Thennacharya Sampradayam and Varnashrama Dharmam!

[Guest guest]

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

I request the moderator to kindly review this mail completely and if even a

single notion is against our Thennacharya Sampradayam, I request that this

post be rejected.

 

I wrote this mail in reply to those who have one of the popular and

surprisingly wrong notion about the Tennacharya Sampradayam which is:

Those who belong to the Thennacharya Sampradayam(Prapatti) does not/need not

follow castes/creeds.

 

Though it had been lingering in my mind that how could such a wrong

notion(according to me) get easily propogated across people across cities

and states and even countries. While I am not a strict follower of

Varnashrama Dharma, it doesn't discount me from speaking for it. The idea of

this mail is only to give the appropriate perspective(right or wrong is left

to the judgement of the reader by checking the same with the right acharyan)

 

 

Let me clearly set the background for this subject of discussion:

 

a) Scriptures/Purvacharya Artifacts/Events in History, in favor of

Varnashrama Dharmam:

1. The Shruthi Vakyas in the entire Karma Kandam.

2. The Smruthis (Manu, Yagnyavalkya etc), Ithihasas(Ramayana, Mahabharatha)

3. The discussion on "Athatho Brahma Jignyasa" in Shri Bhashyam, a

masterpiece from Shri Ramanujar.

4. The very brahminic life of our purvacharyas up to Manavala

Mamunigal(unja-vrutthi, beg and eat) and existence of the kshathriyas i.e

kings and their dynasty i.e , existence of the Vaishyas i.e the traders,

like Kovalan (Silappadhikaram, a Tamizh literature) and shudras...

5. And many others...

 

b) Scriptures/Purvacharya Artifacts/Events in History, that are PERCEIVED as

in favor of negligence of Varnashrama Dharmam:

1. The various castes to which the Azhwars belonged and the elevated

position of them in our sampradayam.

2. Emperumanar's act of explaining the Thirumanthrartham to all.

3. Emperumanar's act of hugging Pillai Uranga Villidasar for the sake of

Kaya Shuddhi" i.e to purify his(Ramanujar's) body.

4. Swamy Pillailokachariar's works(Shri Vachana Bhooshanam...) explaining

the concept of PRAPATTI and the adhigari niyamams for the same.

5. Swamy Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Nayanar's works(Acharya Hrudhayam..)

explaining the concept of PRAPATTI along the same line.

6. And many others...

 

Before we begin, I would like the reader to carefully note the difference

between the following two perspectives:

a) Following one's own duty along the lines of Shruthi/Smruthi and strictly

adhering to it.

b) Treating others bad with the ignorance/arrogance that one is born of a

higher-birth(and misusing the Shruthi/Smruthi vakyas in favor of the same)

 

Point (a) is something that is definitely encouraged by our purvacharyas.

None of our acharyas did encourage a shudra to wear yagnyopaveedham nor did

they encourage a brahmana/kshatriya/vaishya to drop all these and do

prapatti.

 

Point (b) is individualistic and has no relevance to our sampradayam. This

should not be perceived as a brahminic notion.

 

A person claiming himself as a brahmanan and follows the shruthi/smruthi and

does not touch a person of lower birth as per the shruthi/smruthi IS

DIFFERENT from a person claiming himself a brahmanan and declares all

shudras to stay away from him. The former maintains his state and tries to

follow the same, while the latter imposes this on others which is completely

wrong. If I am allergic to peanuts, I should refrain from going near it. But

if I banish all the peanuts, not only it shows that I am being arrogant, but

also shows that I am not trying to follow the rule, rather, I expect the

peanuts to abide by some rule that would make sure I am not in trouble. The

Varnashrama Dharma insists on the individual's discipline. It does not

insist on banishing others for the sake of one caste. I will give a

classical example: A shudra who violates the rule of not hearing the vedas

is susceptible to a third degree punishment if he tries to hear it by hiding

in a place where the Vedas are chanted. The reason being, the shudra

violated it. But if a Brahmana violates the rule of teaching the vedas to

the shudra, then the punishment goes to the Brahmana for forcefully teaching

the same. In mahabharatha, Ekalaivan learnt the skills from Dhronacharya by

hiding behind the bush. He was asked to give away his thumb for this

violating act. In the same mahabharatha, a brahmana was given the death

sentence for being a part of a crime whilst others were given a very low

degree of punishment. I hope the reader would be able to see this difference

 

