--- 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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