PuraNas and Itihasas are Metaphysical Dreams
By Dr K.Loganathan March 2011
PuraNas and Itihasas are Metaphysical Dreams-1
Dear Friends,
I have felt for a long time that bulk Indian scholars are very irrational when it comes to Historical and Depth Psychological Thinking where they confuse the PuraNas as historical narratives and Astrology as something that can predict the future of a person. Thus we see the various egroups flooded with endless messages on Astrology and Pseudo Histroy based on RamayaNa and Mahabharat without realizing that they are MYTHS and hence are NOT narratives of historical events but raher metaphysical dreams.
Towards explaining this as a first post on this theme, let me reproduce my analysis of the famous Mythical Theme in Hinduism, the Churning of the Ocean of Milk.
The introduction to my initial publication goes as below:
I have chosen as the third Patikam of Appar , the 14th in the Fourth ThirumuRai that abounds with mythical themes. Each verse describes a central mythical theme of profound meanings as an expression of the UNDERSTANDING of BEING. It must be mentioned here that metaphorical thinking that comes closest to the encounter with the Unconscious has been a basic element of Agamism right from the Sumerian days. During the times of logical positivism of the Buddhists it was this kind of thinking that was ridiculed and the Agama PiramaaNa that presupposes it was NOT accepted as a reliable mode of thinking that can lead to valid understanding of BEING. However during the bakthi revolution it was not only resuscitated but given great importance and made the central ingredient of Bakthi itself.
Bakthi as distinct from faith is founded upon an immediate and direct communion with BEING. The Baktas are quite often in a communicative relationship with BEING and in this dialogic interaction BEING not only discloses Himself in numerous archetypal forms that symbolically instruct the anmas on metaphysical truths but also discloses archetypal DRAMAS that become the themes of mythologies or PuraNaas. Quite often these becomes the elements of transductive perceptions, the visions of the Third Eye, to speak metaphorically here.
The genuine puraNaas as opposed to the fictitious and false that are invented by aberrant minds as a way of controlling the mind of the credulous commoners , distinguish themselves by being immensely profound and captivating. Once we put aside the unnecessary and supremely irrelevant rational attitude and seek out the TRUTHS these genuine puraNaas embody then we can enjoy metaphysical insights that disclose the grandeur of BEING , the infinite complexity of his personality, if we can speak of such a thing of BEING.
The following Patikam cut across the distinction between the classification of the puraNaas into Saiva and VaishNava and seeks to identify the profoundly meaningful themes and which would further induce bakthi in the mind of man.
1.
பருவரை ஒன்று சுற்றி அரவங் கைவிட்ட
இமையோர் இரிந்து பயமாய்த்
திருநெடுமால் நிறத்தை அடுவான் விசும்பு
சுடுவான் எழுந்து விசைபோய்ப்
பெருகிட மற்று இதற்கொர் பிதிகாரம் ஒன்றை
அருளாய்ப் பிரானே எனலும்
அருள்கொடு மாவிடத்தை எரியாமல் உண்ட
அவன் அண்டரண்டர் அரசே
உரை:
மெய்ஞானத்தின் ஓர் வடிவாகிய மேருமலையை மத்தாகக் கொண்டு, வாசுகி எனும் குண்டலினிப் பாம்பையே நாணாகக் கொண்டு, பாற்கடலை தேவர்களும் அசுரர்களும் கடைய முடிவில் ஆலகால விசமே வெளிவர அதனைக் கண்டு அஞ்சி தேவாதி தேவர்கல்ள் அனைவரும் அபயம் என்று நீலமேனி திருமாலை அடைந்தனர். திதியின் தெய்வமாகிய திருமாலால் அதனைக் கட்டுப்படுத்துவது முடியாது போக சிவபெருமானை அடுத்து வேண்ட , பெருமானும் அந்த கரிய வண்ணத்தைக் கிழித்துக்கொண்டு திருமால் உள்ளிருந்து வெளிப்பட்டு செவ்வான் வடிவில் அனைத்தையும் சுட்டு எரித்து இல்லாது போக்கும் நெருப்பு வடிவில் விண்ணெல்லாம் நிரைந்து நிற்க, தேவர்களும் தாம் செய்த பிழைக்கு பிதிகாரமாகிய கழுவாய் மிக வேண்ட, இறைவன் அருள் மேலீட்டால யாவராலும் கட்டுப்படுத்த முடியாத அந்த நஞ்சை அஞ்சாது தானுண்டு தன் தொண்டையில் இருத்தி தான் அதனால் எரியாது இருப்பதைக் காட்டினன். அதனால் இந்த ஆலகால அழிப்புத் திறன் வல்ல எரியுருவின் சிவபெருமானே அண்டரண்டர் அனைவருக்கும் தலைவன் எனக் காட்டியருளினான் என்றவாறு.
