Preservation of sampradayam

[Guest guest]

Many thanks to Sri. Krishna Kalale, Sri. SampathKumar, Sri. MadhavaKannan

and Sri. VijayaRaghavan for their views re: arguably the biggest problem

facing Srivaishnava sampradayam (and for that matter, many other

denominations of Hinduism) today. Everyone is concerned that, with the

demise of traditional systems of learning such as vedadhayanam,

gurukulavasam, acharya-sambandham, vaideeka-vritti, etc. we will lose

both the baby and the bathwater. I mention this adage, because the

"mother country" India, in an attempt to reform itself, amidst increasing

poverty/overpopulation and under pressure to catch up with the developed

world, seems to be throwing out the baby itself. There is only one way

out, IMHO - a two pronged approach: (a) Publicize the universal, non-

sectarian portions of Srivaishnavism and hope to accrue mass appeal [much

in the manner of Carnatic music which has made a massive comeback] and

(b) Develop a zen-like focus and throw your weight [and money] behind

supporting individuals that can learn in gurukulavasam and thus preserve

the revelations of our purvacharyas.

 

Multimedia, Telecom, Mobile IP and the like notwithstanding, individual

lives will have to be dedicated to forming a "clergy" of sorts. This is

nothing new; monasteries and clerics exist in every religion including

ours - just that neither we nor our children are interested in paying

money to "sponsor" individuals for full-time learning and teaching.

This is certainly a double-whammy; the kings, chieftans and even

dharmic-minded common folk who were patrons of our sampradayam for more

than a millennium are long gone while we and our descendants don't even

give 10 percent of our earnings to its cause.

 

The need is for a solid showing of unquestioned economic support. Can

we all say with confidence, that Srivaishnavism continues to be endangered

despite an overwhelming amount of funding??

 

aDiyEn,

-Srinath Chakravarty

email: xsrinath