Essential duties of a mAdhva

[Guest guest]

Hunsur_Sriprasad

 

 

Sri Janardhan Krishnarao " wrote

 

>1. Did Lord Sri Rama install Shiva Lingam and worshiped it at the place

>now called Rameswaram before going to war to kill Ravana? If it is true is

>there a hierarchy violation?

 

>2. Just before marriage, bride Rukmini went to temple to perform pooja to

>Gauri.

>It is at that time Lord Sri Krishna took her away; and incidentally

>Rukmini is none other than Sakshat Sri Lakshmi Devi swaroopa. Now how can

>this be explained? Why would Laksmi Devi perform Gauri pooja? Hierarchy

>violation again?

 

>3. When Pandava's are doing Vanavasa Sri Krishna advises Draupadi (wife of

>Sri Bheemasena viz. Bharati Devi) to do Mangala Gauri Vrata on five

>Tuesdays in Shravana Masa. As per Taratamya isn't Draupadi higher in

>hierarchy to Gauri? Any explanations for this?

 

Dear Janardhan

 

You have raised some very valid questions. I have to admit my ignorance in

this

matter. I am hoping that some of the more learned seniors in the list like

Sri

NAPS Rao, Bannur Ramachandra Rao, Balaji Hebbar or Keshava Tadapatri will

answer

your questions. Or, members of the list having access to His Holiness of

Puttige

maTha can contact him and obtain the requisite clarifications.

 

There are many instances in our religious scripts when one comes across

incidents which seem to fly in the face of some key concepts of tattvavAda.

The

3 you have quoted are examples of these. There are lots of others - like

vAli

samhAra, sIta agniparIksha, confrontation between parashurAma and rAma,

droupadi

vastrApaharaNa, yaksha prashNe, krishna performing penance to propitiate

Lord

Shiva etc. Fortunately, shrImadAchArya has taken pity on all pious souls and

explained most of these in his works like mahAbhArata tAtparya nirNaya

(MBTN),

bhAgavata tAtparya nirNaya etc. Hence, the correct and recommended way to

understand and interpret these instances properly is to consult a mAdhva

scholar

and understand what shrImadAchArya has said.

 

shrImadAchArya has clearly stated in MBTN that Lord Sri Rama installed Shiva

Linga to wash off Lord Shiva's brahmahatya dOsha. I will dig out the

appropriate

references over the weekend and post it to the list.

 

na mAdhava samO devO, na cha madhva sama guruh

sriprasad

[Guest guest]

Dear hari bhaktas

 

Here is the reply that I received from Sri. Bannur Ramachandra Rao on the

questions raised by Sri Janardhan.

 

 

Regarding the questions of Sri Janardana Rao, you

were right in saying that most of such doubts are

answered inthe MBTN(add Bhagavata Tatparya Nirnaya

also).

Q.1. This is answered in sloka 56to 58 of MBTN.

Translation: Shiva told Uma that Sri Hari told him

thus- 'Oh Shambho!I will incarnate in human form

in'Krita,Tretaand Dvapara yugas' and worship you.You

should create (fictitious)shastras exalting yourself

and blurring knowledge of Me. By this in the Krita and

other yugas, the 'daityas' who had tried to follow the

right path of the shastras will be misled into

following them (fictitous one's) and get lost.'

We must thus understand that this is His ordain.

So, the worship of Shiva by Rama is only a pretence

to mislead the 'asuras'. It is said that actually Rama

worshipped himself in the form of a Shiva linga.(i

don't have the authority for it with me presently0.

Q.2 The worship of Gauri by Rukmini.

THere are two points here. One is Rukmini wanted a

pretext to come out of the palace and wait for Krishna

and she decided that the right place and pretext was

worship of Gauri.

Second is that she did not want to transgress the

practice of worshipping Gauri as a maid ,since she

wanted to set an example for all brides.

Again, I don't have the authority for this,but to my

knowledge this is given in Srimad Bhagavata Tatparya

Nirnaya and/or Rukminisha Vijaya.

Q.3 Draupadi telling the story of Mangalagauripooja

to Sri Krishna.

This story is supposed to be from a Purana and it

is not known how authentic it is.

Basically, those who know the taratamya and

gradation of the Devatas,should not get misled ,but

try to know the correct position as far as posiible.

[End Quote]

 

Incidentally, I met with Sri Keshava Rao over the weekend, and discussed the

matter with him. His views are on the same lines as what has been stated above.

He added that shiva had accumulated brahmahatyadOsha and the only way he could

get rid of it was if the Lord Himself setup the shiva linga and did an

abhishEka. He also wanted to have continuous darshan of the bridge built by

rAma. To this end, he requested rAma to do the linga pratishTa, and rAma obliged

him.

 

Sri Keshava Rao also clarified that when rukmiNi did gAuri pUja she was actually

worshipping nArAyaNa who is inside gauri, just as rAma worshipped Himself under

the guise of worshipping shiva. One may come to a similar conclusion about the

supposed pUja done by draupadi. Another point he emphasized is that those who

incarnate on earth go along with existing social and religious practices (like a

bride-to-be worshipping gauri) because if they dont, then others will use this

as an example to stop such practices, resulting in anarchy. Even Krishna says a

similar thing in the gIta.

 

bhedo jIvagaNAH hareranucharAH nIchochcha bhAvaN^gatAH

Hunsur Sriprasad