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

Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00085 Oct 2002

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


Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:

Dear Devotees,
Salutations to you all. Science has its own limitations. It 
helps, to some extent, to argue logically to convince others. Beyond 
that it carries no weightage because logic is not life. Westerners 
have a disadvantage as their religion does not account for karma and 
let alone the hi-fi vEdAnta. Buddhism is okay from the aspect of 
karma but it doesn't recognize the "supreme brahman". Sorry I made a 
mistake when I quoted about Buddha AvatAra(Canto 1,chapter 3(not 
2),text 24). But we are fortunate to have been born as or become a 
SriVaiSNavaite. It's a God-given oppurtunity for salvation. Many 
great kind hearted people were/are atheist/agnostic. WRT this type of 
people and a prapatti,let us look at the Gita BhASya text 7:19,

bahUnAm janmanAm anthE j~nAnavAn mAm prapadhyatE |
vAsudEva: sarvam ithi sa mahAthmA sudhurlabha: || 

Meaning:This prapatti or resorting to God presupposes the knowledge 
that the atman is essentially a sesa of God and therefore it appears 
only after many auspicious births. Moreover,one will rarely meet a 
person in this owrld who after many virtuous lives has come to know 
that it is his sole essence to be a sesa of God, Who is the Supreme 
One on account of His innumerable auspicious qualities and with this 
knowledge resorts to God to worship Him,reflecting that for these 
reasons God alone is the highest attainable end and that God is 
everything which makes him resort to God and everything he may wish 
for himself.

Why do we need to go to schools/colleges and universities in the 
first place? Why can't we learn at home itself? For each and every 
field,there is an expert. We learn to speak the language(Tamizh/
English/Deutsche/Francais)from the mother as the first teacher(there 
is nothing called father/vater but only mother/mutter tongue!). 
No one can claim that he/she has obtained knowledge on his/her own
(including Nobel Laureates). EVeryone must have had a guru/AcArya at
some point in his/her lifetime. In this materialistic world,to 
support oneself and to earn our bread and butter,we go to schools and 
univs to pursue our studies(depends on economic conditions as well). 

Due to one's own karma on one side and Lord's grace on the other,one 
may realize,in this birth itself,the true nature of the soul's 
relationship with the paramAtma. As an example, one may plan ahead 
one's trip to New York(any other place)and what all one needs to take 
care of before and after the trip. When one stretches this "brief" 
time interval "really" far enough,then one is faced with the question:
"where/what was/will I(be) before birth and after death?" In terms of 
physics one may introduce a state vector to analyze the system before 
birth and after death(but willn't lead us anywhere!).

WHen such questions arise,man turns himself towards the knowledge of 
the self and God. Since this is Ramanuja forum,we are not bothered 
about the "jIvan mukti" but only "mOksa" and hence we straightaway go
to SaraNAgati to God. Does a man put an effort to reach this state? 
NO. There are so many hard core brainy physicists whose minds 
are,atleast for a brief time,touched by God;Yet they didn't dive deep 
into the issues of God! Unless His grace is there,one can not even 
come to this state(Cf SriRamanuja's GBh 7th chapter 19),it happens 
after many auspicious births. The easiest way for the soul to realize 
Him is through "arca" worship. Why?(see the next post)

If I have to master "theory of relativity" on my own then I will 
take "my own" time. But if I go to a Professor/AcArya who is an 
expert in that field,he can impart the "true" knowledge in a short 
time. Moreover,the probability of my understanding/interpreting the 
author "correctly" by reading books is only 50-50(viparIta j~nAnam). 
This explains the need of "AchArya Sambandham". 

Why should we go to temples/Divya Desams? 
One may argue that one can do worship at home itself(leisurely) and 
hence there is no need to go to the temple/DD for worship. Can anyone 
concentrate on physics/math/poetry or meditate sitting next to a loud
speaker? No, because the atmosphere is not conducive!

Similarly,worship at home(dozen calls will be coming while chanting 
to distract the mind! and this is only one type of distraction)is not 
as "effective and conducive" as doing worship in temples. Even if we 
assume that all are bhaktimAns(at home),temple/Divya Desam worship is 
more favorable than worship at home because of the sanctity attached 
to the Divya Desams. One can pray from anywhere but to receive His 
blessings one has to go to the respective temples. Analogously,one 
can post letters from any postbox,but one can't revieve letters from 
any postbox(all of us have assigned mail boxes). Just as one would 
require the knowledge of "Tensor Analysis and Differential Geometry" 
as a pre-requisite for "Theory of Relativity",all one requires is the
desire/love not for mundane things but God as a pre-requisite for the 
devotional service to Him. When Parikshit knew he was going to die in 
a week's time,he asked SukAcArya to narrate the entire Srimad
BhAgavatham. Hence there is a need for DD/temple worship. 

For an illustration,a friend of mine(PhD,a theist) said that he 
reserves God and stuffs like bhaja gOvindam for post-sixty period. I 
told him that the famous "Uncertainty Principle" of Werner
Heisenberg enters the scene and asked him what's the certainty
or guarantee that he is going to be alive till then. He told me that 
I was being cruel and hitting hard at him. This reminds me of 
Wolfgang Pauli(German Physicist) and like to quote him.

Pauli spared none(with the exception of his own advisor Sommerfeld)
and had such a biting tongue that his mere presence in Germany would 
make all the measurements go wrong! He even made a blatant statement:

"Einstein does not know Relativity and Einstein(proponent of RT) 
humbly remarked: Yes only after reading Pauli's book on Relativity I
understand my own subject better". 

Last but not the least,don't exclude scientists from prides and 
prejudices. They can be as conservative(stick to old ideas) and as 
gullible as any ordinary human beings. 

So reflecting back on PiLLAn's milk analogy(when he paraphrases 
NammAzhvAr),let this forum foster(through the blessings of AchArya 
Sri Ramanuja and bhAgavatAs)good qualities in us(we don't need to 
put any effort).

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