AcArya Hrdhayam & varNAshrama Dharmam...

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Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:

Dear bhAgavathAs,

 

Salutations to all. This is a general post with some

sUthrams taken from AcArya Hrdhayam in the light of varNAshrama

Dharmam but touches upon one or two examples that Sriman Laskhmi

Narasimhan quoted. Forgive for all my misunderstanding of Swami

Azhagiya MaNavALa PerumAL NAyanAr's AH and also would like to be

corrected.

 

I guess Swami Azhagiya MaNavALa PerumAL nAyanAr wrote AH mainly to

defend Sri Vacana BhUShaNam on some of the subtle points like

varNAshrama Dharma,prapatti,nirhEthuka krpa etc. Actually I should

have read AH first to understand SVB. But in my case it is the other

way round. It is SVB which is helping me to understand AH. Initially

and even now in my sleep Sri PL and SVB comes.

 

Dear brother Lakshmi Narasimhan quoted about green cards(and other

cards),Visa,INS rules and regulations and passport to explain

varNAshrama Dharma. First of all these are all man made and its age

is only few centuries. During the time of Alexander the Great or

Caesar,there was no Visa or passport to enter other countries!!!!

Do birds have visa/passport? Don't they migrate freely from one place

to another? It is the human mind,which has the power to

distinguish,puts this kind of partitioning also by restricting the

heart and the mind. So we can not compare these man made rules(which

are in the hands of some political hands)with varNAshrama Dharma,a

part of karma kANda,which in turn a part of mImAmsa/vEdAs/shruthi

which is "aupuruShEya". Green card etc is not a good example. We have

to take something concrete even though it is a materialistic example!

 

The moment whoever says brahmin dhEham is superior(due to good deeds)

to the dhEham of other lower castes,one is disrespecting the other

castes. Sri PiLLai lOkAcAryA says that a prapanna would shudder to

perform even good deeds fearing that it may affront the Lord's

pleasure. Because a deed is good if it pleases the Lord otherwise bad

and this good/bad deeds are not defined according to our words.

 

Assume that the two are different(atma and the body) and should not

be mixed up. AtmA does not exist on its own,and hence it

requires "some(sentient/non-sentient)" body. Agreed that the

body/varNA/caste is according to one's good/bad deeds. Why did

nithyasUris,AzhvArs and AcAryAs(nAThamuni, yAmunAcAryAr)always

desired a lower caste rather than a brahmin caste. THey wanted to be

either some aqautic life forms,or plant or stone,tree,animal,worms

etc as long as they are born in a SV family or some divya kshEthrams

like tirumalai or a bee in vandinam muralum sOlai.

 

Nowhere they mentioned that they would love to assume the brahmin

dhEham which is superior to the dhEhams of other lower castes. My

understanding of SVB(my knowledge is bookish and I'm a alpa jIvAtma

unlike those who had the fortune to listen to great AcAryAs) is that

Sri PiLLai lOkAcArya says that the other mAragams like

karma,jnAna,bhakti(goes by varNAshrama Dharma) are poison and

aDharmAs because of this drawback of the same. This ego that comes

out of one's birth(dhEham is superior)will follow the person like a

shadow till death and will destroy the "essential" nature shEshatvam.

Precisely for this only,Swami Desikan critised Sri PL's view and

Swami Azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr(who wrote AH to defend his

brother's SVB) and Swami Desikan had a debate on this(anyway this is

as per TK's guruparampara).

 

AcArya Hrdhayam says: "iRaivanukku adimaiyAga irukka vENdum enRa

eNNaththirkkum puRambAna ahankAraththai varNam/caste kodukkum".

This body will only give rise to ego due to the thinking that dhEham

is superior! That's why EmperumAnAr did kAya shudDhi and hence the

body that is afflicted by ego(which is a stumblimg block for

shEshathvam) gets "purified". Sri NampiLLai got anna/food shudDhi

done by telling PiLLai ERu thiru udaiyAr dAsar to touch the food and

give it to Sri NampiLLai(this is an example for the purification of

the food).

 

Respect should be given within the grounds of varNAshrama Dharma?? If

this applies to human beings what about animals. SriRama and Hanuman

(vAnara/monkey)ate food in the same plate! In many Brahmin houses

(iyengar/iyer),they don't allow the lower castes to enter the kitchen

or even not beyond the verandah/living room! Sri Naduvil thiruvIdhi

piLLai bhattar was constructing a house. PiLLai vAnamAmalai

dAsar,thinking that he would not be able to enter after the

grhapravEsham,had a tour of the house(including kitchen) the previous

day itself. The "so called" elite brahmin people of the society heard

about this and were not happy and went to bhattar and asked

him "hey,what kind of a grhapravEsham are you celebrating?

vAnamAmalai dAsan,by entering your house,had done a sacrilege to the

house". Bhattar,thinking that the house got purified(purification of

the place) by vAnamAmalai dAsA's visit,entered the house next day

without doing any homam.

 

Since Lord's law is veda/shruthi,He also would go by it. So during

His sojourns as SriRama and SriKrShNa,does this mean that the body He

assumed was inferior to the dhEhams of brahmins who were around Him.

