sri vaishnavite practices(3)

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends : One of our members of the Bhakthi

list requested my comments on some of the traditional

practises of Sri VaishNavites . I thought this subject

might be of interest to number of you as well .

Hence I am sending an edited coipy of my response .

You are welcome to add other complimentary information

related to these three questions listed below with

my responses .

V.Sadagopan

>

>At 07:09 PM 4/7/99 -0700, you wrote:

>Dear Dr. Sadagopan:

>

>I would like to ask your opinion on a point made by one of my relatives

>regarding sri vaishnavite practices. Could you please comment on whether

these >are truly sri vaishnavite practices or the figment of someone's

imagination ?

 

>1. sri vaishnavites do not use a karpooram arati - they use

>an oil flame instead .

 

There are specific places for oil ( wicker) lamps in Bhagavadh

AarAdhanam .Pancha mukha deepam , Tiered rows of lamp have

structured places . In some temples only ghee lamps are used

inside the sannidhi for DheepAradhanai ( Dheepam samarpayAmi

is associated with one of the ShOdasOpachArams to the Lord ).

 

Camphor is a late comer .Its use is mostly confined to temples .

Its medicinal properties ( a counter irritant for infections

and in the treatment of pain and itching ) has a place

in crowded garbhagrahams , where a lot of people assemble

close to each other for the darsanam of the divya dampathis

at their sanctum sanctoriums . From a hygenic point

of view , it has a place in crowd management and disease

control .

 

The fact that it burns without leaving a residue ( other

than the subliming soot) has mystified the minds of philosphers

and mystically minded .Chemistry of a a Terpene ( ringed ketone),

permits it to become very hot and luminous , while lit .

Combustion forms steam and Carbon Dioxide quickly

and the lumens are of a high grade that help us

appreciate the divya aabharaNams of the Lord .

 

Camphor from a pharmaceutical chemistry point of view

is a plesant smelling , white , transluscent , terpene

Ketone (C10 H 16 O )obtained from the Camphor Tree .

It is used in manufacture of celluloid and as mentioned

before as medicine for treating pain and itching . When

Lord of Thirumalai caught the blow of an irate BhakthA (?)

on his chin , camphor ( pacchai kaRpUram ) was pressed

against the wound to mitigate the pain and help the wound heal .

 

>2. sri vaishnavites do not "otthufy" their palms to

>a karpooram arati since the palms represent shankha

>and chakram .

 

This is correct . More than the Shankam and Chakram

incorporated in their hands in a mystical sense ,

the hand of a Yajnam performing Brahmin has Agni

due to the tending of the Gaarhapathya , DakshiNa and

AahavanIya Agnis every day .The great Appaya Deekshithar had

peformed many Soma Yajnams . One day , when a king

appeared before him and felt insulted , when the Deekshithar

did not raise his right hand to bless him. The king was

angry and demanded to know , why the great Dikshithar

did not bless him " properly ". Deekshithar demurred .

When pressed , he raised his right hand in the traditional

fashion of uplifted right palm pointing to the body of the king

standing before him . The king's robes caught fire from

the VaidhikAgni concentrated in the right palm of Deekshithar.

The king understood now the reasons behind the gesture

of the compassionate AgnihOthri . None of us are in that

class of sanctity today .

 

Today , as the Container having the burning KaRpUram goes

around , there is a general sense of anxiety felt by

the Archakar and the sEvArthi ( samarpaNam on the Thattu )

and the pressure to reach out to press the warmth of the flames

on to the palms and the eyes. Where there is a group

of Sri VaishNavAs , the archakars will use the camphor deepam

for MangaLaaratthi and then will discard the half-burning

camphor aside .The archakar will not take the Thattu with

Burning camphor outside the grabhagraham .

>3. sri vaishnavites visiting saivite temples do not bring back

>any vibhooti with them since it is considered temple property.

 

First of all, no theevra Sri VaishNavite will go inside

a Shiva Temple . if they are not EkAnthins or paramaikAnthins ,

they will not bring the VibhUthi outside due to an ancient

belief " Shiva Sotthu Kula Naasanam ".

 

In today's practise of" stealing " from the temples

in broad day light by the temple sippanthis/adhikAris ,

there is not much of a fear about kula naasam . For instance ,

the famous temple at ThiruvArUr has(had) huge landed property

donated by the ChOLA kings .The concentrated pilfering and

deflection of the revenue form the Shiva Sotthu has resulted

in not having enough revenue for conducting even regular pUjAs

on a daily basis .

 

V.Sadagopan