Kerala floods caused by the ‘wrath’ of the deity?

Earlier published in PGurus.com

and

Bharatabharati

At a time Nature-induced unprecedented tragedy is sweeping across both human and divine abodes in Kerala, the question in the air is whether this is the result of the wrath of the deity at Sabarimala for interfering with the rules of the temple and taking it to the court to decide. The judges of the Supreme Court had reserved their orders, but did Lord Ayyappa deliver his judgement by making His abode inaccessible to all?

This is not the first time we are hearing this kind of justification for natural calamities. When the temple of Sri Raghavendra Swamy at Mantralaya was submerged by the floods of Tungabhadra in 2009, many people wondered whether it was related to the dismantling of the temple of Manchalamma, the family deity of Sri Raghavendra Swamy to provide place for his Brindhavan.

Similarly when a deluge struck at Kedarnath temple in 2013 caused by a cloud burst, many people attributed the resultant destruction to the wrath of Dhari Devi whose image was removed from her shrine just the previous day for the purpose of facilitating water storage for Alakananda dam under construction.

Linking natural disasters to the so-called ‘wrath’ of the deity is certainly disquieting in this age of reason. It also throws bad light on the deities in general and on Hinduism in particular. It raises many questions on the very concept of deities as benefactors and the way they ‘behave’ much like human beings in retaliating when things go wrong for them. The ultimate question is whether this is what Hinduism seeks to convey. This article is an attempt to answer these questions through two concepts, the concept of portents and the concept of deities as living consciousness.

Portents.

Portents are signs or omens that are supposed to indicate a calamity. Ancient sages of India had studied occurrence of such portents and found a link between an event and a violation or an event and an after-effect. Varahamihira in his treatise called Brihad Samhita had compiled the portents taught by sage Garga to sage Atri in the 46^th chapter of this book. These portents are basically related to the deities in the temple and the natural calamities caused by fire, rainfall, water (of the rivers) and wind that foretell the hardships to the people at large. According to the Vedic sages, they do indicate the displeasure of the deities. This concept seems to have thrived in the Hindu society for all these ages.

But this doesn’t clear the sullied image of the Hindu deities as angry ones and those who can be displeased. Are these deities ordinary mortals who show their displeasure when things don’t happen in the way they like, is the question that comes to our mind. Without stepping into theological realms, we can answer this by visualising the relationship between the deities and human beings in the same way how different elements of the earth behave.

The earth behaves like a single unit or a unitary cell. Whatever happens in Nature in one part of the earth has its impact in another part of the earth. The wind, the heat, the ocean currents, the atmospheric changes and the like do behave as parts of a single cell and interact and influence each other with the final result sinking on the earth impacting human life at some place in some way. This concept is almost accepted by the scientific community.

Our Vedic sages had gone beyond this level of understanding and treated the earth, the atmosphere and the stellar space as one unit- Bhu, Buvah and Svah –  because whatever happens at one impacts the other. A 4^th component ‘Mahat’ was discovered by sage Mahachamasya, that encompasses all the three (Taittirya Upanishad 1- 5.1). This fourth component is known as Brahma or Atma or we can name it as consciousness for our understanding.

This consciousness pervades all the three levels starting from the earth in the same way how our consciousness pervades our physical, vital and mental state of our own existence. Anything that happens in any part of our body would send a signal throughout the body and different parts of our body would react accordingly. This concept is applicable to our larger frame of existence, constituted by Bhu-Bhuvah-Svah. In this larger frame, every entity including human beings, animals, birds and even natural forces react or adjust with each other to attain a state of equilibrium – which at times appears as portents.

Consciousness as binding factor.

Though Hinduism is vast source of theological concepts on Gods, the underlying feature is that deities are living consciousness. The installation of the consciousness happens in two ways. The Universal consciousness is installed through mantra, yantra and tantra in temples. The consciousness of those who once lived in flesh and blood is also installed by the same means. This is based on the logic that nothing ceases to exist in Nature.  The feeling of I-ness, emotions, aspirations and thoughts that were very much real while alive cannot disappear into nothingness. All these as part of the consciousness are expected to live in a place while deified.

This is the idea behind many deities of Kerala, village deities and roadside deities who are supposed to guard from accidents those who seek blessings from them. These deities were once real persons who died while saving someone from death. Until a century ago this practice of deifying someone who died under distress was in vogue.

Lord Ayyappa was a historical person who has been deified due to the exemplary nature exhibited by him while alive. A major difference between Lord Ayyappa and other deities is that strict discipline is maintained both in the case of upkeep of temple and also in the lifestyle of the devotees who plan to visit the temple. This creates a kind of entanglement between the deity and the devotees in such a way that if anything upsets the equilibrium, it gets a reactionary manifestation somewhere.

