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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00004 Feb 2003

 
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Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:
Dear Smt Sumithra,
Accept my pranams. We(generic) don't start to do kaimkaryam 
for our mental satisfaction and peace! If we do,then we fall under 
the fifth category of those with ill-conceived notion of prapatti[Cf 
SVB 263-268]. But you can desire to do service to THEM and THEIR 
devotees. Service/kaimkaryam(shEshathva)should come spontaneously out 
of love or fear for Him[Cf SVB 281 "kaimkaryanthAn bhakti mUlam 
allAdha pOdhu bhIthi mUlamAy varavENum"]. If service does not 
materialise from either of these two,the individual loses everything. 
The performance of service unto Him and His devotees is indispensable 
to the individual but the latter should render service disinterestedly
(not for our mental peace). The consequence of that kaimkaryam can be 
mental peace and satisfaction(but this should not precede the onset 
of kaimkaryam). 

First of all,we do not know if He is happy about our service. 
Although we have heard that He is always happy to hear us chanting 
His nama or prabandham etc[nAmmAzhvAr says that "He entered me and 
did this and that just because I uttered mADhava or TirumAlirumsOlai" 
but Sri PiLLai lOkAchAryar says this can not be the reason for the 
Lord to enter nammAzhvAr,these are all only pretext]. In this regard 
I will quote SVB 280 "ivan(prapanna) puNyaththai pApam enRirukkum;avan
(Lord)pApaththai puNyam enRirukkum. avanukkadhu(Lord) kidaiyAdhu; 
ivanadhu(prapanna)seiyyAn". Meaning prappana looks down upon puNya 
also as pApa,whereas the Lord,in His boundless love for him,sees his 
pApa as puNya. The Lord's fondness and readiness to view prapanna's 
pApa as puNya only remains a theoretical wish, not capable of 
realisation,seeing that the prapanna with his stainless conduct is 
not prone to commit sins. So we can only theoretically wish that He 
is happy about our service but we can not be very sure. 

Wrt KulashEkhara AzhvAr's "seidiyAya valvinaigaL...kANbEnE",I 
wouldn't want to pass any comments(as I haven't heard any bhagavad 
viShaya) except that kulashEkhara AzhvAr's desire to see 
SriRanganATha never materialised,so prays to the Lord that let him be 
atleast a step(or fish or whatever)and do service to Him eternally. 
That's all his desire(only for the service). Maybe you have the right 
thoughts in your mind but your wordings sound the opposite(atleast to 
me). I feel that Sri PiLLai lOkchArya's works are very subtle and one 
twist in word can convey a "wrong" message to the reader. Pardon me 
if I said anything to hurt you.

I had posed the same question to Sri Vanamamalai Padmanabhan and his 
reply is posted here.

>How do we know whether he is happy while doing kainkaryam?

>In this world it is very difficult to realise regarding His 
>happiness while doing kainkaryam. However, we should aim at being 
>devoid of independence while performing kainkaryam. I think, it is 
>easier to attain cleainliness in upAyam than upEyam. Definitely, 
>some self enjoyment emanates but this sort of happiness should be 
>avoided. Of course, it is presumed that when emperumAn listens to 
>our recitation (thiruchchevi sAthum pOdhu) He is indeed immensely 
>happy. This is latent than explicit . Hence, it is very
>difficult to understand His happiness in this world. We should at 
>least strive to perform kainkaryam without any self-enjoyment 
>motives.


AzhvAr EmperumAnAr Jeeyar ThiruvadigaLE sharaNam
NC Nappinnai







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