| You are here: Sri Vaishnava Home Page : Bhakti List : Archives : July 2000 |
From: Anand Karalapakkam (kgk_at_md2.vsnl.net.in)
Date: Sat Jul 29 2000 - 20:23:07 PDT
SrI:
SrI Lakshminrusimha ParabrahmaNE namaha
SrI Lakshminrusimha divya pAdukA sEvaka SrIvaN -
SaThakOpa SrI nArAyaNa Yateendra mahAdESikAya namaha
namO nArAyaNa!
Dear SrI Narasimhan,
.. cont
> everytime we who believe
> in nAdOpasanA hear a kriti like 'entharO mahAnubhAvulu
> anthariki vandanamulu' or 'enna thavam seythanai
> yasodA' (both composed by advaitis, by the way!) or
> 'krishnA nee beganE bArO', tears fill up our eyes. (my
> eyes are moist as adiyEn types this). if this kind of
> nAdOpasanA is not Bhakti then what is?
The bhakti as you have referred here is "sAmAnya bhakti".
The "bhakti" ie.upAsana as prescribed in Upanishads
does need such a great bent of mind of craving for
SrIman nArAyaNa and it includes "sAmAnya bhakti" within
it. The article in SrI Ahobila Mutt's page dwells more
on this issue. Please refer to it. In short, those who
are capable enough and are immersed in kalyANa guNas
of SrIman nArAyaNa (with sAmAnya bhakti) will take up
the course of karma-jn~yAna yOga, attain jIvAtma
sAkshAtkAram and proceed further to attain ParamAtma
sAkshAtkAram by adopting an upAsana as prescribed in
Upanishads. Alternatively, one might adopt Prapatti. It
depends upon the free-will of the jIvAtma to choose a
path of its liking.
By the way, in "entarO mahAnubhAvulu" krithi referred by
you, the charanam "....SivAdi ShaNmatamula goodamUla muppati ..
..mahAnubhAvulu antariki vandanamu", SrI TyAgarAja
salutes all the persons who worshiped dEvatas in accordance
with the six religion viz. the supreme-god in each religion
as being Siva,PArvati,Ganapati,Subramanya,VishNu and SUrya.
SrI TyAgarAja says that these persons who followed either
of these religions are mahAnu-bhAvAs who attained mukti due
to such worship of their ishta-dEvata (saguNa-brahman).
According to the present day advaitins, SrI Adi Sankara Bhagavad
pAdAL was a great synthesizer of all these six religions and
that it is well incorporated within the advatia vEdAnta. Anyone
of these specific six dEvatas can thus be considered as
saguNa-brahman for them and intense devotion unto them will make
these persons fit to receive the teachings of mahAvAkyas from a
Guru. But, unbiassed scholars are of the opinion that SrI Adi
Sankara recognized only Lord NArAyana as the SaguNa-Brahman, since
in all of his commentaries on SAstras like Upanishads-Brahma
SUtras-Bhagavad GIta-VishNu SahasranAma, he has equated only Lord
NArAyana to SaguNa-Brahman and all other dEvatas as being
sub-ordinate to Him. According to these scholars, some stotras
etc on other dEvatas as being SaguNa-Brahman, attributed to SrI
Adi Sankara is a later fabrication. Anyway, SrI TyAgarAjar seems
to have followed the most popular version of advaita as existed
in his period and which is so in current times as well, with Lord
RAma being his ishta-dEvata. In this system of advaita, one has to
daily worship all these six-dEvatas. However, the sacred water
(theertam) obtained after thirumanjanam to SAlagrAma MUrti
(Lord VishNu) is only fit for consumption. It is in their current
anushThAnam as well.
SrI VaishNavas / SAstras donot accept that any of these six
dEvatas can be considered as Supreme-God (just for the sake of
meditation ie.SaguNa-Brahma upAsana and to be the stepping stone
for nirguNa-Brahman realization). SrIman nArAyaNa is the only
Supreme Lord who is the ultimate reality and attaining (serving)
Him <includes pirAtti ofcourse> is the ultimate end.
> adiyEn is not a scholar like sri hari. but adiyEn
> knows one thing certainly. Our Bhagavan has clearly
> stated in His Gita that those who have acquired
> theoretical knowledge of the shAstrAs and vedAs etc.
> are not necessarily dear to Me. That person is dear to
> Me who has placed his mind on Me. adiyEn is very clear
> that nAdOpAsanA within seconds places my mind, body
> and soul at His lotus feet. this to my immature mind
> is the most practical way of seeking refuge at His
> feet , even if a thousand Haris were to tell me that
> it is not sanctioned by the scriptures.
> may the learned bhAgavathAs pardon adiyEn for any
> erroneous thought!
Again, your statements are worded too strongly against
a very good SrI VaishNava/Prapanna SrI Hari and that too
completly mis-understanding what he wrote earlier.
