[t'vengadam] Service to Senior Srivaishnavites.- With reference to the Abhivadyam of Sandhyavandanam

[Guest guest]

Respected members:

 

 

There is a Kshetram indeed. However, it cannot be seen but can only be felt

and experienced. We all harbor this

deep desire for " kuzhu and the misai( desire for the tasty gruel but we do

not want the gruel to spoil our proud moustache) "

Pardon the reference, but no insult or injury intended to anyone. Please

read this in the spirit in which this is

written and not as a derision or criticism on any individual.

 

If one is not wrong, the captioned subject started with a member posting

deep grief over the state of affairs

and condition of temples/places of worship etc. and wondering whether some

sort of community based co-operative effort

would solve this problem. Among the many responses, one is from Shri

Thillaisthanan Krishnan

 

We all love, cherish, have this deeply constant urge to be identified with

a caste, group, sect, religion etc. The core

of the subject with which we wish to be identified is a set of unique

characteristics

which affords permanent protection the person. For example, if A says that

he is an Arab from Libya, then another

Moslem from say Trivandrum may easily identify himself with this

stranger-Arab in the common bond of their religion Islam.

In case of a dispute, a problem or danger, both would join forces and

irrespective of their individual

characterstic / habits, tendencies, personal beliefs etc. they would try to

tackle their common-community problem.

We are all aware of how this subtle psychology works. While this may be in

general acceptable to a limited extent as

for example when a South Indian is posted to say SIBERIA the first thing

he tries to is to ascertain whether there is

any 'Indian' there, anyone remotely connected with his homeland. If he

finds there are three families, one a Punjabi, another

a South India and a third a Bengali, who do you think he will make friends

with first ? The fellow-South Indian. Why ? Even

though there is a Punjabi and a Bengali, both from his motherland, both

having the common cultural heritage of strains

from Hinduism, still he will 'strongly prefer' something closely to his

'own' identity, what ever that be.

He may make friends with the Punjabi and Bengali, but his main heart and

basic primary affinity will be towards his 'own'

 

If X says that he believes in Shiva, immediately his membership to a group

which claims to follow Guru Nanak or Jesus

is cancelled. He is excluded. He cannot even debate, present his views, or

question. All doors are locked tightly

shut. We all know how this psychology works. It is subtle yet very potent.

 

The person who believes that his and his belief alone is supreme and

everything else can be either ignored or

disbelieved is nursing an illusion. The search is for something lasting,

something permanent, something eternal and

full of support and strength, undecaying through the ages. The English were

masters in this. The common distinguishing

factor being the colour of your skin - White or dark ?. If dark, then you

were a native and if white, then you were

one of " theirs "

 

We therefore need to be a bit more focussed especially given our constant

desire to keep our spirituality intact.

Looking at things with wide-angle lens would be a better starting point.

If you look at the pictures of this blessed earth

from the Moon you see a colored ball. Individuals are not visible, nor are

temples and images. What is visible though

is a mysterious vastness, an extraordinary silence and the heavenly bodies

including the earth. It must surely have

been the most extraordinary sight to behold for those lucky astronauts when

they looked at the outside from space.

 

In a similar manner, if we can focus on the broader aspect and address the

broad question we can reduce

our entire concern as " why are the Vedas being systematically cut down,

ignored and continually misinterpreted? "

 

Say what you may, the central point which everyone is concerned is why is a

place of worship, a place associated

with peace, goodness, wholesomeness, harmony become degraded, ignored etc.

why is there a decline of values,

decline in perception and all round casual approach constantly surfacing in

all our spiritual endeavors? We pray

a lot, have lot of satsangs, associate ourselves with learned and sincere

people, contribute a lot to the betterment

of society and downtrodden, are socially active and yet, yet despite all

these sincere efforts we do not see

any improvement. We therefore, lament at the said state of affairs. We feel

a wave of pity and thats it. We may share

our concern with our brothers with these and other web-members, web-site,

make a huge noise, raise slogans, drum

up support groups etc. but in the end, the problem remains as it were

without any solution in sight.

 

Are we mistaking the trees for the woods ?

 

The Patanjali Yoga Sutras are also called as " Raja Yoga " . Subsequent Yoga

teachers, commentators and sages have all commented,

authored and introduced many types of Yoga i.e. Hatha Yoga (where the

emphasis is on physical culture), Bhakti Yoga, Gyana Yoga,

Karma Yoga,Laya Yoga, Mantra Yoga etc. but there is one and only Raja Yoga.

