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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00050 Feb 2004

 
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Srimathe ramanujaya Namaha

Dear Nappinnai,

Adiyen accepts the fact that our poorvacharyas have shown that leaving sandhya 
vandhanam when it clashes with bhagavat/bhAgavata kainkaryam is acceptable 
(keeping in memory the words of Sri parAsara bhattar. But only on that occasion 
when there was a conflict between kainkaryam and sandhi timings swamy said that 
kainkaryam is of higher priority. But it is not seen in his charitram that 
after that day swamy didnot do sandhya vandhanam at all. All our poorvacharyas 
did the daily routines till their last breath). But adiyen finds some of your 
statements unacceptable.

"He says it's boring and I perfectly agree with him. 

Sandhyavandhanam has been prescribed by the sastras and emperuman himself 
declares that "shruthi smriti mamai Agya...AgyA chebhi mama drOhi mama 
bhakthai.. na vaishnavA:" So we have no right to feel the orders of emperuman 
to be boring and leave them. Our acharyas give us only an exemption when it 
clashes with visEsha dharmam (bhagavat/bhAgavata kainkaryam). Are all of us 
always involved in kainkaryam? Then sandhi need not be done. But we do lot of 
lowkika jobs then why leave the sastric rituals with fake excuses. There should 
be only a change in attitude while doing them. Srivaishnavas, should do sandhya 
vandhanam as a kainkaryam to emperuman (following his words gives him 
happiness) and for not any other result. At this point remember Sri Pillai 
ulagariyan's sutra "karmamum kainkaryaththilE pugum".

"We don't have to go out of our Sri Ramanuja 
sampradAyam to find any truth/answers. Whoever wants to perform 
sandhyavandanam,please continue to do so. Nobody is stopping them."

If we are true followers of Swamy Ramanuja then we should follow his 
anushtanam. Swamy who had such great paripakam could have easily left doing 
sandhya vandhanam and concentrated in azhvar paasurams alone but he didnt do 
that. At the age of 120 also swamy with the support of two shisyas on two sides 
went to kaveri to do its daily routines. Why did he do that? To show us the 
right way. Remember ponnachiyar's words "nam rAmAnujar esAna moolaiyilE oru 
deivaththai kAtti thozha sonnAl appozhudhu athaiyum thozhuvOm" so shouldnt we 
follow the anushtanam of swamy emperumAnAr?

" Sriman Ramachandran makes sandhyavandanam sound so 
rigid that whoever doesn't perform it will ONLY go to hell"

Doing sandhya vandhanam will not achieve Srivaishnavas any results as they have 
to do it only as a kainkaryam to emperuman but not doing will surely create 
unhappiness in emperuman's minds as we are disregarding his words. "Avan manam 
kanni pOga nAm kAranamAgalAmA?" Srivaishnavas need not do anything he will 
grant moksha by his nirheduka krupai but can we just sit without going 
kainkaryam for his happiness? We can spend our time (kAlashEpam) primely with 
bhagavat/bhAgavata vishayam but how much time will it take to do all the daily 
routines prescribed by our sastras for our varnAshrama. If one is capable of 
giving up all his lowkika vyApArams for the sake of azhvar/acharya arulicheyals 
he can leave these sastric rituals no problem ("sarva dharman parityajya" Here 
according to our poorvacharyas sarva sabdham includes sandhya vandhanam and 
other rituals but are we all thirukkannamangai Andan to leave everything and 
sit infront of the temple?). But have we all climbed to that stage? Even when 
emperumAnAr had all those qualifications did he leave it? Sri ramapiran need 
not have done all that had to be done before doing saranAgathi. But he did why? 
Because he didnt want to set a bad example (yathA rAjA tathA praja) the same 
was followed by rAmAnujan then where in the world we have the right to go 
against them?

May all the mistakes due to adiyen's ignorance please be pardoned.

Alwar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam
Adiyen ramanuja dAsee
Sumithra Varadarajan 






----- Original Message ----- 
From: vaidhehi_nc 
To: ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2004 10:15 PM
Subject: [ramanuja] Re: Digest Number 731 - Sandhya/Gayathri related


Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:

Dear bhAgavathAs,
Humble praNAms to all. I am sharing my views wrt the 
following mail by Sri Ramachandran. Sandhya being mandatory depends 
on the religious faith one follows. If I know little bit about TK 
sampradAyam(bhAgavathAs can correct me if I'm wrong),sandhya can be 
forsaked at the cost of temple kaimkaryams,AzhvArs pAsurams etc. My 
own father doesn't do sandhyavandanam. He says it's boring and I 
perfectly agree with him. Instead he indulges himself in AzhvArs 
pAsurams and he cribs that 24 hrs is not enough. We only do it as a 
service to God and not for the sake of benefits and sandhyavandanam 
can be put aside if it conflicts with temple worship and prabandham 
recitation. 