To defend this point,people would quote immediately the "five

manifestations" of the Lord and it is not the "ordinary" sharIram

that we jIvAtmAs acquire. If His body is different from that of the

defn of brahmin,kshatriya,vaiShya and shUdra,how can He be born as a

kshatriya? Meaning His caste also should be different from the normal

four varNAs.

 

Wrt E.Ve.RA PeriyAr,everybody knows that he had hatredness towards

brahmins. This is only a retaliation of olden days ill-treatment done

to lower castes especially sUdrAs/tribals done by brahmins. This is a

vicious circle. So let us not take this as an example. Animals don't

have vengence nor the non-sentient. It's only the human beings,who

have the rational thinking,acquires all negative traits. So the more

one gives importance and keep thinking about the fact that "brahmin

dhEham is superior to those of lower castes" is bound

to lose shEshathvam. That is the effect of prakrthi maNdalam!

 

AH 90: "sarva varNa shUdrathvam" - whatever be one's caste,if he/she

does not have love for PerumAL,he/she(even if he is a brahmin who

chants vEda) is only a shUdra.

 

AH 90: "shvapacaril bhakthipAsanamum" - even those,eho eat the flesh

of dog,who have bhakthi as their property,should be worshipped.

 

SrivaiShNavargaLaip piRappuk kAraNamAga yArEnum nindhiththAl

nindhiththavar appOdhE andha idaththil chaNdALargaL AvAr. Those who

understna this difference,whatever be their caste,are equal to

nithyasUris. Those who do not realise this and those who do research

on the birth of bhAgavathA(to me this sanctions the marriage between

two SVs irrespective of the caste),even though they are brahmins,the

very moment become chaNdALAs.

 

Keeping aside the "superiority of the dhEham by varNA" aside,we will

see what Swami Azhagiya MaNavALa PerumAL NAyanAr says about the

purity of sharIram in AH. Also SriKrShNa says in BG,that a shUdra can

become a brAhmaNA and a brAhmaNA can become a shUdra by conduct. This

topic will be closed with the next post. Once again I seek

forgiveness from devotees for any sins committed in the form of

writing,or the contents that offended others.

 

AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE sharaNam

NC Nappinnai

[Guest guest]

Sri:

 

Sri Nappinnai,

 

Nice post. I just need a small clarification. In one of the

last paragraphs, you had written the following :

 

" SrivaiShNavargaLaip piRappuk kAraNamAga yArEnum nindhiththAl

nindhiththavar appOdhE andha idaththil chaNdALargaL AvAr. Those who

understna this difference,whatever be their caste,are equal to

nithyasUris. Those who do not realise this and those who do research

on the birth of bhAgavathA(to me this sanctions the marriage between

two SVs irrespective of the caste),even though they are brahmins,the

very moment become chaNdALAs."

 

When you say, "To me....", how can your kind self assume things based on your

own conclusion?? Do we have any historical evidence of our AcAaryAs encouraging

matrimonies between SVs of different birth origins???

 

I request you to kindly throw some light on the issue of matrimony between SVs

from different birth origins, based on our scriptures.

 

Kindly excuse me for any offenses committed.

 

Dasan,

 

Kidambi SoundararAjan.

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

ri;

Srimathe Ramanujaya nama;

Dear Soundar,

I should have written explicitly that "to me" here

implies "in my peronal opinion based on my own personal experience",I

will go along those lines:-) I didn't say that this is my

understanding of Swami Azhagiya MaNAvALa PerumAL NAyanAr's work. Even

before reading AH,I was of that opinion and still/will have.

 

When one(X) loves another(Y),X or Y does not ask each

other's kulam gothram and then love. Otherwise I will have to end up

showering less love on kidambis/TAs/PBs...than NCs! In my

opinion such a love is not a love;-) Love should flow naturally and

spontaneously. I have 'absolutely' no idea if our AcAryAs have talked

about or performed marriages between SV's of different birth origin.

I'm not a marriage broker or some expert in matrimony to address this

issue. It's all left to the individual/parents/family background!

 

AzhvAr emperuAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE sharaNam

NC Nappinnai

 

> When you say, "To me....", how can your kind self assume things

> based on your own conclusion?? Do we have any historical evidence of

> our AcAaryAs encouraging matrimonies between SVs of different birth

> origins???

>

> I request you to kindly throw some light on the issue of matrimony

> between SVs from different birth origins, based on our scriptures.

[Guest guest]

Sri Nappinnai, Thanks for the clarification. But when I said

"Birth origins", I actually meant "Caste", I was trying to be politically

correct, I was trying to avoid using the word "Caste", but still you got me

there!! I did laugh out loud when you said that you are not

a marriage broker. But still, when I read your original post, I understood or

rather misunderstood that it is ok to for SVs from different castes (by birth)

to marry. I just wanted to know if there are any AcAryAs in our lineage who had

set an example with respect to that. The reason that I ask

this question is that, if we have any such incidents in our history, it would

mean a whole different lot to the present day SriVaishnava World!!

I humbly request all the Adiyaars in this forum to throw some light on this

issue. I guess it is very interesting, how our TK AcAryAs dealt with the issue

of caste (by birth) when it came to marriages. Kindly

Pardon any wrongs because of my ignorance. Dasan, Kidambi Soundararajan. ps:

Thanks for still holding love for the Kidambis!! :-))

 

 

 

 

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