re: hagiologies etc.

[Guest guest]

srImathE rAmAnujAya namah

 

dear maNi,

 

You had correctly brought out the reason behind the

"hagiologies" present in our sampradayam. The

reverence with which one holds such an AchArya as

svAmi maNavALa mAmuni is increased multiple fold when

 

one understands His true nature. These incidents get

one to appreciate the Lord even more - He is so kind,

and His grace is limitless, that He has sent His

foremost servant not once, but twice to create

awareness among people.

 

With due respect, I disagree with you on your

following position

 

--excerpt from maNi's post

*none* of these things <...deleted....>

(b) has any *real* value in philosophical discourse,

other than to increase devotionalism, and that too,

only in a minor, secondary manner.

<....deleted for brevity sake...>

For, no matter how many times one simply declares (no

matter what Pillai Lokam Jiyar wrote) that Manavala

Maamunigal

was the veritable reincarnation of Sri Ramanuja, or

that

Swami Desika was the ghaNTA incarnated, these

contribute

*nothing* to our understanding of either acharya's

*true*

contribution to our tradition.

----

 

The above is not accurate at all. That svAmi maNavALa

mAmuni is the reincarnation of rAmAnuja serves a very

important purpose - it takes away ones' ego in trying

to misinterpret svAmi MM's teachings as different from

svAmi rAmAnuja. The same holds good for dEsikA too.

That

he is the ghantAvatAra means that he will not tell us

something different from what rAmAnuja said, or for

that matter what svAmi maNavALa mAmuni said. These

hagiologies serve to reinforce our focus on the

commonality of thought among the AchAryAs rather

than focus on the minute differences (which may be

because of their difference in style, and their

intent being to reinforce a specific point in the

sampradAyam vs. some other for a different AchArya).

 

 

--maNi wrote

I am rather disappointed so far that the series on

Swami Manavaala Maamunigal's vaibhavam has

concentrated

more on these hagiological details rather than his

actual, concrete contributions.

-----

 

The current series is nothing but a paraphrsing of

yatIndrap pravaNap prabhAvam, which is the biography

of svAmi maNavALa mAmuni. Obviously, a biography is

going to consist of such information. I think we are

looking in the wrong place for the information we

need.

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

varadhan

 

 

 

 

Buy the perfect holiday gifts at Shopping.