bhakti

[Guest guest]

hi,

i am testing my email route to bhakti (may be my attempts at bhakti need a

serious revamp - both lightly and in some sense seriously ). Anyway, I

learnt of the newsgroup alt.hindu only today. Some articles seem relevant

to bhakti, and their aim seems to be " a moderated? discussion on all

aspects of hindu dharma". Any of u have been following this ng? Comments

would be welcome.

 

Depending on what is written, and interest, more members could be added to

bhakti.

 

Bhakthi margam is supposed to be the easiest way to attain mukthi. I have

trouble even establishing this connection, hm. ( if jokes are out, let me

know, i will keep my postings humourless!)

 

vaidehi v.

[Guest guest]

At the risk of sounding too exclusive, I would prefer to limit

this group to those who are seriously interested in Srivaishnavism,

Visistadvaita, and the Alvars. From my experience, alt.hindu

is directed more towards the "Vivekananda" style of Hinduism (which

has its own merits as well as demerits). There is also not much

of great interest posted there. From what I've read, I doubt if most

alt.hindu readers are interested in devotionalism or bhakti.

 

Yours,

Mani

[Guest guest]

hi,

 

that's fine with me. however, from a glimpse of exchanges in bhakti, i am

wondering what contribution i could make. ( seems v.less to me). no doubt

i will stand to gain by other's contribution in this group.

 

i really don't think i know that much to begin with.

 

so what do we do? i will understand if u take me off the list.

 

vaidehi v.

[Guest guest]

Dear Srimathi Radhika Srinivasan :

 

May I congratulate you on the high points

of Sri Vaishnavism that you have touched

in your poem ? It is simply beautiful to read

some of the lines in your poem dealing with

the relationship between JivAthMaa and ParamaathmA .

 

I have underlined those passages on AathmApaharaNam ,

Kaimkarya Vruthti of a Prapannan and other sublime

thoughts of Sri VaishNavism that you have housed

in your poem . It reminds me of number of passages

from RabindranAth Tagore's GeethAnjali .

 

Thanks for sharing theis lovely poem , which

has already answers to your query on Unconditional

love .You have touched on Sarira-SaarIri doctrine ,

Aakinchanyam , NirvEdam and number of other central

and uniquely profound doctrines of Sri VaishNavam .

 

Love Offering

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

>

>

>Flowers and fruits, milk, honey and incense,

>Rice cakes and candles, sweet songs and chanting,

>Sandal and camphor to fill Thee with fragrance;

>All these and more, sense-tingling offering.

>

>Indeed! what can I offer Thee when I am Thine?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>How can I offer Thee when nothing is mine?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>When Thou dwellest in mine heart pristine,

>Can I be anything but Thy Sunshine?

>

>Yet, Hrishikesha ! why do I feel the way I do?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>Sense controller! Dost Thou feel that way too?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>Oh tell me pray, why do I see stars in my tears?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>Why do I see my heart's murmur as Thy fears?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>

>When t'is Thy body I wear and Thy soul I bear,

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>T'is then Thee that suffers, through my pain.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>So, what on earth can I truly offer Thee?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>No pain, no gain; not even a sand grain!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Regarding your empathetic resonance to Budhdism ,

I can comprehend it . For our Darsanam however ,

Budhdism is not a Vaidhic matham .Professor VasudhA

NaarAyaNan is very knowledgable on Buddhism .

She might comment more on this subject precisely .

I will summarize the issues that made our AchAryAs

reject Budhdism and Jainism . I will focus on Buddhism :

 

1. There are Four Schools of Buddhism ( VaibhAshikA,

SautrantikA YogAchArA and MaadhyamikA ); on these

following points they agree .

 

2.All entities are Impermanent , transitory and

are in a continous state of Change.

 

3. Apart from the flow of cognitions , there is no

soul or Athman as the seat of cognition or consciousness.

 

4. Nothing is permanent , Nothing has any Self or

inner substratum , and NirvANA is Tranquility .

 

5.There is no being , but there is only becoming.

 

6. A Person or a Thing or God is merely an aggregation

of component elements.

 

7. An Entity could only be momentary ; in this context ,

the so called eternals are nothing but non-existents .

 

8.Substaratum and Attributes are not mutually seaprate

or distinct .

 

As you can quickly recognize , all of the above and other

core doctrines are anethma to those , who believe in

Vedic and Upanishadic Teachings . Hence Buddhism has been

termed as Avaidhika or Veda-Baahya Matham or Soonya Vaadham

and Budhdists have been classed as VainAsikAs by our

AchAryAs , MaadhvAchAryAs and Advaitins. Volumes have been

written about the fallacies in Buddhistic arguments

against Vedic Darsanams like ours.

 

The personal relationship between the Jeevan and

ParamAthman celebrated in the moving Paasurams of

our AzhwArs and the doctrines that you touched in

your poem have no connection whatsoever to Buddhistic

doctrines quoted above .

 

To take a specific example , Maadyamika does not accept

the authority of the Sruthi and denies emphatically the

need for a real aadhAram (basis/adhishtAnam ) for unreality.

Hence this school of Buddhism like the others deny the existence

of Brahman and becomes equal to atheism .The one differnce

between Buddhism and AdvaithA doctrine is that the Advaitin

rejects the BudhdA's atheistic rejection of Brahman , while

agreeing with Buddhists on the concept that the world is

illusory ( Brahma Satyam, Jagan mithyA ).

 

As you can see , this is a cause for major disagreement

between these philosophies and Sri VaishNavA doctrines

that celebrate the World as Real and that it is the body

of the Lord just as the Jeevans . The three tathvams ,

Chith, Achith and Iswaran , are very real in contrast to

AdvaithA , where Brahman alone is real and every thing

else is false.

 

Our concept of HithA (means/upAyA )by which the goal

of life (PurushArthA) is attained by either Bhakthi

or SaraNAgathi .The PurushArthm is the transcendental

enjoyment of the Lord in the other world (ParamaPadham )

with all His auspicious atributes.The Vedic pramANams like,

" niranjana: Paramam Saamyamupaithi "( the muktha jeevan

gets supreme equality and gets equality of enjoyment

with the supreme being ( BrahmaNa: Saayujyam Gacchathi )

in Sri VaikunTam and engages in nithya kaimkaryam

to the divya dampathis .

 

The above vision is a hopeful , fulfilling and

energetic vision and that is why our darsana

sthApakAs had immense difficulty with Veda-Baahya

mathams like Budhdism and those which denies the

reality of the World.

 

V.Sadagopan