Coming to psychological aspect,I don't agree to what 
sriman ramachandran had mentioned in his mail that there are 
scientific evidences for gayantri chanting. Scientists don't even 
understand matter completely how are they going to understand the 
mind. Brain is a mechanical device but not mind. Mind(especially in 
the case of men!!!) can only concentrate on one thing at a time. In 
the case of women,it is different and infact they dissipate their 
energy by "divided" concentration. Precisely for this reason,you 
don't find women experts in many areas of life:-) Sad though! So,if 
somebody concentrates on chanting,gayatri namely,I will bet that that 
person will not able to give 100% concentration to think about Lord's 
qualities. What vishnu said is correct. Since sandhya is time bound 
ritual,it is highly unlikely that the person does both chanting and 
contemplation skillfully. Even ordinary action produces 
reaction/result,so why should one be amazed by the vibrations 
produced by the gayatri. Sri Ramachandran's writings in the last 
paragraph clearly shwos that he is not well informed about Sri 
Ramanuja sampradAyam. We don't have to go out of our Sri Ramanuja 
sampradAyam to find any truth/answers. Whoever wants to perform 
sandhyavandanam,please continue to do so. Nobody is stopping them. 

Sriman Ramachandran makes sandhyavandanam sound so 
rigid that whoever doesn't perform it will ONLY go to hell. I will 
invite an open challenge to those who perform sandhyavandanam to 
prove to me "scientifically" that they are gonna get liberated. They 
CAN'T prove. Anyways,our kAruNya sindho Ramanuja has extracted a 
promise from Lord Sri Ranganatha that whoever is associated with him 
should get liberated. So,I know for certainty that my father,who 
doesn't do sandhyavandanam, is liberated in this very birth. 

As long as a person follows his own tradition and 
doesn't force his tradition on others,he is doing fine and so are the 
rest. We go by nirhetuka krpa of the Lord. It's His goal to liberate 
the jIvAtmAs and not my goal to liberate myself! So, till this body 
wears off,our job is to indulge ourselves in His anantha kalyANa guNAs
(even this is not a compulsion!!!) and not do any rituals with the 
thought that it produces calmness or some benefits etc. and once 
again all these nitya karmas like sandhya vandanam can be relegated 
to the back door for the sake of temple worship/recitation of 
prabandham. No offense intended at anyone or any religion. I respect 
all religions(being an academic person) but worship only Sri Ramanuja 
sampradayam.
Best Regards

AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE sharaNam
NC Nappinnai




> It is therefore, extremely critical and mandatory for the
> Sandhya to be performed without fail. It is quite
> surprising that Shri Vishnu has questioned the efficacy of
> Sandhya and perhaps thinks of replacing the Sandhya with 'namaa'
> chanting. Come what may, the Sandhya is a nitya karma ordained by
> the Vedas and no one is excused. Dilution of Sandhya
> requirements are therefore out of question. One may dilute all
> other rituals, worship etc. but not the Sandhya.



> Dear Sriman Narasimhan,
> 
> I agree with what you have said. I think Alwar suggests here 
thinking
> of BhagavAn's guNas and not nAma alone. Please correct me if I am 
wrong.
> 
> Whatever is said on ashtAksharI applies very well to gAyatrI. here
> also meaning is important and one can have faith in that meaning if
> convinced. adiyEn will try to get the meaning of gAyatrI as given in
> rAmAyaNa commentary of gOvindarAja.
> 
> I have a doubt. sandhyAvandanam itself is a ritual performed in
> limited time and chanting of gAyatrI is a part of it. So one cannot
> think of His qualities while repeating gAyatrI. So is it not better 
to
> devote some time to read some pASurams with their meanings or
> bhagavadguNa darpaNam (sahasranAma commentary) rather than spending
> time in rituals e.g. sandhyAvandanam?
> 
> adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan
> Vishnu
> 





azhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyAr thiruvadigalE saranam



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