Digest Number 151: Valmiki & Vyasa

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri. Srinath Chakravarty,

 

Thank you for a very informative, very thoughtful and very readable

note setting out your views. After reading your post I couldn't help

reflecting upon a few more things which I share with you below:

 

Message: 5

Mon, 18 Sep 2000 13:54:09 -0500 (CDT)

schakrav

Re: VAlmIki and VyAsa

 

>Sri. Sudarshan:

>Valmeeki and VyAsar were Vedic rishis; I don't believe

that the practice of commemorating a guru's janmanakshatra

(the way we do today) existed during the gurukula system

of antiquity. Service to the guru by way of maintaining

his living premises and doing nitya-kainkarya existed as a

routine part of the shishyavritti, and the final expression

of gratitude was in the form of dakshiNa.

 

 

--- Don't you think it would be a good idea for all of India,

irrespective of ethnic, linguistic, caste, religious or sectarian,

denomination, education, income-levels etc. to set apart a day in the

year to observe and en-masse celebrate the birthday of Valmiki and

Vyasa? After all the appeal that these two great souls had, and

continue to have, on generations of Indians everywhere is truly

universal. When it comes to relishing, appreciating and cherishing

the 'Ramayana' and 'Mahabharata' the differences amongst people of

'siddhAntam' and " sampradAyam', or " vedantam " and 'darsanam' simply

dissolve, don't they? These two works of the great Valmiki and Vyasa

have indeed been such a tremendously unifying and integrative force

in our society and culture that like nothing else... no other

religious or cultural institution... can ever compare with them in

that particular respect. Valmiki and Vyasa through their works have

together done more to keep our social, cultural and demographic

fabric stay cemented than any other system of thought or practice in

India. Rich man, poor man, pundit and illiterate, urbanite and rural

boor, old and young, men, women, children.... none seems to be able

to resist the wonder and attraction of Valmiki and Vyasa....

 

So, my question is, why can't all of us, no matter which " mattam " or

" sampradAyam " we may belong to, observe one day in a year to

specifically and specially commemorate it as " valmiki- " or " vyasa- "

" tirunakshatram " and use that day to close all ranks amongst

ourselves, and emphasise, reiterate and re-affirm that all our sects,

all our 'maDam-s', all " darsana-s " , all " siddhAntam-s " (even if

otherwise mutually antagonistic) owe their original inspiration to

these two great souls only?

 

 

>However it is not correct to say that there doesn't remain

any shishya parampara for these sages - we do have gotrams,

don't we? It seems to me that in the Vedic period, the

guru's own progeny was expected to carry the legacy forward,

in contrast with later AchArya paramparas of more recent

history. We have several examples of this, such as UddAlaka,

nachikEta, ashTavakra etc. which leads me to believe that

the gotra construct evolved from that social setting - where

paternal lineage from a Vedic rishi represented the tradition

of each " school " . I suppose these " schools " weren't rivals

in the same sense as rival philosophies are today - for one,

very few (if any) other religions existed during Vedic times.

 

 

--- Srinath, have you not sometimes wondered how the respective sons

of those great 'r-shis' managed to continue in a spirit of

brotherhood in those days.... something which the institition of

" AchArya-parampara-s " (what you call " rival schools " of Vedantic

thought and practice) which all came after them just could not

emulate? I've always wondered at this.

 

 

> We must remember that Adikavi Srimad valmeeki was a vEDan,

and so wouldn't have belonged to a vedic gurukulam in the

first place - let alone establish his lineage etc. There

isn't any valmeeki gotram is there?

 

--- I picture this imaginary scene in my mind: Someone walks up to

Valmiki and asks him, " sir, which " gOtra " do you belong to? " . Valmiki

smiles but pat comes his reply, " I belong to the

" JanakiRama-gOtram! " .( " mAta-devi tvamasi bhagavAn vAsudeva: pitamE " !

to paraphrase Swami Desikan's famous line in the " Sri-stuthi " )!

Srinath, would you say this imaginary scene of mine is rather

ridiculous?

 

>As for vyAsa, he IS honored by all vedantins in the form of

bAdarAyaNa - the

author of the brahmasootra. Even though sootrakArar did

have a shishyaparampara (bodhAyana, dramida, bharuchi etc.)

it didn't lead directly down to AchArya nAthamuni, for

example. It was extinct even by the time of Adi Sankara.

