praying other deities...

[Guest guest]

Hello,

Kalyani krishnamachari has raised an important issue. I just wish

to remind that there was one such similar discussion sometime in Jan '97

- "recite mantras and get results". It was more along the lines of reciting

mantras for some materialistic objective (kAmyArtham ?). Whether these

mantras praise sriman nArAyaNA or some other deity is a different issue,

an important one though. Thanks to Mani and Dileepan, the archives are back

so that you could check it out.

 

mahA visvAsam (Great faith) on sriman narayana is definitely the

most important aspect of a srivaishnava. But how practical is it? How mahA

should this visvAsam be? This question of faith is very subjective. One has

to feel this mahAvisvAsam at heart. A mother wouldn't consider, praying to

say karumAri amman for her ailing son, a sin. It could be a strong local

belief. Her immediate concern is her dear child. But she should not be

branded a sinner right away. She hasn't realized her relationship with the

narayana. ("un thannOdu uRavEl n^amakku iN^gu ozhikka ozhiyAdhu"). Our dear

PerumAL would realize this and try to induce the 'ruchi' in her someway or

other. BTW I am not saying that she is right (before somebody pounces on

me ).

 

What did draupathi do when duchchAthana attempted to divest her.

She tried to protect herself by holding on to her clothes. Then she

realized her relationship with Krishna, that He alone is the protector

and let go her clothes and did prapatti to Him throwing up her hands

in despair. This realization of our eternal relationship (n^amakku

ozhikka ozhiyAdhu - that which cannot be destroyed by us or Him) is what

we lack when we pray the other dEvatAs.

 

***********************Start Quote*******************

But, is it wrong if you say slokams for hanumAn or sani if you are

afflicted by sani (even though in your heart of hearts, you have pledged

allegiance to perumal)?

***********************End Quote**********************

 

I don't consider saying any slokams for hanumAn wrong. He is one

of the best adiyArs and perumAl would definitely be pleased if we pray

hanumAN. But one cannot pray hanumAn for mOksham. (Even hanumAn would

feel bad if u ask him for mOksham ). Donno about sani. I personally

have stopped saying those sani stOtrAs. He prob'ly is also an adiyAr

of narayana. (who is not? )

 

So, i think praying somebody else, keeping him as your means

and goal is wrong. Only sriman narayana is the means and the goal.

 

While I am at it, let me quote the relevant lines from siRiya

thirumadal by our dearest thirumaN^gai mannan. He assumes the nAyaki

bhAvam here. She(AzhvAr) is mad about kaNNan and falls sick.

 

kArAr maNi n^iRamum kaivaLaiyum kANEn n^An *

ArAnum solliRRum koLLEn *- aRivazhin^dhu

thIrA udambodu pEdhuRuvEn kaNdiraN^gi *

ErAr kiLikkiLavi emmanai thAn van^dhennai *

sIrAr sezhum puzhudhik kAppittu *- seN^kuRiNYchi

thArAr n^aRumAlai sAththaRku * thAn pinnum

n^ErAthana onRu n^Ern^dhAL *- adhanAlum

thIrAdhu en sin^dhai n^Oy thIrAdhu en pEdhuRavu *

vArAdhu mAmai adhu kaNdu maRRAN^gE *

[...]

 

On seeing her dear daughter suffering, the mother, being a

srivaishNava, applied the dust from the bhAgavathAs for protection

(sIrAr sezhum puzhudhik kAppittu). Then out of desperation, she did

something that she would never do (thAn pinnum n^ErAdhana onRu

n^Ern^dhALaL). She prayed to this 'other' god who wears a garland made

of red kuRiNYchi flowers (sen^ kuRiNYchi thArAr n^aRumAlai sAththaRku).

Even then the daughter was still suffering from her 'mental illness'

(thIrAdhu en sin^dhai n^Oy, thIrAdhu en pEdhuRavu) - her obsession for

kaNNan is what is meant here.

 

Thats how the story goes. Later an astrolger woman is summoned

and she finds out that the daughter is possessed by kaNNan which is

explained beautifully and musically by our kaliyan.

 

Ok... I know ... I digressed a lil bit... Anyway, its for a good

cause - thirumaN^gai AzhvAr pAsuram!

 

adiyEn

-Viji

(Vijay Triplicane)

[Guest guest]

Sri Vijay Triplicane writes:

> mahA visvAsam (Great faith) on sriman narayana is definitely the

> most important aspect of a srivaishnava. But how practical is it? How

mahA

> should this visvAsam be? This question of faith is very subjective. One

has

> to feel this mahAvisvAsam at heart. A mother wouldn't consider, praying

to

> say karumAri amman for her ailing son, a sin. It could be a strong local

> belief. Her immediate concern is her dear child. But she should not be

> branded a sinner right away. She hasn't realized her relationship with

the

> narayana. ("un thannOdu uRavEl n^amakku iN^gu ozhikka ozhiyAdhu"). Our

dear

> PerumAL would realize this and try to induce the 'ruchi' in her someway

or

> other. BTW I am not saying that she is right (before somebody pounces on

> me ).

> This realization of our eternal relationship (n^amakku

> ozhikka ozhiyAdhu - that which cannot be destroyed by us or Him) is what

> we lack when we pray the other dEvatAs.

>

My compliments to Viji on some insightful and thought provoking ideas. His

responses came at a rather opportune time for me, for I spent much of this

past weekend struggling with some negative feedback to our recent Denver

Conference.

 

Viji's post reminded me that I had once asked Sri Tridandi Jeear a similar

question: what happens to someone who takes samAsrayanam, but continues to

worship the other deities? His response was that samAsrayanam is but the

first small step on a long educational process. With Perumal's kindness,

and the AchAryan's teachings, a person is slowly guided, as Viji had

suggested, towards coming to the realization of the eternal relationship.

But, it is very interesting that my even at my extremely early stage, I

often wonder at how I could have thought otherwise.

 

I must admit my ego has made me rather impatient with the often-asked

question of why SriVaishnavas worship Sriman Narayana alone. I guess I

have forgotten that I also once had similar thoughts in the past. Viji's

posting reminds me that it is He who answered that question for me, and it

should be left to Him to provide this answer to others, as well. Ours is

just to be patient and steadfast in our path.

 

adiyEn,

 

Mohan

[Guest guest]

I must have missed most of the discussions pertaining to "praying the other

deities". I thought I will share my own experience relating to this topic.

Until the last 13 or so years, I was in the habit of praying to the other

deities. I am not sure of the exact time, but when my parents had their

SamAshrayam at our home in India, our acharya (we were Swayamacharya's, and

our acharya was Nadadhur Raghavacharyar) gave us the Ashtakashara and Dwaya

manthram. It must have been around this time, when praying to other deities

did not give me any internal satisfaction. So much that to this day, when I

visit a temple that is a non-Vishnu one, although I go in and pray or

prostrate to the deity, I come out with an empty feeling. And its for this

reason I avoid going to these temples or praying. I must confess, that my

relatives do pray to the other deities, something I have learned to accept.

I was always puzzled why I get this satisfaction praying to HIM. Maybe, its

as simple as taking the right path, or some kind of a guidance that the

atman imparts to the person called srinivasan.

I was wondering if others in the group have had a similar experience.

One other thing, how does one react when you enter a temple which houses

Gods other than Sriman Narayana. Is it an insult to other gods if u do not

to enter their sanctum sanctorums to worship, or do u have to do it, for

the mere reason of being there?

adiyen

srinivasan