 

 

Coming back to our sampradayam, let us see why our Thennacharya Sampradayam

is WRONGLY perceived(according to me) as the one that discourages the

Varnashrama Dharma. For this, again, we need to understand the difference

between the following two perspectives:

a) The Karma, Gyana, Bhakthi yogas - that define the rules and regulations

that one must follow to attain moksham.

b) The Prapatti margam - that explains that there is no rule for one person

to attain the moksham and that it is just the mindset that needs to change.

 

Please look at the usage of the phrase "one must follow" in (a). Every "yoga

involves the individual's physical effort to attain the moksham. This would

mean that, the jeevatma tries to do something to attain moksham. This is why

Prapatti is not categorized under yoga. This is a very important yet subtle

point that one needs to understand. When one takes up prapatti, there are no

special rules for the person who performs it. The person need not belong to

any specific caste, in fact, the atma need not be a human being, the atma

could have been attached to even the animal or asura or any dehams.

Prapatti is in fact against yoga. You don't do anything to attain moksham.

You just understand what your swaroopam(nature/basic design) is! And once

you understand that, you will disown every act of yours and think that all

your acts are done by him and that those acts are nothing but his

kainkaryams - "Na dharma nishtosmi Na cha atma vedhi Na bhakthiman tvat

charanaravindhe Akinchanaha Ananyagathihi Asharanyaha tvt

paadaravindayugalam Sharanam aham prapathye". Alright. All said, so does it

mean that when a person does prapatti he/she should give away their

anushtanam and dharmams specified for their caste? This is a very tricky

question for which I would like to take up a very simple day to day event

and try to explain:

Hypothesis(initial premise) - Every MAN, as he grows old, usually loses his

hair, and becomes bald )

There could be various inferences:

a) From the point of a person who is old and who does not have hair - He has

become old and hence he has become bald.

b) From the point of a person who is old and who has hair - He has become

old but that does not mandate that he must become bald and hence enjoys his

hair style too.

c) From the point of a person who is old and who has hair - He has become

old and hence HE HAS to become bald and hence tonsures his head.

 

The first two inferences are very logical based on the premise. Look at the

last statement. That is the state of our sampradayam i.e many of us perceive

"Prapatti erittukkollumbodhu, anushtanam nazhuvakkurayillai" i.e when one

has attained the highest level of prapatti i.e becomes a PRAPANNAN, whatever

he does would be with the mindset of bhagavadh kainkaryam and hence even if

he does not do his anushtams properly, it does not matter. But if this

statement is misinterpreted as: If one does prapatti, he/she should give up

all the anushtanams, caste etc how does that sound? In this second case, the

person a) does not know what prapatti is b) uses prapatti only as an excuse

for his/her current state (for ex: I am in USA and I don't wear thiruman and

srichooranam to office. When I go back home I wear them. What I used to

think is that, I belong to the Thennacharya Sampradayam, and hence Shri

Ramanujar did prapatti for us and hence there is nothing wrong if I give up

my caste rules and regulations). I do not really know how this WRONG(once

again only according to me) notion got propogated, but I feel, it is all due

to the Bhagavath Sankalpam and pray the ultimate that we all will revert to

our original state...

 

The ideas of our Purvacharyas was to accomodate everyone into the religion i

e including those outsiders who did not belong to the four caste system. If

a person does not belong to the four castes i.e a chandala or whatever, does

it mean that the person is not eligible for moksham? Please note this point.

Our purvacharya granthams are to explain that there is no specific

ELIGIBILITY from a karmic perspective to perform prapatti. This by no way

means that a person doing prapatti must give up their basic rules and

regulations and disciplines.

