Re. Let us join hands.

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I am amazed by the wealth of knowledge that resides in this forum. Because I started this discussion it is also my duty to come to Shri. Srivatsan's defense. At 29 years, I cannot claim to be an expert of vaishnavism. I guess Srivatsan's thought was very honorable - he sees potential to revive spirutalism in temples near his place and appeals for help - so far so good - i guess probably in his eagerness to find a solution he called for iyengars from thengalai sampradayam for help - again one cannot mistake him - probably he follows thengalai sampradayam and it is a reasonably decent assumption to make that there are more thengalaiyars who have dedicated their lives to learning nalayiram than vadagalaiyars (atleast intuitively correct). This could have induced him to write the way he wrote. I guess he needed to have been politically correct while conveying his thoughts. To Shri.

Srivatsan: As I said before, I believe your thoughts are noble and extremely honorable. I sincerely wish you the very best in your endeavor to revive the sathumurai tradition in temples near your place of residence. Just that in your attempts you got to tread a careful path lest you should invite criticisms and hence be deflected from your goal. As you can appreciate, vaishnavites have a long tradition and with it comes a lot of legacy issues which cannot be solved over night. You are a 'karma yogi' - you are trying to find solution to a challenge. It will be useful to keep in mind that to build and sustain an institution, it takes a collective effort. Even the Srirangam temple relies on collective effort of thousands of people from all walks of life irrespective of caste/creed. On that note, guys like me sit outside India and find it very easy to be judgemental and pass comments; it is because of people like you the vaishnavite

tradition has managed to prosper over centuries. Keep up your good work. Feel free to rope me in for any help you may require. Best wishes Ramjigitaclass <gitaclass wrote: I have been thinking of writing on this for some time and Ramji,s post has given me a chance. Thesegregation of thengalai and vadagalai came only later and during Ramanuja's time all vaishnavas were the same.After the time of Desika and Manavalamamuni the followers of Dsesika who gave more importance to sanskrit granthas were called vadagalai while the followers of Manavalamamuni who held Tamil prabhandhas as supreme came to be called thengalai.This is according to my knowledge and if anyone can give evidence otherwise I stand corrected. Moreover Ramanuja did not

have discrimination even between brahmins and nonbrahmins and both vadagalai and thengalai profess to be the followers of him.In the world vedanta has come to mean only advaita especially due to the cosmopolitanm outlook the great teaschers like Ramakrishna, Sivananda, Ramana and so many others. Vishishtadvaita is unknown to the world at large because of the attitude of vaishnavites to keep the teachings of vaishnvite saints and acharyas secret. I was told once that if I want to listen to a discourse on Sribhashya only if I wear nine yards though I could see no conection between the two. Puja and other religious rites have to be according to some rituals and customeds, I understand but even to read the holy works if one has to be a orthodox vaishnava how will the teachings of the masters like Ramanuja will be known to all. After all he shouted the ashtakshara from the temple tower. There are people who disapproved my

taking Sribhashya as the topic for my thesis. Luckily I had a genuine devotee who is also an orthodox vaishnava as my guru, who is now 92. Ramanuja took as his disciple those whom had the only qualification of being a devotee and calling ourselves as his followers should we restrict ourselves within the fold of vaishnavism itself seggregating into vadagalai and thenkalai?My main idea in starting my groups and the postings on the internet and in creating webpages and blocks is to break the barriers of religeous restrictions and to make my learning of the vaishnavite literature, thiough meagre, to all, let them be nonvaishnavites or nonproficient in sanskrit so that the treasures of vaishnavism , the teachings of Ramanuaja, Desika and the azvars will be known to all as they were intended to be universal.To the best of my ability I try to give what I have learnt in simple language and I consider this as bhagavtkainkarya.

One of the five yajnas, Brahma yajna is the study of scriptures and to explain them to others.Several vaishnavite scholars are also doing this as we can see in the groups and websites on vaishnavism and I am glad that I am able to add a little like the squirrel. After all God is one by whatever name you call Him and He is common to all. The religious disciplines and beliefs are only our guidelines like the road maps. Once you reach the destination the road by which you travel dsoe not matter anymore.Dr. Saroja Ramanujam

