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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00067 Feb 2003

 
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Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:

Dear Sri Sridhar,
Now that this "Manu" topic is raised,I will be happy 
if you can clear some of my doubts. I guess there so many 
DharmashAstrAs like Manu,Yagnyavalkya,Vishnu,Apastamba,Brhaspati,etc. 
Which one is followed? I don't remember exactly which one of the two
(Manu or Yagnavalkya)says this: women should be mentally and 
financially dependent. Also vedas say that women and sudra are not 
eligible to study the scriptures. But we do find references in 
Valmiki Ramayana that a bunch of women used to perform daily 
offerings inclusive of Sita. I guess Sita chants Gayatri which can be 
done only after the initiation(this I have heard and it could be 
wrong). And only the first three varnas are eligible for that. 

If the bottomline of the vedas is "dAsathvam(to Sriman 
Narayana)",then vedas can only mean that women and sudra need not
(instead of should not)study the scriptures. Because dAsathvam is 
already inherent in women and sudra while it's lacking in the first 
three varnas and hence they(latter group) need to study scriptures to 
develop that "dAsathvam". In Valmiki Ramayana(Valmiki Ramayana also 
suffers from contradictory statements meaning in some places we find 
Valimiki dead against rituals and in some other places he is full of 
praises for rituals),we find(in AyODhyA kANda)

"sthrInAm bharthA hi dhaivatham" - II.39.29,30

It says that a woman by serving her husband reaches 
heaven in the next life. She need not worship any other deity and by 
serving her husband she achieves Dharma. Has it been quoted elsewhere 
like purva mimasa or smrti texts? Valmiki Ramayana does not deal with 
mOksha but Dharma and it can be interpreted from SV perspective. I 
seriously do not know if Valmiki saw SriRama as "sAkshAt" Sriman 
Narayana(because Narada muni equates him to brahma and also says he 
is vishnu and Rama will reach brahma lokam which is a contradiction 
to BG 8.16 where the Lord says that from brahma down to tufts of 
grass are subject to the cycle of samsara). So I will think that 
SriRama is Dharma(rAmO vigrahavAn Dharma) otherwise it will be a 
violation of the "five" manifestations of God and He has all His 
glorious and divine qualities in the five manifestations. If somebody 
sees SriRama as only a human character then many things in Valmiki 
Ramayana itself can not be explained unambiguously. But if SriRama is 
considered as the God Himself,He has all the veto power to act as the 
way He wants and no one can question it. 

Please feel free to correct me anywhere and will be great if 
you can throw some light on the issue mentioned above.

AzhvAr EmperumAnAr Jeeyar ThiruvadigaLE sharaNam
NC Nappinnai 







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