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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00102 May 2006

 
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sri:

FACT CORRECTION

Saaththatha Vaishnavas are doing kainkaryams (helpers) in THaayaar 
sannidhi in Srirangam.They are NOT priests.
Sarathy
--- In ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "rvv21" <ranjan@...> wrote:
>
> Dear members, praNAmams
> 
>      If I may, I would like to offer a couple of my observations 
> about this gained from visits to our beloved Sri Rangam Kovil and 
> from my simple reading of Ramanuja Gita Bhashya.
> 
>      On going to the Thaayaar Sannidhi (Lakshmi's shrine) at Sri 
> Rangam, I noticed that many of the archakars there 
were 'shaathaadha 
> shrivaishnavas' (Sri Pritesh Swamin, in Tamil that refers to Shri 
> Vaishnavas who do not wear the sacred thread).  I understand that 
> they are privileged to have this position in the Sri Rangam kovil 
> since Ramanuja's time, it's not because of any government quota or 
> anything like that.  So Sri Vivek Swamin, indeed it would appear 
> that our acharyas and elders have allowed non-brahmins to become 
> priests for centuries.  Let us get our information correct before 
we 
> make a blanket statement such as "non-brahmins cannot become 
> priests" which certainly does not seem to have any basis if my 
> observations at Sri Rangam were correct.  Learned members, please 
> correct me if I misunderstood what I saw.
> 
>      What is also another issue is whether other communities are 
> allowed to have the sacred thread, and there definite cases of 
even 
> western europeans being given both yagnyopaveetam and 
samashrayanam 
> by our own Sri Vaishnava acharyas - anyone can search on the net 
to 
> check this is true.  So let us also not presume to make judgements 
> on this, as that is effectively discrediting the Sri Vaishnava 
> acharyas who initiated those people.  'Varnashrama dharma' is one 
> thing, but 'bhaagavata apaachaaram' is (or should be) a much 
bigger 
> thing to worry about.
> 
>      Regarding Sri Vivek swamin's point about 18:47 of Bhagavad 
> Gita:  "Doing ones own duty, even if faulty, is better than 
adopting 
> that of others" does not mean 'shUdras should not do a brahmin's 
> job' or anything like that: according to Ramanujar's Gita Bhashya 
it 
> means that we should not presume to take up the difficult process 
of 
> jnaana yoga and control of the senses when karma yoga is what we 
are 
> more innately suited to by virtue of our connection with prakrti.  
> Please refer to Swami Ramanujar's commentary and learned members, 
> again please correct any mistakes in my understanding.
> 
>      I would hope our Sri Vaishnava community at least, would have 
a 
> bit more sensitivity to the issue of non-brahmins serving in 
temples 
> rather than a knee-jerk reaction of condemnation.  Nothing is 
quite 
> as black and white as we think it is... although I am not Indian-
> born or raised and therefore not qualified to comment on the 
> intricacies of caste politics in India, I would at least ask us 
all 
> to approach this issue with the compassion that is meant to be a 
> hallmark Sri Vaishnava lakShaNam.  Let's leave such judgements to 
> the acharyas who understand the true significance 
> of "varNa", "jAti", "dharma" and all those things better than we 
lay-
> ShriVaishnavas do. I hope I have not offended anybody.
> 
> sarvAparAdhAn kShamasva
> namO nArAyaNAya
> Ranjan
>









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