THIS IS WORRYING : [Sandhya Vandhanam & Nike Shoes]]

July 23, 2003

SrI:

Hari swami's email need not be taken as a hurting one. Tolerance and

non-interference w.r.t other's faith is indeed accepted. The point which Hari

Swami raised was that this egroup was started with the aim of promoting

discussions on Sri Bhagavad Ramanuja Siddhaantham. From the frame of reference

of this Ramanuja siddhaantam comparison of Alwars with anyone else is

meaningless. Also giving away all anugyA kainkaryams related to temples etc and

ending one's kainkaryam with sandhyavandanam ONLY is not a prapannA's swaroopam.

Regarding Hari Swami's comment on bringing paasupatha matham is also justified.

Paasupatham mathaam even if you claim that it has dwaitham or Visishtaadvaitam

is considered NON- VedAntic by Sri Bhashyakararar and Swami Desikan for loads of

reasons as presented in various srisookthis. So it is totally inappropriate in

bringing up such subjects which are irrelevant to the Sri Sampradayam.

MY MAIN CONCERN:

There are so many youngsters in this egroup. Some of them may not have been well

acquainted with the basic tenets of Sri BhAshyakaara siddhAntham. So views which

are alien to Sri SiddhAntham will mislead these youngsters. It is for this

reason our acharyaas stress the need to learn the basics ONLY under a scholar

and not through books and other sources.So it is natural for the people who CARE

for the sri sampradayam to be worried regarding their aspiring young begineers

getting confused.

According Sri Ramanuja Worshipping anyone else other than sriman Narayana is not

one's swaroopam( there is a whole lot of philosophy reg. this. swami desikan has

dedicated a chapter for this in Srimad Rahasya Traya sAram). So don't you think

that highlighting elders who have not grasped the concepts of this sampradayam

will do harm to the youngsters who want to know about the Philosophy which was

cherished by the elders and poorvaacharyaas? (I am alluding to the elders you

have highlighted in ur email who worship anya dEvathaas)

I am not stopping you from airing your opinions on "oneness of all darshanams"

etc but only trying to stress that this is in inappropriate forum for the same.

Also I have not wedged my words just because I am an Iyengar!

AdiyEn,

PAdhukAsEvakadAsAnudAsan,

AravindalOchanadAsAnudAsan.

sudarshan subramanian <darshanaiyer wrote:

Sri Rama Jayam

Namaskarams to all,

mshari wrote:

"Dear Moderator,

I find s.ramachandran to have mentioned

the following: ...of Lord Shiva - who is considered a

Nayanmar, the equivalent of an Alwar... Such

comparisons are not fit to be told before

scholars...But the source should not be totally

misleading finally."

Pray, tell me who is a scholar and who is not? Just

that if one has acquired knowledge, can he be a

scholar? Well, in that case, I would like to ask what

kind of knowledge is that. If it is the proper

knowledge, then surely, such petty matters of

differentiations wouldn't matter to those scholars.

There should be an tolerant attachment to one's one

dharmam, but that should not develop into an extent

where you start treating other dharmas with contempt.

It was just a reference or comparison that

Ramachandran made with regard to Nayanamars and Alwars

to convey the meaning of those selected pure devotees

who worshipped the Lord in their own ways. I don't

think he meant anything else at least from my

understanding. It just doesn't make any one of them

(the Nayanamars or the Alwars) superior than the

other. Both belong to a class where there can never be

anyone else who can match their devotion. By the way,

let me know if there was any one person amongst the

Nayanamars who followed Advaitham to the core?

Dwaitham and Visishtadwaitham are not the sole

properties of the Sri Vaishnavas. They are schools of

thought that belong to the whole class of human race,

denoting the eternal paths of Bhakti, Dasya, and

Sakhya. Which ever seems appropriate, the person may

follow that.

We have seen several Sri Vaishnavas who came to Sri

Chandrashekharendra Saraswathi MahaSwamigal and so

also, there have been several many (including me) who

visit the Sri Vaishnava Aacharyas.

I have seen some elderly Sri Vaishnavas coming to a

Sri MahaGanapathi Temple near my place and so also,

many "others" (including me) rendering kainkaryam at a

Sri VenugopalaKrishnaswamy temple.

Tolerance has to be developed towards everybody and

everything. That is one of the greatest marks of a

devotee.

Regards,

Sudarshan Iyer

P.S. I am not writing this just because I am an "Iyer"

and want to defend. I am writing this for the general

good of all.

sudarshan subramanian <darshanaiyer wrote:Sri Rama Jayam