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--- In tiruvengadam@xxxx, "Sudarshan M.K." <sampathkumar_2000@xxxx> 
wrote:

Dear friends,

The memory of Mukkur Swamy remains fresh in my memory thanks to the 
many discourses I have heard him give on a variety of religious 
subjects in the course of his long career as 'upannyAsa-chakravarty'.

Swamy was often fond of explaining the 'philosophy of materialism' as 
propounded by the anti-vedantic school of 'chArvaka' (sometimes 
referred to also as 'chAruvAka') which held sway during the times of 
both Adi Sankara and even Sri.RamanujAchArya.

These 'chAruvaka-s' were outright hedonists for whom the only purpose 
of human existence was pursuit of sensual pleasure. Their philosophy 
was utterly crude but was nevertheless very cleverly enunciated. In 
Sankara's times, when moral decadence had set in deeply amongst some 
privileged and intellectual classes of society, it appealed to 
a lot of people.

Mukkur Swamy used to narrate a legendary conversation that once took 
place between a 'chAruvaka' and AdiSankara in which the moral poverty 
of the 'chArvaka' philosophy got thoroughly exposed. Mukkur Swamy used 
to narrate it with great 'svArasyam' in Tamil which 'adiyane's' 
English translation can only hope to imitate unsuccessfully. 

Nevertheless given below is my attempt:

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

Sankara was once invited to engage in philosophical debate with a 
staunch "chAruvakA-s". Sankara, they say, was at first rather bemused 
by the idea.

"You invite me to engage in a philosophical debate, but why?", the 
bhagavathpAdA was said to have asked, "The tenets of my philosophy are 
grounded in the "pramANa" of Vedic first principles. You, on the 
contrary, have neither an intellectual tradition nor philosophical 
outlook. What then are you and I to debate about?!"

"Who says our school has no "pramANa"?", the "chAruvAka" is said to 
have countered. "Of course, we have a philosophical tradition! It is 
called "chAruvAka-darsanam" (the atheistic manifesto) and it is more 
than a match for your Vedas". 

"Oh, really!" asked Sankara sarcastically, "I was not aware, Sire, 
that your school was rooted in philosophy! Perhaps you would deign to 
expound this great "chAruvAka-darsanam" to me!"

The anti-Vedantin, being quite insensitive to Sankara's half-serious 
and half-mocking tone, gravely began tutoring the bhagavatpAdA in the 
mysteries of the "chAruvAka-darsanam". The venerable Sankara too 
played along, it is said, just to humour the poor, ridiculous fellow 
who was unaware his leg was being not just pulled, but quietly yanked! 

"Our great philosophy can be summed up in one epigrammatic verse", 
boasted the anti-Vedantin and recited to Sankara the following lines:
  
"yAvad jeevate sukham jeevate;
RNam kritvA ghritam pibate;
Bhasmee-bhutasya dehasya
punarAgamanam kutaha- "

Sankara heard the verse in thoughtful silence for a moment, shook his 
head and then pretending as though the profundity of the verse was 
thoroughly lost on him, he queried the "chAruvAka", "Sire, the verse 
you quote no doubt sounds brilliant. But please enlighten me as to 
what it purports to truly convey." 

"The verse states what according to our "chAruvakA-darsana" is the 
ultimate purpose of existence", replied the anti-Vedantin.

"And, Sire, what is the great purpose of existence?"

"kAma-Eka-Eva purushArtAha!", replied the atheist. "The sole purpose 
of all life is to sate the appetites, big and small, of human desire. 
To seek purpose in life is the passion of all living beings; and the 
pleasure of Passion is surely that Purpose. Where passion is 
unfulfilled, purpose too remains unconsummated."

Sankara bhagavatpAdA patiently listened to this nugget of 
philosophical wisdom and, for a moment, he could hardly conceal a 
chuckle. "If this man's absurd philosophy were true indeed", the 
bhagavathpAdA said to himself, "what a monumental impostor I must seem 
to people everywhere!"

"Sire, how wonderfully you state your philosophical case!" said the 
bhagavatpAdA continuing the rather absurd dialogue. "Sire, do you mean 
each man must seek out his respective desire in life and utterly 
devote himself to its complete satiation?"

