Re.: Indignation at Sholingur : wrong thing for the right reason?

[Guest guest]

The recent postings highlighting the wrongs in the Lord's temples are

motivated by a deep love for the Lord, and the pain all good people

feel when things are not as they should be. But i fear that in

angrily and publicly criticising particular individuals/ groups, our

crusaders are doing the wrong thing. Allow me to use my own errors to

elaborate.

 

1) When we get angry, the focus remains on the other

person's 'mistake' rather than hearing what God is trying to teach us

at that moment in time. Speaking from experience: out of kindness,

the Archakas would sometimes allow me to have darsan of the Lord via

the 'special-entrance'. One festival day, as i skipped towards the

special entrance, i was coarsely rebutted and told to join the que. I

felt humiliated- and that too by a peon, in front of all those

people. But as i stood in the que, my anger subsided and i could hear

the Lord teaching me a lesson:" I, the great Lord of Arangam, love

each and every black-robbed, smelly, paan-chewing-red-eyed Ayappa

worshiper every bit as much as i love you. Go and wait along with

them, my dear but egotectic rangapriya". Similarly, let our anger

subside as we ask ourselves: what lesson is the Lord trying to teach

me when I feel offended by the 'greed' of the Archakas demanding MY

money. . . ?

 

2) In the face of 'obvious' mis-conduct, it is easy to forget that

the wisdom of God transcends that of men. Whilst waiting for darsan

of the Lord at a jungle Divyadesa, i found myself next to a chap

puffing away on his Ganesh beedies. I looked down my nose at him,

oblivious to my padham and smelling only his sin. But to no effect.

Even when the doors opened and the Lord blessed us with His darshan,

the idiot kept puffing away. Then the Lord taught me an unforgettable

lesson. When it was time for the arti (mangalasasanam), the Archaka

had run out of matches. 'Any one have a match' the Archaka

inquired. No one; except my beedie smoking aparaadhi. The wisdom of

God transcends that of men.

 

3) In recent posts, we have been reminded:

 

"Here the incident of sri kUrath AzhwAn is recalled wherein SrE

kurath AzhwAn is initially refused entry into the temple of Lord nam

perumAL as he is seen as an associate of Sri RAmAnujA. However, on

realising that he is a very learned scholar they permit him inside on

the grounds that he is not harmful. SwAmi kUrath AzhwAn returns

without entering the temple as he feels that he cannot reach the Lord

without dissociating himself with sri RAmAnujA. He prefers

srEvaishnavic sambandham rather than the Lord's sambandham.

 

We should also see the seriousness of the words "

bhagwadhvishayathOdu -dhEvadhAnthrathOdu vAsiyillai" in the

commentary. If we indeed prefer the Lord overlooking srEvaishNavites,

worshipping the Lord is deemed equal to that of other deities. The

Lord is way above incomparable to other deities. When the same scale

is applied, the srEvaishNavites are kept in a very high pedestal

above the Lord. The essence is that the Lord should be worshipped

only alongwith srEvaishNavites [Thirupavai 15, posting by Swamy V.

Padmanabhan]".

 

Too true. Let us remember that even a 'corrupt' Archaka is still a

Srivaisnava, and so (by his very presence), is saving us from the sin

of 'demigod' worship.

 

4) Finally, i believe it is no accident that one of the atrocities

mentioned in a recent Sholingur post occurred at the Anjaneyar

sannidhih.

 

"In the chinna malai ( Anjaneyar Sanithi) There is one

senior archaka who is continuing to have some value

system but I heard the junior archakas literrally

abusing him and calling him by names in front of all

the pilgrims".

 

There is a precedent for such abuse. When Swamy Anjaneyar saw the

atrocities done by Ravana's ogresses towards Piratti, he too was

tempted to 'Give them a piece of his mind'/ 'Let them have it'. But

let us remember we are not just Vaisnavas, we are SRI Vaisnavas.

Should not Her counsel to Anjaneya be followed by us? Consider:

 

"The cruel atrocities perpetrated by the Rakshasis of Lanka on Sita

during her captivity are too well known. And yet did not she plead

with Hanuman, on their behalf, even justifying the atrocious conduct,

as a matter of mere compliance wih the orders of Ravana , and holding

that the Rakshashis who according to Hanuman were sinners (papanam)

were, according to her, meritorious (subhanam) and further asserting

that there is none above mistakes "na kaschin, na aparaadhyati?" If

the mother saw good in evil (dhosha) there is no need to make special

mention of her attitude towards the lack of goodness, as such."

[srivachanbhusanam, commentary by Sri Manavalamamunighal, trans. Sri

Satyamurthi Gwalior].

 

We have far less justification than Swamy Anjaneya to be angry. The

Archakas are abusing either ourselves, or the Lord. Their abuse fades

into utter insignificance (in both quality and quantity) aside the

ogresses' abuse of Piratti.

 

Everything said and done, let us pause and think how dear these

Archakas must be to the Lord. Despite all their apacharas, the Lord

continues to keep them close to Him; closer than even nitya-suris

could ever dream. The ogresses were forgiven on account of their

being bound by Ravana; cannot our Archakas be handled tenderly on

account of their being bound by the Lord?

 

Your servant, S. Ramanujadasan.

 

Footnote: if none of the above is convincing, i beg the reader to

consider the following:

 

a) By publicly criticising the Archakas, we say to the general

public "its o.k. to commit bhaagavad apachara- you too go right

ahead".

b) If devotees of your high calibre remind the Lord of the mistakes

of His caretakers, His anger on them may be more than you bargained

for. Is that what you want?

c) Has an angry word ever made you change your ways? Or rather has it

made you all the more defensive and entrenched in your folly. So too

it is with others. Anger is counter productive and only hardens the

heart of both giver and taker.

d) The Archakas too are human beings, with all the difficulties in

life faced by you or me. Who knows what sort of day they've had just

before we showed up for darsan? Most Archakas are sincere, devoted

and above all- they havent left their Lord (like many of us) to make

our fortunes abroad.

d) The points about the wrong doings and goings-on in the Lord's

temples are valid. But please make your points with love, tenderness,

and a concern for the upliftment of all concerned. These Archakas

are not outsiders, but our own family members.

[Guest guest]

Respected Devotee,

 

My sincere compliments and thanks for putting things back in proper

perspective. I too have experienced similar situations, where, at one

stage, I have been given the "keys to the temple", and in the next, I am

simply another visitor in the crowd.

 

To me, it is a reflection of Sriman Narayana's svatantrIyam. It is He who is

the deciding factor in our temple experience, the archakas and other devotees

being simply instruments in His Good Actions. I believe that each devotee

learns a lesson from such experiences, and with it, is humbled into letting

go to the Wonder that He is.

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

Mohan