1.
paruvarai onRu cuRRi aravang kaividda
imaiyoor irintu payamaakak
tirumaal niRattai aduvaan vicumbu
cuduvaan ezuntu vicai pooyp
perukida maRRu itaRkoor pitikaaram onRai
aruLaay piranee enalum
aruLkodu maavidattai eriyaamal uNda
avan aNdaraNdar aracee
When the Devas and Asuras churned the ocean of milk using the hill of metaphysical illuminations as the rod and Vasuki the KundalinI snake as the rope , the devas fled in great fear on seeing the emergence of the most potent Poison and sought recluse with Thirumaal, the Black One. But He was unable to contain it but at that point from within him emerged BEING as the all consuming FIRE and spread the whole vast sky filling it full. And when the devas sought repentance for their misdeeds, out of GRACE, that becoming of BEING, He swallowed it but keeping it all at His throat escaped being burnt by it. Thereby HE also showed that CIVA who is capable of the Form of FIRE that can destroy everything is the Supreme Lord of the whole Cosmos that contains within itself all the universes.
Commentary:
There are many Hermeneutic Semiotic principles at work here and we have to attend to them to get at the meanings. The devas and asuras are actually people but moved by the good and evil forces within the mind. The HILL stands for metaphysical illuminations, the axiomatic TRUTHS to attain which all human beings strive so hard, perhaps unconsciously . no body wants to live by untruths. This is the Primordial Intention for which they CHURN the Ocean of Milk which stands for the World of Knowledge. The Snake stands for the kundaliNi sakthi, the Power or Energy they expend in such efforts. While their intentions may be all right but unknown to themselves they also unwittingly bring out into the open the Intense Poison , the Poison of Hatred that presses human beings to seek knowledge that would destroy those whom they hate and despise. They may invent weapons of war immensely destructive, fan the fire of hatred through propaganda that leads to terrorism wars of all kinds and battles and civil disturbances in which people are killed mercilessly properrties are destroyed.
Once unleashed the poison of Intense Hatred becomes something UNCONTROLLABLE as the whole situation becomes intensely irrational and hence beyond dialogic confrontations and settlements. Thirumaal, the Black One, BEING as the ONE who keeps the world in peace and happiness becomes powerless in the face of this irrational madness in which only uncontrollable hatred that become intense sway the moods and issue forth in immensely destructive wars and terrorism of all kinds.
Thus BEING as the Black One departs and shows Himself as the consuming FIRE, the most Powerful Destructive Form of Rudra, destroying in that process the peace establishing and maintaining the Black or Blue Form. There is NOTHING that BEING as Rudra cannot contain or control but becoming merciful towards the devas who beseech Him, He swallows the poison of hatred but retains it in His throat so that He is NOT infected by it and continues to be the LOVING ONE, He who continuously engraces the world with HIS boundless kindness. There cannot the irrational hatred as the element of BEING.
Thus this Mythology informs us about historical processes where human folly which allows the irrational hatred to condition their existence -- the ideologies religious fanaticism inhuman aristocracies racialism and so forth -- are met with and controlled by BEING. In the face of such a poison of intense hatred , BEING does NOT remain the Peace maintaining Thirumaal, the Black One but becomes the FIRE that consumes all which is a metaphorical allusion to intense warfare in which countless number of people are killed but which at the same time has the effect of making people rational and peaceful loving again. Such wars , no matter how destructive they are, is the only solution for overcoming the poison of hatred that has become uncontrollable and beyond any rational approach to contain it and divert or transform it.
