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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00029 Jan 2003

 
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Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:

Dear bhAgavthAs,

Humble pranams to all. Thanks for the excellent posts on 
TiruppAvai by the erudite(ilove that word) Sri Vanamamalai 
Padmanabhan. Would like to share my(nay borrowed)views. We live in a 
ripened kali yuga and we fall prey to worldly temptations at light 
speed. Majority of the population is in the pursuit of 
money,power,lust and what not. How do we extricate ourselves from 
this infinite loop? We have been reading lot of articles on bhakti vs 
prappti/effort vs grace etc.

Many SVs worship anya dEvatAs. On one hand they claim 
that Sriman NArAyaNa is the supreme and on the other hand they would 
be visiting shaivite temples and circumambulating navagrhas. Is it 
j~nAnam or aj~nAnam? Surely the second category. A "true" SV will 
only worship Sriman NArAyaNa. I have read couple of articles on "how 
a SV should be?" in related e-lists. Seriously I don't think it's 
possible for us to develop good traits on our own. One has to 
remember Sri PiLLAn's milk analogy. It's the Lord who fosters in us 
all the good qualities(which is like mother's breast milk)and the 
qualities developed by ourselves is like the milk bought from the 
store. We have ignorance in abundance! If we realise that NArAyaNa is 
the Supreme then we will not resort to any other demi-god or will not 
be desparate of material benefits either. The Lord says in BG that 
such realisation happens only after so many auspicious births! All we 
have to do is to wait patiently for that auspicious moment. 

When the mind is after material benefits,we dare to do 
business transactions with demi-gods and the Supreme God(NArAyaNa). 
One of my friend(we are birds of same feather) bet with the Lord of 
Tirumala Hills and had a pact that for every one lakh profit he makes
(stocks in $),he would do kalyANa utsavam (the costlier one)for the 
Lord. He was making lot of profit(50 lakh)and decided to visit the 
Lord. Look at the beauty of the human mind. The mother said that both 
the kalyANa utsavams(cheaper and the costlier)are the same and they 
should perform the cheaper one. My friend also did and the next day 
he was in debt. I was telling my friend about the greatness of 
TiruvEnkatamudaiyAn and one should keep up the word with Him 
otherwise He will teach us what business is as He is the real "dAdA" 
in business. I also told him the greatness "ozhivil kAlamellAm(third 
decad and third tiruvAymozhi)and the power that TiruvAymozhi has and 
that Lord can grant anything from the lowest of the low to highest of 
the high puruShArthams that one need not go to any anya dEvathAs.

People resorting to demi-gods instead of Sriman NArAyaNa 
reminds me of Sri PiLLai lOkAchArya's words. It is analogous to the 
wife's seeking another man(otherthan the husband)for "some" 
pleasures. Sometimes we are worried about what others think of us and 
even try bend our principles for no good reasons. My godsister asks 
me why I'm so picky about worshipping only Sriman NArAyaNa when she 
worships all gods. If I explain to her the greatness of Him,it will 
not get into her head. Instead I(being an admirer of Bertrand Russell 
in this mundane world) gave her a blatant reply saying that equality 
can be made at all levels and hence one can even exchange husbands 
and wives. She got zapped and told me that I was arrogant and rigid. 
At such times I only think of "thURRuvAr thURRattum pORRuvAr 
pORRattum pOgattum kaNNanukkE". Even EmperumAnAr could only convert 
some(and not all)people to SrivaiShNavam. Classic example is 
UyyakkoNdAr who believed in bhaktiyOga and couldn't appreciate 
prappati. EmperumAnAr replied that UyyakkoNdAr lacked His Grace and 
that's why he isnot able to appreciate SV.

When His grace falls on us,we are blessed with 
an "authentic" AchArya who bestows on us the "authentic" knowledge. 
Untill then we are inside the circle of aj~nAnam with infinite 
radius. Pardon all errors graciously.

I dare to say that Lord SriRanganatha has the power to 
deprive us of all material pleasures with the exception of the sole 
yearning for Him alone.

"aNdarkOn aNiarangan en amudhinaik kaNda kaNgaL maRRonRinak kANAvE"
samastha lOka DhArka rAm;sakala jIva samrakshaka rAm

AzhvAr EmperumAnAr Jeeyar TiruvadigaLE saraNam
NC Nappinnai 






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