 

When a brahmana does his karma as per the karma kandam but with the intent

being that of the kainkaryam to the lord (Bhagavadh Agnya Kainkaryam), and a

kshatriya does the same with the same intents, though the actions performed

are perceived as karma, it is turned into kainkaryam due to the mindset. But

the misconception is that, once a person becomes a Vaishnavan by mindset,

the caste should not be seen. This is completely wrong. Shri RAmanujar says

in Shri Bhashyam that "Varnashrama Dharmanugraheeta tad upasana samptah" i.e

people must adhere to the varnashrama dharmam and do their KARMA as UPASANA

i.e KAINKARYAM. One may ask, why should you see the body when the mind is

set towards prapatti. Well, we believe in shruti and must follow it to the

best extent possible. Ramanujar did not see any caste or creed and did

purify his body by hugging Uranga Villidhasar who was of lower birth by the

Varnashrama Dharmam. This mindset comes only when one attains the highest

level of prapatti. If one says, Ramanujar touched sudra or whatever and

hence every brahmana can marry a person of lower caste etc that is wrong.

What Ramanujar / Pillailokachariar / Azhagiya Manavalaperumal Nayanar /

Maamunigal told was that the Prapatti ADHIKARI(performer) does not require

any NIYAMAMS(rules) i.e draupadi did prapatti to the lord when she was

impure, Lakshmana did kainkaryam to the lord and got separated from his wife

while his responsibility as per the varnashrama dharma was to support his

wife and family. So, when one attains that level, one does not see the

castes etc. But, if one says our sampradayam encourages intercaste marriages

etc, that is not correct. Ramanujar did shout the arttham of the

thirumanthram to all the people irrespective of the caste or creed, but we

don't see ANYWHERE in our sampradayam that a person of a lower birth was

encouraged to wear the Yagnyopaveedham and to learn vedas and to do the

rituals. This is a very subtle thing but takes a lot of time to catch as our

minds have been set too much against the varnashrama dharma. It needs a

child's view i.e an unbiased crystal-clear view to understand this.

 

If Acharya Purushas like Shriman Narayana Jeeyar and other great souls, do

not see the caste and creed, it is due to their highest level, i.e Prapatti.

Just by saying fire, it does not burn. Likewise, just by saying we belong to

prapatti sampradayam or because we have understood the atma swaroopam we don

t reach that level. To attain that level of prapatti - "Thirumanthram

siddhikkavenum", i.e the atmaswaroopam of the atma should TAKEOVER the

deha-indriyams - "Pongaimpulanum pori-aindhum karumendiriyam aimbhutam ingu

ivvuyira pirakiruthi maanangara manam keda venum" i.e the 5 sense organs,

senses, elements, this material that this body is made up of, the mind, the

arrogance - all these things should be taken over by the atmaswaroopam. At

this stage, because every KARMA the jeevatma performs becomes a BHAGAVADH

ARADHANAM, it does not matter whether the atma violated any of the dharmic

rules - Let us close our eyes and think whether we are(I AM NOT) at this

level, before, we speak against the varna ashrama dharma. The bottom-line -

the difference is between a PRAPANNAN and the one who WANTS to become a

PRAPANNAN. A PRAPANNAN may ignore some anushtanams(please note the usage of

may) for the sake of some equivalent bhagavath kainkaryam. But, if a person

who just WANTS to become prapannan starts giving up all the anushtanams,

varna ashrama dharmams, what do you call that as? Decisions are yours as I

am not here to advocate varnashrama dharmam nor am I trying to use this

forum as a media for the same:)

 

Kayena Vaacha Manas Indriyairva Bhuddhi Atmanaavaa Prakrutheth Svabhaavaath

Karomi YATH YATH Sakalam Parasmai SHRIMAN NARAYANAAYETHI SAMARPPAYAMI

 

[Whatever I say, and WHATEVER I do with this mind, sense, brain, soul, and

by this very materialistic nature/behaviour, may I have the understanding

that I do all these only for him(his happiness) and may these acts become

his Kainkaryam]

 

Yatheendra Pravanam Vandhe RAMYA Jamataram Munim

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan,

Lakshmi Narasimhan