WHO IS THE QUINTESSENTIAL SRI VAISHNAVA?

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WHO IS THE QUINTESSENTIAL SRI VAISHNAVA?

==============by Sridhar Srinivasan

======Vedics Magazine : Ramanuja Darsanam - Vol 2 Issue 1

======http://www.vedics.net/magazine/index.html

The Sri Vaishnava sampradAyam (way of life), termed as

rAmAnuja

darshanam by the orthodoxy and those in the know, stands apart

from

other Indian philosophical systems in the simplicity of its message,

that

there exists an inalienable connection between all of the sentient and

the

Supreme. Swami Ramanuja, in his most profound and uplifting

composition, SaraNAgati gadyam, lays bare the idea that this

connection

between God and the Sentient is not an ordinary one, since it

encompasses and delineates every important emotional and physical

bond that we all experience, be it that of a parent and a child, a

husband

and a wife, a master and a servant or an owner and the owned. In

fact,

the previous issue of Ramanuja Darshanam dealt at length over the

life

and contributions of Swami piLLai ulagAryan, who gave us the gem of

sAmpradAyic wisdom, nava-vidha-sambandham, an aphoristic text

expounding on nine types of fundamental relationships shared by

Sriman Narayana and the jIvatma, the sentient.

Given that we are all the children, nay princes, belonging to that

one

supreme God, what more is there to be done? Our poorvAchAryas

answer this compellingly, that we should live as Sri

Vaishnavas,

performing bhagavath and bhAgavatha kainkaryam (service to the

Lord and

His devotees), awaiting the moment when He will liberate us from the

bondage of samsAra. The next logical question would be, in this day

and age, a time of profligacy and excess, of self-centeredness and

foolish

justification of all the wrongs that we perpetrate as rights, a way of

life

that often scoffs at shAstras and makes compromise the cornerstone

of our

existences, how does one live as a SrI Vaishnava?

Is there a guidebook that would aid us in this purpose?

Fortunately for us, we do not have to look far. We do not need to

look

into complex, theoretical manuals to tell us how to live a life of

simplicity, kindness, honesty and compassionate service to all

beings,

beings seen as our siblings when perceived in the context of that

one

Supreme Parent Sriman-Narayana. Our preceptors

(poorvAchAryas)

thought, spoke and lived in consonance with shAstras and the way

shown by our jagadAchArya (Acharya of the universe) swami

Ramanuja.

A path well lit by the glory of those that knew that practice before

preaching was the way to show those that needed such assistance.

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