Sri Rama Ramananujacharya's comments on monotheism are insightful, but I would like to point out that there is a fine point of demarcation between Occidental and Oriental thinking that may still allow for the concept of a personal deity without the risk of falling prey to zealous fanaticism. The religions that lay claim to X concept of Deity generally tend to place this Deity as ontologically distinct from the world, i.e., God is the Lawgiver, God is the Lord, but God has little other involvement than saving those who supplicate themselves to His Way directly either through an intercessor or by blind faith in an intercessor. This contradistincts itself with what Vedic understanding tells us about Sriman Narayana. He is Compassion and Love, and He is the antaryAmi that stays along with each and ever soul, not just a few selected human souls who live according to His laws, as Western thinking seems to imply. Consequently, to see His Presence in everything and everyone, whether exclusive Personal or in what Sri Rama defines as "Abstract" would suggest that we regard all that we see in this world as being sacred, whether or not it involves Him or not. Be that as it may, however, I would concur that too much focus is being placed these days on avoiding in "anya-dEvatha arAdhanai" rather than engaging in His Service as Service to All Beings. While it is true that Bhagavad Sri Ramanuja never entered temples to other deities, I personally feel that this was more due to the fact that the worship of these other gods included the practice of non-Vedic rituals, some of which were and continue to be quite extreme. I personally would doubt that such an enlightened soul would find these places as being detestable because he felt that Sriman Narayana's presence was not there. If I were qualified to teach or say anything on this subject, I would propose that we adopt the philosophical attitude much along the lines of the slogan of HH Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamy: "Worship Your Own, Respect All Others" Ramanuja dasan Mohan
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