Ekadashi and "Unbiased opinions"

[Guest guest]

I read Anand's postings with interest and thought that a couple of

comments were in order.

 

(1) During the reign of King Muchukunda in the Satya Yuga, Ekadashi

fasting was enforced on all human subjects as well as domesticated

animals.

(2) Ekadashi like Vishnu Sahasranama parayanam or anything else for

that matter delivers both material and spiritual benefits. One of

the benefits of observing Ekadashi is destruction of sins. I believe

Kesava Prasad was referring to both Prapannas as well as jivatmas not

surrendered to Sriman Narayana, while Anand is referring exclusively

to the Prapanna. Even for the Prapanna, violation of Sriman

Narayana's instructions occur because of the fruition of past sins.

It is for this reason there is the intervening period between

Prapatti and Moksha. Observences of Ekadashi, dwadashi parayanam,

doing Sudarshana Homam etc helps in destruction of past sins. This

reduces the possibility of offences due to past sins.

 

(3) Sri Vedanta Desikar points out in the Rahasya Traya Sara, that

there are 32 obstacles on the path of attaining Moksha (which is

uninterrupted service). The chief obstale among these is Narayana's

will to punish for wrong doing, which keeps a person eternally in

illusion i.e. eternally until the jivatma does prapatti and asks for

Moksha. It is only after that, that Sriman Narayana openly displays

His daya, sneha and other qualities. Until then there is always the

difference between Sriman Narayana's behaviour with Prahalada and

Hiranyakasipu.

 

(4) In an unrelated issue, Kesava Prasad while justifying use of

Ramakrishna Mutt publications, mentioned as one of the advantages,

getting an unbiased view. I am not sure what he meant. But in my

reading of RTS today, Sri Vedanta Desikar makes it very clear that

there are only two categories of people - those who realize that they

exist for serving Sriman Narayana only and those who do not. As such

there can be only friends or enemies of Narayana. A neutral category

does not exist, since that is not in the nature of a jivatma.

 

Jaganath.

[Guest guest]

On Mar 7, 5:37am, Jaganath.Bharadwaj wrote:

> (1) During the reign of King Muchukunda in the Satya Yuga, Ekadashi

> fasting was enforced on all human subjects as well as domesticated

> animals.

 

If you really believe all the varied stories promulgated

in the Puranas, I have beachfront property to sell you

in Arizona ;-).

 

I would like to make a couple of points. First,

Anand was right on the mark concerning Ekadashi.

Let's not be fundamentalists or literalists and

argue that those who don't observe some festival

are destined to fall into ``naraka''. These are

gross exaggerations. It may be true that someone

is better off if they observe Ekadashi, in that

their body gets purified, but we should remember

that it is just an observance, and *not* an end

in and of itself.

 

Second: are we not ignoring the central purpose

of all this, which is to experience God and to live

more fulfulling lives? The posts of some people

are so dogmatic that I wonder whether they are

looking at small trees instead of the forest.

I would like to point out that vAkyArtha jnAna

leads nowhere, and this includes dogmatic observance

of rituals, unless it subserves the purpose of

leading a better life and experiencing God.

 

Finally: *please* do not abandon reason. Just

because Desika says something in some text does

not mean that we throw our minds to the winds and

dogmatically assert it. If some individual is

not inclined towards bhakti, but at the same time

lives a good, decent life, this person is not the

same as a murderer who hates God. It's not all

black and white. [This is in response to the claim

that all people are ``either this or that.'']

 

namo narayanaya,

Mani