SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA. ? Neer sollum. Neer vazhi nadatthum. You are one who did not discriminate on basis of caste, gender, or possessions. You have been exceedingly impartial to all. But how can our God be impartial to the seeker? In what way it makes a difference if the seeker has learnt to chant vedas or not? Should we not cling to whatever little of vedas or upanishads that are at our reach? Sollum. Have you made any amends to this mandatory clause (of ashramas) anywhere else? Neer sollum. If you don?t show me the way, I would have to re-interpret what I thought Raman indicated me on the other day. Therefore sollum. Raman wont say anything twice. You too wont say anything doubtful. Therefore sollum.? So saying as I opened my eyes, all lights suddenly went off and the Thirumeni of Ramanuja and the garbha griham glowed in in-describable splendour in the light shed by the Thoonga ViLAkku. Simultaneously I saw the bhattar taking the deepaaraadhana near his thirumeni. The immediate thought that flashed in my mind was ?INNER GLOW?. The whole area presented a surreal picture of a pleasant glow inside the garbha griha where I was able to see clearly the smile on the face of Ramanuja glow in shantham, consolation (don?t worry kuzhandhaai), karuNyam and an alAdhi prIthi. Tears were streaming down my eyes. ?Yes I have understood your message, swami. It is the inner glow that matters. It is the mental feeling that matters. If that is what you wish to tell me, I am very much sure that you would have somewhere indicated that. Bless me to grasp it soon.? As I was readying to leave, the bhattar started telling on his own volition (?) that Ramanuja stood for free inquiry, One must cultivate absolute faith when young. But as one grows up, one must go about searching, discussing, debating and inferring the salient aspects of Knowledge. Avaravar arivukku-th- thakkapadi avaravar purindu koLgirArgaL. That was what he wanted everyone to do.? I recalled the first commandment of Ramanuja. Yes he wanted everyone of us to study some part of Brahma sutra every day. There is nothing that has not been said in his sri bhashyam. If we have questions phrased in different ways, we have to look at his bhashyam again and again. Somewhere he would have certainly indicated his reply. The pramana for Inner glow must be somewhere in Brahma sutras. I began to look for the answer and it didn?t take long to identify them. Sutras 46, 47 & 48 in chapter 3-3 shed light on ?mental fires?. He talks about the glory of meditation (of mental nature) in the context of sacrificial fires. The sacrificial fires are aimed at certain fruits. Texts speak about different ingredients that go into the conduction of sacrifices of mental fires. ?The altars made of mind may be equivalent to the altar made of bricks in some aspects. This similarity does not authorise us to connect mind-made altars with the actual sacrifice. The point is that the fruit of both the performances is common.? He draws pramana from Satapatha Brahmana to establish that the passages that speak about mental fires on brick altars can not be taken as literal sacrifice but as meditation. To transfer this to reply our query, ?each one is as great as the previous one? (sat X-iv-1.3) meaning that each type of meditation, one by way of ?works? as prescribed by karma khandam and the other by way of knowledge are independent of each other and as great as each other. Further we find in sutras 3-4-14, 16 &19 it is established that knowledge is not subsidiary to works. ?permission to perform work is for the glorification of knowledge. Indeed, one may work all his life, still he is not tainted by the greatness of knowledge. Therefore knowledge is not subsidiary to works.? To present all this in a nutshell, Ramanuja says like this in his commentary for verse 3-4-26. ? Knowledge is something absolutely different from the knowledge of the textual meaning. It is denoted by words such as dhyana (meditation), upasana (worship) etc. It is of the nature of remembrance, which has attained the form of direct and clearest perception. By practicing day by day, it attains excellence, and being continued up to final departure, it becomes the means of attaining final release.? What is this dhyana, manana, shraddha? ?it is of the form of a succession of memories which is unbroken like a stream of oil.? Elsewhere he regards this stream of oil (thaila dhaaravathu) as bhakti. He regards this non-stop remembrance as bhakti. It is for getting Dhyana, manana and shradha that Karma khandam is to be learnt (like how the children at early years of schooling are trained in oral repetition of nursery rhymes). This idea, transformed in latter period, with full blessings of Gitacharyan is known as bhakti which has dhyana, manana and shradha as the basic ingredients / requirements. In simple parlance Ramanuja comes to regard bhakti as the result of works and knowledge as the result of inquiry into Brahman. He talks about karma khandam and the scope of sacrifices not with a purpose to glorify them. He instead highlights the limits on the nature of fruits given by those sacrifices. Texts of yore insist on doing ?works? because they help in constant remembrance and faith (shraddha). The substituting term for this is bhakti. In today?s condition, these ingredients of sacrifices help one in growing in bhakti. Without sacrifices, texts say, that knowledge can not gained. Without bhakti, knowledge into the nature of Brahman or god can not be gained. Texts say that vedic chanting (works) is the antecedent to knowledge. Similarly, bhakti is antecedent to knowledge. Without bhakti, knowledge can not bloom. But at the same time knowledge is not subsidiary to bhakti. Gyaana khnadam supported by karma khandam was the path way to salvation. Similarly, knowledge in the nature of Bhakti is the means of attaining the Bhagavan (VS- 251) Bhakti leads to knowledge just as how ?works? lead to inquiry. Knowledge without bhakti is wasteful just as how gyana khnadam without karma khandam can not give results. Bhakti leading to knowledge is like how karma mimamsa study leads to the study of gyana mimamsa. Ramanuja has given the prescription. So grieve not, my mind whether you have sanction to recite vedas. Any such recital that leads you to bhakti-marga is accepted. Without such recital you can not realise the glory of Knowledge. Like without karma khanda, one can not pursue utthara khanda. The recital though very insignificant in today?s condition is aimed at hastening your interest in gyana marga. Bhoothathaazhwar had shown the way in lighting the lamp of knowledge by ?inburugu sindhai?. The urugum inbam shows the preethi by name bhakti. The sindhai stands for knowledge. So grieve not, my mind, grieve not. To get sanction for this, I again went to see Kembhal Raman. With eyes closed with a viNNappam that He has to give approval for my thought on INNER GLOW, I was mentally concentrating on my favourite Senniyongu paasurams. When it was ?vunnai-k-kondu ennuL vaitthEn, ennaiyum vunnil ittEn?, I opened my eyes to see Him. The bhattar was inserting a flower in Raman?s nenju when I was saying ?ennaiyum vunnil ittEn?. Raman has accepted this. It is what springs in our mind that He takes as our offering. It is the inner thought, inner glow, inner bhakti that is the ultimate outcome of all this inquiry ? no matter whether it comes from a man or a woman. Thank you Rama. I don?t forget the symbolism of your role in Ramavathara. You are all the more concerned that you must get back your Sita who is none other than us, the jivas. You are the Creator who craves to get back His dear ones ? i.e., us. You can not bear the loss of your dear ones into the vicious cycle of birth and death. You always think of ways and means of getting us back to You. So it wont make an issue whether I am a woman or not, whether I chant vedas or not. You would catch hold of me appropriately at the appropriate time!! ---------------------concluded------------------------- __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/XUWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! 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