Sri Raamajayam AdiyEn heard when I was young, that for all Sri Vaishnavas "Sri Srinivasar"(or ThiruvEnkatamudaiyan) is indeed the Kuladeivam. As for Ishta Deivam, it can be Kannan, Raman or Nrusimhan based on individual's Anubhavam with the Lord and his Kalyaana GunAs. Whatever be the case, we switch our allegiances to Ishta Deivam easily, whenever we hear the Divya Anubhavam/SwapadEsam from a Sri Vaishnava Acharya/visit a Divya DEsam. AdiyEn Sri Ramanuja Dasan, Sudarsana Dasosmi -----Original Message----- From: sampath kumar [mailto:sampathkumar_2000@xxxx] Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2001 2:35 PM To: SriRangaSri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [SriRangaSri] Fwd: Who is a "kula-deivam"? --- sampath kumar <sampathkumar_2000@xxxx> wrote: > Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 23:32:56 -0700 (PDT) > From: sampath kumar <sampathkumar_2000@xxxx> > Subject: Who is a "kula-deivam"? > To: tiruvengadam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > > Dear friends, > > I've been recently thinking about this matter and can one of you > pls. > throw some light on it? > > (1) In our 'sampradAyam' there is this concept of 'kula-deivam'... > "a > time-honoured, family-Deity". This is the Deity to which > generations > within a family will pay very special respect and worship... much > more than to other deities. > > For example millions of families in India consider their > "kula-deivam" to be our Lord TiruvEngadamdaiyAn of Tirupati. Others > consider Sri Tiruvellore Veera-raghava PerumAl as their > 'kula-deivam' > ... and so on. > > AdiyEn's question is where and how did this practice of designating > certain deities as "kula-deivam" begin? Does it have any basis in > the > philosophy, religion and theology of SriVaishnavism in particular > and > in the Vedantic tradition in general? > > (2) Sometimes, we are told that the Temple-Deity of our nativity... > the village-deity or the principal temple-deity of the district/ > province in which we live should be regarded as our natural > "kula-deivam". At other times we are told that the Deity to which > our > "AchAryan" (who performed our "samAshrayanam") performs 'arAdhana' > becomes 'ipso-facto' our "kula-deivam" too. Another principle > applied > is that the particular deity to which our > father/grand-father/forefather showed special affection should be > our > natural "kula-deivam". > > Which is the correct stand? AdiyEn for example belongs to the > nativity of Tirupati and quite naturally I consider our > "tiruvEngadamudaiyAn" as my "kula-deivam". But adiyEn had my > 'samAshrayanam' thanks to the kindness of Srimadh 45th > Azhagiyasingar > and so I also think our great Lord MalOlan of Ahobilam should be my > "kula-deivam". Although I know that both deities are One and the > same > Almighty, adiyEn still suffers a gnawing sense of > "split-loyalty"... > Srinivasan and MalOlan seem to be "fighting" over themselves for a > share of adiyEn's heart!! So what should I do? > > (3) We all know that Peria-AzhwAr was born and had lived all his > life > in SriVilliputtur. He was chief 'purohit' of the temple there. So > we > could say that Lord RajamannAr-perumAl should have been his > "kula-deivam". But the AzhwAr in his famous "senniyOngu" hymn > (5.4.1 > and 5.4.3 of the "peria-AzhwAr tirumOzhi") surprisingly refers to > Lord TiruvengadamudaiyAn as his "kula-deivam" : > > "senni-ongu tan tiruvEngadamudaiyAy!... > > ... emmanA! en kula-deivamE! en uDaya nAyakanE!..." etc. > > Can we venture to think that perhaps Sri.Peria-AzhwAr too had this > problem of "split-loyalties" with regard to who his real > "kula-deivam" was?! > > Regards, > dAsan, > Sudarshan __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Srirangasri-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxx Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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