Supremacy of Narayana and Vaikuntha

[Guest guest]

Supremacy of Narayana and Nature of Vaikuntha

 

Adiyen dear Prapannas.

 

It is a fact that the glories of Lord Siva too

can be supported from any number of shastras

including Itihasas. The Saiva acharyas can

produce endless pramanas to support the supremacy

of lord Siva and the subordination of Lord Vishnu.

This Saiva-Vishnu supremacy debate is in fact

pointless when we take these Divine Personalities

as Disney-land characters.

 

Firstly the nature of the ultimate reality is

inconceivable and inexpresseble.

 

Secondly Krishna has resolved this debate by

declaring in the Gita that he himself is Lord Siva

and Lord Murugan.

 

Thirdly the term Sriman Narayana as per the acharyas

means; nara ­ all sentient and insentient beings;

ayana ­ the "ground" or "substrata" in which all

sentient and insentient beings have their existence.

This is not a PERSON but an ontological fact. (please

refer to Narayana Upanishad for clarification).

 

Fourthly "Vaikuntha" means the "unimpeded state"

it does not refer to a PLACE. Since all the Shastras

and acharya declare that Vaikuntha is beyond the

conditioned universe of time, place and causation.

Therefore even to speculate where it is, on what planet

and how to get there and what to do there is all

silly naivity ­ all discussion on the nature Vaikuntha

is like speculating on the market price of the crop

before the soil has been prepared for sowing!

 

Fifthly Moksha means "freedom" or "release" ­ it does

not refer to celestial enjoyment in some god-realm

is refers to liberation from one¹s conditioned

existence of suffering and dis-ease here and now. It

means to transform this world at this moment into

bhuloka Vaikuntham.

 

Sixthly as Prapannas we have undertaken the first of

our commitments of anukulyasya sankalpah which means

acting in conformity with the Divine Will­ this does

not mean keeping some madi acharam it means developing

the 34 qualities mentioned in 12th chapter of Gita

the first three being ­ adroha ­cultivating a

non-prejudicial or judgemental attitude towards all

beings in word, deed, and thought; - maitri ­ friendliness

and ­ karuna ­compassion to them.

 

These are the essential concepts of Srivaishnavism ­

not debating whether the Person Narayana is superior

to the Person Siva or trying to locate the cosmological

position of planet Vaikuntha!

 

Transform yourself here and now, meditate on the

Supreme Being in all his forms, destroy pride and ego,

chant the holy name, love all, serve all, be a conduit

of the Divine Grace to fill this world ­ here and now!

 

Daso¹ham

Srirama Ramanuja Acharya

[Guest guest]

Hari Om.

The message No.2 is exactly what I have been

feeling and I thank the author for putting it

so excellently. The conflict among the devotees

was always meaningless, Glorifying your Ishta

Devata is not the same as demeaning all other

devatas. Thanks again for an excellent article.

Swarna Venkateswara Swamy

>Jai SrimanNarayana

>2. Supremacy of Narayana and Vaikuntha

>"Srirama Ramanuja Acharya"