As aDiyEn understands, you equate SrI Hari to be of the
category of "Theoritical Knowledged" people devoid of
bhakti/anubhava who does not know about nAdOpAsana. If
it is not intended by you, aDiyEn apologizes for
mis-understanding your intention. If it was intended so
by you, it is totally uncalled for. SrI Hari has been
working very hard with pure intention to serve the
SrI VaishNava community. He has already given many good
lectures at Singapore, hearing upon which many have turned
from different backgrounds to embrace SrI VaishNavam and
follow its principles. I personally know about his good
devotion towards Divya-Dampati, AchAryas and BhAgavatas.
He has involved himself in lots of financial support to
various SrI VaishNava causes. Given that he is only in his
mid-twenties and having performed kAlakshEpam under an
AchArya on sampradAya granthas, he deserves much more
respect, in aDiyEn's humble opinion. His well intended
postings to the list are well received by many. Again, if
aDiyEn has mis-interpretted your words, kindly pardon me.
A note on Knowledge / "Jn~yAna" : Bhakti is basically a
form of jn~yAna ie.knowledge. Prapatti is also a specific
form of knowledge though needed to be obtained only once.
Technically, both bhakti and prapatti are avasthas
ie.states of dharmabhUta jn~yAna and thus both are "jn~yAna
visEsha" only. Theoritical knowledge on SAstras is very
essential to understand Tatva-Hita-PurushArthas properly.
Without adequate knowledge on the most essential aspects
(the topmost essence) of SAstras, one will certainly have
many mis-conceived notions and by their own speculations,
they would perform acts which would not be in accordance
with SAstras (eg: Mis-conception of what exactly
"Bhakti-YOga" is; Misconception on the Supreme Lord; etc).
Thats why, AchAryas like SwAmi DESikan blessed us with
invaluable works like "SrImad Rahasya Traya SAram" to know
the most essential aspects of Tatva-Hita-PurushArtha. As you
say, one who does not develop devotion towards SrIman nArAyaNa,
though has read various SAstras is not as dear to Lord, as a
person who has understood Him well. But, the defect here is
not on the "Knowledge of SAstras" in general, but the
comprehension/attitude of the person who has studied various
SAstras without understanding its purport. Knowledge on
SAstras is extremly important and when its properly obtained,
it will automatically show its effect - Be it devotion to
Divya Dampati, AchAryas, possesion of aatma-guNas etc. By the
way, the two most celebrated features of an AchArya are their
"jn~yAna" and "anushThAna". Our pUrvAchAryas often compare a
bird to an AchArya with "jn~yAna" and "anushThAna" as their
two wings. Though one may have good sAmAnya bhakti, unless
backed up by proper knowledge on Tatva-Hita-PurushArthas,
he/she will delay their attainment of SrI VaikuNTham. However,
PerumAL will certainly guide those with sAmAnya-bhakti and
will eventually guide them to adopt a sAdhyOpAya and thereby
grant moksha for them.
A Note on the verse ref. veena nAdam: The statements in SAstras
like "Knower of Music alongwith appropriate tALam,rAga etc will
certainly reach moksha easily", "Residents of Divya-DEsa will
attain moksham", "Recital of bhagavan nAma will certainly
make one attain moksham" etc are all fully valid statements.
There is nothing wrong in those translations / verses ; Only
the import has to be additionally understood ie. they aid one
to the anushThAnam of a sAdhyOpAya and thereby attain
moksham. The net result is that "By reciting bhagavan nAma, he
attained moksham" is a valid statement, and intermediete
details are to be understood through other pramAnas which
clarify about the sAdhyOpAyas (eg: BhaktyA paramayA vApi
prapattyA vA mahAmatE prApyOham na anyathA prApyO mama
kainkarya lipsubhihi : Using this pramAna which ascertains that
bhakti and prapatti are the one and only sAdhyOpAyas, one has
to suitably understand the statements in SAstras like "Recital
of bhagavan nAma will fetch moksham" etc). This is the way
SwAmi DESikan explains in SrImad RTS. Thus, there is nothing
wrong in the translation of the verse. But, one has to
additionaly write "notes" on it to make the actual import
clearer. Many arguments and explanations has already been
given by SrI Hari which act as the "notes" in this case.
Final note : There is no doubt that singing/hearing the
songs on SrIman nArAyaNa will *very easily* make one focus
unto Lord. Thats why PArAyanam of Divya Prabandham and Stotras
are very regularly done by SrI VaishNavas. If one has the
capacity to mix music into it, it will be much better for
one's own anubhavam and the listeners. AzhwArs/SAstras have
certainly recommended this and esp.for the kali yuga.
aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,
anantapadmanAbhan.
krishNArpaNam.
--------------------------------------------------------------------<e|-
Was the salesman clueless? Productopia has the answers.
http://click.egroups.com/1/4633/5/_/716111/_/965054101/
--------------------------------------------------------------------|e>-
--------------------------------------------------------------
- SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -
To Post a message, send it to: bhakti-list@eGroups.com
Visit http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/ for more information