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Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

I request the moderator to kindly review this mail completely and if even a
single notion is against our Thennacharya Sampradayam, I request that this
post be rejected.

I wrote this mail in reply to those who have one of the popular and
surprisingly wrong notion about the Tennacharya Sampradayam which is:
Those who belong to the Thennacharya Sampradayam(Prapatti) does not/need not
follow castes/creeds.

Though it had been lingering in my mind that how could such a wrong
notion(according to me) get easily propogated across people across cities
and states and even countries. While I am not a strict follower of
Varnashrama Dharma, it doesn't discount me from speaking for it. The idea of
this mail is only to give the appropriate perspective(right or wrong is left
to the judgement of the reader by checking the same with the right acharyan)


Let me clearly set the background for this subject of discussion:

a) Scriptures/Purvacharya Artifacts/Events in History, in favor of
Varnashrama Dharmam:
1. The Shruthi Vakyas in the entire Karma Kandam.
2. The Smruthis (Manu, Yagnyavalkya etc), Ithihasas(Ramayana, Mahabharatha)
3. The discussion on "Athatho Brahma Jignyasa" in Shri Bhashyam, a
masterpiece from Shri Ramanujar.
4. The very brahminic life of our purvacharyas up to Manavala
Mamunigal(unja-vrutthi, beg and eat) and existence of the kshathriyas i.e
kings and their dynasty i.e , existence of the Vaishyas i.e the traders,
like Kovalan (Silappadhikaram, a Tamizh literature) and shudras...
5. And many others...

b) Scriptures/Purvacharya Artifacts/Events in History, that are PERCEIVED as
in favor of negligence of Varnashrama Dharmam:
1. The various castes to which the Azhwars belonged and the elevated
position of them in our sampradayam.
2. Emperumanar's act of explaining the Thirumanthrartham to all.
3. Emperumanar's act of hugging Pillai Uranga Villidasar for the sake of 
Kaya Shuddhi" i.e to purify his(Ramanujar's) body.
4. Swamy Pillailokachariar's works(Shri Vachana Bhooshanam...) explaining
the concept of PRAPATTI and the adhigari niyamams for the same.
5. Swamy Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Nayanar's works(Acharya Hrudhayam..)
explaining the concept of PRAPATTI along the same line.
6. And many others... 

Before we begin, I would like the reader to carefully note the difference
between the following two perspectives:
a) Following one's own duty along the lines of Shruthi/Smruthi and strictly
adhering to it.
b) Treating others bad with the ignorance/arrogance that one is born of a
higher-birth(and misusing the Shruthi/Smruthi vakyas in favor of the same)

Point (a) is something that is definitely encouraged by our purvacharyas.
None of our acharyas did encourage a shudra to wear yagnyopaveedham nor did
they encourage a brahmana/kshatriya/vaishya to drop all these and do
prapatti.

Point (b) is individualistic and has no relevance to our sampradayam. This
should not be perceived as a brahminic notion.

A person claiming himself as a brahmanan and follows the shruthi/smruthi and
does not touch a person of lower birth as per the shruthi/smruthi IS
DIFFERENT from a person claiming himself a brahmanan and declares all
shudras to stay away from him. The former maintains his state and tries to
follow the same, while the latter imposes this on others which is completely
wrong. If I am allergic to peanuts, I should refrain from going near it. But
if I banish all the peanuts, not only it shows that I am being arrogant, but
also shows that I am not trying to follow the rule, rather, I expect the
peanuts to abide by some rule that would make sure I am not in trouble. The
Varnashrama Dharma insists on the individual's discipline. It does not
insist on banishing others for the sake of one caste. I will give a
classical example: A shudra who violates the rule of not hearing the vedas
is susceptible to a third degree punishment if he tries to hear it by hiding
in a place where the Vedas are chanted. The reason being, the shudra
violated it. But if a Brahmana violates the rule of teaching the vedas to
the shudra, then the punishment goes to the Brahmana for forcefully teaching
the same. In mahabharatha, Ekalaivan learnt the skills from Dhronacharya by
hiding behind the bush. He was asked to give away his thumb for this
violating act. In the same mahabharatha, a brahmana was given the death
sentence for being a part of a crime whilst others were given a very low
degree of punishment. I hope the reader would be able to see this difference



