You are here: SriPedia - Ramanuja - Archives - Nov 2002

Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00087 Nov 2002

 
Nov 2002 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:

Dear Bhagavatas,

Salutations to all. Thought would share mine too in 
response to Sri Venkatesan's and Sri Visu's posts. Although Bhagavad 
Gita comes under smrti text,it is in par with upanisads as it does 
nowhere contradict the sruti. The Sruti talks about so many topics
(deviating from parabrahman,let alone the ocean of His kalyANa guNAs 
and His activities). Narada muni in Srimad Bhagavatham says this is 
one of the defects of Veda Vyasa and hence the latter feels 
incomplete even after compiling all the vedas and mahabharata. 
So,Bhagavad Gita which is in alignment with the sruti talks about 
karma yoga etc and then the trumpet/secret is released in 18:66. In 
Chapter 11 when the Lord shows His virAta swarUpam,mentions His 
attributes to arjuna and also says that He is only giving a few 
glimpses of His infinite,Divine glory. Not that He can't express His 
infiniteness to arjuna. The limitation is on the arjuna side. As such 
HE only had to supply arjuna the "divine eye" to see HIS Vishva 
rUpam. 

This being the case,why would AzhvArs,who through nirhEtuka 
krpa of the Lord,enjoyed His kalyANa guNAs thoroughly,mention about 
Bhagavad Gita too often in their hymns? Yet,you do find lot of 
references in NammAzhvAr's and Kaliyan's pAsurams(I have taken down 
all those but right now my NDP book is at home). 

The Lord could have bursted out the secret in the 
beginning itself. Why does HE have to wait for 18 chapters? Because 
Arjuna had wrong, false notions about dharma(Cf Sri PiLLai 
LokAchArya's Mumukshuppadi). Arjuna was not learned. 

So Mr visu,your assumption that "Gita is not for the 
common man" is "ABSOLUTELY" wrong. Lord KrsNA was not a fool to waste 
the purpose of His incarnation by only advising the learned men. It 
is only with the intention that "every jeevatma should get released 
from this never ending samsAra" ,HE gave GitOpadesam. And the 
majority of jeevatmas can only be classified under the broad category 
of "common man". Also one can learn a lot from Mahabharata. It's full 
of complexities. Life is simple yet it becomes complicated by 
ourselves. Children can't understand the nuances,intricacies and 
complexities of relations! So you can't tell the kid the importance 
of the "draupadi scene". Yet you can site some references from 
mahabharata to the kid to explain some simple things about life. I 
have come across so many oldies who ask the "purpose of life" at the 
age of sixty. Though I do agree that Bhagavad Gita requires "some" 
maturity,it is very difficult to draw a "clear line for maturity". My 
niece(4 and 1/2 yrs old) knows some information about 
azhvArs,ramanuja and manavALa mAmunigaL. If you ask her what Ramanuja 
did,she will give an instantaneous reply "he,out of compassion for 
all,told the secret of nArAyaNa manthram in TirukOshtiyUr". Why I am 
saying this is to refute your statement that "kids do not need an 
AzhvAr" 

Finally,we don't know in what form that Lord will come in 
front of us! Take the beautiful example of Kaliyan when he tried to 
rob the Divine couple who were in the guise of young married couple!
Due to our Prakrti vAsana,we have the tendency to stick to false 
upAyAs and hence we may not even realize if the Lord were standing 
next to us. That's why HE says "I'm the eternal dharma;KrSNa dharma 
sanatanam and BG18:66". There are lot of people(including myself)who 
are physically matured but have wrongly understood the "true" message 
of the Bhagavad Gita. It's left to the individual(under the mercy of 
the Lord)to realize what "truth" means/is. Wrt nirhEtuka krpa,I like 
to quote Gandhi. Gandhi, in his book "my experience with truth" had 
openly declared that it is only out of "All-merciful" God(not 
throught his effort)that he was saved from committing mistakes wrt 
women(on three occasions)

Just wanted to share my quota of experiences in life,beg pardon if 
said anything wrong or hurt anyone's feelings.

Wish everyone a happy celebration of "Mudal AzhvArs(Poikai,bhUta,pEy)"
Tirunakshatrams. 

mayarvaRa mathinalam aruLappeRRa AzhvAr tiruvadigaLE saraNam
AzhvAr EmperumAnAr Jeeyar TiruvadigaLE saraNam
nappinnai





[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
ramanuja-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list