A comparable incident can be quoted from Silappadhikaram, the Tamil Epic on Kannagi who lived 2000 years ago. It tells about a time when the door of the Durga (Meenakshi) temple at Madurai could not be opened. This was perceived as the anger of the deity and a search was on to find out the wrong committed. It was found out that an innocent Brahmin was wrongly confined and only when he was freed, did the temple door open automatically.

This shows that the stronger the power of entanglement between the deity and the devotee, instantaneous would be the result of the violation committed to anyone one in the entanglement.

These nuances help us to answer certain questions before us.

1. Many mistakes and wrongs are reported in many temples. But nothing of the kind of ‘wrath-manifestation’ happens in those places. So the whole idea of Lord Ayyappa showing his displeasure is wrong and silly.

Loads and loads of violations and wrongs are being done in most temples. The sanctity of those temples is definitely afflicted. This is certainly in contrast to Lord Ayyappa temple where strict adherence to discipline is followed. When it is violated, it is immediately detected through Prasna and rectified. This temple stands on a different plane.

2. Floods and natural calamities are seen in many other places too. Which deity is responsible for those calamities?

A deity is primarily a manifestation of consciousness of high level. This consciousness is present everywhere, even in the natural forces around us. When we are upsetting their equilibrium, they pay us back. The environment pays us back. Which deity was responsible for the Chennai Floods of 2015? It was the environment that showed its fury. As part of the environment we failed to act in unison with Nature as collective consciousness. The closing of waterways and damage to land paid back as ‘anger’ or ‘displeasure’ of the deity (Nature).

3. Kerala is in the front of receiving excessive rainfall all these years. It always stands the risk of floods and devastation caused by floods. Why connect such a natural occurrence with a deity?

Kerala had been receiving incessant rainfall almost on all years. But never in the known past of 100 years was a devastation of this extent experienced. When it happened, we look out for the causes. And there exists a cause now in making a tradition and discipline of this temple subject to judicial scrutiny. Never in the past had anyone dared to question the tradition of this temple. When it was questioned, a calamity broke out. This is as simple as that.

However the liberals would not take any of these ideas. Our only word for them is that at least by thinking in these lines people get awakened to a collective conscience of a responsibility towards our environment. Hindu Thought dictates that everything in the environment – including animals like cows are part of the entanglement of the consciousness. Let people awaken to the consciousness in everything, both sentient and non sentient and be aware of their right to existence and their right to their own tradition and not just the right to one’s own self-interest

Can Carnatic musicians sing Christian songs set to Carnatic music?

Earlier published in PGurus.com

A huge furore is being witnessed now in the social media and among ardent followers of Carnatic music over reports of popular Carnatic singers singing songs on Christ set to Carnatic music. The reactions have been varied but one cannot deny the agenda of cultural appropriation behind this trend. Having tried many techniques for harvesting the Hindu souls right from the times of Roberto de Nobili of the 16^th century by donning the Hindu symbols, the Christian marketing team seems to have come around to getting popular Hindus of the day to don the Christian robe. That these Hindus happen to be or are supposed to be the torch bearers of Carnatic music is the reason behind the instant outrage against them.

Dr Nithyasree Mahadevan says that she sang the songs to “to bolster communal peace and harmony”

For the Carnatic music lovers, taught by the Tyagaraja kriti “Sangeeta gnaanamu” that devotion is the purpose of music this response is something odd. Aren’t there others to take care of communal harmony?  As one who grew up in gurukul type of learning from her own mother and illustrious grandmother Smt D.K. Pattammal, she owes an explanation whether this was goal with which she was groomed in Carnatic music. Her grandmother had sung for national causes but could she ever have thought that her prized granddaughter is going to use the skills learned from her to praise Jesus someday? Let Nithyasree do soul searching.

Another musician, Chitravina N Ravikiran came in support of O.S. Arun with a justification that

“..more listeners from diverse religions are likely to end up becoming Carnatic fans where they may end up getting hopelessly impacted by the predominantly high majority of songs on Hindu deities!”

What a childish thought! Is there any missionary compulsion for Carnatic musicians to increase the number of Carnatic fans? What they could not achieve by their songs on Hindu Gods, they want to achieve by singing on Jesus Christ!  By his own logic, the new fans are going to come for the songs on Jesus and Carnatic music is only a means. The popularity quotient of these musicians is an additional attraction. And these musicians are willing to sell their image to attract more people sing their songs on Jesus!

In support of his view he quoted his concert at Madison Square accompanied by artists from different religions and wondered if it made them betrayers of their religion?

