SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA; APPAN THIRUVADIGALE SARANAM. Dear Vijayaraghavan swami Accept my pranam.Adiyen am able to understand your agony..This kind of tirade is not a new one. Earlier, Adiyen too,in similar instances have written letters to the concerned ;but, those who are indulging in this kind of activities are commercial ones who live their livelihood on this kind of cheap acts. They cannot afford to antognize the powerful, influential sections of the community.So, this kind of humiliations are likely to continue and are to be ignored.
That does not mean that we should not protest. Those who feel very much may express their feelings to the concernrd. Sometimes, it may work.
There is another way to counter this problem. In the beginning of last century, Namam was respected and people wearing it were revered. why the position has changed ? Let us make an introspection.
In the first place what is Namam ? why we should wear it ? what is the benefit out of it ?
How many of us ( Srivaishnavites) adopt this now a days ?' NAMAM ' is a symbol worn on the person of Srivaishnavites in various places of the body, particularly on the fore head. It represents the Lotus feet of Emperuman together with Mahalakshmi.
It is an act of expressing our 'swaroopam' that we, jeevas are His servants and we ACCEPT soverignity of the Lord. We do it with pleasure and pride and not out of compulsion.
Any body who wants any favour from a higher influential, powerful person fall at his feet and seek his protection. That means he has surrendered to a great person; has thrown away his Ego; and seeks the protection of the great one and accept his subordinate position.
We respect our National flag ( if you do'nt it is a piece of cloth)
We worship images of Gods printed on paper,made of metal or stone.
If we donot give respect to that .. we have not understood the meaning of worship. we may do worship out of fear or expecting a favour. This is in initial stages. But, later when the spiritual knowledge developes, adopting us to the various procedures become automatic. One such thing is wearing Namam.
Sri Alavandar has described the virtues of Lotus feet of EmperumaN IN 6 SLOKAS( 26 to 31) in his 'STOTRA RATNA '
HOW ONE WHO HAS ENJOYED the nectar flowing FROM YOUR LOTUS FEET CAN DESIRE FOR ANY OTHER THING ?
AN 'ANJALI DONE' TO YOUR LOTUS FEET BY ONE, ONCE, IN ANY FASHION, from that instant itself, all his sins are washed away. That does not stop there. It gives all RICHES for ever. Never stops thereafter.
In this fashion other slokas continue. In sloka 31 He asks " When your Lotus feet is going to adore my head ?
In Ramanuja Nooranthathi sloka 4. ENNAI PUVIYIL ORU PORULAKKI MARUL SURANTHA MUNNA PAZHAVINAI VEERARUTHU OOZHI MUTHALVANAIYE PANNA PANITHA RAMANUJAN PARAN PADHAMUM EN CHENNI THARIKKA VAITHAN ENAKKETUM CHITHIVU ILLAYEE !Acharya Sri.Ramanuja made me a meaningful object in earth. Past sins because of ignorance were washed away completely. Sri. Ramanuja enlightened me in detail about Emperuman who is the creator of the samsara. He made the LOtus feet of Emperuman to stay in my head for ever. Here after there will be no down fall to me.
Such is the greatness of Lotus feet of Emperuman. We adore this symbolically in our fore head, and other parts of the body out of LOVE,REVERENCE,RESPECT AND DEVOTION.
Now a days, many of the Srivaishnavas have joined the main stream of humanity running after food and vanities. Out of fear that they may be singled out, they do not want to identify themselves as separate religious group. They feel shy of adoring the fore head with Namam. Even foreigners have joined ISKON and sporting Namam of their group and changed their style. But, we srivaishnavites hesitate. This is partialy due the lack of proper knowledge on Srivaishnavism. Even those who have some knowledge, due to thier working conditions are also not able to wear it. Above all sectional struggle over Temples, in the beginning of the last century undermined their prestige among the people. Also, other religious sects are taking advantage of the difficulties of Srivaishnavites and dispersing incorrect and false informations.
