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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00101 Sep 2005

 
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--- viji <viji123@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Where have all Brahmin godmen gone?
> T S SREENIVASA RAGHAVAN
> TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2005
> 11:45:08 PM ]
> These differences between the mutts and the seers
> also imply that they have very disparate followings.
> Ninety per cent devotees of Kanchi Acharya are from
> the Brahmin community. It?s a similar ratio with
> non-Brahmin spiritual gurus too, who command an
> overwhelming majority of their devotees from other
> castes. While the schism is evident, there is a
> migration underway. A one-way migration. An
> increasing number of Brahmins are seeking the
> reassurances of non-Brahmin seers. 

                     **************

Dear Sri Viji,

Thank you for forwarding to the T'venkatam List a very
well-written and thought-provoking article. Many of
the points and observations made in the article are
valid.

There is one thing however to be considered with
regard to SriVaishnavam. The mutt-s belonging to the
SriVaishnava faith, strictly speaking, are not meant
to have any Brahmin or Brahminical dominance. They are
meant to be socially progressive and democratic.
Whether present reality reflects the true SriVaishnava
ideal is however a different matter altogether. It is
a matter of debate and one which if engaged in will
lead us all nowhere.

The faith of SriVaishnavas is centred around Sri
Ramanuja "siddhAntam" which is essentially a
universalistic approach to realizing the values and
truths of the Vedic way or "mArga". 

SriVaishnavism welcomes into its fold people from all
walks of life. The principal "AchAryAs" of the
SriVaishnavite Order are all non-Brahmins --- Sadagopa
NammAzhwar was a "vEllaLa"; TiruppAn-AzhwAr was a
"chandAla" of the scavenger caste; Kulasekhara was a
"kshatriya" aristocrat; Tirumazhisai-AzhwAr was again
of the low potter caste who was a Jain who converted
to Saivism and then found at last his true faith in
Vaishnavism... 

Bhagavath SriRamanuja, in his times, was a social
revolutionary indeed. It was thanks to him that the
temples of South India were liberated from the
strangle-hold of die-hard Brahminical bigots. It was
thanks to Sri Ramanuja that the vernacular hymns of
the non-Brahmin Tamil "AzhwArs" became accepted and
integrated into the systems of temple and community
worship in those days. It was Sri Ramanaja who
introduced the simple sacrament of  of the
"samAshrayanam" by which even non-Brahmins were
admitted as equals amongst the SriVaishnava laity. 

It was thanks to SriRamanuja that temples opened their
doors and their commonwealth to the common people of
those days. Temples engaged themselves not only in the
religious life of the common people but at times acted
as a sort of social security safety-net too for them.
Which is why the maharajas of those times donated
liberally to the temples knowing fully well that they
would act as good conduits or funnels for economic
wealth distribution. Any poor man of those times could
always find food or work in temples. He could also
find education of the religious sort, if not the
secular one. Temples treated everyone like human
beings and gave them the  dignity they deserved.

The success of SriRamanuja could not be achieved by
his long lineage of disciples to this very day because
none of the "AchAryAs" who succeeded him had the
breadth of vision and universalist spirit that he had.
Today, SriVaishnavism is a pale ghost of its old
glorious self because it draws no inspiration from the
daring example of Sri Ramanuja. All its inspiration
today is from narrow sectarianism and parochialism of
the worst order.

Thanks anyway for forwarding an excellent article.

Regards,

dAsan,
Sudarshan      



                
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