Stages

[Guest guest]

Sri:

Sri Lakshmi nrisimha parabrahmaNE nama:

Sri Lakshmi nrisimha divya paduka sevaka

srivan satakopa sri narayana yatindra mahadesikaya nama:

 

Thanks to Sri Madhavakkannan for his post on this important subject. Let me

take this opportunity and share some more thoughts on this subject.

 

With respect to the stages described by Sri Madhavakkannan, adiyEn was

barely in stage one at one time. During my younger years adiyEn did not

have any particular interest in religion. adiyEn was never a nAstika, but

there was no great attachment to any deep religious beliefs. There was

always a special attraction towards Perumal, but did not mind going to

anya-devata temples. At one time in college adiyEn went to a Siva temple

with a distant relative and my grandfather was upset with the relative for

taking me there. This was quite puzzling to me at that time as my

grandfather did not explain why that was not such a good thing for me.

 

Like Nammaazhvar says, " inRennai oru poruLAkki " due purely to emperumaan's

grace adiyEn stumbled upon a kalakshEpam on Swami Sri Desikan's saraNaagati

deepikai by Sri Srivatsangachariar Swami. This was an eye opener. From

then on it has been a journey of incremental adherence to our AcaaryAs

commands and wishes. In the course of years of contacts with great Sri

Vaishnava acaryas adiyEn had the opportunity to hear first hand, over and

over again, why freedom from anya devatA worship is the most important atma

guNam we must develop. Thus, the importance of repeatedly hearing about

this topic cannot be overstated.

 

Therefore, it is extremely important that we stress this topic repeatedly in

Sri Malolan Net so that any lingering doubt in the minds of members is

removed. Obviously, no one on this net can even come near the sasthra

jnAnam or anushtAnam of these scholars. However, as long as we are faithful

to our AcAryas we are only acting as a conduit for their teachings.

Therefore we need not feel we are not qualified to discuss this topic.

 

In this context let me share just one sentence from an e-mail adiyEn

received recently. One of the members of our net wrote:

 

" Your article (on anya devatha worship) has really

helped me clear my doubts. "

 

This clearly demonstrates the need and relevance of continued discussion of

this topic on our divine net. Please share your experiences with the rest

of us.

 

srimad azhagiya singar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

 

-- adiyEn ramanuja dasan

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagavatas

 

Sri Dileepan wrote-

" In the course of years of contacts with great Sri Vaishnava acaryas adiyEn

had the opportunity to hear first hand, over and over again, why freedom from

anya devatA worship is the most important atmaguNam we must develop. Thus,

the importance of repeatedly hearing about this topic cannot be overstated. "

 

Sri Dileepan has mirrored exactly my experience and my feelings. I was also

not a nastika but went on with my Nityakarmanushtanam etc but alongside with

Anya devata worship. By sheer but pleasant accident (AgjnAtha sukritham,

perhaps) I was directed by my Acharya (H. H. Poundarikapuram Andavan) to

attend the Kalakshepams of our Prakritam Azhagiyasinghar. This was some 20

years ago and it proved a turning point in my interest. From then on there

was no looking back. I can confidently say

" Anru nAn pirandilEn, pirandapinn marandilEn "

though some of my own relatives and friends (who did not have the bhaghyam of

listening to Kalakshepams) looked down upon me based on mistaken notions of

egalitarianism, as a kind of recluse for not doing Anya devata worship.

 

This conviction was only more and more reinforced and confirmed when I had

the bhaghyam of listening to the Kalakshepams of my own AchArya, Sri Purisai

SwAmi, Sri Srivatsankachariar, Sri Goshtipuram Swami and many others before

coming to the USA with their mandate. On coming to USA, I had the opportunity

to read several books by foreign scholars. I was amazed to see how, without

bias, they had extolled our Siddhantam.

 

For, example, the famous French Scholar, LOUIS RENOU in " Great religions of

Man " (p37) Pub. by George Brazillier Inc NY,1961 declared -

 

" The worship of Vishnu reveals the agreeable and happy aspects of Hinduism.

In fact, as a religion in the strict sense of the term Hinduism can be

summarized as VISHNUISM "

 

He further wrote-

 

" This clearly demonstrates the need and relevance of continued discussion of

this topic on our divine net "

 

IF the members approve-

 

After the completion of my ongoing series on Swami Desika's SAtvika

ahamkAram,

I would like to submit a post every day on -

" Only Sriman NArAyaNa is the ParamAtma and none else "

in 5 parts with quotations-

Part 1. From our Scriptures

Part 2. From the anubhavams of AzhwArs

Part 3. From the anubhavams of our AchAryas, especially Swami Desika and

Part 4. From the anubhavams of those belonging to other faiths within Hinduism

Part 5. From the anubhavams of those belonging to other faiths outside

Hinduism

 

Dasoham

Anbil Ramaswamy

[Guest guest]

Sri:

 

Dearest all,

 

adiyEn is not alone is the feling I get when I read Sri Dileepan and Sri

Anbil mama's posts.

 

adiyEn is still " acting " and having a veLi vEsham with dwaadasa oordhva

puNdram, with dirts in the mind and heart. Kaiyaar chakkaraatthu en

karumaaNikkamE enRu... summaa sonnEn, outwardsly; Poor Lord has belived that

it is true!! and He blessed me with the great SadAchArya sambhandham..

 

adiyEn felt elated reading Sri Dileepan's post from the archives on AchArya

Thiruvadi...

 

Swamy Desikan's " yERRi manatthu yezhil viLakkai iruL anaitthum

maaRRinavarkku; oru kaimaaRu maayanum KaaNagillaan; "

 

AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

Regards

 

Narayana Narayana

 

Narayana dAsan Madhavakkannan

 

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