PuraNas and Itihasas are Metaphysical Dreams-2 (Attn Sunil Bhattacharya)
Friends
I want now attend to the demands made by Brahmins or more generally scholars of Sk literature on the various criteria that would justify a theme as a PuraNa and not otherwise. These are given as below with thanks to Sunil Bhattacharya.
The demand are: including descriptions of creation of the Universe(sarga), the destruction and regeneration of the universe(pratisarga), the details of kings of solar and lunar dynasties (vamsha), geneological details( about the gods, the authors etc - and yugas( Vamshanucarit) and the time of puranic theme ( Manvantara)
I have noticed that such criteria have infiltrated even Tamil Puranas and corrupted them up to a point.
The Fallacy of Historicalizing What is Non-Historical
Now what I call a metaphysical dream is a deep kind of dream where the archetypes figure (devas asuras etc) and as C.G Jung observed , something that emerges from the Collective Unconscious(CU) Let us recall the PuraNa of Appar:
>>>>
When the Devas and Asuras churned the ocean of milk using the hill of metaphysical illuminations as the rod and Vasuki the KundalinI snake as the rope , the devas fled in great fear on seeing the emergence of the most potent Poison and sought recluse with Thirumaal, the Black One. But He was unable to contain it but at that point from within him emerged BEING as the all consuming FIRE and spread the whole vast sky filling it full. And when the devas sought repentance for their misdeeds, out of GRACE, that becoming of BEING, He swallowed it but keeping it all at His throat escaped being burnt by it. Thereby HE also showed that CIVA who is capable of the Form of FIRE that can destroy everything is the Supreme Lord of the whole Cosmos that contains within itself all the universes.
>>>>
This is a metaphysical dream of Appar where the emergence of fiery Siva from Black and cool VishNu is perhaps peculiar to Appar as it is not found in the general description of this theme. But the point is the description is complete and we can INTERPRET and understand the message communicated and as I have done. Of course there can be DIFFERENT interpretations introducing a CONFLICT of Interpretations requiring a demand to re-interpret and come to consensus if possible
Now it is reasonable for purposes of interpretation to demand who is the author and under what context he had written this and so forth, But it seems demanding sarga pratisraga vamsha of the kings of the time and whether they belong to Solar or Lunar dynasty etc are totally IRRELEVANT for interpreting and understanding the myth.
It is not only irrelevant but in HISTORICALISING what is essentially non-historical, it serves to DISTORT the purity of the puranic theme.
Such puranic themes as metaphysical dreams emerge from the Collective Unconscious(CU) and which we can understand as a very deep part of the human mind. The point is that as such dreams can erupt into the consciousness of any person at any time, they transcend national boundaries cultural contexts linguistic and religious affinities and so forth. They are timeless and nation-lees, something already there in CU of all and hence something that can erupt into the conscious mind as metaphysical dreams,
The Hindu people in historicalizing what are in fact non-historical have become thoroughly IRRATIONAL in their historical thinking where the use such great metaphysical dreams as Ramayana as historical documents, a battle between Aryan North and Dravidian south etc has precipitated and generated mutual hatred.
RamayaNa is a metaphysical dream of the sort:
Lord Rama loved Sita and married her overcoming many obstacles. For some reasons he has to leave his city and live in exile in a forest for a number of years. There RavaNa saw Sita and captivated by her charms abducted her knowing very well she is the wife of Lord Rama. Now despite the various enticements of RavaNa Sita remained faithful to her husband and because of which Lord Rama waged a war, killed RabaNa and rescued Sita
This dream carries a metaphysical message: it is immoral to desire to possess another person’s wife and that such a person will be killed by her husband provided the woman remains faithful to her husband.
This TRUTH exists in the world as an eternal truth of the sexual behaviour of all human beings and such a dream with some variations can occur to any body in the world as they emerge form the CU of a person.
