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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00116 Apr 2003

 
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Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:

Humble pranams to you. As I have expressed umpteen number 
of times that I am a beginner in our sampradayam,I would love to know 
what "exactly is" the stand of SV with respect to varNAshrama Dharma. 
I preseme that many devotees of this forum would have had the 
opportunity to attend upanyAsams by great upanyAsakas and AcAryAs. It 
is my humble request to those devotees to shed light on this subtle 
topic. This post is not,in any way,connected/response to people who 
have already expressed some views on this. Whatever contents that is 
reflected here,has been in my mind for long and hence seek 
clarification/answers from the perspective of "anuShTAnam" of SV 
sampradAyam. :

1. What "exactly" Sri VaiShNavism targets as compared to the shruthi?

2. If one goes by EmperumAnAr's SriBhAshya statement on varNAshrama 
Dharma,why not follow the same EmperumAnAr who "did not" make "any" 
reference to AzhvArs and their works in all his samskrt works? So 
should one reject AzhvArs outrightly?[Although AcArya Hrdhayam suthra 
65 declares that emperumAnAr wrote Sri BhAShya with the help 
of dhivya prabandham only]. SriRangam Sri Narasimhachar swami,on Sri 
BhAShya,said that EmperumanAr also has said that women and shUdrAs 
are not allowed to learn. If this be the case,why do we see 
NammAzhvAr and other AzhvArs wearing yagnyOpavItham in all dhivya 
dhEsha sanniDhis? Is this not in direct conflict with Shruthi? 

I am sure if AzhvArs(4th and 5th varNAs) were baddha jIvatmas,they 
would not have worn yagnyOpavItham while they were in this lIla 
vibhUthi. If this yagnyOpavItham was adorned by them after they 
attained mOksha(after gaining sArUpyam),then are there two shruthis 
which are valid,one before attaining mOksha and one after attaining 
mOksha? I have heard that when EmperumAnAr was young,he had put the 
yagnyOpavItham for some of his friends who belonged to the 
unfortunate varNAs. Is this true?

3. Every prapanna is a sri VaiShNava. What about the converse? Also 
answer keeping in mind Sri PL's words:a person following karma,jnAna 
and bhakti mArgas(who enjoy certain things) and those follow(or try 
to) prapatti(who shudders to sleep with his own wife) and also Sri 
ParAshara Bhattar's statement "an SV is superior to vEdhAnthin".
Sri ParAshara Bhattar,once by mistake addressed his wife as ammA and 
the wife thus replied:"swami I am your wife and hence your servant". 
sri Bhattar's reply was: "Oh,Did I address you as ammA(may be 
perumAL's tiru uLLam)? okay,from now on I will treat you also like a 
mother".

If we strictly go by Sri PiLLai lOkAcAryA's "code of conduct for 
prapanna",how many prapannas would be there in this world? 
EmperumAnAr told UyyakkoNdAr that "one has to have a taste for 
prapatti which in turn requires PerumAL's anugraham". Does this mean 
that SriVaiShNavism,which is built on prapatti,is hard to impliment?

4. I am not talking about every brAhmaNA marrying someone outside his 
caste! But I'm talking about a Sri VaiShNavan. Can a Sri VaiShNava
(brahmin/non brahmin)guy marry a SV(non brahmin/brahmin)gal? Someone 
told me that "it can not be done"(and it was a shock for me because 
till this day I have been telling my friends that Ramanuja 
sampradAyam is the superset of all sets,encompasses every damn thing 
in this Unierse blah blah blah). What is the point of marrying 
a "name sake" SV Iyengar brahmin who questions:"why do you need to 
know about the sampradAyam & God in detail at this age and also he
(worse than SisupAla) is jealous of attention given to God!)? Is not 
zillion times better to marry a non-brahmin person(boy/girl) who 
believes in our faith and wants to know about our sampradAyam? I 
honestly do not know,how accurately Patricia Mumme presented Swami 
Desikan's views in her book. According to the contents of the 
book,Swami Desikan was of the view that "there is a distinction 
between Brahmin devotee and shUdra devotee;and shudra devotee should 
be given respect only as per varNAshrama Dharma". 

5. I learnt kOil tiruvAymozhi from a bhAgavatha who is a telugu SV
(not a brahmin). I'm a brahmin because my ancestor is a brahmin by 
birth/caste. Does Sri sampradAyam/SV-ism say that I(brahmin by 
birth/caste or whatever) should give respect to the bhAgavatha(non-
brahmin) only "within" the grounds of varNAshrama Dharma? Are there 
any written records that EmperumAnAr(brahmin) did not fall at 
Tirukkacci nambi's feet(a shUdra)? This question is raised because I 
have read posts claiming that even EmperumAnAr respected a bhAgavatha 
as per varNAshrama Dharma only!

