TSS; SrI rAmAnuja

[Guest guest]

SrImatey rAmAnujAya namah.

 

(APOLOGY AND EXPLANATION:

 

My antipodal journey from Srirangam {where I live}

to Memphis in USA {on a visit to my daughter's family}

has made me luxuriate in a blend of agreeable idleness

and oft-surfacing Srirangam sentiments. The discovery

of Sri Mani Varadarajan's bhakti list has legitimised

my indulgence; as I perused the 'postings' I developed

a feeling that the bhakti list could also be utilised to

generate an awareness among the srivaishnava expatriates

about contemporary ground-realities of the 'sampradAyam'

on its native soil. Sri Mani Varadarajan has kindly

given his consent to me in this regard.

 

The 'write-up' could be in four parts: the first

as a note on the srivaishnava 'svarUpam' (identity), and

the consequent call to understand the heritage and to

restore oneself unto the heritage; the second could be

a quick sensitising on the sacred works of the religion,

with a specific and limited report on srivaishnava

publication to-day; thirdly, an understanding of the

system of temple administration; and finally, there

could be questions of srivaishnava interaction with and

locus standi in the heterogeneous society. While some

paragraph heading has been attempted, it would be more

comfortable to read this quite away from a book format,

for there is considerable telescoping of one sub-theme

into another. The writing could occasionally become

impressionistic, as necessary.

 

No attempt is made to be exhaustive on the issues of

discussion; the risk is there that one may plan to be

exhaustive and end up to be exhausting.

 

~~ T.S. Sundara

Rajan.)

==================================================================

 

<SRI RAMANUJA'S ORDER>

====================

 

1.1. The blessed Order ('divyAjnA') of Sri RAmAnuja, is read

not only in his philosophical works but in every precise detail of

his career. The 'divyAjnA' aims at universal weal,

('loka-hitaishiNee'). Those who invoke Sri RAmAnuja's

name for spiritual sustenance are natural inheritors of a

catholic thought, philanthropic disposition, and responsibility

for further preserving what the noble preceptor had consolidated.

 

1.2. The srivaishnava's spiritual career calls for a primary desire

and intent for such career, as well as the availability and nurturing

of the inherited literature and institutions which are needed to

facilitate and sustain his intent. The intent lies in his personal

domain, whereas the task of preservation and propagation of the

literature and institutions is identified in the social domain.

This could be the framework for considering the question,

WHAT ARE THE CONCERNS THE SRIVAISHNAVA SHOULD ADDRESS HIMSELF TO?

 

The srivaishnava sacrament.

 

2.1. The srivaishnava sacrament advances through five stages:

tApah puNdrah taTHA nAma, mantro yAgascha panchamah ~~

(++branding of one's shoulders with the vaishnava insignia

of the chakra-disc and the sankha-conch,

++drawing on one's forehead the oordhva-puNDram/tirumaN-kAppu,

++announcing oneself by the generic name rAmAnuja-dAsa,

++instruction in the sacred eight-syllabled formula ~~

ashtAksharI-tirumantram, and fifthly,

++yAgah or the nitya-tiruvArAdhanam, the everyday ritual worship

offered to the deity in the individual household and in temple,

and through the variety of seasonal temple festivals).

 

2.2. The title 'aiyangAr' exclusively applied to the

srivaishnava possibly signifies that he has received this

five-fold (ai-ndu anga) samskAra thro' the 'samAshrayaNam' rite.

 

The srivaishnava sacrament

an amplification of the vedic dictum.

 

2.3. "trayo dharma-skandhAh ~~ yajno adhyayanam dAnamiti",

is the declaration contained in the chhAndogyopanishad (2:23:1):

dharma has three supports ~~ devotion, learning and charity.

This dictum remains precious to the srivaishnava heart.

 

3.1. 'yajnah' has a whole spectrum of meaning, including the

resplendent 'yajno vai vishnuh', 'vishnur-vai yajnah' ('yajnah

is vishnu' and 'vishnu is yajnah') of the sata-paTHa-brAhmaNam.

The 'yajnah' of upanishad would further have the same sense as

the 'yAgah' of the padma-purAnam and the pAncharAtra Agamam,

namely, yagah = the nitya-tiru-ArAdhanam in the srivaishnava

household and in the 'divya-desam'.