Now when historicalised in accordance with the demands made as above, great DISTORTIONS are introduced making history itslef immensely irrational. It is this histoticalizing that makes Lord Rama, a North Indian living in Ayodhya, RavaNa a Dravidian living in Sri Langka etc and hence the whole theme a conflict between Aryans and Dravidians and so forth.
Not only that Ramayana is taken as a historical document with a birth place for Lord Rama, and who lived in 7000 BC and so forth, The metaphysical dream of a kind becomes an article of religious faith and with that a source of fanatical outburts, something that arouses very intense emotions.
I believe that the bulk of Hindu scholars who indulge in endless debates about the dates of the RamayaNa dn Mahabharata are thoroughly irrational where they have either forgotten or ignorant that such themes are elements of the Collective Unconscious and hence timeless and nation-less, They can be interpreted and understood and with that grasp some deep truths about human nature and as such should not taken as documents in history.
They are not epigraphs inscriptions and so forth but rather metaphysical dreams that can erupt into human consciousness at any time.
Loga
Re: [akandabaratam] Re: The collapse of the Aryan Invasion Theory / Meluhha
Friday, March 4, 2011 2:55 PM
From:
"Sunil Bhattacharjya" <sunil_bhattacharjya@yahoo.com>
View contact details
To:
akandabaratam@yahoogroups.com
Dear Rameshji,
The five criteria of the puranas are that they have to cover the five topics. These are as follows:
"sargas ca pratisarga ca
vamsa manvantarani ca
vamsanu caritam capi
puranam panca laksanam"
Any Purana has to describe
1)
Sarga or The creation of the universe,
2)
Pratisarga or the destruction and recreation of the Universe,
3)
Vamsha or the details of the kings of the Solar and the Lunar dynasty (and off other dynasties)
4)
Vamshanucarita or the genealogy of the pantheon of the gods and of and of the writers / sages and
5)
Manvantara or the ages of the founding fathers of the mankind (ie. the Manus). That will include discussion on the Yugas.
Regards,
Sunil KB
PuraNas and Itihasas are Metaphysical Dreams-3(Final)
The core of PuraNas and Itihasas are metaphysical dreams of Visions, the visions of the Third Eye. They are dream-like but are not the dreams that ordinary people enjoy during sleep for they are enjoyed while a person is AWAKE and alert but in a meditative mood. They just erupt in the consciousness taking over the whole of the ATTENTION of the person till the dream show is over. It is like ordinary dream but always comes with a profundity of its own and where the archetypes of various kind figure in the drama unfolded.
Such visions are called Yogak Kaadci by AruNandi , meaning yogic visions of a kind. The Jains call it Njaana pariyayak kaadci, transcendental visions of a kind and which I call Transductive Perceptions.
Below I provide examples of Metaphysical Dreams from Appar as well as from my own repertoire of such dreams.
From :https://sites.google.com/site/baktitamil/appar-tevaram/-colors---meanings
5.
izukkin vaNNaG kaLaakiya vevazal
kuzaikkum vaNNaG kaLaakiyuG kuudiyum
mazaikkaN maamukilaakiya vaNNamum
azaikkm vaNNamumaam aavar aiyaaRaree
Meaning:.
BEING who pervades the temple AiyaaRu, also assumes the form of fiery Fire to burn the deviant individuals who have fallen from the path of righteousness ( because of their egotism) and the COOL forms that would make the heart of such people soft and gentle and with that mingle freely with all, destroying the alienation the egotism breeds. Now BEING becomes also the Color of the Dark rainy Clouds ( i.e. KrishNa the Mukil VaNNan) to show that despite being the punishing Power, BEING is also the One who showers all kinds of blessings so that the creatures would live in abundance. Now in order to offset the FEAR of BEING the fiery forms might have induced He also shows Himself as the Mother-Father so that all human beings would call out in LOVE towards BEING when they suffer and are in great distress.
>>>>
In the translation I have also included the INTERPRETATIONS and hence the MEANINGS the various colored forms BEING assumes as archetypes and some of which are sculptured in the temples.
Here there is the fiery form of BEING that burns the evil karmic deposits of the Baktas. In contrast to this there is the Black(Blue) color of KrishNa- archetype to communicate that BEING not only burns but also cools by blessing the individuals with many pleasant things in life.