They aren’t, for, they gave the instrumental support only to show their talent in fusion music. It was meant to be an entertainment in which they set the music to their tunes and not to Carnatic tunes.

Similarly he or Nithyasree or any other Carnatic musician is free to sing any western song or a song on Jesus in Christian music, but definitely not in Carnatic music. Carnatic music has its own tradition and goals confined to Hinduism.

This is unacceptable to the Magsaysay awardee T.M.Krishna for whom the current uproar “comes from an RSS-BJP, a very extreme right-wing kind of thought process.” He says that “music belongs to everybody; it belongs to Rama, it belongs to Jesus, to Allah and even to atheists. The best thing musicians can do is sing and I’ll do the same”.

He is free to sing about any God, but should he use Carnatic music for that is the question. He rejects the idea of Moksha or Bhakti related to Carnatic music and accuses that Carnatic music is not taken to masses. This kind of thought processes of modern day musicians had led to the current situation.

In this backdrop let us look at the basic questions heard around us.

• Should Carnatic musicians sing on Gods of other religions?

They can sing if they want. It is individual freedom.

·       Can they use Carnatic music for songs of other religions?

No, they can’t. Carnatic music should not be the carrier of those Gods. Carnatic Ragas are carriers of specific deities, particularly Vedic deities. There is a tradition still continuing in our temples to invoke Vedic Gods by means of specific Rāgas meant for them. In a temple ritual called “Nava Sandhi Koutthuvam” approved by agamic tradition, the nine directional Gods (including Brahma at the centre) are worshiped by means of specific Rāgas and Tālās. In Srirangam temple akasha is worshiped as the 10^th direction!

Rāga is a unique Indian innovation that traces its origin to Sāma Veda. The multi-tonal Vedic chants with different notes called svarita, udatta and anudatta are the basis for rāgas. The folk music of Tamil Sangam age has a parallel to this system and one finds that each of the 5 land forms of that period had their own Paṇ (Rāga) and Tālā. They were all directed at the deity of this land. What is important is that the Paṇ of a land and deity was not used for another land and another deity. Will Nithyasree and others take a leaf from them? Nithyasree’s song on Jesus is in Sankarabharanam, the Rāga of Jewel of Sankara! That much for their respect for Carnatic music!

Before they want to step into singing for other Gods, they must know that there is so much to explore in Carnatic music and folk music, a facet of it is found in the 17^th chapter of Silappadhikaram. Here is a sample from the lecture- demonstration of S.Swaminathan and Uma Swaminathan  titled “Indian Musical Heritage”.

  

• Why shouldn’t they, after all isn’t music Universal?

The straight answer is no for Carnatic music for other religions. Music is universal, but the only common music for all people is perhaps the lullaby that calms down a child. But it has an identity in Carnatic music as Rāga Neelambari. Once the child grows up music becomes exclusive for regions, developed by the indigenous people. Every religion has its own music. Christian songs are best heard in their music. Would it sound good to hear about Rama and Krishna in carols? The same holds good for Jesus in Carnatic music.

There is also the concept of Metres that can be traced to Vedas. All the poetic creations including Ramayana by Valmiki are set to certain metres and were musical in rendition. Why a certain metre is given preference over the other is by itself a subject for research. The development of Carnatic music from metres is also worthy of research. A highly trained and successful singer is expected to be a guardian of these concepts and through that the musical tradition itself. It is comparable with how the Vedic pundits are expected to safe guard the Vedas and the temple priests, the temple tradition. When a singer violates this, it is proof enough that he or she has not imbibed the concept and tradition of Carnatic music.

• Do we complaint against persons of other religions singing on Hindu Gods – a popular example being K.J.Yesudas?

We don’t find fault with anyone singing Hindu Gods. Nor do we find fault with those singing gods of other religions. We only say sing in the say that is suitable for those Gods. Yesudas didn’t sing Hindu Gods in Christian music. His long innings in Carnatic music has a lesson for all those who want to take Carnatic music to Christianity. By his continuous connect with Carnatic music Yesudas had become a Hindu himself which we could see in his trips to Hindu shrines and recently to Sabari Mala by following due rituals meant for that pilgrimage. It underlines the fact that one becomes what one sings or thinks.

The Christian songs that the new age singers promote would definitely alter their receptiveness to Hindu Gods in due course. Their followers from Hindu fold would also fall a prey to that trend by starting to sing their songs on Jesus. So a reverse osmosis is very much possible. This is in addition to the underlying motive of conversion by cultural appropriation.  Will the singers realise that they are becoming tools of conversion?

