Bad sinner

[Guest guest]

At 02:44 PM 7/29/1998 +0500, V. Chandrasekaran wrote:

>

> It is not justified admiring any saint who intends to cause

>violence to or severely criticizes followers of other darmas.

 

[...]

> [ He is as bad a sinner as the Chola king who plucked

> the eyes of a disciple of Srimad Ramanuja for worshipping Narayana. ]

 

 

Since a link to Badri's comments on the paasuram was already

provided I don't intend to go into that here. However, I would like to

add just a point or two from Sri Periyavachchaan PiLLai's (PP)

commentary on Thirumalai.

 

"Why is the most kind, the most righteous, and the

most peace loving Azhvaar advocate killing?"

 

"The vEdhaas say "na himsyaath sarvaa bhoothaani"

(non-violence must be practiced towards all living creatures),

and yet as an exception, the vEdhaas do permit violence

in AgnIshOmIya yaagam for the benefit of everyone. Thus,

there is no harm. There can never be friendly contact between

those who deride perumaaL and those who love Him. They will

always be in opposite ends. Thus there is no harm in

what Azhvaar says."

 

(The above is a rough translation of a small section of

Sri PP's commentary on the verse in question.)

 

Before criticizing the Azhvaar we need to really

understand what the paasuram actually says.

First off, cutting off the heads is figurative and not literal.

(More about this later.) Be that as it may, even this

figurative act is not a blank fatwa issued against all Buddhists,

Saivites, and Jains. The verse talks about only those who

come looking for trouble and start deriding our Lord.

The phrase is "poruppariyanakaL pEsil". The word pEsil

means "if they say." Azhvaar's figurative curse is

conditioned upon this happening. That is, the Azhvaar

_wishes_ extreme punishment only for those who

without cause, deride the Lord with unbearable words.

 

Sri PP mentions Mahabali in this context. When Mahabali

derided Lord Sriman Narayana, Prahaladhaazvaar cursed

his own grandson that he will be destroyed. We don't fault

Prahaladhan for this, do we? Similarly, our Azhvar's curse

against those who go out of the way to deride the Lord

does not make him out to be a "bad sinner".

 

Now is there evidence to show that the Azhvaar's curse born out

of frustration towards the obstinate Buddhists, just figurative?

I think so. But, not all may accept what I am about to write.

Even so, I shall present it anyway. Araayirappadi

Guruparamparai says Sri Ramanuja defeated 12,000

Buddhists (other texts refer to them as Jains) in Padmagiri

and put them into stone grinders "sekku". If we literally interpret

this we have to say that Sri Ramanuja put these poor souls

to death. Obviously, this is not so. If this actually happened

we would find references to this event in other texts. Not even

the Jain texts corroborate such as event. Thus, what is mentioned

in Araayirappadi is simply a figurative account of defeating

them in debate. A similar view could be taken towards

Azhvaar's words. It is simply a figurative expression, born

out of frustration, towards some obstinate opponents, who,

without provocation, make it their business to shower

unbearable abuses upon our Lord Sriman Narayana.

 

-- adiyEn