DEGREE OF COMPASSION

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Sukumar, At the outset I am sorry for delay in response as I was out of station.

 

There is no doubt that the Lord is full of compassion and my posting is also about that only.

 

As far as comparing udayavar's compassion to the Lord, perhaps there

may be two reasons for which we can conclude that sri rAmAnuja was

more compassinate

 

1. The Lord had several compulsions and restrictions while granting

salvation. He had to heed to sAsthra mariyAdhai - reckoning the good

and bad deeds and decide accordingly. He does decide on His own even

on this( veRidhEA aruL seivar, seivArgatku vugandhu), but generally

by and large He goes by the good and bad deeds as per the sAsthric

prescriptions. sri rAmAnuja did not have this restricitions and hence

he can be more termed as compassionate.

 

I would like to refer thiru-voi-mozhi 4-10-6 " pORRi maRROr dheivam

pENap puRath ittu, vummai innEA thEARRi vaithadhu

ellErum vEdu peRRAl vulagillai enREA...."

 

Edu commentary on this runs as follows: 'ellArum irundhadhE kudiyAga

mOkshathaip peRRAl, lElaikku adiyAna sAsthram nirarthamAi vidum. sath

karmathai paNNuvArum, asathkarmathai paNNuvArumAyiREa nAdudhAn

iruppadhu;pApam paNNinavargaLum, puNNiyam paNNinavargaLudaiyaLudaiya

palathai anubhavikkum anRu, sAshthra mariyAdhai kulaiyum....'

 

The essence of this is that the Lord has to maintain the rules framed by Him.

 

sri rAmAnuja did not have this restriction and hence definitely can be

more liberal and freedom to do as per His will.

 

2. Further, we find from sri rAmAnujA's history that He threw open the

philosophical studies to one and all who were interested which was

earilier restricted to one-to-one study. This was out of His pure

mercy.

 

Kindly refer to "OrAn vazhiyAi upadhEsithAr munnOAr, yErAr ethirAsar innaruLAl,

Asai udaiyOrkellam, AriyargAL kUrum enRu, pEAsi varmbu aRuthAr pin' upadhEsa rathinamAlai

 

Hence, rAmAnuja's compassion also had no bounds.

 

There is no doubt that Lord was the innermost propellor of sri

rAmAnuja but should that eclipse sri rAmAnujA's great benign

attitude.

 

We should also accept the fact that irAmAnusa nURRandhAdhi is

dedicated to sri rAmAnujA by thiruvarangath amudhanAr and the prime

focus was on sri rAmAnujA and him only. If I remember correctly

-please correct me if I am wrong, this will fall under the category

of nahi-nindhA nyAyam.

 

Thank you and regards

vanamamalai padmanabhan

 

-

sukumar

vanamamalai

Friday, October 17, 2003 2:12 PM

DEGREE OF COMPASSION

Sri Krishnaya Namah!The Lord is inside every soul -antharyAmi- and

does only the good for them for their betterment. However, even the

Lord can be termed as compassionless- parivu ilan Am padi - when

compared to sri rAmAnujA who by his works and deeds granted salvation

to one and all by descending to the earth from the Lord's abode.I beg

to differ as I believe that Lord being antharyami resides in the

heart of Sri Ramanuja and propelled him to come down and save us. To

this extent, Lord cannot be termed as compassionless, once we are

agreeing as Him being antharyami and reason behind our action (all

knowing, all pervading Lord).SukumarSri Krishna Parabrahmane

Namah nsp [sMTP:aazhwar (AT) vsnl (DOT) com]

DEGREE OF COMPASSIONHow does one measure compassion?It is a

subjective and relative one. Is it subject to comparison? It is not

quanitifiable like bananas or oranges. Hence, can be termed as

compassionate, more compassionate and most compassionate or no

compassion.Who is the most compassionate one? The Lord of course. He

is the most compassionate Supreme Being who strives for our retrieval

and again and again creates the universe and gives us opportunity

directly or through AzhwAr-AchAryAs despite our indifference. He

takes pity on us and tries to elevate us from this samsAra and grant

us salvation. He resides in the inermost of our souls and thinks and

does things for our good. He is thus the most compassionate being.The

first sUthram of AchArya hrdhayam will amply corroborate this

point."kAruNikanAna sarvEswaran aRivilA manisar vuNarvenum

chudarvilakku yERRi....."The compassionate Lord bequeaths the

sAsthric knowledge for the good of the souls for discerning between

good and the bad.He does not come in front of the soul as the soul

may reject Him outright. Notwithstanding this indifference The Lord

does good for the souls remaining in the backstage and seeing to it

that the soul attains the benefit.Full of compassion is the attribute

of the Lord. Having said so, can His compassion be compared with

Others? Is there any chance for anybody else to near to His

compassion. Being a subjective phenomenon can this study be

undertaken. After observing that He is the most compassionate one,

it can be mathematically argued that nobody else can be as

compassionate as He is.' He being less compassionate and anybody

more' can be categorised into a null set.Nevertheless, if somebody

else can shower more compassion which in a way eclipses His, can it

not be termed as less compassion or compassionless? That is really

implausible. However, thiru arangahtamudhanAr in his 'irAmAnusa

nURRandhAdhi'has dealt this very topic in the following pAsuram:"vuL

ninRu vuyirgaLukku vuRRanavE seiyyum , avarku vuyavE paNNum, paranum

parivu ilan Am padi,palluyirkum viNNin thalai ninRu vEd aLippAn em

irAmAnusan maNNin thalthudithu, maRai nAlumvaLarthananE" irAmAnusa

nURRandhAdhi 95The Lord is inside every soul -antharyAmi- and does

only the good for them for their betterment. However, even the Lord

can be termed as compassionless- parivu ilan Am padi - when compared

to sri rAmAnujA who by his works and deeds granted salvation to one

and all by descending to the earth from the Lord's abode.AzhwAr

emperumAnAr jEyar thirvadigaLE charaNamvanamamalai padmanabhanTo

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