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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00002 Apr 2002

 
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Respected Ramanuja Bhaktas,

Today, HH Sri Tridandi Chinna Sriman Narayana Jeeyar Swamy began what is
to be an ongoing series of telephone-upanya:sams in Telugu for the
benefit of the Telugu speaking devotees here in the USA.

Those of you who have heard it being spoken know that Telugu is a rich
Sanskrit-based language that when spoken formally, seems to have an
almost poetic air about it. Consequently, hearing of the Greatness of
our Lord and the richness our Ramanuja Darshanam in this language seems
to make the experience all the more sweet. This is particularly so when
the speaker is Sri Jeeyar Swamy, who has the rare ability to present his
profound knowledge of Sri Ramanuja Siddhantam in a simple and
compassionate tone such that all of us, including novices like myself,
will understand.

While I cannot even begin to capture in words the inspiration and
insight that HH provided in his lecture today, I would like to share
with you the key points that I came away with from this talk, for the
benefit of those who do not speak Telugu, as well as for those who could
not attend today's discourse. Before starting, I should state that this
is a very feeble attempt by a layman to capture the wisdom of a Great
and Learned Soul. If any of the following is inspiring, it is only due
to the Compassion of HH Sri Jeeyar Swamy. All errors are due solely to
my ignorance.


Topic: The purpose of life

A journey is truly enjoyable and truly meaningful when the goal of that
journey is known. If our neighbor or friend is about to embark on a
journey, and we ask him/her where they are going, it would seem odd and
rather eccentric to us if the person were to reply that he/she did not
know.

The same holds true for the journey of life. If we do not know where we
are going, what the purpose is for all of this, then our life would also
be odd and futile.

The search for the meaning behind this journey, this seeking out the
purpose of life, is the reason why humanity has so many faiths, so many
cultures, and so many philosophies.

For those of us who are followers of the Vedas, we come to understand
that the method our forebearers used to find the purpose of life is
through the practice of tapas. While our legends and folklore describe
tapas as involving sitting in a remote area, withdrawing our senses, and
going through great austerity, a more general understanding of the term
"tapas" is offered by our Acharyas. Tapas really describes a spirit of
inquisitiveness, a desire to learn from our Teachers, a contemplation on
what we have learned, and the initiative to put it into practical
application.

So, based on this, what is it that we are to learn? This will be
shared in my next posting.....

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan
Mohan









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