VS

[Guest guest]

Sumanth Kaushik wrote:

 

> It should be noted that most of the members of the this group (men, women,

> dvijas and non-alike) are devout sishyas of Srimad Azhagiya Singar.

> Frankly, this issue can be resolved trivially by asking Srimad Azhagiya Singar

> these questions directly and saving all this bandwidth. These topics

> invariably bring unnecessary acrimony and achieve nothing in elucidating and

> understanding our divine sampradayam.

 

Since this is my first message to malolan net, may I introduce myself very

quickly before I write anything else. I'm Srinath Chakravarty and I presently

live in Dallas TX. Smt. Vimala and Sri. Rajaji here referred me to this list

recently. I have been listening to Srimad AzhagiyaSingar's upanyAsams on

kaNNinunchirutthAmbu at Rajaji's place on Saturday mornings. I am related

to Sumanth Kaushik who is my first cousin.

 

I only have one thing to say about the effect of Srimad AzhagiyaSingar's

statement re: VS. It is not clear to me why we ask the Jeer such critical

questions to begin with, when (clearly) we are not prepared to live by the

standards of his response. In other words, whoever raised the question

truly " asked for it " . The hardest part of getting good advice is having

to take it. By asking Srimad AzhagiyaSingar or any of our AchAryas such

sensitive questions in this day and age, we create no-win situations for

everyone, with women and non-brAhmins almost always getting short changed,

while our AchAryas and our sampradAyam come out looking like the exclusive

preserve of " threaded males " only.

 

In these changing times, it is better to be prudent and wait until (if ever)

religious practices overcome transience, put certain things in perspective,

and adopt realistic standards to live by. Meanwhile, we should perhaps focus

on the positive (universally appealing) aspects of sampradAyam and not upset

the apple cart. Posing further direct questions to AchAryas about potentially

controversial matters will only reveal more hard-to-digest truths.

 

Sincerely,

-Srinath Chakravarty

email: xsrinath

[Guest guest]

Namo Narayana!

Thanks & Regards,

Jayshree Narasimhan

AT & T Singapore

Tel: +65-870 6384

Fax: +65-773 1252

 

 

>

> schakrav

> [schakrav]

> Friday, October 01, 1999 3:39 AM

>

> Re: VS

>

> Since this is my first message to malolan net, may I

> introduce myself very

> quickly before I write anything else. I'm Srinath

> Chakravarty and I presently

> live in Dallas TX. Smt. Vimala and Sri. Rajaji here referred

> me to this list

> recently. I have been listening to Srimad AzhagiyaSingar's

> upanyAsams on

> kaNNinunchirutthAmbu at Rajaji's place on Saturday mornings.

> I am related

> to Sumanth Kaushik who is my first cousin.

>

> I only have one thing to say about the effect of Srimad

> AzhagiyaSingar's

> statement re: VS. It is not clear to me why we ask the Jeer

> such critical

> questions to begin with, when (clearly) we are not prepared

> to live by the

> standards of his response.

The question was raised in Singapore during one of our Acharya's Upanyasam.

Adiyen would like to clarify that whoever asked the question did not know

what was the right thing to do and therefore wanted to get a clear answer

from HH

himself.

And we had every intention to abide by our Acharya's Agjnai. From that day

onwards,

those (ladies) who used to recite VS, have stopped reciting VS completely.

We

honestly

believe that it is our Acharyan's Karunyam and sowlabhyam and our periava's

asirvathams,

we are blessed with hearing our Acharyan's Upanyasam and QA session.

 

>In other words, whoever raised

> the question

> truly " asked for it " .

Questions are asked with a pure intention to follow. It is Acharya and

Bhaghavada apacharam

to ask a question and not abide by his agjnai. Our Acharyan has made us

stop making mistakes

even unknowingly. He has made it known that we(ladies) would be incorrect

if we recited VS. So, we are

extremely glad we have raised the question.

>The hardest part of getting good

> advice is having

> to take it. By asking Srimad AzhagiyaSingar or any of our

> AchAryas such

> sensitive questions in this day and age, we create no-win

> situations for

> everyone, with women and non-brAhmins almost always getting

> short changed,

> while our AchAryas and our sampradAyam come out looking like

> the exclusive

> preserve of " threaded males " only.

This is not true. If any question is asked with the full intent of

accepting

our Acharyan's answer and abiding by it, then nothing wrong. We, women are

not getting short changed. There are Dharmas to be followed, for both and

women; Women

need to follow the " sthri dharma " . If a woman has learnt all to be learnt

(from Swami

Desikans sthotrams, prabhandhams, kAvyams, 4000 Divya Prabhandhams, our

PoorvAcharyas

sthortrams) and still have the capcity and time, then works that are

" forbidden " to ladies

can be considered. " Ethu sollalaamo adhukke neram illai " , why look

out for forbidden ones?

>

> In these changing times, it is better to be prudent and wait

> until (if ever)

> religious practices overcome transience, put certain things

> in perspective,

> and adopt realistic standards to live by. Meanwhile, we

> should perhaps focus

> on the positive (universally appealing) aspects of

> sampradAyam and not upset

> the apple cart. Posing further direct questions to AchAryas

> about potentially

> controversial matters will only reveal more hard-to-digest truths.

As Sri Dileepan had already mentioned earlier, asking questions that does

not pertain to the subject of Upanyasam should be avoided. If there are

questions/clarifications in the context of what HH mentions in the

Upanayasam, then the " universally appealing " aspect should not be

considered.

>

> Sincerely,

> -Srinath Chakravarty

> email: xsrinath

>

> -----------------------------

> ----------

> Srimate Sri Laksminrisimha Divya Paduka Sevaka

> Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama

>

>