What is a billion dollars anyway

[Guest guest]

Dear Mani and fellow BhaghavatAs:

 

I would seek the forgiveness of Shri Sadagopan and other bhaghavatAs who

wish to place this issue behind and concentrate on more positive aspects of

Sri Vaishnavism. However, I would like to bring my part of the discussion

to a closure by responding to Shri Mani (whose intention like most others is

to see unity among all of us).

 

These are my questions to Mani:

 

I don't get you quite correctly on the above issue.

 

Are you saying that we should encourage and allow to flourish in India the

very same traditions...

that we wish to break away from, in the USA. My question is simple - Why

can't the Melkote model be followed in all divya dEsams in India and why

not we make a concerted effort to stop encouraging

those divya dEsams that resist this change. Most divya desams are in dire

need of funds and it is a opportune time now to bring about a change by

making the donations conditional. Eventhough nothing of this sort may happen

in the foreseeable future, I see Shri Narayanan already drawing a cold feet

by the very mention of two Sattrumurais. I was also surprized that the

spirited reply of Vijay (of Triplicane) and that of Varadan (?) on this

issue has totally ignored what Shri Narayanan had to say.

 

People who have visited the divya desams feel that kalai issues are more

prominent in those places than say taking care of perumal or the archakAls.

After my recent visit to the Srirangam temple I felt

that the temple is spending more money on glossy paintings of the nAmams

than on other essentials. I equally find the practice of 'mudal' theertham

etc. undesirable.

 

I sincerely feel we have to do something about reversing this trend in

India. I personally feel that we should fund a scheme where two or three

bus-loads of well trained sattrumurai reciters should go around all

divyadesams and 'shout' both sattrumurais to their hearts' content and that

such voice of 'unity' should reverberate through the ears of people like

Shri Narayanan who still want to cling onto a divisive tradition.

 

Whether we are in the US or in India we are all products of the same

tradition. A disease cannot be cured if we are afraid of getting to its

source. People who now want Ranganatha temple in the US to follow both

Sattrumurais, what have they done to forge equal representation of kalais

back in India. What have they done to institute recitations of 'both'

sattrumurai back in our divya dEsams. The defect with equality is that we

desire it with our superiors. When the divya-dEsams are obviously in favor

of one kalai in India, the voice of reason and fairness that is so prominent

here to have equal 'kalai' representation - is unfortunately silent when it

comes to advocating the same in India.

 

I think we lose our 'sense of fairness' if we insist that we allow

traditions to flourish in India and then in the same breath we say that we

break-away from it in the USA. Being power-less to do anything about it in

India doesn't provide us a license to acquiesce

to it (if we sincerely think it is wrong).

 

dAsan

 

Vijayaraghavan

Buffalo, NY

 

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