Sri H.O.Krishna's query in Oppiliappan List

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Sri:

 

Dear Devotees :

 

Sri H.O.Krishna asked a question with subsets :

Who are Saptha Rishis ? How many of them are VaishNavAs ?

Name them .

 

The way in which Sri H.O.Krsihna frames these questions ,

I am often at a loss to know whther he is serious or not .

 

The Question sounded like a Quiz . Anuway , I will answer him .

 

Answer : There are Many Rishis , who are Manthra DhrashtAs

to whom Veda Manthrams are linked .Seven among them locatable

in the Big Dipper are the Saptha Rishis : Mareechi , Vasishtar , Ankeerasar ,

Athri , Pulasthyar , Pulaahar and Krathu . DhruvA , the pole star and

Arundhathi right next to Vasishtar are easily seen ithere . Arundhathi and Vasishta

are quite close and as one's eye sight dims ,(as one ages) it is hard to see them

separately . Arundhathi darsanam is an important part of Vedic VivAhams.

 

Asking how many of the Seven Rishis are VaishNavAs is a question one can answer

in many ways : lightly or seriously or dismiss it . They are Vedic

rishis mentioned in

Veda-VedAntham and many Sthala PurANams . They are Parama VaidhikAs ,

who were Bruhaspathis known for their severe power arising from Tapas .

Vasishta is the PurOhithar for IshvAku Vamsam . If you quote Sage VyAsa , who declared

"Sathyam Sthyam idham Sathyam , Na dhaivam KesavAth param " , Sarva dEva

namaskAram Kesavam prathigacchathi " . one can intrepret that they are Brahminical

Rishis worshipping Sriman NaarAyaNa and therefore VaishNavAs , who recognized

that BhagavAn is the indweller of all other DevathAs .

 

Asking about Saptha Rishis , Nava KannikAs and 33 crores of DEvAs , ashta Vasus ,

DwAdasa AadhithyAs will be fine except that one will spend so much time in details

and miss the boat on learning about our most revered sampradhAyam of ours and AzhwAr

AchArya Sri Sookthis as well as PrasthAna Thrayam . That is all !

 

 

V.Sadagopan

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