Coming back to our sampradayam, let us see why our Thennacharya Sampradayam
is WRONGLY perceived(according to me) as the one that discourages the
Varnashrama Dharma. For this, again, we need to understand the difference
between the following two perspectives:
a) The Karma, Gyana, Bhakthi yogas - that define the rules and regulations
that one must follow to attain moksham.
b) The Prapatti margam - that explains that there is no rule for one person
to attain the moksham and that it is just the mindset that needs to change.

Please look at the usage of the phrase "one must follow" in (a). Every "yoga
involves the individual's physical effort to attain the moksham. This would
mean that, the jeevatma tries to do something to attain moksham. This is why
Prapatti is not categorized under yoga. This is a very important yet subtle
point that one needs to understand. When one takes up prapatti, there are no
special rules for the person who performs it. The person need not belong to
any specific caste, in fact, the atma need not be a human being, the atma
could have been attached to even the animal or asura or any dehams.
Prapatti is in fact against yoga. You don't do anything to attain moksham.
You just understand what your swaroopam(nature/basic design) is! And once
you understand that, you will disown every act of yours and think that all
your acts are done by him and that those acts are nothing but his
kainkaryams - "Na dharma nishtosmi Na cha atma vedhi Na bhakthiman tvat
charanaravindhe Akinchanaha Ananyagathihi Asharanyaha tvt
paadaravindayugalam Sharanam aham prapathye". Alright. All said, so does it
mean that when a person does prapatti he/she should give away their
anushtanam and dharmams specified for their caste? This is a very tricky
question for which I would like to take up a very simple day to day event
and try to explain:
Hypothesis(initial premise) - Every MAN, as he grows old, usually loses his
hair, and becomes bald :))
There could be various inferences: 
a) From the point of a person who is old and who does not have hair - He has
become old and hence he has become bald.
b) From the point of a person who is old and who has hair - He has become
old but that does not mandate that he must become bald and hence enjoys his
hair style too.
c) From the point of a person who is old and who has hair - He has become
old and hence HE HAS to become bald and hence tonsures his head.

The first two inferences are very logical based on the premise. Look at the
last statement. That is the state of our sampradayam i.e many of us perceive
"Prapatti erittukkollumbodhu, anushtanam nazhuvakkurayillai" i.e when one
has attained the highest level of prapatti i.e becomes a PRAPANNAN, whatever
he does would be with the mindset of bhagavadh kainkaryam and hence even if
he does not do his anushtams properly, it does not matter. But if this
statement is misinterpreted as: If one does prapatti, he/she should give up
all the anushtanams, caste etc how does that sound? In this second case, the
person a) does not know what prapatti is b) uses prapatti only as an excuse
for his/her current state (for ex: I am in USA and I don't wear thiruman and
srichooranam to office. When I go back home I wear them. What I used to
think is that, I belong to the Thennacharya Sampradayam, and hence Shri
Ramanujar did prapatti for us and hence there is nothing wrong if I give up
my caste rules and regulations). I do not really know how this WRONG(once
again only according to me) notion got propogated, but I feel, it is all due
to the Bhagavath Sankalpam and pray the ultimate that we all will revert to
our original state...

The ideas of our Purvacharyas was to accomodate everyone into the religion i
e including those outsiders who did not belong to the four caste system. If
a person does not belong to the four castes i.e a chandala or whatever, does
it mean that the person is not eligible for moksham? Please note this point.
Our purvacharya granthams are to explain that there is no specific
ELIGIBILITY from a karmic perspective to perform prapatti. This by no way
means that a person doing prapatti must give up their basic rules and
regulations and disciplines.

