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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00131 Apr 2003

 
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Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:
Dear bhAgavathAs,

Salutations to all. This is a general post with some 
sUthrams taken from AcArya Hrdhayam in the light of varNAshrama 
Dharmam but touches upon one or two examples that Sriman Laskhmi 
Narasimhan quoted. Forgive for all my misunderstanding of Swami 
Azhagiya MaNavALa PerumAL NAyanAr's AH and also would like to be 
corrected.

I guess Swami Azhagiya MaNavALa PerumAL nAyanAr wrote AH mainly to 
defend Sri Vacana BhUShaNam on some of the subtle points like 
varNAshrama Dharma,prapatti,nirhEthuka krpa etc. Actually I should 
have read AH first to understand SVB. But in my case it is the other 
way round. It is SVB which is helping me to understand AH. Initially 
and even now in my sleep Sri PL and SVB comes.

Dear brother Lakshmi Narasimhan quoted about green cards(and other 
cards),Visa,INS rules and regulations and passport to explain 
varNAshrama Dharma. First of all these are all man made and its age 
is only few centuries. During the time of Alexander the Great or 
Caesar,there was no Visa or passport to enter other countries!!!!
Do birds have visa/passport? Don't they migrate freely from one place 
to another? It is the human mind,which has the power to 
distinguish,puts this kind of partitioning also by restricting the 
heart and the mind. So we can not compare these man made rules(which 
are in the hands of some political hands)with varNAshrama Dharma,a 
part of karma kANda,which in turn a part of mImAmsa/vEdAs/shruthi 
which is "aupuruShEya". Green card etc is not a good example. We have 
to take something concrete even though it is a materialistic example!

The moment whoever says brahmin dhEham is superior(due to good deeds)
to the dhEham of other lower castes,one is disrespecting the other 
castes. Sri PiLLai lOkAcAryA says that a prapanna would shudder to 
perform even good deeds fearing that it may affront the Lord's 
pleasure. Because a deed is good if it pleases the Lord otherwise bad 
and this good/bad deeds are not defined according to our words. 

Assume that the two are different(atma and the body) and should not 
be mixed up. AtmA does not exist on its own,and hence it 
requires "some(sentient/non-sentient)" body. Agreed that the 
body/varNA/caste is according to one's good/bad deeds. Why did 
nithyasUris,AzhvArs and AcAryAs(nAThamuni, yAmunAcAryAr)always 
desired a lower caste rather than a brahmin caste. THey wanted to be 
either some aqautic life forms,or plant or stone,tree,animal,worms 
etc as long as they are born in a SV family or some divya kshEthrams 
like tirumalai or a bee in vandinam muralum sOlai. 

Nowhere they mentioned that they would love to assume the brahmin 
dhEham which is superior to the dhEhams of other lower castes. My 
understanding of SVB(my knowledge is bookish and I'm a alpa jIvAtma 
unlike those who had the fortune to listen to great AcAryAs) is that 
Sri PiLLai lOkAcArya says that the other mAragams like 
karma,jnAna,bhakti(goes by varNAshrama Dharma) are poison and 
aDharmAs because of this drawback of the same. This ego that comes 
out of one's birth(dhEham is superior)will follow the person like a 
shadow till death and will destroy the "essential" nature shEshatvam. 
Precisely for this only,Swami Desikan critised Sri PL's view and 
Swami Azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr(who wrote AH to defend his 
brother's SVB) and Swami Desikan had a debate on this(anyway this is 
as per TK's guruparampara). 

AcArya Hrdhayam says: "iRaivanukku adimaiyAga irukka vENdum enRa 
eNNaththirkkum puRambAna ahankAraththai varNam/caste kodukkum".
This body will only give rise to ego due to the thinking that dhEham 
is superior! That's why EmperumAnAr did kAya shudDhi and hence the 
body that is afflicted by ego(which is a stumblimg block for 
shEshathvam) gets "purified". Sri NampiLLai got anna/food shudDhi 
done by telling PiLLai ERu thiru udaiyAr dAsar to touch the food and 
give it to Sri NampiLLai(this is an example for the purification of 
the food).

Respect should be given within the grounds of varNAshrama Dharma?? If 
this applies to human beings what about animals. SriRama and Hanuman
(vAnara/monkey)ate food in the same plate! In many Brahmin houses
(iyengar/iyer),they don't allow the lower castes to enter the kitchen 
or even not beyond the verandah/living room! Sri Naduvil thiruvIdhi 
piLLai bhattar was constructing a house. PiLLai vAnamAmalai 
dAsar,thinking that he would not be able to enter after the 
grhapravEsham,had a tour of the house(including kitchen) the previous 
day itself. The "so called" elite brahmin people of the society heard 
about this and were not happy and went to bhattar and asked 
him "hey,what kind of a grhapravEsham are you celebrating? 
vAnamAmalai dAsan,by entering your house,had done a sacrilege to the 
house". Bhattar,thinking that the house got purified(purification of 
the place) by vAnamAmalai dAsA's visit,entered the house next day 
without doing any homam. 

Since Lord's law is veda/shruthi,He also would go by it. So during 
His sojourns as SriRama and SriKrShNa,does this mean that the body He 
assumed was inferior to the dhEhams of brahmins who were around Him. 
To defend this point,people would quote immediately the "five 
manifestations" of the Lord and it is not the "ordinary" sharIram 
that we jIvAtmAs acquire. If His body is different from that of the 
defn of brahmin,kshatriya,vaiShya and shUdra,how can He be born as a 
kshatriya? Meaning His caste also should be different from the normal 
four varNAs. 

Wrt E.Ve.RA PeriyAr,everybody knows that he had hatredness towards 
brahmins. This is only a retaliation of olden days ill-treatment done 
to lower castes especially sUdrAs/tribals done by brahmins. This is a 
vicious circle. So let us not take this as an example. Animals don't 
have vengence nor the non-sentient. It's only the human beings,who 
have the rational thinking,acquires all negative traits. So the more 
one gives importance and keep thinking about the fact that "brahmin 
dhEham is superior to those of lower castes" is bound 
to lose shEshathvam. That is the effect of prakrthi maNdalam!

AH 90: "sarva varNa shUdrathvam" - whatever be one's caste,if he/she 
does not have love for PerumAL,he/she(even if he is a brahmin who 
chants vEda) is only a shUdra. 

AH 90: "shvapacaril bhakthipAsanamum" - even those,eho eat the flesh 
of dog,who have bhakthi as their property,should be worshipped.

SrivaiShNavargaLaip piRappuk kAraNamAga yArEnum nindhiththAl 
nindhiththavar appOdhE andha idaththil chaNdALargaL AvAr. Those who 
understna this difference,whatever be their caste,are equal to 
nithyasUris. Those who do not realise this and those who do research 
on the birth of bhAgavathA(to me this sanctions the marriage between 
two SVs irrespective of the caste),even though they are brahmins,the 
very moment become chaNdALAs.

Keeping aside the "superiority of the dhEham by varNA" aside,we will 
see what Swami Azhagiya MaNavALa PerumAL NAyanAr says about the 
purity of sharIram in AH. Also SriKrShNa says in BG,that a shUdra can 
become a brAhmaNA and a brAhmaNA can become a shUdra by conduct. This 
topic will be closed with the next post. Once again I seek 
forgiveness from devotees for any sins committed in the form of 
writing,or the contents that offended others. 

AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE sharaNam
NC Nappinnai





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