Post script:

My thoughts on certain issues raised on this article:

1. Ilayaraja composed Thiruvasagam symphony. Is this not a violation?

Ilayaraja  used it to sing the praise of Hindu Gods. In the context read this blog on Mahaperiyava’s words on conversion into Christianity  https://mahaperiyavaa.blog/2018/08/09/taking-my-post-down/  Mahaperiyava recounted that Arthur Kostler and Christians who came to see him saw “Jesus” in him. Many people from foreign countries who came to see him, saw their God in him. This happened for a Hindu sage, imagine what it would be for the Hindu God. You can see Jesus or any other God in a Hindu God, but you can’t see Hindu Gods in Jesus. That is the message. Why bring in Jesus in Carnatic music that was copyrighted with Brungi Natesha and others?

2. We accept a Christian Yesudas sing Carnatic music, why we don’t accept Nithyasree et al do the same?  

The fact is Christian groups roped in Nithyasree and others and not Yesudas to propagate their mission. Why didn’t they engage a Christian Carnatic singer, Yesudas to sing for them Jesus songs in Carnatic music?  The reason is simple. Can Yesudas lure non Christians to Christianity by his songs? No. He made more Hindus to become deeply religious Hindus. That is where he stands and where the singers under discussion had failed.

3. It is high time Carnatic music is assigned the Heritage tag of music on Gods of Hinduism. The earliest reference to sapta swaras comes in the 1st century Tamil text Silappadhikaram as “Kural, thuttham ….” etc. This had pre-dated Silappadhikaram date as it is part of the ‘ Aichiyar Kuravai’ the traditional musical dance of Yadava women. A broken sutra in Tamil says that there were 11,990 ‘Aadhi isai’ (ancient music). This is mentioned in the ancient commentary to Silappadhikaram. In the verse starting from “Aadal, paadal, isaiye, thamizhe…” in the 3rd chapter of Silappadhikaram a long list of music-types and instruments are given. These are enough to claim Heritage Tag for Carnatic music as the heritage of Hinduism. Hope this is realised soon.

Karunanidhi, why he was the way he was – a karmic analysis!

I know someday I will write this article, and the day had come now. The way a legend got ended on 7^th August 2018 was the last hint I wanted to wait for, to understand one of the finest ways Karma works on human life. The legend I refer to here is Kalaignar Karunanidhi. His end gives a perfect justification for the way he lived his life and for whatever he was known for, both positive and negative which I am not elaborating here. I would rather delve on why he came to hold on to those positives and negatives from the karmic hints found in his horoscope.  

His horoscope is absolutely fantastic, something we don’t come across in one’s life time. Not even Gandhi who got us Independence and is honoured as the Father of our nation could come anywhere near Karunanidhi as far as his horoscope is concerned. Of all the known horoscopes, some features of none other than Bhagwan Sri Rama are comparable with Karunanidhi’s horoscope! This would sound horrific (hope not blasphemous) given the fact that Karunanidhi stood against Rama and was an embodiment of everything that was not of Rama, but he did have some planetary positions as in Rama’s horoscope.

Both Rama and Karunanidhi were born in Kataka lagna. Both had Mars as the Yoga karaka that was exalted in the 7^th house (Capricorn). Both had the 7^th lord Saturn (also the 8^th lord) posited in the 4^th house (Kendra) and in exaltation. Rama had 7 planets in exaltation or in own house whereas Karunanidhi had only three planets in exaltation. But a minimum of three planets in exaltation is sufficient to confer Rajayoga! Karunanidhi lived like a powerful monarch. Beyond this everything of Karunanidhi is totally different from Rama.

The same combinations related to the 7^th house (spouse) made Rama an Eka Patni person. In contrast Karunanidhi had three wives. For Rama the lord of the house where the 7^th lord (Saturn) was posited was Venus that got exalted in the 9^th house. This gives rise to Kaakala yoga that ensures fidelity and complete loyalty to the spouse. For Karunanidhi the same planet Venus has gone into the 12^th house (malefic) which also happens to be a common sign indicating more than one wife and also scandalous relationship.

It is in the sub-sub period of Venus in the main period of the same planet Venus, Karunanidhi left this world. It is from this planet we are able to go back in time to even his previous birth to know why Karunanidhi was – after all a Karunanidhi!

In the horoscope of Karunanidhi displayed above Mars, Saturn and Moon are exalted. Lagna lord Moon is exalted and is in the star of Mars, the Yoga karaka. The 2^nd lord Sun posited in the star of exalted Moon joins it. This combination just falls short of an important yoga called Sreekanta Yoga, related to Shiva!

If the lagna lord, the Sun and the Moon are exalted or in their own houses in trines or angles with each other, the person will be a staunch devotee of Shiva, always seen with Rudraksha mala doing japa. He would renounce material life and become an ascetic. At the end of this birth he would reach Shiva loka and won’t be reborn. 