When a brahmana does his karma as per the karma kandam but with the intent
being that of the kainkaryam to the lord (Bhagavadh Agnya Kainkaryam), and a
kshatriya does the same with the same intents, though the actions performed
are perceived as karma, it is turned into kainkaryam due to the mindset. But
the misconception is that, once a person becomes a Vaishnavan by mindset,
the caste should not be seen. This is completely wrong. Shri RAmanujar says
in Shri Bhashyam that "Varnashrama Dharmanugraheeta tad upasana samptah" i.e
people must adhere to the varnashrama dharmam and do their KARMA as UPASANA
i.e KAINKARYAM. One may ask, why should you see the body when the mind is
set towards prapatti. Well, we believe in shruti and must follow it to the
best extent possible. Ramanujar did not see any caste or creed and did
purify his body by hugging Uranga Villidhasar who was of lower birth by the
Varnashrama Dharmam. This mindset comes only when one attains the highest
level of prapatti. If one says, Ramanujar touched sudra or whatever and
hence every brahmana can marry a person of lower caste etc that is wrong.
What Ramanujar / Pillailokachariar / Azhagiya Manavalaperumal Nayanar /
Maamunigal told was that the Prapatti ADHIKARI(performer) does not require
any NIYAMAMS(rules) i.e draupadi did prapatti to the lord when she was
impure, Lakshmana did kainkaryam to the lord and got separated from his wife
while his responsibility as per the varnashrama dharma was to support his
wife and family. So, when one attains that level, one does not see the
castes etc. But, if one says our sampradayam encourages intercaste marriages
etc, that is not correct. Ramanujar did shout the arttham of the
thirumanthram to all the people irrespective of the caste or creed, but we
don't see ANYWHERE in our sampradayam that a person of a lower birth was
encouraged to wear the Yagnyopaveedham and to learn vedas and to do the
rituals. This is a very subtle thing but takes a lot of time to catch as our
minds have been set too much against the varnashrama dharma. It needs a
child's view i.e an unbiased crystal-clear view to understand this.

If Acharya Purushas like Shriman Narayana Jeeyar and other great souls, do
not see the caste and creed, it is due to their highest level, i.e Prapatti.
Just by saying fire, it does not burn. Likewise, just by saying we belong to
prapatti sampradayam or because we have understood the atma swaroopam we don
t reach that level. To attain that level of prapatti - "Thirumanthram
siddhikkavenum", i.e the atmaswaroopam of the atma should TAKEOVER the
deha-indriyams - "Pongaimpulanum pori-aindhum karumendiriyam aimbhutam ingu
ivvuyira pirakiruthi maanangara manam keda venum" i.e the 5 sense organs,
senses, elements, this material that this body is made up of, the mind, the
arrogance - all these things should be taken over by the atmaswaroopam. At
this stage, because every KARMA the jeevatma performs becomes a BHAGAVADH
ARADHANAM, it does not matter whether the atma violated any of the dharmic
rules - Let us close our eyes and think whether we are(I AM NOT) at this
level, before, we speak against the varna ashrama dharma. The bottom-line -
the difference is between a PRAPANNAN and the one who WANTS to become a
PRAPANNAN. A PRAPANNAN may ignore some anushtanams(please note the usage of
may) for the sake of some equivalent bhagavath kainkaryam. But, if a person
who just WANTS to become prapannan starts giving up all the anushtanams,
varna ashrama dharmams, what do you call that as? Decisions are yours as I
am not here to advocate varnashrama dharmam nor am I trying to use this
forum as a media for the same:)

Kayena Vaacha Manas Indriyairva Bhuddhi Atmanaavaa Prakrutheth Svabhaavaath
Karomi YATH YATH Sakalam Parasmai SHRIMAN NARAYANAAYETHI SAMARPPAYAMI

[Whatever I say, and WHATEVER I do with this mind, sense, brain, soul, and
by this very materialistic nature/behaviour, may I have the understanding
that I do all these only for him(his happiness) and may these acts become
his Kainkaryam] 

Yatheendra Pravanam Vandhe RAMYA Jamataram Munim

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan,
Lakshmi Narasimhan

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





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