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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00086 Feb 2004

 
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Dear Shri Lakshmi Narasimhan:

Accept my praNAms. Please allow me to add my remarks for your reply 
to Shri VishNu.

1. "First and foremost of > all, sandhyavandanam is only for the 3 
varnas. It is not for all. "

No difference of opinion with that.

2. "> Moreover, if those who belong to the 3 varnas claim that 
> sandhyavandanam is a Nithya Karma and needs to be performed as 
> a "ritual" and is a mandate, let me put forth a question. Brahmanas 
> are not supposed to earn, live a luxurious life etc. They must beg 
> and eat (Bhavathi Bhikshaam Dehi?!). They must wear a shikai that 
> must not be for a style, but for respecting the vedic instructions. 
> Must wear kadukkan, thirumans that are not lean enough to be 
> unnoticed by others but for remembering the dasathvam of our athmas 
> to the lord, perform Agnihothram, must not go out of the country, 
> must not eat frozen foods from the fridge;) etc etc. People violate 
> almost every basic instruction of vedas and when it comes to 
> sandhyavandanam, they own it so much - am not much surprised 
> anyways:)"

Sure, these are all sins. However, Apastambha specially condemns 
those who forsake vEdas as brahma-hattis and the fathers of a person 
who haven't received brahmOpadesham as burial ground. You can go 
ahead and forsake upanayanam and gAyatrI, but your offspring has to 
atone for it. The severity of expiation increases for each generation 
that forsakes gAyatrI.

Now my take on the accusations you mentioned is like this - This is a 
time to practise apaddharmam. Typically, a king, or local chieftain 
would give mAnyams for learned brahmins, build ghatikas, perform 
regular srauta yagnyas and encourage study of vEdas. When this system 
is destroyed, the livelihood of a brahman versed in vEdas is at 
stake. Things have come to such an extent that you cannot openly tell 
you are a 'brahmin' - you become a manuvAdi, casteist person, 
oppressor of dalits etc. etc. The present scenario successfully made 
a brahmin be ashamed of himself. To survive this, he has to give up 
the study of vEdas, engage in other occupations, go against dharma 
sUtras and what not. 

Probably, our AchAryas were giving couple of concessions - at least 
learn a few sUktas like purusha sUkta, srI sUkta, nArAyaNa sUkta etc. 
At least recite an anuvAkam from your vEda and recite it once a year 
during upAkarma. If you don't know any of these, at least recite 
gAyatrI 10 times. Now it has come to the proverbial kazhudai-
katterumbu.

Regards,
Kasturi Rangan

P.S.: I generally meant the 'pUrvapakshins' with 'you' in my reply 
and not specifically 'you' you. Pardon me for any inappropriateness.




--- In ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Lakshmi Narasimhan" 
<nrusimhan@xxxx> wrote:
> Asmad Gurubhyo Namaha
> Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha
> 
> > 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?
> 
> Dear Shri Vishnu,
> Before getting into your question, I would like to comment on few 
> comments posted by others on your question. First and foremost of 
> all, sandhyavandanam is only for the 3 varnas. It is not for all. 
> So, sandhyavandanam is not a MANDATE for all as few people claim. 
> Moreover, if those who belong to the 3 varnas claim that 
> sandhyavandanam is a Nithya Karma and needs to be performed as 
> a "ritual" and is a mandate, let me put forth a question. Brahmanas 
> are not supposed to earn, live a luxurious life etc. They must beg 
> and eat (Bhavathi Bhikshaam Dehi?!). They must wear a shikai that 
> must not be for a style, but for respecting the vedic instructions. 
> Must wear kadukkan, thirumans that are not lean enough to be 
> unnoticed by others but for remembering the dasathvam of our athmas 
> to the lord, perform Agnihothram, must not go out of the country, 
> must not eat frozen foods from the fridge;) etc etc. People violate 
> almost every basic instruction of vedas and when it comes to 
> sandhyavandanam, they own it so much - am not much surprised 
> anyways:) The gayathri that most people praise about, is the one 
> that was given by Vishwamitra and is called the Vishwamitra 
> gayathri. In general, gayathri means the metre(chandas) that 
defines 
> the format of the manthras. We have so many gayathris like Vishnu 
> gayathri, Lakshmi gayathri etc. Someone said that Shri Krishna had 
> mentioned that he is the Gayathri. Well, Shri Krishna denoted that 
> he is the basis of all manthras in that context and not just this 
> sandhyavandana gayathri.
> 
> Back to your question, per our aacharyas, we must indeed try to 
> follow all our dharmas as much as we can. Yet, these dharmas could 
> be given up when it becomes an obstruction to a 
> bhagavath/bhaagavatha kainkaryam. Moreover, sandhyavandhanam is not 
> a mere act that needs to be performed as a duty. It is not as 
simple 
> as one cleans the entrance of a house, or draws the kolam at the 
> entrance. It is much beyond that. If you get a chance, try to read 
a 
> book named "Sandhyavandhana Bhashya" by the father of Shri Putthur 
> Swami. This bhashya clearly explains the inner meanings of 
> sandhyavandhanam (from Shrivaishnava Thennacharya sampradaya 
> perspective). Once you read it, you will love to do the 
> sandhyavandhanam every day.
> 
> For those who are not really aware of the inner meanings of 
> sandhyavandhanam from our sampradaya perspective, here is a small 
> yet critical trap that it has: The contemplation on the "OM" or 
> the "Gayathri" itself leads to extreme internal happiness and makes 
> you feel the oneness of the whole universe over a course of time. 
> But this path is probably the worst of all as per our sampradaya 
and 
> this path is called the Kaivalya where one gets frustrated in the 
> samsara(samsara virakthi), yet doesn't develop interest in the 
> bhagavad/bhaagavadha kainkarya. Hence, these people get liberated 
> from here(samsara), but never get into the 
> saameepya/saarupya/saayujya moksha, rather end up in a cemetry in 
> the moksha called Kaivalyam(edu nilam in tamil). This is because, 
> these people ask for self-enjoyment and since the self is a nithya 
> vasthu, they get an eternal abode. But, because they don't show any 
> interest towards bhagavath/bhaagavatha kainkarya, they do not get 
> the bhagavath sambhandham in this eternal abode(Kaivalyam) and 
hence 
> this place is called the cemetry in the moksha. So, either we must 
> perform the ritual in the right way, or as Vishnu said, devote some 
> time to read some pASurams with their meanings or bhagavadguNa 
> darpaNam (sahasranAma commentary) rather than spending time in such 
> contemplations. 
> 
> For Shrivaishnavas, even performing our rituals or chanting the 
> manthras are for the lord's happiness and we see no goal to enjoy 
> it by ourselves.
> 
> All comments based on the Thennacharya sampradaya references are 
> welcome. I would like to keep mum on comments based on other 
> sampradayas, as I do not understand or could answer those due to my 
> ignorance or the irrelevance.
> 
> Sarva Aparaadhaan kshamasva. 
> 
> Azhwar Emperumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Saranam
> 
> Adiyen,
> Ramanuja Dasan





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