Such a person (according to Brahmarishi Vaakya) would have had a past karma of having served Shiva bhaktas well and worshipped ONLY Shiva with all devotion.

Similar combination was read by this writer in a Naadi verse that when the Moon and the Sun happen to be yoga karakas (4th and 5^th lords for Aries Lagna or 9^th and 10^th lords for Scorpio lagna) and join at a tine in a friendly house from Mars conjoined with Ketu, the person will be by nature a Gnani and a Shiva Bhakta. He would enjoy all round prosperity and honours from the ruler. He would be engaged in Dharmic actions.

Karunanidhi had the above combinations almost close to the rule. The Sun and the moon are strong and beneficially placed in a trine to exalted Mars. The location in the 11^th house is little less than perfect. The 11^th is 2^nd to the 10^th house of Karma and as such it must signify the outcome of past karma. But his life as Karunanidhi didn’t show any semblance of to the above yogas. Why?

Looking for causes, this combination of Sun and Moon is aspected by Jupiter (retrograde), the lord of 6^th and 9^th house. The 9^th house signifies the religious nature of a person. If the lord of this house happens to be Jupiter and afflicted, it denotes an offence to the Guru (teacher) in the past birth. The sun-Moon combination showing him as a great devotee of Shiva in the last birth had been afflicted by the wrath of a Guru.

Tracing the nature of wrath, one can see a perfect connection between Jupiter, Mercury and Venus in his horoscope. Jupiter is in the star of Mercury, the 12^th lord which is located in the 10^th house (jeevanasthan). The main significance of Mercury is books and the expertise to write. Mercury is in the star of Venus which is located in the house of Mercury (12^th house). Venus is the Baadhaka for his horoscope and is posited in the star of Jupiter!

The Baadhaka nature of Venus is outwardly manifested in his life as polygamy. It also resulted in injury to his left eye (12^th house signifies left eye) that happened in 1953 due to an accident. That was in Jupiter dasa- Mercury Bhukti. It was from then onwards he started wearing dark glasses. The timing and the injury shows harm done to the eye of a cow or a calf in the previous birth.

Looking at hints on past karma, the stronger of the two, the sun and the moon is to be taken. The Sun is stronger in his horoscope in Shadbala and also with reference to its dispositor, the exalted Moon. It is located in the house of Mercury in the Drekkana chart, once again showing some connection to Mercury significance.

On further probing we find Mercury joining the 8^th lord Saturn in the 10^th Navamsa in opposition to Baadhaka Venus and conjoined with the Nodes! This coupling happening in Navamsa completes the picture with Jupiter also going into debility in the 12^th Navamsa. Some offence done to the Teacher with reference a sacred and highly valued book by a high level devotee of Shiva, almost at the verge of attaining Liberation in his next birth had invited a retributive karma of losing sight of the value of teacher, of Dharma and sacred books and devotion to God in his next birth.

In all probability, he would have defiled or wantonly misused or destroyed a precious book of Knowledge of Dharma of his teacher. He must have been a Brahmin then, for, only if a Brahmin engaged in the highest task of preserving the book and knowledge of Dharma had transgressed from that task, the punishment would have been the highest –in consonance with Manu dharma! In that situation, he would have been expelled from whatever high position he was holding and even ostracized from his own Brahmin community as a punishment.

{One must recall the DNA studies that show Brahmins and others having the same genetic origins. A Brahmin fallen from the discipline expected of him was a degraded one and had to engage in activities other than Vedic work. There is a Sangam verse saying that the Brahmins who had given up Vedic homas would engage themselves in shell cutting work (Agananuru 24). As a corollary we can associate the Indus site at Gola Dhoro engaged in shell cutting and gem works with the descendants of Aswatthama known for sporting a precious and rare gem on his head. When driven to forest at the end of the Mahabharata war, the Brahmin community of Aswatthama could have taken up shell and gem cutting as the next option to Vedic life.}

Coming to the past life analysis of Karunanidhi, the fall from the grace of his teacher and the banishment from his own Brahmin community could manifest into the next birth as hatred against Gurus, Mutts, sacred texts and importantly the Brahmin community itself. And Manu had become the most hated word for him.

Kāla Purusha had made use of this Prarabdha karma of him to perpetuate Kali in the current times. Just by one man, Kala Purusha had altered the minds and lives of scores of people for nearly half a century. Karunanidhi had become the tool in the hands of Kāla Purusha!

