NivEdanam to Sarva-SEshi ? (Introduction)

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrI Lakshminrusimha ParabrahmaNE namaH

SrI Lakshminrusimha divya pAdukA sEvaka SrIvaN SaThakOpa -

SrI nArAyaNa yateendra mahAdESIkAya namaH

 

namO nArAyaNa!

 

Dear SrI Ravikumar,

 

Thanks for your introduction. Its great to know about the

SrI-VaishNava activities at Singapore (Simhapuri).

 

SrI MAdhavakaNNan's presence makes lots and lots of difference.

He is one bhAgavata greatly admired by one and all. SrI Hari's

kainkaryams (esp. through discourses) are very remarkable and

it has brought in a great change at Singapore. There are many

other very dedicated devotees who enrich the gOshti ofcourse.

 

 

> 1) is it not strange that we offer as Nivedhyam to our Lord, what entirely

> and solely belongs to him ?

 

:-). Its strange only. So strange and unimaginable is

His compassion towards us.

 

An illustration : Imagine a family with a family-business on

Jwellery. If the owner's (father) son selects beautiful Jewelley

pieces from their shop itself and lovingly presents to his

parents during some function, will the parents Either think

" Afterall its already our property. Whats the big deal in he

presenting this to us " Or " Hug their son for his outflow of

love " ?

 

Our eternal parents do reciprocate to the " Power of Love " .

Well they are actually " bound " by that. Lifes of AzhwArs and

AchAryas, apart from other bhAgavatas in IthihAsa-PurANas are

in abundant testimony.

 

The nivEdanam we offer is to mainly show our love and gratitude

to PerumAL for providing us that food. VarNAshrama dharmas

and anuj~na kainkaryams that we perform are purely with the

central theme of loving devotion to PerumAL. The next logical

question will be :

 

" Well, then I will do any type of activity in a way I like,

with devotion to PerumAL. Why to follow rigid and elaborate

rules ? " .

 

First of all, an activity with true love towards a person, will

be performed only for the pleasure of the person concerned. So,

we as devotees should perform those activities that pleases the

Divya Dampati the most.

 

SrIman nArAyaNa Himself says (VishNu Dharma 6.31; Quoted by

SwAmi DESikan in SAstrIya-niyamanAdhikAraH of SrImad Rahasya

Traya SAram) :

 

" Sruti: Smruti: mamai aajn~yA yastAmullaN~ghya vartatE |

aajn~yA iccEdI mama drOhI mat bhaktO-api na vaishNavaH || "

 

" Sruti and Smruti are My commands indeed. He who transgresses

them violates My commands and is My drOhi. He is not a

vaishNava though devoted to Me " .

 

Thus, the " thiru-ArAdhana " procedure we follow in accordance

with Sruti and Smrutis (ie. " any aiding written work to Sruti " is

the implication here => includes pAncarAtra etc) is the best

way of performing bhagavad aarAdhana, of which performing

nivEdanam forms a part.

 

Infact, all the kainkaryams are only a form of bhagavad

aarAdhana.

 

The " SAtvIka tyAga " is the most important aspect in performing

the kainkaryams. That right away takes care of a part of your

question, since its already his property that we are offering +

We are also His property + He only provided jn~yAnam etc.

 

Thus, what was written earlier as " loving devotion " boils down

to " Performance of kainkaryams with SAtvIka tyAgam in accordance

with SAstras " .

 

The issue of " Kainkaryam " has been discussed in detail in the

past. Please refer to the archives. aDIyEn atleast remembers

some of SrI Dileepan's and aDiyEn's postings on this issue.

 

> 2) since Sriman Narayan is present as antharyami in all chits and achits ,

> how are we permitted to breathe the air , drink water , eat food , wear

> cloths etc. , as all these achetana vasthus are also likely to have our Lord

> as antharyami ?

 

First of all its Lord's design that we have to breathe to live

etc. The only major concern should arise, if by our breathing

etc, " Lord " gets affected. Since it is not said so in SAstras,

we can do these things for our basic living. They do not come

under bhagavad apachArams as per the SAstras. By the way, since

He is blemishless, His presence alongwith achEtanas does not

affect Him.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

KOmAndUr ELayavilli (BAladhanvi) KaralapAkkam anantapadmanAbhan

krishNArpaNam.