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chinna jeeyar svaamine namah.Dhanyosmi.Bhavathah aashishaa mama kainkaryam pavithreekrtham. sarojaa raamanujam. With the blessings of the acharyas I am writing commentaries on Yadhavabhyudhaya of Desika,Gita,vishnusahasranama,Valmikiramayana, Thiruppavai etc. in my webpages http://wwwgeocities.com/sarojram18. After finishing all these, if God willing, I wish to write on Sribhashya of Ramanuja. With blessings of great people like Your Holiness I may accomplish that within my lifetime. I am 69 and did my research and siromani course in sanskrit only after my retirement and I am conducting classes in the above subjects for those who are interested ,free of cost. Whatever I hve accomplished so far is not my doing but the leela of Sri Lakshminarasimha whom I worship and I feel that I am only an instrument in His hands.I feel that only now I have found the

purpose of my life. Thava dasosmi, saroja ramanujamchinna jeeyar <acharya27 wrote: jai Srimannarayna Saroja Ramanujamji! casually we happened to see your mail and gone through the essence of it. we liked your ideas about the vaishnavism and its understand. Let acharyas bless you in understanding and spreading its essence to the real seekers. =chinnajeeyar=gitaclass <gitaclass Sent: Saturday, April 8, 2006 3:50:44

AM Re. Let us join hands.I have been thinking of writing on this for some time and Ramji,s post has given me a chance. Thesegregation of thengalai and vadagalai came only later and during Ramanuja's time all vaishnavas were the same.After the time of Desika and Manavalamamuni the followers of Dsesika who gave more importance to sanskrit granthas were called vadagalai while the followers of Manavalamamuni who held Tamil prabhandhas as supreme came to be called thengalai.This is according to my knowledge and if anyone can give evidence otherwise I stand corrected. Moreover Ramanuja did not have discrimination even between brahmins and nonbrahmins and both vadagalai and thengalai profess to be the followers of him.In the world vedanta has come to mean only advaita especially due to the cosmopolitanm outlook the great teaschers like Ramakrishna, Sivananda, Ramana and so many others.

Vishishtadvaita is unknown to the world at large because of the attitude of vaishnavites to keep the teachings of vaishnvite saints and acharyas secret. I was told once that if I want to listen to a discourse on Sribhashya only if I wear nine yards though I could see no conection between the two. Puja and other religious rites have to be according to some rituals and customeds, I understand but even to read the holy works if one has to be a orthodox vaishnava how will the teachings of the masters like Ramanuja will be known to all. After all he shouted the ashtakshara from the temple tower. There are people who disapproved my taking Sribhashya as the topic for my thesis. Luckily I had a genuine devotee who is also an orthodox vaishnava as my guru, who is now 92. Ramanuja took as his disciple those whom had the only qualification of being a devotee and calling ourselves as his followers should we restrict ourselves

within the fold of vaishnavism itself seggregating into vadagalai and thenkalai?My main idea in starting my groups and the postings on the internet and in creating webpages and blocks is to break the barriers of religeous restrictions and to make my learning of the vaishnavite literature, thiough meagre, to all, let them be nonvaishnavites or nonproficient in sanskrit so that the treasures of vaishnavism , the teachings of Ramanuaja, Desika and the azvars will be known to all as they were intended to be universal.To the best of my ability I try to give what I have learnt in simple language and I consider this as bhagavtkainkarya. One of the five yajnas, Brahma yajna is the study of scriptures and to explain them to others.Several vaishnavite scholars are also doing this as we can see in the groups and websites on vaishnavism and I am glad that I am able to add a little like the squirrel. After all God is one by

whatever name you call Him and He is common to all. The religious disciplines and beliefs are only our guidelines like the road maps. Once you reach the destination the road by which you travel dsoe not matter anymore.Dr. Saroja Ramanujam

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Dear Sriman Srivatsan Raghavan, It's endangered because its tenets are too simple and convergent! Many people ask questions like "Will perumal grant mOksha just like that to anyone He wishes? Will not people go astray if we say so?" etc. Also it is a selfless religion where the stress is on bhAgavata kainkaryam or serviceability to fellow beings rather than on ritualistic worship of emberumAn. I doubt how many takers are there for such a simple religion even within the thenkalai subsect. At 24, I was also worried about people not taking care of temples etc. Now I am 30 and my religiosity is down like Kapil Dev's fast-bowling! Dasan Vishnusrivatsan raghavan <perfectsri wrote: Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha Srimathe Varavara munaye Namaha But the reason behind me stressing thengalai is because of the reason that this sampradhayam might very soon become an endangered sampradhayam.... Me at 24 have a long way to go... Am hearty apologies if i had hurt anybody.... Thanks a lot... Ramanujan thiruvadigale saram. Alwar, Emberumanar, Jeeyar thiruvadigale saranam Adiyen

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