"Indeed, that is the sole and true purpose of all existence," replied 
the 'chAruvAka'. "Take away the pleasure of passion from life and what 
is really there in it? Deduct the pangs of passion from the net 
aggregate of living? what remains? Nothing? nothing but endless null, 
infinite void. A world without pleasure is of no use to us. It negates 
our very existence. Pleasure, on the other hand, fulfils it. Hence, it 
is pleasure that is The Principle of Life? As long as one is alive one 
must seek out pleasure?"yAvad jeevate sukham jeevate!"

"How insightful!" Sankara roundly applauded. "Sir, pray tell me now, 
if eating be the sole pleasure of a certain man, what then shall be 
his earthly goal?"

"Eating and evermore eating is such a man's goal!" was the reply from 
the anti-Vedantin.

"And if his spirit be sated by endless eating, what might he do then 
with the rest of his life?"

To this question from Sankara, the anti-Vedantin replied simply, 
"ghritam pibate!"

"Let him, who by mere eating, has finished sating his spirit, let him 
then look to sating his body. Let him in the days he remains on earth 
take to gorging down quantities of pure "ghee"". (In Sanskrit 
"ghritam" means "clarified butter").

Now it must be remembered that in southern parts of India the people 
are predominantly rice eaters. When they sit down to a meal, rice is 
served first. Then a few teaspoons of "ghee" are generally served to 
lace the rice. This is done firstly, to lend a mild but delicious 
aroma to the steamed rice and secondly, to add a bit of the vital 
nutrient of fat to the otherwise utterly fat-free diet of South 
Indians. The culinary custom is to usually add nothing more than a few 
dollops (or splash) of this "ghee" to the meal; anything more would 
only be adding an unhealthy amount of fat to the diet! Nowadays those 
who are diet-conscious, in fact, often completely decline it if "ghee" 
is served with their meal.

In Tamil it is referred to as "ney kutthikaNam" i.e. "ghee" is to be 
just "sprinkled", not "poured" or "dished out", over the rice that is 
served. But we find here instead, in the Sankara episode, the 
"chAruvAka" actually advocating not just "sprinkling" of "ghee" but 
shamelessly "gorging" it! He specifically uses the Sanskrit phrase 
"ghritam pibate". Literally, it means "quaffing down ghee" as if it 
were so much lemonade in a large pitcher that an awfully thirsty man 
(or exceptionally greedy child perhaps) would easily empty in two 
massive gulps and one resounding, disgusting belch! 

What the anti-Vedantin, of course, meant to tell Sankara bhagavatpAdA 
was this: that there were no limits to seeking earthly pleasure. If 
man's appetite were to become jaded by indulgence, it could continue 
to be whetted by wanton excess. So for them who had exhausted the 
gourmet delights of life, there was still the promised land of 
unbridled gluttony!

Sankara, with the feigned innocence of a monastic apprentice, carried 
on querying the "chAruvAka".

"Sire, but you know well that in this world, to desire a thing is one 
and to sate it is another matter. There is the cost of satiation that 
must not be forgotten. It takes a lot of money these days to buy 
"ghee". It's not cheap commodity. So what does the man to whom 
quaffing down "ghee" has become the ruling passion of life? what is 
the poor fellow to do if he finds he cannot afford "ghee"?"

"RNam kritvA!" retorted the unflappable "chAruvAka". "Let such a man 
as you describe him to be? let him go about borrowing money any which 
way and by any means he can? and from any quarter in the world? but 
"ghritam" or "ghee" he must obtain and consume to his heart's 
content!" 

This was the "chAruvAka" way of saying, "The end justifies the means? 
any means whatsoever!"

"Sire, but is it not imprudent," Sankara continued, "for a man to 
borrow money? Debt ("Rnam") enslaves one's soul to another. Surely you 
know that, don't you? And how can an enslaved soul be free to pursue 
the true ends of existence?" asked Sankara.

"Debt may be the bane of the soul in your matrix of Vedic values, O 
Sankara? but it is not so in the lofty manifesto of our 
"chAruvAka-darsanam"", was the laconic reply of the anti-Vedantin.

Sankara next tried a slightly different line of questioning.

"Sire, are you saying that in the lofty scheme of your wondrous 
"darsana" there is no such a thing as "soul"?