As far as valmeeki and vyAsa being poorvAchAryas for our

faith, we must remember that neither of them were true

Srivaishnavas in the sense that we understand today - from

the point of view of paramaikAntitvam to Sriman nArAyaNa,

as well as observing the traditional srivaishnava samskAras

which are enshrined in the teachings of more recent AchAryas

beginning with Sriman nAthamuni. This doesn't constitute

a negative statement about them (much like saying that Sri

rAmanuja was born a vaDamAL) - rather it is a technicality

and it is best that we don't make a big deal out of it.

Regarding the possible affiliations of these rishis to

later vedantic interpretations of Advaita and VisistAdvaita,

the answer is no. VyAsa or bAdarAyaNa was not only the

classifier of the chaturvedas, but also the compiler of all

upanishadic thought into the one source text of brahmasootra.

The advaita/dvaita differences arise only later, as a result

of differing interepretations of that source text. I believe

this question was also posed to Sri. SMS Chari as a challenge

by a Western academic - in response to which Dr. Chari is now

in the process of writing a book which describes the " original "

position taken by sootrakArar Sri. bAdarAyaNa himself. But

the fact remains that bAdarAyaNa precedes advaita/visistAdvaita

by at least a couple of thousand years! As for valmeeki, he

preceded even vyAsa in chronology - which certainly eliminates

any possiblity of his affiliation with these philosophies.

aDiyEn,

-Srinath Chakravarty

 

--- Once again all that you have very nicely explained makes me

wonder:

There seems to have been a time in the ancient days when people

simply followed and cherished the Veda, the Vedic values of " dharma "

and the Vedic way of living in a rather simple, uncomplicated way.

Neither Valmiki nor Vyasa nor the ordinary people were ever

self-conscious of any 'darsana' or " siddhAntam' that they were

following. There were no distinctions to make, no variations in

perception.... It was a very, very long time ago... It was such a

congenial time that God Himself chose to descend on earth to live

amongst mere mortals...

 

Now too we have the Vedas with us, for sure... But alongwith that

we also have different Vedantic 'darsana-s', 'sampradAya-s',

'parampara-s', 'siddhAntA-s' etc.... The original integrated vision

and the intense inspiration of a Valmiki or a Vyasa is simply no

longer available to us as one unified whole.... It has become

hopelessly fragmented...

 

The result of it all appears to be this: that while we are all very

busy going hither-tither weighing and deciding for ourselves which

amongst this plethora of Vedantic viewpoints will serve us best....

God Himself quietly slipped out, made his exit a long time ago and

disappeared from this world and out of our midst and hearts....

Sometimes I tell myself (at a deeply personal level) that I may

perhaps have inherited the riches of many great systems of religious

thought of this world but, alas, seem to have lost God.

 

To me thus, all the above matters are really what set apart our times

from those of Valmiki and Vyasa... the Age of " kali " from that of

" trEta " !

 

Just sharing these little thoughts (two cents worth!) with you as a

friend and not in any other capacity.

 

Thanks and regards,

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

A very good friend of mine, a bhAgawata, has written this to me which

may of some interest to all of you:

Sudarshan

 

>

> > Sriman Sudharsan,

> >

> > Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

> >

> > Immediately on my return from a 10 day trip to India,

> > I was going through various mails on Valmiki & Vyasa

> > topic. Your idea of

> > choosing a day each for both and celebrate it is

> > certainly appreciable. I do remember that a day is

> > being celebrated in temples in Andhra Pradesh as Vyasa

> > Pournami. The Pushya Maasa Pournami (falling in

> > January/Feb) used to be listed as Vyasa Pournami in

> > Chandramana Calendars. I very clearly recollect

> > having had the darshan of Sri Ranganathaswamy mounted

> > on Garuda Vahana at Nellore Sri Thalpagiri

> > Ranganathaswamy Temple innumerable number of times on

> > this day. Only this much I know about Vyasa Pournima.

> > The immediately preceding Ekadasi used to be observed

> > as Bhishma Ekadasi. Just thought of scribbling this

> > to you.

> >

> > Dasan

> >

 

 

 

 

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