 

3.2. The 'nitya-tiruvArAdhanam' is, of course, more

comprehensive than the ritual worship offered to the deity,

and will obviously include the preparatory 'anushTHAna' like

'sandhyA-vandanam', tending the tulasI plant (basil or

ocimum sanctum), etc. The taittireeya upanishad directions

are clear: "deva-pitr-kAryAbhyAm na pramaditavyam" ~~ not

to neglect the duty to divinity and to the ancestry. The

integrity of thought, speech and action determines, and

provides, the larger ambience ("shraddhA-mayo-ayam purushah",

BGeetA 17:3) for the 'nitya-yajnah' which could be part of

the discipline leading to 'sTHita-prajnatA', the steady

mental focus and an unwavering awareness.

 

3.3. All formal worship draws upon 'mantra' of various kind;

the popular English-language designation of 'mantra' as

magic spell or formula is self-evidently inadequate if not

frivolous. 'mantAram trAyate iti mantram' (it protects one

who contemplates it). The tiru-mantram is the mantra-rAjam,

the mahA-mantram, the most radiant and exalted gift available

to the seeker ~~ ("uraippAr namo nArAyaNAya enru, pallANdum

paramAtmanai soozhndu irundu ettuvar pallaNde!"; and

"namo narAyaNAyeti mantrah sarvArttha-sAdhakah" ~ narasimha

purANam).

 

3.4. 'adhyayanam' is the second of the upanishad criteria of

'dharma'. This would signify a life-long learning, an avid

learning, guided learning and self-learning. The integrity

of speech aforementioned is the same as "vAngmayam tapah"

delineated by Sri krshna (BhGeeta 17:15), and this

penance-through-speech is rendered by "svAdhyAyAbhyasanam",

practising the 'adhyayana' mode. The precious 'saraNAgati-

sAstram' that is SrirAmAyaNam, (paDi-koNDa-keerti irAmAyaNam

ennum patti-veLLam, ~~ irAmAnusa-nootrantAdi 37) was itself

the gift of the 'svAdhyAyam' of the adi-kavi, the steadfast

learner, svAdhyaAya-niratah.

 

3.5. The third dharma-criterion of 'dAnam' accords with the

accepted dictum, 'ekah svAdu na bhunjeeta', not to savour

anything all by oneself. sri rAmAnuja came to be regarded

as 'emperumAnAr' (=the paramapurusha himself) for his noble

nature of 'giving', and sharing the instruction he had

received in tiru-koTTiyoor. 'dAnam' is the principal merit

of the thunderclap exhortation of the upanishad

~~ datta, dAmyata, dayadhvam! {The poet TS Eliot includes

this exhortation in his poem, 'Wasteland'.} The receiving,

imparting, and effectively bequeathing of, and joining in

esoteric instruction ("svAdhyAya-pravachanAbhyAm" of the

Taittireeya upa.) is accordingly among the principal duties

of the srivaishnava.

 

What needs to be done?

 

4.1. A sustained, cultured and well-coordinated movement

needs urgently to be organised in order to help the

srivaishnavas grasp and retain and preserve and transmit

their universally benignant heritage. There is no need

at all to develop any proselytising ambitions nor any

grandiose crusades for the srivaishnava religion. The

world has seen a multitude of religions come up and has let

each people devise its own worship and fancy. Since

intolerance of other religions speaks of an inadequacy of

one's own, what is important is that the srivaishnava should

carefully and honestly verify the facts of his history and

understand the truths yielded in his persuasion. Accordingly,

the elements and stages of this movement could be listed

(not very exhaustively, though) as under:

 

** the reprinting and dissemination of the sacred literature;

** institutional mobilising. This does not call for making of

emotional and unrealistic demands like establishment of

srivaishnava universities etc, but could be achieved through

organising small, informal nuclear centres of teaching-learning

which can ensure basic literacy in tamizh and samskrtam which is

essential for any serious learning in religious lore;

** developing an easy-to-learn core curriculum of brhaspati-cum-

archaka;

** organising the education and steady recruitment of srivaishnava

'brhaspati' cadre, with enhanced social prestige and remuneration;

** a vibrant appreciation and networking of the 'divya desam'

(the pilgrimages hymned by the blessed AzhvAr saints); there

is need to prepare a reliable, easy-to-read, cartographically

sound 'divya-desam' map;

** a programme of archaeological conservation of the temples;

** neutralising the excesses of pseudo-religious cults as are

socially harmful and specifically detrimental to the noble

and beautiful message of srivaishnavam; cults proliferate

as increasing complexities of living aggravate the attendant

insecurities, and hence the cult-leaders and devotees are

welcome to their choice of inanities. The srivaishnavas

have no call to take on and contest alienationist 'doctrines'

and ideologies as they are fabricated. It is however necessary

to remain vigilant to any trespass into vaishnava temples

as it occurs through wanton introduction of non-vaishnava

worship; the same kind of vigil is necessary to resist

media denigration of vaishnava religion.