6. Is not this varNAshrama(that requires individual's effort through 
bodily means and which also gives rise to ego) contrary to prapatti 
which goes by shEshathvam and pArathanthriyam? This ego follows the 
person like a shadow(in 99.999999999% case this is true) and does it 
not stand in the way of shEshathvam? Is not SV built on the prapatti? 
If so,why there is a need to give importance to varNAshrama,(since it 
is difficult to develop "shEshathvam and pArathanthryam" through 
karma,jnAna,bhakti mArgams and one in a kOti may succeed)? Please 
address this from the stand point of AcArya Hrdhayam(sUthra 57-
62,where Swami Azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr declares the 
greatness of NammAzhvAr over others viz., vAlmIki,vyAsa,rShis, 
yOgis,munis..),Sri Vacana BhUShaNam and Mumukshuppadi.

7. There are many foreigners who are getting into the fold of our 
sampradAyam by Sri Chinna Jeeyar swami which is contrary to the view 
maintained by some people that "in our sampradAyam we don't preach or 
spread". The "so called" 74 simhAsanAdhipathis were appointed by 
EmperumAnar for this task only.

Strictly speaking,if we go by Sri PiLLai lOkAcArya's Mumukshuppadi
(explanation for Carama slOkam),all the mArgams(by shruthi,smrthi 
etc) other than prapatti,are "aDharmA" only. Correct me if I'm wrong. 
I have put forth all the above questions because the main reason is,I 
have observed in my extended family circle(who all come under AcArya 
puruShA families only! one of my cousin is a disciple of Sai 
Baba),that they have different views when it comes to talking about 
SV sampradayam and practising it. Their behaviour is somewhat similar 
to that of EmperumAnAr's wife towards Sri Tirukkaci Nambi.

The second reason is personal. I come from a "double" AcArya puruSha 
family(both maternal and paternal) and yet my parents are very very 
very liberal in caste issues. My mother was more orthodox than my 
father,used to tie only madisAru from day one of her marriage,would 
not even eat in some AcArya puruShas houses(they eat onion and garlic 
and the reason given is that these have medicinal value) because she 
was very specific about food and also would not want to trouble 
others unnecessarily. She enforced her orthodoxy only on us and not 
on the outsiders. 

If Sri ParAshara Bhattar was the one who gave importance to the 
beggars of SriRangam,then my father also follows the footsteps of Sri 
Bhattar. If my mother had not sold her silver articles,my parents 
would have fed the beggar in a silver utensil also(right now the 
scenario in our house wrt beggar is foodin vAzha ilai and water in 
stainless). My parents are alike in thoughts and we have been brought 
up in the same atmosphere. My father would wear a "azhukku/dirty" 
vEshti at home or even outside sometimes but would give generously 
his "mayil kaN vEshti" to guests. Both my parents are weird 
characters and I'm indebted to God for making me born to such 
parents. Hence I am unable to understand the mentality of the people
(belonging to our sampradAyam) having a totally different view when 
it comes to talking and practising Sri VaiShNavism. 

Kindly address these questions of mine,giving references from AcAryAs 
works to elucidate the same so that I would know where exactly our 
sampradAyam stands wrt varNAshrama Dharma. Last but not the least,let 
us not forget the fact that, in this current age, only 0.000000001% 
of the brAhmins(applies to other caste too) would strictly follow the 
rules of varNAshrama Dharma. It is my conviction that the one sect 
that divided into two is mainly,not because of doctrinal differences, 
but due to varNAshrama Dharma. It is my guess that many would not 
have liked Ramanuja accepting everybody(I have listened to my own 
realatives' words:Ramanuja put nAmam/thirumaN for all passers-by!) 
into the fold due to this conflicting views on varNAshrama and hence 
would have divided and all these doctrinal differences as a "reason" 
would have come much much later say one/two centuries after Sri 
MaNavALa mAmunigaL's period. I could be absolutely wrong about this
(since there is no precise reason for the division of sect,it gives 
me some freedom to speculate too!) and hence forgive for the same. 

Please kindly forgive if i,unintentionally, hurt anyone's feelings 
and also sorry for the lengthy post(couldn't help it).

AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE sharaNam
NC Nappinnai







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