Guest guest Posted April 3, 2002 Report Share Posted April 3, 2002 I want to address some points listed in Ravi's 'last post' on this subject, I add this because he asks for correction if it was thought he was wrong on these points. I can tell you as an unmitigated fact that mixed groups of Men and Women definitely chant the Sri Suktam in Kanchi. My guru, with a group of his female western devotees, has been let into the inner sanctum and chanted Pancha Suktams including Sri Suktam in front of the Mother there. They were lead in by KamaKotiShastry himself. The entire pavilion there has been filled with a mixed group of men and women chanting Sri Suktam ALL DAY. I say this to inform you that these two references to the feelings at Kanchi below are positively inaccurate. Please ask KamaKotiShastry directly if you doubt me. As for pleasing MahaLakshmi, I am talking about chanting the Sri Suktam to please the great Devi directly, and using it to praise any female form of divinity. This is a valid and excepted practice, even in Kanchi Puram. In my sampradaya we fence Sri Suktam in with the bijas of MahaSodasi quite nicely, Sri Suktam is not limited to pleasing MahaLakshmi. Even so, if chanted properly I do not see how Sri Suktam can be deenmed as 'not legitimate' for pleasing MahaLaxmi, if chanted by a man or a woman. My guru tells me it was found that women progressed spiritually 4 times faster than men. I have heard this from other realized souls as well. Because of the fear that they would surpass the men, the men began to restrict the knowledge available to women. This is an injustice whose time for correction has come. In Kali Yuga all should be allowed to approach the mother; even westerners, non-brahmans and women. The same Mother is everyone's Mother. You cannot restrict Her love, are we not all Her children. I am a western non-brahman Sri Vidya upasaka. I know female western non-brahmans with MahaSodasi diksha as well, who chant Sri Suktam daily. No one can take the Mother away from us because of outdated illogical rules. Our love for Mother and Mother's for us is far too strong for that to happen. This view is what I have gathered from my guru and my experience. I see this as an exchange of views and information, not anything personal. We may simply agree to disagree and move forward from here. Respectfully, Colin 1) There are better, easy and legitimate ways to please mahaalaxmii, for instance chanting works like kanakadhAra stotram of our revered aacharya. SHE will like HER children worship HER in their own words in a natural way -- than to do things which are prohibited. Unlike works in puraNa etc (where injunctions are sometimes ignored as artha vaada), injunctions pertaining to shruti has to be adhered to correctly. 2) What you have written below -- I am confident -- will not be acceptable to traditional maTha-s like shr^ingeri or kAnchi. 3) shrii suuktam is a **vedic mantra**. There are definite rules on who can chant it. Next time when you visit shringeri or kAnchi, please ask the aacharya-s about it. 4) shrii suuktam inherently very beautiful (like lalita sahasranamam), it should sound exceedingly beautiful no matter who chants it. 5) karma phala is in the realm of iishvara's control. And it is adhRShTa. You can not and will not be able to make a direct correlation on what made someone rich and what makes someone poor. At best you can only guess. Somebody may be become rich or poor due to prArabdha and may not have nothing to do with what happpens in the current birth. That is why vaLLuvar beautifully says avviya nenjaththaan aakkamum chevviyaan keDum ninaikkappaDum. 6) I have no personal opinion on this matter and I merely mentioned what I have learnt, espcially from "Hindu Dharma" kamakoti.org. maha periyavaa makes these matter more than clear. I sincerely hope that I did not offend you. This is my last post on this topic. Please do correct me if you think I am wrong. With respects, Ravi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 3, 2002 Report Share Posted April 3, 2002 , "Colin" <colin@s...> wrote: > I want to address some points listed in Ravi's 'last post' on this subject, > I add this because he asks for correction if it was thought he was wrong on > these points. > I can tell you as an unmitigated fact that mixed groups of Men and Women > definitely chant the Sri Suktam in Kanchi. My guru, with a group of his > female western devotees, has been let into the inner sanctum and chanted > Pancha Suktams including Sri Suktam in front of the Mother there. They were > lead in by KamaKotiShastry himself. The entire pavilion there has been > filled with a mixed group of men and women chanting Sri Suktam ALL DAY. > I say this to inform you that these two references to the feelings at Kanchi > below are positively inaccurate. Please ask KamaKotiShastry directly if you > doubt me. I do not know who is kAmakoTi shAstri is. When I meant Acharya of kAnchi and shr^ingeri, I meant shankarAcharya-s. There are many priests (these days) in temples, who flex the rules and sometime are even unqualified. That speaks about the times. To find the views of kAnchi mahAperiyava -- shrii chandrasekharendra sarasvati svamigal, kindly read hindu dharma in www.kamakoti.org. There is NO upanayana samskAra for women, which is basic prerequisite to learn to chant veda-s. > As for pleasing MahaLakshmi, I am talking about chanting the Sri Suktam to > please the great Devi directly, and using it to praise any female form of > divinity. This is a valid and excepted practice, even in Kanchi Puram. In > my sampradaya we fence Sri Suktam in with the bijas of MahaSodasi quite > nicely, Sri Suktam is not limited to pleasing MahaLakshmi. Even so, if > chanted properly I do not see how Sri Suktam can be deenmed as 'not > legitimate' for pleasing MahaLaxmi, if chanted by a man or a woman. > My guru tells me it was found that women progressed spiritually 4 times > faster than men. I have heard this from other realized souls as well. > Because of the fear that they would surpass the men, the men began to > restrict the knowledge available to women. This is an injustice whose time > for correction has come. Typically, these suukta-s are used for all devata-s while abhisheka etc. There is indeed nothing wrong or basically incorrect about using shriisuuktam to worship shrii chakra. However, it is not direct. Because, shrii chakram is shiva-shakti svaruupam, there are direct ways to contemplate and worship on it. As I mentioned, there is also shiva-vishishhTaadvaita interpretation of shrii-suuktam as if it is addressed to gauri (I did post a english translation in that view point). Shrii-suuktam is a majestic and beautiful hymn addressed to Divinine mother -- I am quite content listening to it. Chanting shrii suuktam (on any occasion) becomes illegitimate when it is done by one who has no authority to do it. Those who have not undergone upanayana samskara and learnt veda mantras directly from a guru (and those who do not do daily sandhya) have no authority to chant it (in the view of tradition). Hence, it is not legitimate. -------------- puuja and upaasana gives only chitta shuddhi. It does not directly give mukti. By doing things prohibited by shaastra-s in puuja and upaasana -- one lose whatever chitta shuddhi he/she has. There are simpler, direct and easier methods to reach and worship our Mother. I wish to stop here, I thank you for taking your time to explain your position. As an individual, I have no personal opinion on these matters. I wish to learn *ONLY* traditional view point is. I have no use for liberal views, as I get them freely everywhere, besides I myself is an unorthodox, liberal and new age junkie -- something which I detest (however, which I cannot deny). with respects, Ravi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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