-No Subject-

[Guest guest]

Mani wrote:

>Here is a paragraph that is worth thinking about.

>It is from a private email sent to me from someone

>who shall remain unnamed.

> In my understanding, any discussion however speculative,

> if it will trigger sincere aspiration to see for oneself

> the Truth and even a glimpse of it, is more important

> than a thousand pages of verbatim quoting of poorvacharyas,

> forgeting to focus on the essence and latching on to

> the outmoded forms.

>Mani

 

I am somewhat confused by the above comments. Can I seek the following

clarification:

 

(1) Is he implying that Anushtanams like sandhyavandhanam, ekadashi etc.,

represent only the ritualistic part of our religion (outmoded forms?) and

therefore do not represent the essence of our religion or that even if we

decide to perform them, we should not attach too much importance to how they

are done. Therefore we should discourage discussions pertaining to correct

performance of these activities.

 

(2) Will the same person also include in the category of outmoded rituals,

worship of idols (Archa Murthys). For example pouring of milk during

Abhishekham etc.

 

Being born in a scientific age, one may not be wrong in assuming that people

who practice the path laid out by our fore-fathers do think and not act

blindly. I think I would be also be correct in assuming that the people who

participate in this group investing their time and effort are all sincere

aspirants. View-points and emphasis can differ. For example, some may value

learning about our prabhandhams more than say the life history of our

acharyas. If we cannot appreciate what is being written, at least we should

show restraint in not condemning such contributions as outmoded etc..

 

 

Vijayaraghavan Srinivasan