I.e. Everyone of these authors, everyone of

these saints, sages and great teachers have consistently agreed one thing

namely that what Sage Patanjali is referring is to

the highest form of Yoga and the real meaning, namely, where the mind is

tackled. Since everything emanates from our

thinking process itself, the why and how is addressed in a scientific and

logically, rationale and practical manner.

That is why it is called the King of Yogas i.e Raja Yoga. One of the

greatest Raja Yogi was, incidentally our

beloved Shri Piratti's extraordinary father the Sage-wise-King Janaka!!

 

Suddenly some of you might wonder, what connection has Yoga to the above

topic. It has a deeper relevance if one looks closely

at what Yoga propose in general ? It explains why and how the mind works,

why thoughts originate and how they act like a two

edged sword and the role of devotion, karma, love, surrender, prayer etc.

In short, the why and how of our basic make-up,

function and role in this world is sought to be brought within the

periphery of our perception.

 

Now as part of the solution to the various woes of mankind, a path called

the " Ashtanga " or 8-limbed path is advocated.

Many lay men in general have misunderstood the concept of Yoga as being

something to do with the health/physical body

postures and meditation. But if you care to read the Yoga Sutras, the wise

Sage Patanjali has placed physical and

mental aspects, including the famous Pranayama routine as 3rd and 4th

respectively and not given them the highest

importance of the 1st and 2nd place. The first place or first principle is

" Yama " i.e. social aspects. Remember it is

not a personal thing. Society comes first. Then the second principle is

" Niyama " or personal habits, observances which

includes - Souchya, Santosha i.e. cleanliness and contentment. The Yama

or foremost principle covers

5 things. Ahimsa,Satya, Asteya, Bramacharyam and Aparigraha

 

In short, what Patanjali is indicating is the 'pot cannot call the kettle

black'. You cannot hope to advance ahead

spiritually if you are full of himsa(violence), covet others' things, are

untrue to your word or conduct etc. These are

social norms eternally true. Even the famous Ten Commandments in the Old

Testament endorse these principles which

incidentally happen to the corner stone of both the Buddhist, Confucian,

Tao, Jainism religions. Remember also,

that all these religions are much after the Yoga Sutras.

 

Personal cleanliness, personal satisfaction/contentment are given secondary

importance. Then the third aspect is Asana

which physical postures and fourth Pranayama.

 

Even Iswarapranidhani or worship/surrender to God etc. is discussed much

much after Yama. It is part of Niyama

 

Meditation and its various meanings etc. follow from place 5 to 8.

 

So You can easily conclude from these that one could not be selfish and

hope to get away with it. Selflessness is the first step i.e.

the Society comes first and then 'my'/'me', 'mine'.

 

Today, sadly everything has turned topsy turvy. Physical well being is

paramount. Meditation is the ‘in’ thing and without

‘culturally’ pleasing aesthetic postures people feel they are not involved

with Yoga and so on.

 

Now the Sandhyavandanam, which is ritual prescribed by the Vedas much

before the advent of the Patanjali Yoga Sutras,

also enshrines the same principles. i.e. society comes before the

individual self. That is why during Sandhya, the phases are :

 

Act 1 : Achamanam and Argyam - no where the self, i.e.the person's name,

gotra, star, lineage, famil background, are they referred.

It is a straight Om Achutaya Namaha, Om Anantaya Namaha, Om Govindaya

Namaha.

 

Act 2: Gayathri chanting. Again it starts as above with the Achamanam and

ends with the Gayathri

 

Act 3 : Gayathri upasthanam i.e. sending HER Back to her original abode

from our hearts

 

Act 4: After restoring to her original glory, the man is eligible to now

stand before the Gods, elements and nature and

reveal his 'petty' self i.e. his identity. Hence the Abhivadyam is said

wherein his name, family name, Guru's, gotra,etc.

are revealed to the Vedas.

 

Till Act 3 the man cannot reveal the identity given by this world, given by

his parents. Even if his parents have

given him the blessed name of " Narayana " he still has to do the 3 acts and

at the 4th stage, do the Abhivadyam

and declare to the Vedas that he is " Narayana sarma " and so on.

