Well said, Swamin. I & I am pretty sure a lot more will second your suggestion(s). I can't imagine why a lot of our folks give 'undue' importance to how the rest of the world looks at our ideologies and beliefs. I think you've given a well articulated 'punch' to the discussion group via this e-mail. Dasoham, Vijayaraghavan. ----- Original Message ----- From: <Ramanbil@xxxx> To: <SriRangaSri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2001 6:40 PM Subject: [SriRangaSri] Idol and Icon > Dear Bhagavatas: > In message # 107 dated 27th February 2001, I had announced that I > would be away for about a fortnight at Indianapolis, where I did not > have Internet facility, that I would not be able to post anything > till 9th March 2001 and that regular postings would resume only from > 10th March 2001. Some of the correspondents seem to have overlooked > this message. > > I had also made it clear that while I might be able to peruse mails, > I could reply only after getting back to Atlanta. However, with a > moment of brief help of someone's laptop computer, I managed to post > the concluding portions of "Greatness of Bhagavad RamAnuja Darsanam" > which had already appeared in other internet sites. > > In the meanwhile, our site has been flooded with messages on the > subject of the appropriateness of the term "Idol" to describe > the "ArchA Vigraha" of the Lord. Having allowed the first few > postings, I would have been accused of being discriminatory, if I had > disallowed the rest, though some of them were off the mark and > tangential. Reluctantly, I had to approve them. > > I wish to remind that the objective of the group has been set forth > clearly in the Preamble: > "This is a group for studying the Visishtadvaita philosophy and > practices as laid down by AzhwArs and AchAryas. Articles and > discussions are welcome subject to the general norms of tolerance and > mutual respect within and without the realms of the above philosophy > and practices". > > One of the reasons for requesting feedback to be addressed > to "Sri_ranga_Sri@xxxx" and not to the "Yahoogroup address" is > to avoid tangential postings and give some leeway for the Editor to > censor such materials. > > This is because "Sri Ranga Sri" is mainly a Journal and NOT a general > discussion group as rightly pointed out by Sri Malolan Cadambi, Sri > Anand Karalapakkam and Sri M.K.Sudarshan. My heartfelt thanks to > these Bhagavatas for clarifying the focus of "Sri Ranga Sri" > > I may add that "Sri Ranga Sri" is meant primarily for educating our > Srivaishnavas who may have lost their moorings from our Sampradayam > due to extraneous circumstances by living for long, and far away from > the mainstream as also the 2nd and subsequent generations who have > had no opportunity to be initiated into our Satsampradayam. > > Others interested in learning are also welcome provided they approach > in the spirit of honest yearning as conveyed in the Gita SlOkam "Tad > viddhi prathipAdEna pariprasnEna sEvayA", not in an attempt to nit- > pick, based on the idiosyncrasies of traditions outside (VedabAhyas) > the pale of our ParamaVaideeka matham of SrivaishNavam > > Each language has peculiar idioms. Translation into another language > can never bring out the exact import of the original. The noblest > translation as someone said can only be "from gold to lead", "from > the sublime to the ridiculous" or "from Idiomatic to idiotic" > > The best way to arrive at meanings is to refer to some standard > dictionaries. There is nothing derogatory about the word "idol" as > seen from the meaning for the word "Vigraha" given in different > standard dictionaries like - Roget's Thesaurus, Monier William's > dictionaries (both Sanskrit to English and English to Sanskrit), The > dictionary published by the Sanskrit Education Society, Madras, The > Great Lifco Dictionary (both English to Tamil and Tamil to English). > > Also, the word "Idol" has been adopted by great Scholars proficient > in both Sanskrit and English (e.g.) Sri C.R. SrinivAsa Iyengar Swami > who has translated Srimad VAlmiki RAmAyaNam in English and Tamil, > Prof. A. SrinivAsarAghavan Swami who has translated almost all works > of Swami Desika, Sri M.R. RAjagOpAla Iyengar Swami who has > translated faithfully Srimad Rahasya Traya Saram in English and many > more. > > We need not be carried away by what some Westerners or their > scriptures say or dictate what we should think or say. We are not > interested in proselytization or conversion to our faith. If "Idol" > is wrong, so is "Icon" because we come across "iconoclast". Buddha > who started as an "Iconoclast" ended up as being an "Icon" himself > and as we see his icons (idols?) being destroyed by Taliban fanatics. > > If one needs to know how "Islam" views those whom they > call "Infidels" (including us), you will be startled by the > revelations in the site- http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate/ > > We need not bend ourselves backwards to oblige their views. We need > not chip off our head to suit the cap while it should really be the > other way about. This is like the fad with some of our NRIs > mutilating their beautiful given names to suit the disability of the > aliens in pronouncing them! When they can pronounce such long winding > names as "Stephanapoulus" etc, what difficulty can they have in > pronouncing our names and why should we oblige them by mutilating our > beautiful and meaningful names? > > The learned Professor has pointed out our adopting the Western > Calander, observing Christmas or cutting cakes on our birtdays etc. > I would like to point out that there are two different and mutually > exclusive concerns in society viz., "Social" and "Religious". > These are at best merely Social events. > > But, when we do our sankalpam in our religious obligations, we do it > citing Thithi, vAra, nakshatra, yoga and karaNa etc. of our > PanchAngam and not some western almanac. > > I still feel that the word "Idol" is not taboo, so far as we > Srivaishnavas are concerned. Those who are comfortable with "Icon" > may use the term and those who feel comfortable with "Idol" may > continue with the same. > > Anyway, I would request that the discussion on this subject may be > terminated and let us move on to study our glorious Satsampradayam as > indicated in the "Statement of objective of Sri Ranga Sri" mentioned > in the preamble. > Dasoham > Anbil Ramaswamy > > > > > > > > > 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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