only with reference to the basic
intention behind such behaviour. It is plausible to
assume that it was because people of those times hoped
that by making their homes resemble the Abode of God,
they would to some degree dampen and diminish
("deflate")the intensity of "kaama" aroused by the
pride that naturally comes with owning and possessing
one's very own "dream home". Simply by surrounding
oneself at home with varied symbols and icons of the
Almighty, it was believed, would somehow engender a
certain sense of dispassion towards the house; in
other words the proud house-owner would be somehow
restrained from going overboard in life in cultivating
extreme feelings of over-attachment or
over-possessiveness for it; that a certain degree of
"vairaagya" or emotional distancing from his "dream"
property would not be too difficult for his mind to
attain, and thus saving himself from untoward
consequences that may arise as a result of nurturing
far too much "kaama" in his heart -- far too much of
sentimental attachment --- for the Home, for all
things in it and for all home-bound feelings that
result in human bondage.        

                  ***************

(2) There was yet another, less extrinsic, more
subjective or introverted way in which people in the
olden days in India sought to control, if not conquer,
"kaama" aroused by the passions of Man's "homing
instinct". It was what we may call "the way of
ritualistic conditioning of one's mind to make it
gradually come to regard one's home more as an
instrument of spiritual atonement in life than as a
source of pleasurable gratification".

In the ancient "dharma-sAstras" there is a Sanskrit
couplet which throws a lot of light upon the matter:

 "panchyasUnA gruhasthasya vartantE'hara-harah sadA
   khandanI pEsanI chuLLi jalakumbha upaskarah".
                                    
We will examine the verse in the next posting.

                    **************
                  (to be continued)   

Regards,
dAsan,
Sudarshan





                
____________________________________________________
Jiyo cricket on Yahoo! India cricket 
http://in.sports.yahoo.com/cricket/





 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    Oppiliappan-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
oppiliappan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list