Social aspects of Visishtaadvaita..

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagavathas

 

I have two issues haunting me for me some time. I would request the

members of the group to kindly respond and enlighten :

 

A. What is the role of acharya with regard to our day to day problems?

In many cases, we do like to consult our acharayas on important

matters, but that is an exception than the rule. As an institutional

provision, do we have a system where any person, can approach a religious

leader just for moral support? IS is obligatory for the religious leader

to listen to such person or is it subject to their convenience?

 

 

(This may need some expansion : In many religions, the religious leader

plays the role of spiritual guide as well as a friend or philosopher.

This is specially true of the role played by many christian missionaries

who besides their religious duties, are involved in some exemplary

development projects, using the church as a medium to focus the attention

of the society on some problems which cannot be solved solely by

government or some one else. Also, there are specific provisions such as

'confessions'.)

 

B. With the sole exception of Tirupathi temple, why our temples as

institutions have become isolated from their role towards the larger society?

 

(This relates to the criticism that temples and religious scriptures are

'engineered' by one community for their benefit and not for the larger

public good.)

 

I found it difficult to concentrate on the anantha kalyana gunas of our

lord if a few yards from the temple is a low income area and each of them

(i.e., the temple and the low income areas) completely ignore the

presence of the other. I see in Bhagavad Ramanuja's efforts of climbing a

gopuram and spreading the knowledge of dwaya manthra as a clarion call to

all vaishnavas to seek to unify our religious duties with our social

responsibility.

 

I was told that even today in some temple-towns such as in Karpangadu,

when there is a utsavam in the temple, the entire town is invited for the

thaliyaradhanai and prasadam. But such cases seem to be exceptions.

 

I would be grateful for the responses and comments of bhagavathas of the

list on this matter.

 

Adiyen

P.B. Anand