** a programme of promoting the srivaishnava fraternity, and

concurrently, of a sensible interaction with other communities;

** vigilant and pragmatic watch over temple administration

at the state level and in each temple;

** a recurring, small-scale, individual-level subscription to an

apex funding body to implement these several programmes.

 

What of the Sacred Literature?

 

4.2. The wholesome and fertile terrain of the sacred literature

(vedo hi mAtrvad vatsalah = the veda is loving like mother)

is what holds and sustains each and all of the three pillars of

dharma, ~~ namely, yajnah, adhyayanam, dAnam. Accordingly, the

life-long study of this literature constitutes the most rewarding,

and challenging, pursuit the srivaishnava could have in his secular

life and spiritual career. The 'vidura-neeti' (instructions of

sri vidura in mahAbhAratam) lists out the auspicious and sacred

articles to be kept in every household: the hiraNyanAbham

('sALagrama srimoorti' = chakrAnkita-silA = ammonite stone),

sandal wood, the conch, the sri-kosham or a copy of the sacred

texts. The padma-purANam elaborates the joy and merit of copying

out the sacred texts and presenting them to discerning scholars.

 

4.3. Even in the face of creeping cynicism all the world over and

breakdown of the received salutary value-system, the religions

of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism etc are so well organised

as to ensure that their core religious scriptures do not go out of

print at any time. Contrasted with them, the social organisation

of the srivaishnavas leaves a lot to be desired. This kind of

failure in social organisation has serious implications for the

renewal and dissemination of srivaishnava literature. It is time

the srivaishnavas got to know, and secured for themselves, the

core books they have.

 

Decline of religion through disinformation.

 

4.4. Sheer ignorance of the books or simply 'no-information' is

not more adverse to this aspect of religious organisation than the

palpably increasing fall-out of misinformation. The expression

'hindu' is one such piece of misinformation and mis-labelling which

'denotes' some kind of mixed bag and no religious identity per se.

'Hindu' is a term of ignorance coined apparently to denote what the

particular 'religion' is not, something like that the Hindu is one

who is not a Christian etc. Those of alien faiths have created an

impression that 'Hindu' does not seem to stand for a faith but,

as S. Radhakrishnan described it in a poser, a "museum of

beliefs".

 

4.5. Given the prevalent confusion, it is a common phenomenon that

any stuff (pop writing, spurious 'scriptures', interpolated

passages, later-day texts, et al) that gets printed as 'hindu'

spiritualism gets accepted as such, and often receives formal and

well-publicised approval of some unscrupulous 'religious icons'

of the amorphous society. Many non-vaishnava faiths of cantankerous

and shamanistic nature have a felt need to create their own

religious books, but such books fall by the wayside in contrast

with the vaishnava sruti, itihAsa, purANa, smrti etc which are of

surpassing literary beauty, philosophic integrity, humanistic

message, and fidelity to the tradition of veda. The non-vaishnava

books could not be sustained on their own; hence non-vaishnava,

and even anti-vaishnava, messages got insidiously incorporated in

the vaishnava works (examples: interpolation of 'sa harih' in the

rk "sa brahmA sa Sivah sendrah so:aksharah parama-svarAt"

occurring in nArAyaNa-sooktam; the Aditya-hrdayam in srirAmAyaNam;

the siva-sahasranAmam in mahAbhAratam; the jyotir-lingam fib in

the vAmana-purANam; plenty of this kind of slime and jetsam

~~ e.g., veLLi-ambala desikar's numerous stanzas ~~ interpolated

in the kamba-rAmAyaNam etc). Ostensible vaishnava episodes were

introduced, but in baseless and distorted manner (like 'sarabha'

monster overpowering narasimha, the installation of 'lingam' --

the phallus totem -- at the 'setu' by srirAma, the lewd

jAlandhara episode, supposedly glorifying tulasi, interpolated in

padma-purANam etc). Whole pastiche works of poor quality were

written and palmed off as rAmAyaNa, such as vasishTHa-, Ananda-,

adhyAtma-rAmAyaNam etc., quite at the level of morbid or banal

fairy tales (like the 'aiyappa' which has no basis in any of the

sAttvika purANa episodes of the 'amrta-mathanam'). Most tragically,

a whole fictitious corpus of '108 upanishad' (which inter alia

included an allAh upanishad [!], apparently written in distress)

got fabricated and sanctified in print by the Adyar Library, Madras.

 

.../to continue.

[Guest guest]

usdeiva <usdeiva wrote:

>sAttvika purANa episodes of the 'amrta-mathanam'). Most tragically,

>a whole fictitious corpus of '108 upanishad' (which inter alia

>included an allAh upanishad [!], apparently written in distress)

>got fabricated and sanctified in print by the Adyar Library, Madras.