The Vedic Philosophy and the religion based on it is different from other religions.They excel other religions as they deal with 'Moksham". Srivaishanvam has in addition Azhvar's Arulicheyals (Tamizh Marai). Should we loose this heritage ?
What is the remedy ? If we have faith and respect in our Emperumanar Dharsanam We should develope our will power to raise ourselves from the present muddle. Be honest and sincere one. Try to learn our heritage and improve the knowledge on it. Obtain informations from authentic sources. Do not believe rumors and gossips. Mingle with Srivaishnavas as far as possible. Think good and be good to society. If We have the will and oppurtunity to adorn Namam in our fore head WE SHOULD NOT FEEL SHY OF IT. Take it as a pride aND DO IT . this kind of passive resistance will definetely fetch respect. And those who have correct knowledge on Srivaishnavism share it with those who are interested to know about it.
Adiyen Ramanuja dasan, T.Parthasarathy.From: "Prof.TAS Vijayaraghavan" <tasviji@xxxx>|Block Sender |Save Address To:cmd@xxxx, ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, bhakti-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
saranagathi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, SriRangaSri@ On Thu, 04 Jul 2002 Prof.TAS Vijayaraghavan wrote :
Dear Sir, I wish to bring to your notice that some of the dialogues in yesterday's ( July 3, 2002) telecast of the Annamalai serial in the SUN TV wherein the character Komathy Nayakam makes scathing remarks on Vaishnavite symbols and the religion. When Kankanipoints out to the Thiruman ( referred as namam) which Komathy is having on his forehead the character Komathy says that " Besides Vadakalai and Thenkalai, he has started another kalai......." and to Thavasi he says that he has only small namam and Thavasi willbe given a big namam by Kanthimathi ammal. This is hurting the sentiments of the Vaishnavites and I donotknow what is the fun the Producer, the Director , the actors andothers want to have out of this. Is it made to demonstrate the Director's sick sense of humour? What do you people want toportray? Do you want to say that Vaishnavites are cheats and they put namam on others to cheat or they are cheated by others and sothey are putting this on their forehead? How long you people go on hurting the Vaishnavites and their symbols? Why didn't thecharacter say that I have a small Pattai ( i.e. Vibhuthi Pattai)and Thavasi will get a big Pattai from Kanthimathi ammal? Is itbecause the serial revolves around Annamalai, a Shivaite Deity oryou are scared of people in the Political Circle who areShivaites? Can you do the samething with a Christian or a Muslim community? Can Komathy say that he is going to start another sectin Christianity or in Islam? Since the Vaishnavites are peaceloving and donot resort to any violence or fight, you are takingus for granted. What do you know about the Vaishnavaite Culture and thecontribution of Azhvars and Vaishnavas for Tamil Literature which the so called political parties could not do for decades with allthe public money they have been having? Are they the same team of Radaan who produced the brilliant serials Chiththi and Kaveri where the stories were woven around Iyengar families and were well handled without any scathingcomments? I am shocked. I had great regards for Mr.CJ.Bhaskar and Mrs.Radhika Sarathkumar after these two serials and used to feelproud when the initial clippings of the serial Chiththi showingthe Temple of SriRangam ( Vaishnavite Seat equivalent to Vaticanfor Christians and Mecca for Muslims) with the Thirumanmajestically portrayed is also being continued in Annamalai. Butafter seeing yesterday's episode, I am shocked to see if they are also influenced by cheap popularities. KIndly refrain from making such remarks in those serials and as the CEO of the Network, kindly make sure that you don't permit these types of dialogues in the serials from your network. I am marking this e-mail to all the egroups of the Vaishnavites in the world and request everyone of them to send e-mail, ortelephone or send a letter to lodge our protest. I also apologise to my members in these egroups to pardon me for bringing this aspart of the ongoing discussions. Regards Dr.T.A.S.Vijayaraghavan Professor XLRI, Jamshedpur------------------------ Yahoo! Groups SponsorazhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyAr thiruvadigalE saranamYour use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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