Guest guest Posted February 8, 2002 Report Share Posted February 8, 2002 Respected Members of the group, Namo Narayanaya, I shall be very thankful if elders and learned members of the group could clarify my following query: It is not uncommon to find a person(male or female) devoted to Sri Vaishnavism and residing either in India or abroad is forced to live a single life by virtue of circumstances or job. I have read in one of the e-mails in these columns that it is a great sin to cook and eat alone.The above mentioned people are compelled to eat and cook alone for majority of their time in the house.If such a living is a dosham, is there any method for eg. spiritually that is advocated in the saastras to circumvent the dosham.? (2) Will serving cooked food to birds or other animals before such a person sits down to eat can be considered as a solution to the problem? (3) Are such single people permitted to do dhyana, puja considering the fact that no other person lives with him/her? Thanking one and all , With pranamams, B.Sobha Send FREE Valentine eCards with Greetings! http://greetings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 10, 2002 Report Share Posted February 10, 2002 SrI: SrImatE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImatE SrI LakshmI-nrusimha divya pAdhukA sEvaka SrIvan SaThakOpa SrI nArAyana yatIndra mahA dESikAya nama: Dear Sow. B.Shoba, namO nArAyaNa! His Holiness The Jeeyar of SrI Ahobila mutt, SrImad Azhagiya Singar in his book SrI Vishnu purAnam (translation of SrI Vishnu purAna in Tamil) answers your questions very clearly. This book (actually printed in two volumes) enshrines so much precious informatian ( presented in simple and easy Tamil for everyone to understand) that every SrI VaishnavA needs to know and follow. aDiyEn requests you to buy and read this great book. This book can ordered via internet from http://www.ahobilamutt.org aDiyEn will try to brief the relevent portion of the book viz. Canto 2 Chapter 6 (pages 292 to 298 of Volume I). Please excuse any errors in aDiyEn's free translation of these excerpts. aDiyEn requests bAgavathAs to correct any error in his translation. --------- Partake food with others ------------------------ SrI Vishnu purAnam says that the one who eats any tasty foodstuff alone (and the one one who does 'sAhasa' activities) attains a kind of naraka (hell) called "bhUyavaham" (hope I spelled it correct!). This is a place where one can not even stand for a second because of the stench that's pervaded there. So, we should eat any good food sharing with others. Like this, there are many sinful activities that lead one to many different kind of hells. Sins and the ways of expiation ------------------------------ SrI Vishnu purAnAm also says that only the one, who does not want to atone for / expiate his sins by doing 'prAyacchittams', goes to the hells. Like the sins, the prAyachchittams also are many. According to the gravity of sins, the prAyachchittam may be harder or easier. Sarva pApa prAyachchittam ------------------------- It is hard to find these prAchchittams and it is harder to execute them. Even if we could execute it successfully, it absolves only the sin for which we did the prAyachchittam. Moreover, it will not prevent us from doing the sins in the future. Unlike these kind of prAchchittams, there one prAyachchittam available. That (1) is very easy to do; (2) absolves all the sins done so far; (3) prevents us from doing the sins in the future. That is 'KrishNa-anu-smaranam' ( meditating of Lord SrI Krishna). This is greater than all the prAchchittams like fasting, doing penances, yAgyams, etc. prAyaSchiththAnyaSEshANi thapa:karmAthkAni vai | yAni thEshAm aSEshANAm krishNAnusmaraNam param || Thus Sage SrI parASarar explains the greatness of SrI krishNAnusmaranam. We should meditate on SrI KrishnA with the thought that we are His servants. The upaSarkA 'anu' in 'anusmaraNam' emphasizes SEshatvaanusanthAnam (feeling the servitude). Likewise, SrI krishna nAmA sankirtanam is also a great prAyaSchittam. We can understand that the glories of SrI krishnA is greater than that of the other avatAras by the shAstrAs specifically dictating that we should meditate / chant on SrI krishnA. Not doing sins is the best. But if we have done any sin, we should feel sorry for that and strive for not doing it again. Such kind of intense feelings, even felt once, themselves are good atonements for the sins. By feeling sorry for any sin repeatedly, we can prevent us doing it again. We already have accrued many sins that are powerful enough to excite us to do many more sins. But repeted SrI krishNAnusmaranam will destroy the power of the past sins. To do the other prAyaSchittam, there is a stern necessity of proper time, suitable place, etc. For SrI krishNAnusmarnam, there is no such requirements. We can think / meditate on SrIman nArAyaNa at any time. Only upon successful completion of the other prAyaSchittams, one's sins will be destroyed (at a later time). But it is not so in the case of SrI krisnAnusmaranam. While doing (ie thinking of Lord SrI Krishna) itself, one gets rid of his sins. "samsmara~n satya: pApa~kshyam avApnOti' - maharshi uses the present tense here. SrI krishnAnusamaranam, nAma sankIrtanam, et al will lead one to take up the two upAyAs of mOkshA viz., bakthi-yOgA or prapatti as well. Hence, they also are causes for one to attain the highest perfection mOkshA. --------- Hope this helps you. SrImad Azhagiya Singar goes on explaining the greatness of these prAyaSchittams elaborately in his own inimitable style. It will be very much more delectable to read the book to get clearer understanding of the answers to your questions and many more. namO nArAyaNa! aDiyEn, LakshmIkumAr rAmAnuja dAsan SrImad Azhagiya Singar thiruvadigalE saranam! bhakti-list, bath sobha <sbath2000> wrote: > Respected Members of the group, > > Namo Narayanaya, > > I shall be very thankful if elders and learned > members of the group could clarify my following query: > > It is not uncommon to find a person(male or female) > devoted to Sri Vaishnavism and residing either in > India or abroad is forced to live a single life by > virtue of circumstances or job. I have read in one of > the e-mails in these columns that it is a great sin to > cook and eat alone.The above mentioned people are > compelled to eat and cook alone for majority of their > time in the house.If such a living is a dosham, is > there any > method for eg. spiritually that is advocated in the > saastras to circumvent the dosham.? > > (2) Will serving cooked food to birds or other > animals before such a person sits down to eat can be > considered as a solution to the problem? > (3) Are such single people permitted to do dhyana, > puja considering the fact that no other person lives > with him/her? > > Thanking one and all , > > With pranamams, > B.Sobha Send FREE Valentine eCards with Greetings! http://greetings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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