The level of retribution was such that the great Shiva Bhakta had to lose whatever spiritual gains he made in that birth, but the Punya arising out of it had conferred only material benefits to him. The Mercury connect of reading and writing ability was there throughout  with him working as a tool in his hand to do whatever he was destined to do. One may recall in this context the Thirukkural on how the education one has had in a birth comes to stick to him for 7 births (Kuraḷ: 398)

Starting from the beginning of his life, we can see a correlation at every stage to the kind of Pararabdha karma we explained above. He was born in a famous Kshetra of Shiva (Thirukkuvalai) and his electoral debut was from another famous Shivite location (Kulithalai) but they could not have any impact on him due to the wrath of the Teacher.

A Shiva Bhakt would move away from lures woman and associated attractions, but Karunanidhi was attracted to them and earned a living from his writing skills in those areas.

Parasakthi was the first film that earned him a name and fame as a lyricist, but what did he write in that film? It was abject denigration of Hindu culture, criticism of Hindu beliefs and idol worship. He even went to the extent of portraying a temple priest (Brahmin) attempting to rape a woman within the temple – something outrageous and difficult to even imagine at that time (1952). But he did get away with all that in the name of freedom of speech accorded by none other than famous Brahmin of those times, Rajaji!!

Even to conceive such ideas and convert them into lyrics, one must have had Prarabdha karma of the kind written above.

His obsession with Brahmins and their sacred thread was abnormal to the core. Only if he had been hurt by the banishment from the community in the past life for the offense he did, he could not be expected to have behaved like this.

He even once said, (read here)

“What to do, this chief minister does not wear the sacred thread.

And he was not born in the caste represented by God’s face.

He was born in the caste identified with his feet.”

The provocation for this outburst was an editorial in Ananda Vikatan that was critical of the phone tapping episode by his government. See his reaction, when a misdemeanour is questioned, his response seems to be like his atman was lamenting over a complaint about him that cost him his stature and caste in a past birth.

His atman seemed to be yearning for a place among Brahmins or else why he chose to buy a house from a Brahmin that was close to a temple in a Brahmin agrahara in Gopalapuram?

If not for an anger against the Brahmins for expelling him from their community in the past birth why should he keep abusing them at every possible opportunity to the extent that he declared that Brahmins must shiver at the thought of them (his party). Similar is his outburst that a Hindu means Thief! No person in saner senses will speak like this.

It was absolutely difficult for him not to abuse Hinduism at every possible instance. Even on the occasion of the Moon Impact Probe (IMP) of Chandrayaan I landing on the Moon, Karunanidhi could not avoid abusing the Hindu beliefs while praising the probe in a poem. As a sample case of his ‘literary prowess’, that poem is reproduced below. One can see the mistakes in language, allusion to some lewd expression and abuse of Hinduism – the three common features one can find in most of his works.

‘நிலா பெண்ணே’.

வான் முகத்தில் நகக்குறி போல்

இருக்கின்ற நிலாப் பெண்ணின்

தேன் கிண்ண இதழ்களிலே முத்தமிட்டு-

இந்திய நாட்டுத்

தேசியக்கொடிதனையும் கையில்

கொடுத்து விட்டுத் திரும்பி வரும்

திறமைமிகு விஞ்ஞானத்தின் கரம் குலுக்கி

வாழ்த்துகின்றோம்.

புராணத்தில் வரும் சந்திரனோ;

குருவின் மனைவி தாரைக்கு;

புதியதோர் காதலன் என்று புராணமே

கூறி வணங்கும்!

பாம்புகள் இரண்டு ராகுவும் கேதுவும்

சந்திரனை விழுங்குமாம்;

பஞ்சாங்கம் அதனை “கிரகணம்” என

விளம்புமாம்!

அனைத்தும் பொய், புளுகு, கற்பனையெனத்

தூக்கி அடித்து;

அமெரிக்க, ரஷ்ய, அய்ரோப்பிய

கூட்டமைப்பு நாடுகளின்

அணிவகுப்பில் இணைந்து அருஞ்சாதனை

புரிந்து விஞ்ஞானம்;

அசோக சக்கரக்கொடியை அம்புலியில்

நாட்டியது;

அறிவியக்க வரலாற்றில் ஓர் அற்புதமாம்;

அதுவும் நம் நாட்டில் என்பதிலோர் பெருமிதமாம்!

The title has sandhi-mistake. It must be Nilā-p- PennE, not ‘Nilā Penne’ (meaning, ‘Moon, the girl’). He starts the poem by saying that probe was like planting a kiss on the honey lips of the moon. He goes on to say that the probe had shattered the Puranic version of Moon as the new lover of Brihaspati’s wife, Tara and the Panchanga version of eclipse as Rahu and Ketu swallowing the Moon, as lies and imagination.