Now I recall here I metaphysical dream I had where KrishNa the Black also appeared
QUOTE
The Second Dream: The Young KaNNan ( KrishNa)
In this dream which is more recent, my body appears as in an X-ray film. In the region where my brain meets the brain stem there appears all of a sudden bright and pure while light and which then spreads downwards through the spinal cord to the groin area and upwards towards the whole of the brain cleaning off every dirt or Malam that may be present there. Then it spreads over the whole of the nervous system and as a result of which all the nerves sparkle like diamond. Then my heart also becomes diamond and because of which blood flows through the veins to every part of my body including the extremities like the feet hands eyes the penis and so forth. Both processes make my phallus stand out like a diamond pillar spitting out a large amount of seminal fluid. With these capacities restored I become the handsome young KaNNan , Black or Blue with feather of the peacock ( Mayil piili) on the forehead. I also become the flute playing Krishna the music drawing some Gopies around. I also become the cowherd who plays the flute sitting on a rock beneath a tree and where a few pure white cows gather around.
This immediately reminded me of Tirumular's Ten Potu, also called the Ambalam, the local presence of the Metaphysical Deep Space where Siva enacts His Dance of Bliss with Uma,
It appears that through my dream analysis and studies in metaphysics such as in Sacred Tamil, my soul has been registering an archeoductive movement, the movement of the soul into the deeper recesses of the mind and lately touched a certain region there that is equivalent to transcending the Six Atara Cakras and reaching the region of the Sahasra Talam. This may mean that in the near future I will attain it and that I am well on the way.
UNQUOTE
This was my dream that I had around the year 2005 just when I turned 65 and as I was recovering from a mild heart attack caused by the onset of chronic diabetes that I neglected for sometime. Subsequent to this dream and many others similar to them, I recovered almost fully within a few months and was able to continue my writings and such other activities but with some restrictions
But the point of it all Is this: though I am an ardent worshiper of Siva, here we have the occurrence of krishNa archetypes with the typical puraNic themes enacted as interesting dramas.
For more see:
https://sites.google.com/site/ulagansessays/dreams--metaphysical-1
Thus the figure of KrishNa is an archetype that erupted into my consciousness perhaps from what C.G Jung calls the Collective Unconscious and which we can identify with the Cittam part of mental modules of Agamic Psychology.
The point is the KrishNa archetype is NOT AT ALL HISTORICAL but rather trans-historical, always there to erupt into human consciousness to communicate a message of a kind, and here my impending recovery of physical and mental health.
Now in an interesting verse Tirumular also mentions that the blessings of female Deity in Black(blue) also brings about life rejuvenation.
(Third Tanra) verse: 734
Niila niRanudai neerizaiyaaLodum
Saalavum pullic catamenRu iruppaarkku
Njaalam aRiya narai tirai maaRidum
Paalanum aavar paraananti aaNaiyee:
Meaning:
I vow in the decree of the Transcendent Nanti(siva) that anyone who remains spiritually united with Black(Blue) coloured female deity of excellent ornaments, hoping for longevity, will be blessed by this FEMALE so that he becomes youthful again where the world at large will see the changes where the singns of old age like white hair and so forth disappearing.
The Irrational Hindu Historians
The bulk of Hindu egroups are devoted to Vedic Astrology Mahabharata RamayaNa studies where literally fantastic dates are given for KrishNa Lord Rama and so forth and where the Siva archetypes do not suffer this fate. There are endless debates about the dates without any agreement among themselves. It is little realized that all these major themes of puraNas and Itihasas are a string of great metaphysical dreams in their origin and only later the poets and as literary adventure added many local geographical and historical details that have served to CONFUSE rather than illuminate the mind of the public.
The real message of these puraNic themes are lost and enormous amount of time is wasted on calculating the dates using some astrological or astronomical details added by the poet authors.
You can see how irratioan and nonsensical such attempts when they propose a date of 7000 BCE for birth of Lord Rama little realizing that Lord Rama lives not in Ayodhya but in the CU or the Cittam mental module of all ready to erupt any time provided there is a need for it.
Loga