 

 

To bring your attention back to where we began. What is the essence which

this writer is trying to convey ? We need to

temporarily forget what is 'our' own. We need to respect only the Vedas and

its strictures. As the Vedas have often declared,

if we can do the basic minimum of sustaining and propagating the Vedas then

all other issues will take care of themselves naturally.

The Vedas will take care literally. During the days when the barbaric

tartars and Mughals from the wild Northern plains invaded

this blessed country and tore down temples by the hundreds and threatened

many religious places, many Sages suggested

that for the sake of mankind the practice of Sandhya alone may be

diligently continued so that in places where there

was wholesale all round destruction and utter annihilation of physical

structures, where worship of image and idols

was punished with death, man could still stand firm inside with the

eternally invisible support of Dharma.

 

Today is no better. Only instead of ungainly and openly crude nomads, man

has acquired and coating of the veneer of

education and knowledge and this excess of knowledge has resulted in

depletion of basics i.e. ignorance of Vedas,

tradition, Sandhya and other aspects of spirituality. Values in general

have eroded comparatively in this

Kali Yuga or Iron age. This incidentally, was also predicted in the Vedas.

 

And finally to come to original concern and query of this discussion. It

is true that temples and worship is totally neglected

and there is A desperate need for honorable, knowledgeable elders. If this

is not a strong suggestion, maybe those ‘retired’

people can Individually - if groups can be formed nothing like it- try to

propagate the importance of Sandhya among the youth

of today. Especially where parents are in India and the children abroad in

good vocations or the other way, when both the parents

And children are in the West and in good economic conditions and having

physical, mental, material comforts and ease.

They can propagate the importance of the Sandhya and ensure that this is

not given up. They may use whatever

Methods their strength and knowledge permits, but they should form a

reliable and authoritative source for others

to emulate. For example this writer came across a peculiar case when 4

generations were in Australia and the

Grandfather was quite reluctant to start the Sandhya - he was apparently

not doing it regularly and was now 80 - as his

Son who himself was 65 was getting an inferiority complex since his

grandson who was 40 was being questioned by

His great grandson who was 13 and who had done his Upanayanam as to why

what “Kolu - tattha†was doing was not being

Done by the father. The father did not have the time and inclination. He

would not listen to his own father and his own

Father who was 65 felt upset when he heard that his father of 80 was keen

to start the Sandhya. Everyone except the

80-year old man -who was keen to start - were casual. They simply grouped

themselves under the omnibus excuse

of ‘where is time ?, we tell the Gayathri ? ‘ as if they were doing the 80

year old grandfather a favour. They even advised

him to give up his new found religio-spiritual craze of Sandhya and

derisively told him at times that what ought to have

been done at 8 why can’t the man forget and wake up now and do, when God

has anyway blessed him with wealth,

materials, comforts, good job for his progeny, 4 generations of better

life etc.

 

This writer recently learnt that Stephen Pinker and other contemporary

psycho-philosophers have recently floated a new

Philosophy called the “Systems philosophy†where they briefly try to

explain consciousness and how this world/universe

evolved etc. The admit the Big Bang theory and say that after the Big bang,

with the Sun acting as a catalyst the earth

Started forming and life happened and so on. Remember, these people are

total atheists and utterly rationale and highly

Educated men of Science who are steeped in research. They have postulated

this theory where the importance of

Our beloved Surya/Sun is highlighted. And what is the Sandhyavandanam if

not worship of the Sun ?

 

If each of you can make at least one member do the Sandhya perennially,

then you have taken care of the main divya Desam

Of Vaikuntham !!

 

Om Tat Sat

Tat Tvam Asi

 

 

 

 

Sadagopan

<sgopan@computer

Oppiliappan ,

.net> Tiruvengadam ,

saranagathi ,

Srirangasri ,

srivenugopala ,

07/21/03 08:20 Parakalamatham ,

AM desikasampradaya ,

Please respond

to tiruvengadam cc:

tamarapusampath, tatacharya,

sudha

[t'vengadam] Service to

Senior Srivaishnavites.

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Sriman Narasimhachari Swamy:

 

Thank you very much for your wonderful

and welcome suggestion . I agree with

you that any amount of Funds thrown

at revitalizing Dhivya dEsams would not

succeed by itself unless there is a dedicated

ownership of responsibilities to offer

shrama dhAnam , personal participation in

GhOshtis , provide the outside link ,

" propagandize the dhivya desam " to

the world of aasthikAs and motivate

the Bhattars and assure the well being

of their families.