One can imagine the level of tolerance the people of Tamilnadu must have had to be treated with this kind of literature by him.

The Mercury effect is in his horoscope is a degraded one. He retained the ability to write but to write in abhorrent ways. None of his works will stand scrutiny by impartial educated ones. None of his write-ups also would stand the test of time.

The cause for his banishment could have been genuine but since the root cause was a great offence to Hindu Dharma, the retributive karma was such that he was impelled by it to make and speak things that he would shudder to do in normal mind. The entire life of Karunanidhi was as though it was under the grip of the retributive karma, done without any freewill or application of his own mind. This reminds me of the Gita vachan, that man does karma absolutely not through his control but under the control of the 3-some Prakruti Gunas. (Bhagavad Gita: 3-5)

He eulogised Thiruvalluvar but never stood by what Thiruvalluvar wrote. His obsession with Thiruvalluvar was as though he treated him as his Teacher – in a bid to appease the teacher of his past birth but lo, what did he do for his memory?

Karunanidhi constructed Valluvar Kottam in the deepest part of the “Long Tank” that covered most of Chennai, by closing that water body. An environmental aggression!

He erected a statue for Thiruvalluvar at Kanyakumari in a style that was not as per tradition. A statue of Thiruvalluvar was already found out in Mylapore showing him in seated posture with Gyan mudra as a teacher. (Below)

Thiruvalluvar was seen wearing the sacred thread in that statue.  But Karunanidhi in the grip of Fate could not accept such features. He erected a stature sans sacred thread and Hindu symbols on the forehead.  

The gesture is Buddhi mudra that is done to understand the Thought emanating from one’s inner self. Thinking of the past birth, it appears Karunanidhi unconsciously chose this mudra in his inner urge to know what he is up to.

Karunanidhi’s obsession with Thiruvalluvar is phenomenal. He identified a year as the birth year of Thiruvalluvar and even introduced a calendar in Thiruvalluvar’s name which Thriuvalluvar himself would not have approved. He even changed the New Year to Thai close to Thiruvalluvar’s birth date he proposed. All that he did was anti-intellectual and unscientific. But thinking from karmic angle, it appears that he had the inner urge to make amends with his teacher of the past birth through Thiruvalluvar, but it turned out that everything of it was objectionable. Strangely he had many takers for his innovations and hate- mongering speeches, may be because there are many with daunting Prarabdha, peopling this Yuga of Kali.

The wrath of the Teacher was such that Karunanidhi held on to those as his teachers who could never be accepted by a person in the right sense of mind. He even installed a statue for one such teacher of this birth in front of Srirangam temple. Interestingly his wrath was directed against Vishnu deities and not Shiva! An intense devotion to Shiva in the past birth involuntarily made him keep away from offending Shiva?

The height of hatred for Hindu deities can be seen in his infamous posturing against none other than Sri Rama! He sounded like a Hiranya Kasipu when he questioned in which engineering college Rama studied. The fact is that he could get away with all the nonsense he spoke. That shows the powerful background karma of enormous proportions behind him. Only a great soul with a strong awakening in the past could wield a dominating negative influence like this in the event of an offense dampening that awakening. The offense had just turned off his sense of right.

Watching his life right from my childhood, the first hint of him coming out of the mess of Prarabdha was noticed by me in his reaction to the speech on Tamil Chandas of Alvars by Sri Velukkudi Krishnan Swamy on a stage shared by them. The expression betrayed by Karunanidhi on that occasion on the stage was that it was as though he was hearing the beautiful verses of Tamil by Alvars for the first time. The verses did seem to have entered his ears which until then were seemed to be filled with lead!

The next improvement was in penning the history of Ramanuja which happened to be the last work in his life as Karunanidhi. It appeared that the power of Mercury whose lord was Vishnu as per astrology gradually gravitated him towards Vishnu. Ramanuja as the tallest Guru for centuries seemed to have signalled a kind of home-coming for the tormented atman of Karunanidhi.

Did the intensity of the offense of the past birth come down?

I was tempted to think so when his health deteriorated on the day of Guru Purnima! There was an eclipse on that night and all eligible Tamil Brahmins were to wake up to do tarpan at 3 am when the eclipse was to wean out.

When this writer also woke up to render assistance in the tarpan, news was flashed on TV and Twitter that Karunanidhi passed away. It was electrifying to read that news as in few minutes all the eligible Tambrahms were going to offer tarpan on the most auspicious time of eclipse of Guru Purnima in which the last mantra is going to enable them offer water to all the atman that have left this world who don’t happen to be their own ancestors.

