Guest guest Posted January 26, 2000 Report Share Posted January 26, 2000 Sri: Dearest all, My son's question on abivaadhanam: 1. Is abivaadhanam an inroduction of who we are with regard to gothram, vEdam etc.. (I said- yes) 2. Is that the reason why it is done for PerumAL and sanyaasis. because they know everything.. (I had to say.. yes.) 3. If that is only irnducing yourself humbly, why do we do everytime to the same person, since he already knows who we are.. (I kept silent) 4. If it is only introduction, why do we do to our own parents? They know about us already. 5. If there is no requirement for PerumAL, why do we do at the end of sandhyavandhanam..? learned members, please throw more light.. Regards Narayana Narayana adiyEn ____ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 29, 2000 Report Share Posted January 29, 2000 --- Madhavakkannan V <srivaishnavan wrote: > My son's question on abivaadhanam: > 1. Is abivaadhanam an inroduction of who we are with > regard to gothram, > vEdam etc.. (I said- yes) > 2. Is that the reason why it is done for PerumAL and > sanyaasis. because they > know everything.. (I had to say.. yes.) > 3. If that is only irnducing yourself humbly, why do > we do everytime to the > same person, since he already knows who we are. (I> kept silent) > 4. If it is only introduction, why do we do to our > own parents? They know > about us already. > 5. If there is no requirement for PerumAL, why do we > do at the end of > sandhyavandhanam..? > learned members, please throw more light.. > Dear Sri.madhavan, It is very nice to read that your son is grilling you with tough questions! My 12 year old son too puts me on the mat many times! Not until our children quiz us on so many matters do we really get to discover our own monumental ignorance about so many things in life! My humble advice to you in how you should answer your son is as follows: Do not begin quoting some rare passage out of some arcane scripture to your child in support of yourself. Tell the boy that the practice of "abhivandanam" is standard "protocol" that one must observe when one encounters learned or aged personalities of our hallowed "sampradAyam". Give the analogy of a diplomat, like an ambassador going to a new country, who first presents his diplomatic credentials to the head of state of that nation before taking up office. It is obligatory protocol. There is no need for a diplomat to present his credentials to his own Head of State or Foreign Minister. Similarly there is no need for us to do "abhivandanam" to our own God or AchAryA. Everytime a diplomat takes up an ambassadorial post in another country, even if he has already been there before, he has to again present his credentials in the proper manner. He cannot say that he has already observed the protocol in his previous assignment and hence there is no need to go through the protocol once again. The protocol must be gone through everytime. Adiyen is not so sure about "abhivandanam" to one's mother. But adiyen has it on good authority that there is no bar to one performing "abhivandanam" to one's parents.... both father and mother. Tell your son that both in the world of high diplomacy as well as in that of religion there is such a thing as gracious behaviour which must be scrupulously observed at all times, again and again. "Abhivandanam" is only one such example of gracious behaviour that has been mandatory in the society of learned elders. May God grant long life and happiness to your most intelligent son. dAsan, Sampathkumaran Talk to your friends online with Messenger. http://im. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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