 

The edition of 108 upanishhad-s with the commentary of shrI upanishhad

brahmayogin, which has been published by the Adyar Library does not contain the

Allah upanishhad. Perhaps there is some other "later" upanishhad compilation

which contains this. AFAIK, the upanishhad collection published by Motilal is

supposed to have this, though I haven't had the chance to look at this myself.

 

Ramakrishnan.

 

PS: The 108 upanishhad-s published by the Adyar library are the 108 in the

muktika upanishhad, with the complete commentary of brahmayogin.

[Guest guest]

Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian wrote:

>

> usdeiva <usdeiva wrote:

>

> >sAttvika purANa episodes of the 'amrta-mathanam'). Most tragically,

> >a whole fictitious corpus of '108 upanishad' (which inter alia

> >included an allAh upanishad [!], apparently written in distress)

> >got fabricated and sanctified in print by the Adyar Library, Madras.

>

> The edition of 108 upanishhad-s with the commentary of shrI upanishhad

> brahmayogin, which has been published by the Adyar Library does not contain

the

> Allah upanishhad. Perhaps there is some other "later" upanishhad compilation

> which contains this. AFAIK, the upanishhad collection published by Motilal is

> supposed to have this, though I haven't had the chance to look at this myself.

>

> Ramakrishnan.

>

> PS: The 108 upanishhad-s published by the Adyar library are the 108 in the

> muktika upanishhad, with the complete commentary of brahmayogin.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I am grateful for Shri Ramakrishnan's correction. I need this kind of

guidance and support especially when I have to work without my

collections at hand.

 

I have myself noticed this particular 'upanishad' somewhere, maybe not

in the Adyar edn. Nevertheless the point I'd like to make is that the

known classical commentators have not spoken of 108 upanishads. On a

rule of pragmatism, it would be proper to reckon the classical

commentators beginning from SrI Sankara-bhagavatpAda and accept as

genuine those upanishads cited or commented upon by these personages.

It would have been a great find to trace the 'bodhAyana-vrtti' which

SrI rAmAnuja had studied in the SAradA-peetham in kAshmIr, but a

Kashmiri Pundit whom I had consulted sometime in 1969 wrote to me to say

that the original location of the SAradA-peetham is to-day outside of

Indian control.

 

The religion is in no way strengthened by freely admitting all later-day

writing as 'scripture': for, 'Srti' and 'smrti' postulate attentive

'listening' and a somewhat jealous 'memory' in securing our reverence

for our religious texts.

 

T.S. Sundara Rajan.

[Guest guest]

Krishna Kalale wrote:

>The general agreement by particularly the visistadvaita vedantins is that

>only the upanisads which can be inferred as being referred to in the

>brahmasutras, the ones mentioned by the prior traditional acharyas :

>dramida, tanka, and from other schools (by earlier acharyas) are the only

>ones that are accepted as authoritative. The reason being, whatever are

>the important issues in philosphy are stated in the brahmasutras and that

>the supporting upanisads which were quoted by acharyas are sufficient to

 

shrI Anandagiri in his TIkA to the gauDapAda kArikA bhAshhya of shrI sha.nkara

says that there are many upanishhad-s in the atharva veda, but that these were

not commented on by shrI sha.nkara because they were not used by bAdarAyaNa.

shrI sha.nkara's successors (shrI sha.nkarAnanda, shrI vidyAraNya etc) have

commented on some other important ones like the kaivalya, nR^isimha uttara

tApanIya etc. In any case the muktika upanishhad list is accepted as "genuine"

by the advaita tradition. However, the most important ones are the 10 principal

upanishhad-s and this fact is affirmed by the muktika itself.

 

[ ... ]

 

Ramakrishnan.

[Guest guest]

Namaskaram,

 

my name is badrinarayanan and i am currently working in bahrain. although i

spent many years in Madras and India, i discovered my religious roots only

in bahrain through the tireless efforts of some great devotees here. i came

to know of this group through another well wisher in bahrain and i am glad i

d to it.

 

i read with great interest your article on reviving srivaishnavism. there

were so many facets of our tradition that are being practised without

realising their significance. in this context, i request you to write in

detail the philosophy behind samasranam, performing saligrama poojas and the

like.

 

it is my humble feeling that your articles being very erudite and rich in

language, it is very difficult for samanyans like us to get the true import

of your message. i humbly request you to adopt a more simple style so that

we can largely benefit.

 

i look forward to hearing from you

 

dasan

 

badrinarayanan raghavan