"Bhasmee-bhutasya dehasya!" was the emphatic reply of the "chAruvAka". 
"What is this thing called "soul" you Vedantins are so fond of 
talking about?" he counter-queried the bhagavatpAdA. "It is nothing 
but a fanciful figment of overwrought Vedic imaginations! For us 
"chAruvakA-s" the soul and the body are one and the same. When the 
body lives and breathes, the "soul" that you speak of lives and 
breathes too. When the body dies and turns to ashes, your "soul" turns 
to ashes with it."

"Sire, in that case, does the soul enliven the body or the body 
enliven the soul? Which enlivens what?" asked the relentless Sankara.

"Pah!" exclaimed the anti-Vedantin, "What kind of ridiculous questions 
you Vedantins pose! Tell me this, O Sankara! When you munch 
"tAmboolam" (betel) your mouth and tongue turn scarlet in colour, 
don't they? Now, I ask you, what makes your mouth go red? Is it the 
betel-leaves? The areca nut? The scented lime-paste? Or is it the warm 
flesh of your salivating tongue? Eh? Which amongst them makes your 
mouth go red? Can you tell me?"

The "chAruvAka" paused a moment to let his dramatic question hang in 
the air for effect. Then he answered it himself, "The answer obviously 
is: none of the them individually can cause redness in your mouth; but 
all three? betel-leaf, nut and lime? when chewed together as 
"tAmboolam" in the mouth will certainly redden your tongue, isn't it? 
Likewise, neither body nor soul (if there is such a thing at all) can 
singly constitute the material Cause for the Effect of Life. But when 
"body" as one element and "soul" as another, cohere? they "enliven" 
each other to form a third element called "Life". As long as the 
constituent elements remain coherent, the resultant element of "Life" 
too is sustained. When the constituents dissipate on death and devolve 
to their elemental ante-state, the phenomenon of "Life" too simply 
ceases to be. 

"And that's all there really is to Life and earthly Existence, O 
Sankara! But you Vedantins will never leave it all at that! You have 
to concoct all your complex and fanciful metaphysics about the "jiva", 
the "brahmham" and the "sarIra" or "body"? Your Vedanta, O Sankara, if 
it amounts to anything at all, is nothing indeed but a conspiracy 
against the common man! You and your entourage, after all, have to 
somehow make a livelihood, right?"

Sankara was amazed at the ingenious arguments of the anti-Vedantin! 
Crude ideas whose "sound and fury otherwise signified nothing" were 
very nearly made to seem like high philosophy!

"If, as you say, there is no purpose to earthly existence other than 
seeking its temporal pleasures, then, I suppose, there is nothing like 
"svargA" (paradise) or "naraka" (perdition) in the 
"chAruvAka-darsana"? There is no system of moral reward and 
punishment? There is no ethical system under which man must account 
for his deeds?"

To this the anti-Vedantin replied, "punarAgamanam kutaha- ?". 

"O Sankara, we do have "svargA" and "naraka" in our system. But it is 
not along the ridiculous lines of your "karma" theory where the 
so-called "soul" of man casts off one body after another in a cycle of 
birth and death? journeying relentlessly, back and forth, from this 
world to the ones beyond? and along the way liquidating its 
outstanding account of sin and virtue? Oh, no, we don't subscribe to 
that humbug you Vedantins have invented and now retail!"

"What then is your idea of "svarga" and "naraka", heaven and hell?" 
asked Sankara.

"Heaven and Hell, O Sankara, reside on this very earth. One does not 
have to look into the empty skies for them. If a man should find ample 
means in this world to satisfy his every desire for pleasure, that 
verily is the Heavenly state. And if he, on the contrary, suffer 
deprivation and cannot indulge or fulfil his passions? there indeed is 
the state of Hell", replied the "chAruvAka".

"Sire," Sankara bhagavatpAdA finally asked, "do you have the concept 
of "mokshA"? eternal liberation? in your "darsana"?

"Of course", replied the "chAruvAka", "In our system of thought we 
consider Death to be "mOkshA"? "Bhasmee-bhutasya dehasya"? Death 
grants us the eternal liberation you speak of "!

********** ************* ************
 
In Sankara's times, corruption and bankruptcy, in thought and morals, 
had seeped so deeply into the society of India that masses of men 
actually believed in the system of "chAruvAka-darsana" --- by far the 
most classic example of the fungus of "anti-Veda" then destroying 
'sanAtana-dharma' at its very roots.

With humble 'praNAmam' to the memory of Mukkur Swamy,

dAsAn,
Sudarshan
--- End forwarded message ---






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