re keeping our tradition alive

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri vaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

 

Few points on the topic of "Keeping our tradition alive" comes to my mind

which I want to share with you all. These are also presented from another

angle, which, I thought may be relevant to the topic. This was triggered

from the totally different perspective, very nicely projected by Sri Lakshmi

narayan krishnaswamy.

 

1. The USP concept for selling srivaishnavam must be from the

"emotional angle" and not "knowledge angle" which at present is.

 

2. What Sri bhagavat raamanuja did is offering a solution for the ills

by administering the medicine of "thiru ashtaakshara manthraartham" to one

and all without discriminating any one, who desired such solution, from the

tall precincts of gopuram of Thirukkottiyoor. Since this offering touched

the emotions of one and all, as a solution for their present ills then, the

Sri vaishnavam of Sri raamaanuja spread like fire.

 

3. The way he did, was somehow lost with subsequent generations and the

knowledge angle came into. Thus the large scale following or mass appeal is

lost.

 

[eg. Recent controversies on 32 vidhyaas (knowledge

angle) and nadhopaasanai (emotional angle) etc]. {My above conclusion is not

from this controversy}.

 

4. The present discussions are also on increasing the numbers. Unless

the numbers are there, there is no use with much knowledge alone stored in

very few containers. Because once the knowledgeable person becomes

physically incapacitated, how to spread the knowledge and the message and

draw the numbers which are required. Unless the numbers are also drawn in

and they are also developed as knowledgeable, there is no use, which is the

present situation.

 

5. To do this another point is also there. While others are

capitalising on the emotion and mass appeal, the focus, in the upanyaasams

of very learned and highly respected srivaishnavaas of present days, gets

shifted in accusing the advaithis and non believers with the words

kuthaarkikaaL kumathi, haithukargaL, etc, etc, in the course of their

delivery of the subject taken for the day. Youngsters who attend such

programmes also start following these seniors, in the same lines which also

add to the detriment of the situation.

 

6. In the discourse or during the session, these words are not

understood properly by many. So such kind of usage of words (or abuse?) have

to be avoided, for, if these are understood properly, it is going to produce

an adverse effect only in a major way.

 

This situation is because of the wrong perception that the

advaithis or others, have come there with swords drawn, to fight with these

learned Sri vaishnavas to prove their own superior principles, and establish

their religion against Sri vaishnavam. Or else, in my opinion, they think

that is the way to establish the superiority of Sri vaishnavam.

 

7. Added to that their presentation is also not well received because

of the highly sanskritised tamil and their style of delivery. Thereby the

not so serious "Sri vaishnavas" who come to listen and learn from these

scholars, because of their name and fame, and "non srivaishnavas" attending

such upanyasams are finding it difficult to sit through, and to digest the

things put forth in such upanyaasams, lest their learning.

 

Thus the appeal of the subject and of srivaishnavam indirectly

gets lost totally. If we are going to propagate our srivaishnavam in this

way, then I am afraid, we are losing all the audience in a very big way. The

above is said by not attending the upanyaasam of one such learned person but

a score of persons in Chennai.

 

8. Regarding the presentation skills also I wish to add- The focus is

generally not on the subject. For instance I attended a series of

RaamaayaNam by one of the famous Srivaishnavite upanyaasaka. In this, the

upanyaasakar was reciting the entire raghuveera ghadhyam RG, thereby losing

the audience attention in total. All that the reaction of the crowd, was the

upanyaasakar is well versed in samskrit recitation and able to pour out

continuously for more than 20 minutes. [Please do not think I am against

reciting of raghuveera ghadhyam. What I want to stress is the reference from

RG has to be taken and well explained which was not done effectively].

 

This is similar to the long swara prasthaara in a music

concert and people even without understanding any subtleties of the music or

swara rendered, simply clap hands at the end of it, as a ritual. Perhaps a

well experienced connoisseur of music in chennai will agree with me, that it

is more a "fashion" and the business sense of getting "corporate contacts"

[for there are large number of corporate sponsors these days for the music

concerts] to attend the music concerts and clap hands than to enjoy the

music sincerely.

 

As you all know, once you loose the audience attention, it is

difficult to drive home your point, what you wanted to say, let it be about

sri vaishnavam or any other thing.

 

9. Just for comparison, take another non Sri vaishnavite upanyasakar.

The audience was a minimum of one thousand, with many standing on the road,

in spite of heavy traffic in that area. He touched upon the very famous

"iyam seetha mama suthaa" to explain what she brings to the ikshvaaku vamsam

as "saha dharma", what is that saha dharma, what are the different ways a

saha dharmiNi helps the male, the principles involved in the hindhu

marriage, the meanings of the rituals and manthrams involved, like holding

the hand this way, not to do that way, hold the fingers this way etc, which

carried well with the audience. Any non- believer in the rituals and the

manthrams would also have picked up at least few points or things by

attending that upanyasam.

 

10. Another time, when the topic was "naachchiyaar thirumozhi NT", the

upanyasakar (again a reputed srivaishnava) went on saying there are totally

14 chapters, 143 verses, ten verses in each chapter, in three chapters 11

verses thus making 143, 4 lines in each verse, number of thaniyans, who are

the composers of the thaniyans etc.

 

He totally forgot that was not a class room, and he was not giving

introduction to beginners to NT, but a learned mixed audience. Thereby the

audience was feeling highly inconvenient to sit through the entire time he

was talking, even though the number was large and knowledgeable. Finally

what he wanted to highlight in NT did not come through.

 

Of course this is not to underscore others, who confine to the subject and

present it nicely like Sri Velukkudi krishnan, Sri Suki Sivam et al.

 

Another point in this, is that, we, as listeners, also fail in not having

the guts or niceties, to tell these upanyaasakars for the fear of doing

bhaagavatha apachaaram to these learned ones.

 

Please do not take these in any other manner, except that it is relevant to

preservation and spreading of Srivaishnavam and not to criticise or comment

on and about certain individuals. Also please consider the points shared

here are from a person who has experienced such situations and observed

things happening in close quarters and not just hearsay and prejudiced point

of view.

 

Remedy to such situation can come from persons like Sri RR of eyetex who are

organisers of such upanyaasams and vidwath sadas etc, stressing always

a. one theme point pertaining to Sri vaishnavam has to elaborated upon

by the speaker,

b. it should be more from the heart making emotional appeal not from

knowledge angle,

c. around that point only the speaker has to build up his lecture

d. simple language and easy presentation has to be used always.

 

Thus the cardinal principles can be thrown open to all for easy

understanding, leading to preservation of Sri vaishnavam for posterity.

 

Dasan

 

Vasudevan M.G.

[Guest guest]

Dear Sriman M.G.Vasudevan,

 

I must congratulate you on your very lucid and very well thought out

posting.Can I add a few more lines to your posting:

1) Whether we like it or not, at the end of the day we are all in a mumbers

game.

2) I concur with your opening remark that srivaishnavism must be propogated

first on an emotional level ( implicit faith which is born not out of reason

but out of faith). Knowledge can be spread to "believing and interested"

Srivaishnavas.The recent posting in the Bhakthi columns on "Parasara Bhattar

and the Madapalli fool" probably re-emphasises this point.

3) In this context, I also recall the saying of my acharyan (U.Ve.Agnihotram

Ramanuja Tathachariar) that "Religion is basically an emotional

affair.Infact most of our acharyans were Kavis first and philosphers next".

 

Adiyen

 

K.Lakshminarayan.

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