Digest bhakti.v003.n309

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Shree Rama to all

I would just like to say that i have been following this discussion on

Soundharya Lahari and the Shree Lakshmi Narasimha Strotra and

that i have some input if it seems acceptable. So if i say anything that may

offend anyone in anyway please forgive me. It has been my

personal belief that saying prayers on Sri Lakshmi Narayana written by a

non-srivaishnava is okay because the way we say it is with

divine surrendering unto His Lotus Feet. In regard to Sri Sadagopan's post i

will like to make a few personal statements and please

once again excuse them if they are out of place or wrong. I personally find no

solace in any other deity except for Lakshmi, Narayana,

Nitya Suris, Hanuman and any other bhagavatha. I only pray to Lakshmi Narayana

as supreme and the indwelling soul in all souls and in

their many forms. But this is not to say that offering homage unto other

deities is wrong or sinful. It is only that if we do offer

homage to these deities we must be prepared to accept the good and the bad that

comes with it, unlike The Divine Couple who only give

out the good. But if we pray to the other deities as possessing Lakshmi

Narayana as their inner lord and controller then it is okay, at

least this is my take on it. I for example do the Adityahrydayam on every

Sunday but in no way do i take Surya to be the Supreme Being,

i pray to him as a servant under Narayana or as Surya-Narayana. I don't know

any Shiva prayers but once in a while i ask him to make me

a better devotee of Narayana because i have always held Shiva to be the

paramavaishnava. Now please bear with me, i have a few

questions which will be made evident in a few lines. What is our(srivaishnava)

stance on other bhaktas of other sampradyas? Also do we

hold the attitude that only those who pass through our sampradya gain or recieve

moksha or can other people in other sampradya who have

surrendered unto Lakshmi Narayana's feet also recieve moksha? I mean that many

great bhaktas have surrendered to The Divine Couple's

feet but did not formally perform prappati throught a sri-vaishnava acharya are

they denied moksha in this life? Those saints not from

our sampradya who have surrendered to the feet of Lakshmi Narayana have devoted

themselves to the Divine and know nothing else, like

Purandhara Dasa, Jnanaeshwar, Tukaram, Mirabai, Thygaraja, Ragavendra and so on

but are they denied moksha even though in essense they

did perform prappati(surrender) but not the formal way? I personally believe

that they were not denied moksha in their live because

doing so limits the infinite compassion of the Divine Couple. I personally also

believe that the path and sampradya we are all

following is the best and the representative of the vedas but i also believe the

other paths or sampradya's (except for maybe advaita

because of the fact they in the ultimate level equate themselves with the

Supreme) are valid in that they promote devotion to Narayana

who is the Supreme Being and Goal but since they don't possess the actual

doctrine of prappati it is much harder for them.

Thank you for your time.

Shree Rama

Shree Ramanuja Dasan

Shree Lakshmi Narayana Dasan

Mukunda Vijaya Raghavan