 

There will not be one strategy. Our AchAryAs

have " adopted " some of these dhivya dEsams

and provide support. Cases in point are:

Thirukkudanthai , Naathan Koil et al.

Rest are supported by aasthikAs from Overseas

coordinating with their retired parnets , who

do not necessarily live at these dhivya dEsams.

ShrimAn Venkat of Bahrain is setting an example

for such kaimkaryams in coordination with his

retired father and a group of aasthikAs .

Thalaicchanka NaaNNmathiyam temple is a case

in pint.

 

SrIman Pattangi has described the efforts of

another group , who are actively involved

in addressing the problems thru shrama dhAnam

and dedicated funds .

 

Then there are financially sound dhivya desams

like Oppiliappan Koil, where retirees after

a full life in the outside world carry on

with Kaimkaryam to the Lord ( NithyAnusandhAnam

at the evening ) since their elders have performed

such kaimakryams for generations. I am thinking of my

classmate , SrI V.N.Gopala Desikan , who was

an executive in the Indian Railway Services

and after his retirement returned to Oppiliappan

Sannidhi and takes part in the Kaimkaryams.

 

There are aasthikAs like SrIman SatakOpa

TatachAryAr , who has " adopted " the dhvya

Desam of DhIpa PrakAsar Temple and ThUppul

Swamy Desikan Sannidhi Nithya AarAdhanam.

He is tireless in his efforts to raise core funds

to support the nithyArAdhanam at these two sannidhis,

pay for the Bhattars and Saamagriya.

 

Establishments of PaatasAlais at abhimAna Sthalams like

Vaduvoor is accomplishing these goals of the presence

of VaidhikAs and protecting the traditons .

 

In all these matters , the pilfering by mean minded

Temple Executives and the benign neglect by

the Trustees, the Hindu Religious Endowment Board

( The Government Body for supervision and fair

distribution of revenues genrated at rich temples )

has to stop.

 

The problems are huge but can be addressed steadily

with the help of dedicated , who have the comfort

level to return to these dhivya dEsams and

wean themselves from the dependence on

the " pleasures " of urban lives .

 

A hybrid life of part time residence at ancestral

villages , where the dhivya desams are and

the city , where the children are for jobs

might be the solution.

 

With prayers for addiitonal positive developments

in this area of vital interst to all of us,

 

V.Sadagopan

 

 

 

 

 

 

>> --- " R Narasimhachariar " <rnchariar_2311

>>wrote: > Fri, 18 Jul 2003 12:20:14 +0530

>> " R Narasimhachariar "

>><rnchariar_2311

>>Re:To the cause of Senior Srivaishavites

>>T Sampath Kumaran <tamarapusampath

>>

>>Dear Sampath Kumaran swamin,

>>I appreciate the interest you have been taking to the

>>cause of senior Srivaishanvites. In this connection I

>>would like to post the following for the kind

>>attention of srivashnavites of our groups.

>>It is a pity that most of our Divya Desam temples are

>>deserted, and at times you find one archakar

>>conducting kainkaryam in a group of temples located

>>close by. There is paucity of elderly srivaishnavites

>>even for ghosti, and participation in Nitya Aradhana.

>>Financial support alone will not suffice the worship

>>in these temples but active participation by elderly

>>Srivaishnavites is much needed. Many Srivaishavites,

>>after retirement from service still cling on to city

>>life. They often clamour that our Divya Desams are

>>neglected. Instead they can settle themselves in one

>>of the Divya Desams, once they complete their

>>commitments to their families. TV, Telephone and

>>e-mail facilities are available even in remote

>>shetrams. Myself and some of my friends after service

>>in Central Govt. at Delhi have shifted to towns

>closer

>>to Shetrams and contribute our service in some of

>>these shetrams. Fortunately we can still command

>>services in India for a price and can lead a

>>comfortable life. I would appeal that seniors instead

>>of planning to join their children abroad or look for

>>Homes, can think of forming groups and re-settle in

>>Shetrams where they can have mental peace and

>continue

>>to carry on their nityanustanams and render service

>to

>>Sriman Narayana in these shetrams. This will motivate

>>archakas, and other bhakthas to continue to live in

>>these shetrams.

>>Let us take a vow to rebuild our Shetrams, and

>>continue to retain their glory for the younger

>>generation.

>>Dasan

>>Naraimhachariar

>>