thanks to Dileepan for arranging Azhagiasingar's lectures

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

It is really remarkable that sri Dileepan has been consistently working on

getting HH Azhagiasingar on the conference. Adiyen cannot thank Dileepan

enough for such continued kainkaryam. May our acharyas and Malolan bless

him for that. Today's discourse on "kanninun sirutthambu" was excellent

like every one of the other lectures in the series. HH Azhagiasingar

talked in his usual inimitable style with such interesting examples to

which any one can relate to. The excerpts from the vyakhyanas or glosses

by Nanjiyar, Periavacchan pillai etc. were precise driving the points so

clear. The explanation of "bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate"

was precise highlighting the subtle but brilliant nature of our

Ramanujacharya's gita bhasya - that only after thousands of punya janmas

(ie. good births, not the birth in the bodies of worms etc.) that one

attains bhakti (bhaktiyoga ie. immense taste, attraction and enjoyment in

meditating incessantly without break on the divine couple srimmannarayana's

attributes) in srimannarayana and surrenders to HIM. Here surrender is not

the usual prapatti, for which such difficult set of qualifications are not

needed except full faith or mahavishvasam.

 

Incidentally, the issue of "pursuit of wealth", the famous topic of

discussion, opened up by Mani Varadarajan on bhaktilist, was handled

uniquely by HH Azhagiasingar.

 

Azhagiasingar's views on pursuit of wealth : (DISCLAIMER ::: THE FOLLOWING

IS AS ADIYEN UNDERSTANDS IT.... PLEASE CLARIFY DIRECTLY FROM HH

AZHAGIASINGAR IF YOU HAVE DOUBTS. THE FOLLOWING IS JUST HOW MY DULL

INTELLECT UNDERSTANDS THE INFORMATION GIVEN BY HH AZHAGIA SINGAR)

 

Pursuit of wealth, according to Azhagiasingar, is sort of dependent on the

environment, time, geography, etc. During ancient times, Drona who was a

Brahmin; he took up kshatria dharma. He probably could have opened up a

veda pata sala (veda school) and somehow protected his family. However, He

felt that it was difficult for him to do so and for protection of his

family, eventhough people openly condemned him for that, he resorted to

kshatria (warrior) dharma which is not appropriate for him who is a Brahmin

by birth. In the Manu dharma shastra there is an allowance made: " in

times of difficulty, there are provisions in our shastras (manu dharma)

that one can resort to anya vritti or occupation of a different class

other than one's own for the sake of protection of family; family

protection is very important; and one should not give that up in spite of

difficulty". Remember that this was during the times of Drona, which

probably was much better than during times of Vedanta Desika, who,

incidentally lived on alms (uncha vrtti - begging for living). This shows

Sri VedantaDesika's determination. During Vedantadesika's time there were

people who gave alms and times were reasonable; however, his family was

also small since he had one son only. But it is different now. Azhagia

singar, interestingly brought out the point, "how can one go to Uncha

vritti now, ie. in Palghat (ie. adiyen thinks he is currently somewhere in

palghat, in Kerala south India), There are hardly any agraharams or

collection of homes, where one can walk and ask for alms / food. How can

one survive on uncha vrtti? today. It is not possible; Hence, a brahmin

can resort to job of a economist, or in accounting or in science etc. Yes,

it is true that some rare souls strive hard even today to be as puritan as

possible. But that is very rare and impractical in general. One can do a

job of another class; But one should not do "adharma" ie. cheat for the

sake of "wealth". One should not stoop too low and stray far away from the

ideal path of one's dharma, just for the sake of money. Yes, it is true,

that the duty of a brahmin is to study vedas, serve in temples, teach

vedas, conduct yajnas etc. HOwever, that can be done nowadays to a limited

extent depending on one's capacity, determination and the environmental

conditions such as finance, accessibility etc. One should be as practical

as possible; however one should try hard to keep up one's dharmas.

 

On the otherhand, HH Azhagiasingar stated that it is so difficult for even

a sanyasi (ie. HH azhagiasingar) to exist without expecting the society for

contributions for the Ahobila muth, which is a big organization. The

moment one becomes an acharya of a big institution such as "Ahobila Muth"

lot of responsibilities immediately fall on that individual. The shastras

say ' vichitra deha samsristih isvaraya niveditum" meaning 'this human body

is really an unique and interesting instrument given to us, this should be

dedicated to be offered in worship to GOD, not to be wasted on other

pursuits". Taking care of temples which are structures dedicated to promote

and nurture the bhakti in common people is a duty of the righteous minded

people. That being the case, it is natural that Ahobila muth is intersted

in taking care of the temples in Ahobila, Andhrapradesh. It seems that

recently, an archaka left the doors of the temple of Mahalakshmi (thayar)

sannidhi leaving all the ornaments open for miscreants to take advantage

of. Probably nothing happened. But one has to be sure. For that, just to

organize someone to get to that hilly and desolate Ahobila and take a look

at the situation, costs funds; On top of that these temples are taxed by

the Government and significant funds are needed. It is not possible to run

away from these responsibilities. How can I (ie. HH Azhagiasingar) deal

with such situations without the help of support from the society?. Even

with the funds, one can never be sure if the person or archaka uses the

funds and not really do the duty sincerely. However, this does not reduce,

in any sense the need for money. Hence these times are different.

 

In essence, one should work for money by some means suitable to support

one's family. However, one should strive hard to uphold one's dharma

without resorting to "unfair" means.

 

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