Sri Garudaazhwar

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagawathals,

 

Recently our esteemed list owner, Sri Mani had written:-

> these ``recite the mantra and get results''

> stories smack of a very unenlightened and selfish form

> of religion

 

in the context of Sri Murali postings on Sri Garudazhwar.

Dear friends, let me add my humble view to this. If this be offensive

to anyone, please let me know!

 

I think that such religious practices point not so much to

an unenlightened and selfish form as an incomplete part of religion in

the "recite the mantra & get results" approach! Unless i am greatly

mistaken Sri Krishna does not disrespect the vested-interest bhaktaas,

but merely grades the ananya bhaktaa at a higher level. Afterall,

the former bhaktaa pleads with the supreme, not a temporal human agent,

for succour. Hasn't s/he, in whatever small measure,

rightly resolved (samyag vyavasito hi sa:)?!

 

The "average" jeeva graduates into increasing levels of spiritual

maturity, until it can effortlessly remain in pure union with His

Lotus Feet. It is better to appreciate the religion that finds room

to be concerned with lowly worms than to condemn it for its lowly

dealings!! Sri Aurobindo, the great Krishna Bhaktaa and modern mystic

has said that the natural upward path for soul is thru fear, then respect

and then Love. CAtering to the fear/desire aspect of our Srivaishnavism

is evidence of its comprehensiveness, rather than unenlightenedness!

If we are so pure that we would not hurt a single ant, that we would

not speak a single harsh word to the even one who insults us, that we

consider the whole world including all lowly creatures as our natural

suhrts, and bandus, then- it seems to me- only then are we above the

need for that aspect of our religion that pampers some mild version

or other of self-interest! The idea is that self-interest channeled

thru Him will gradually be sublimated to nobler desires until the state

of desirelessness is reached. To aspire to reach in a jiffy the utmost

purity/Godliness is in vain, since vasanas gained over thousands of births

have got imprinted as atavistic reflexes that are deeply ingrained in

our psyche. A religion that does not reflect this plain truth is either

careless or not intended for the common person!

 

No one knows (except the Mahaans) why the perticular instrument of

human being has been chosen for the accomplishment of {what?}. Like the

rain-cloud dark hue of Sri Krishna Paramaatma, the ultimate cause of this

jagat remains, in an absolute sense, in the dark- unknown! What seems to

be clear is that an evolution of consciousness is in progress. In an

earlier posting i had noted how Sri Vishnu's Dasavatara reflects

Darwinian evolution. If we combine the lessons of our ancient lores

and those of modern anthropology, it appears possible to discern that

the path of evolution has been in the path of

self-interest. That's how the psyche of the species has been

programmed ("selfish gene, etc.; but admittedly, the game is more complex;

it appears, as has been alluded to by Sri Aurobindo and others, that there

is an aspect of collection (sub-)conscious at work whose intrests are

more global!). Thru that, human being has evolved. To use the faculty

of reason to suddenly deny this aspect of self-interest/or to

aggravate it, is to do oneself a self-violence. A vested-interest

bhakti is just a path of sublimating mundane desires into nobler

ones. As shrewd psychologists no less than bhakthaas, Swami Desikan

as well as the galaxy of other mahaans, have condescended to favor

the less previleged by recognizing this! Moreover, whereas some of us

view these in terms of Sampradayam, he prob'ly viewed it as a simple

personal affair, so there was no need for him to clothe his thanks to Sri

Garuda in such a way that possible future commentators won't fault him!!

 

May the more tradiational of us forgive my unusual approach to religion,

but, in confomance with my understanding of science etc. my view of religion

is rather modern! I think we don't have the time to be

intrested in it just because we are born into it. An interest so generated

might be reserved for perhaps purely cultural stuff! Rather, it is the

invigorating accounts of mahaans like Garudazhwar, et al, and the

way they lived and symbolized the Vedic Truths, that seem to make

life itself worth living!!!

 

Dear Sri Murali, i request you to continue with your most interesting

postings, for Bhakthi mailing list will surely be

poorer without your invaluable postings. I am sure that Sri Mani spoke

in an attitude of query rather than desire to hurt anyone!

My humble thanks also to Sri Sampath Rengi for his postings on Thiru

Allikkeni and to Sri Sadagopan for his beautiful postings on RPS.

Sri Sudarshan's well honed analysis of use of "prapadye" proffered ample

food for thought! Thanks and loving salutations to all of you!

 

Hari Om

srikanth