Reply to Mani

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Dear Bhagavathoththamas,

Now that the main topic of discussion has slid into thoughts on what the

Srivaishnava(SV) community has done to help the downtrodden, I'd like to

share with you all some introspective thoughts on the same.

 

Let me begin by saying (IMHO) that the SV community itself is on the verge

of regaining its full glory after nearly 300 years but with a 'VERSION'

CHANGE FOR this century! The reasons for *NOT* being a successful community

when it came to OUTREACH programmes were:

 

1. The community for hundereds of years believed in sharing and passing on

VEDIC WEALTH more than anything else. Parasara Bhattar inherited all of

Kuratthalwan's Vedic wealth and *not* his lands in Kuram.

 

2. Most professions of SriVaishnavas were Vaidika in nature and very few

were lucrative. Amassing wealth and then sharing it was not the idea at all

until a few years ago. We do not have a SriVaishnava YELLOW PAGES book yet

where SV's of the world network or share and care!

 

3. Some professionally(monetarily) successful SV's were/are so lost in their

pursuit and ego-trips that they never cared to look back!( A non-Iyengar

friend of mine used to tell me this joke- there are 3 I's of ego. 1.Iyengar

2.Iyer 3.I -Imagine his perspective...when the ordinary man's "I"thvam or

ahankaram comes 3rd!!)

 

The past two decades has seen some monetarily successful SV's and the

religious meets still cant replace a Diner's club meet for a businessman

wanting leads!(Though I have seen some SV's network with temple-contacts

etc..and this IMHO isnt wrong. It's plain SV-survival instinct..balancing

both work and Kainkaryam!)

 

Finally there's this other(dont know if its fortunate or unfortunate) thing

catching up- FANATISM for one's lineage and Acharyan. Fanatism is slowly

replacing BHAKTHI BHAAVAM and the feeling of a large gifted community is

almost gone with rivalry building among the already diminished

Bhakthakootas)

Any thoughts on how to balance this?

dAsan!

 

 

 

To Sri Nadadur Madhavan: Please forgive me for prolonging

>this discussion, for I feel it is an important one. We must

>fully explore the notion of kainkarya and dharma. Let it be

>clear that no particular organization is being criticized or

>indicted in this discussion. It is a general topic applicable

>to all of us as Sri Vaishnavas

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