BASIC TENETS OF SRIVAISHNAVISM - PART 1

[Guest guest]

Respected Ramanuja Bhaktas,

 

The members of Vedics, the Society's " sister " organization that is based

in Chicago, are continuing with their ongoing service of translating and

documenting the discourses of our revered teachers and scholars who have

been sharing their wisdom with us through tele-conference.

 

The following is the first in a new series for the Vedics team, a

summary of Sri Velukkudi Krishnan Swamy's outstanding lectures on the

Basic Tenets of the SriVaishnava Faith.

 

A word to Westerners and newcomers: you may come across many words and

concepts that may originally be unfamiliar to you. Please feel free to

post any questions and comments you may have to this list so that these

can be clarified by Sri Krishnan Swamy or others.

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

Mohan

 

 

 

Foreward:

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Vedics seek the blessings of all bhaagvathaas before proceeding in this

small kaimkaryam of writing Basic Tenets of Vaishnavism in English as

per

the upanyaasam rendered by U.Ve. Velukkudi Krishnan Swamy. 2nd Sunday

9:00AM

over (Ph: 405 244-5555, Pass: 1533)

 

We also seek the blessings of U.Ve. Velukkudi Krishnan Swamy in

fullfilling

this kainkaryam without any hindrance. (and correcting our write up

before

we put this up on the Web

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MOKSHAM THROUGH RAMANUJA SAMBHANDAM.

 

" Sriman abhirabhoot bhoomau rAmAnuja divAkara: "

 

There are many pramAnams and statements of our poorvachAryas that go

to

prove beyond doubt that it is indeed Ramanuja sambhandam that

gives

Moksham.

 

At first thought, it appeared to be an easy task to prove that

Ramanuja sambhandam fetches moksham. On further thought, trying to prove

it

objectively seemed to be more difficult and in fact impossible.

Therefore

at the outset, I must admit that this can be proved only subjectively

by

means of the numerous pramAnas and statements of our poorvacharyas.

 

The only solace I have is that any theory in science is also proved

only subjectively. To prove a law like the law of forces or law of

refraction, we verify it with thousands of scenarios to make sure it

will stand the test. We must also recognize that the phenomenon

existed

all along and after studying it, we then frame the law. Similarly in

our

sampradAyam, the phenomenon of many people (like Kurathazhwan,

Pillan, Nanjeeyar, Nampillai, et al) attaining moksham through Ramanuja

sambhandam exists and based on that, the law - " Ramanuja Sambhandat

Mokshalaba: " is framed. Any law holds good until it is disproved by

a

negative example. There is no such example of anyone who had

Ramanuja

sambhandam and did not attain

moksham. Therefore to prove any law subjectively, there are two

things

that are very essential: an Aptha vakhyam and an experiment.

 

In science, Newton is an Aptha (and so is Einstein, etc) who framed

the

aptha vakhyam (law or statement) that action and reaction are equal

and

opposite (Law of forces). An Aptha is the promulgator and the

aptha

vakhyam is the statement he comes up with. This is then put to stern

test

by numerous experiments performed to prove the validity of

the

statement(vakhyam).

 

Now, having framed the law or Aptha vakhyam that it is Ramanuja

sambhandam

that fetches moksham, let us go to the next question and that is ? Who

is

an Aptha in sampradayam?

 

The first aptha is the Vedas ( " Matha Pitru Shastrebhya:

vatsalataram

shastram " " Apourusheya, anAdi, shastram vedas " ). It is important to

note

that in science, what is told today does not necessarily hold good

tomorrow

but in sampradAyam, what was told a long time ago, always holds good.

Now,

if we can prove that Ramanuja sambhandam is mentioned in Vedas, then we

can

agree that it is an aptha vakhyam. The question that immediately comes

to

mind is that when Vedas are so much before Ramanuja's time, how can

Vedas

mention this directly?

 

(To be contd..)

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You can hear the upanyasam on-line at:

http://www.radioramanuja.com/live.htm

 

 

azhwAr emberumAnAr JeeyAr thiruvadigalE saranam

 

Vedics Documentation Team http://www.radioramanuja.com/docs.htm

Basic Tenets of Vaishnavism

AdiyEn ramanuja Dasan - Kesavan