That means soon after leaving the body, Karunanidhi is going to take the first waters from the tarpan of that Guru Purnima eclipse from the Brahmins whom he pounded very badly while alive. I thought, does this signal the end of the wrath of his Guru? Has he now come out of the Prarabdha, that his Guru had been kind enough to allow him take the first water from the Brahmins on that day auspicious to Teachers?

But no, soon the news changed that he is alive. When I went through the time in his horoscope, I realised his end had come. The period was Venus – Jupiter- Venus- Mars- Ketu.

Ketu, the occupant of the 8^th house in natal chart was also the sub cuspal lord of 6^th, 8^th and 12^th houses. It joined lagna lord moon and maraka Mars in the 7^th from natal lagna on that day. Rahu, the maraka as occupant of 2^nd house in natal chart was in lagna with sun and Mercury. Venus, the Baadhaka and also the 22^nd Drekkana lord was in the maraka house of the natal chart. That moment when Guru Purnima was eclipsed to the maximum was the apt moment for the phenomenal figure like Karunanidhi who offended his Guru in the past to have left the mortal coils.  

But his Prarabdha didn’t seem to end. He was put on life support that merely could have held his breath and the atman was just clinging precariously to the body. The moment they take out the life support, his atman could have got the release. This can be proved astrologically.

It is possible to find out the duration of the unconscious state or the state of transit from the body before death. This is deduced from the remaining degrees in the lagna at the birth chart. The remaining period of the lagna in the sign must be doubled if the lagna lord aspects the lagna and trebled if a benefic aspects the lagna. In Karunanidhi’s horoscope the lagna is aspected by Jupiter!!

The remaining degrees at birth were less than 4. Converted into time (1 degree = 4 minutes, for 4 degrees it is 16 minutes), the remaining 16 minutes in the sign trebled by Jupiter’s aspect gives 48 minutes of transit time for the Atman. It is within this time his system must have been connected to life support machines. So he was breathing while his Atman was wandering into higher realms with Awareness sinking in. The long duration of clinically aided life that we saw for more than 10 days looks improbable from this astrological point of view.

Ten days passed and it seemed the ‘political business’ he started was needed to be strengthened by his descendants. That is the legacy he left behind. All these 10 days his Atman must have been in touch with those at the ethereal level and experienced  several times the re-run of his life and why he behaved the way he did in relation to the Prarabdha  karma.

By the time the heirs decided to take out the life support, his atman could have gained its composure. His party men are thinking that they had succeeded in getting him buried next to his mentor. But his mentor is high above the worldly plane. For normal beings, the atman is said to be hanging around the worldly plane of previous existence. But an extraordinary atman that Karunanidhi is, he must have left for other realms with thoughts on what a damage he had done to the world and how he is going to rectify them all.

It was on an Ekadasi day his atman left completely the mortal connection – the day that one plays the game of Parama padam, popularly known as ladder and snake. There are ladders and snakes at many places in the grid of 100 squares. It is like the video game of ancient times. When one has more punya one reaches the ladder and climbs past several squares. But when one does a pāpa karma, one reaches the mouth of the snake and gets pulled down.

By his exalted devotion to Shiva and discipline, Karunanidhi was almost in the top layer of the grid with only a few squares to cross. But alas, the offense done to Guru threw him into the mouth of a long snake that pushed him down to the lower level. The higher that one is, even a smallest crime will give the gravest retribution. This is enshrined in Manu Neeti. To hate Manu for this is foolish which only those in lowest intellect would do. Being pushed down from his highest pedestal, Karunanidhi’s Atman must have been coming to terms with the reality on that Ekadasi day.

To start the new chapter in his next birth, he has laid the foundation in Ramanuja. He will have to start afresh, but hopefully in a Dharmic way. His association with Ramanuja gives me that hope. Noticeably he fell silent after scripting the Ramanuja serial. It looked as though this newly acquired teacher of his had shut his mouth so that no new karma is made. With the Prarabdha of the past having got worked out, Karunanidhi is going to start a very new life of Dharma, as a worshiper of Hinduism to the extent of protecting it from poaching religions which he allowed as Karunanidhi.

He might even be instrumental in constructing Ram Setu in that future birth. He might even completely put a stop to the absurd Dravidian talk. Powerful one that he is, he will rectify all the wrongs and mis-guidance he had done for over half a century.

In the final analysis, Kāla Purusha as usual emerged a victor in quickening Kali through Karunanidhi. Karunanidhi hailed as a victor in earthly life miserably lost to Kala Purusha and has to start from the beginning. But Karma is never fatalistic; it is a means by which one overcomes it. Karunanidhi’s odd kind of life shows that.

Also read: 

Travails of Jayalalithaa in life and in death - a Karmic angle