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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00117 Jan 2003

 
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/aum namO nArAyaNAya |

I am writing to add a remark on Sri TCA Srinivasa Raghavan's comment in Digest 
No. 416 (Message #2). This message was itself a remark on Message No. 4 of Smt. 
Nappinai in Digrst No. 414.

The remark of Sri Srinivasa Raghavan concerned temple worship and maTams, that 
these forms of worship and religious work are not explicitly stated in the 
vEdAHs, that they are later additions to meet the needs of the times, and that 
they are institutionalized forms.

This I agree with. But the remark seemed to suggest that /sanyAsaH is replaced 
by the /mATam priniple and that institutions are the ultimate in religious 
life. This I am not sure of. I think our religion does not have a name, because 
it goes beyond the institutional form. Only the individual standing alone 
anchored by God is of the highest order and there is no substitute for it. 
Sometimes such a person creates new instititutions, yes. And surely bhagavad 
Sri RamanujaH and Sankara bhagavadpAdaH are examples. Even though they created 
institutions, they were beyond that.

An outstanding example of our times is Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhiji was not even a 
member of the Congress party beginning 1935. He did not have any institutions. 
His /Ashrams were for personal living only. And he was beyond them. 

By placing an individual anchored in God above institutions, we are able to 
experience new ideas and new manifestations of God's infinite power and 
knowledge. Again Adi Sankara, Bhagavad Sri RamanujaH and Gandhiji are examples. 

I do not think that it is 100 % correct to think that bhagavad Sri RamanaujaH 
was persecuted by the Saivaites. What is true is that when new ideas blossom 
and are enthusiasticaly received by the people and it represents a threat to an 
existing order, then there is persecution. In the case of Sri rAmAnujaH, it 
happened to be a society where a Saivaite king ruled. 

In the case of Adi SankaraH, he did not live long enough to suffer the 
consequences of a movement, which really did not take shape during his times. 
Adi SankaraH was a deeply religious poet, a philospopher and a theoretician who 
establshed 4 mutts in the four corners of India. He lived a mere 31 years. 
Compare with Sri rAmaAnujaH who lived 120 years and established at least 70 
mutts. His was a movement reaching into society. 

Other examplea are Jesus of Nazareth and also the Apostle Paul. Both were 
social reformers as well as religious reformers and that is what led to 
perscution. And I do not think there will be a need to remind that Gandhiji 
spent several years in prison. In fact one of his best disciples Pandit 
Jawaharlal Nehru spent 18 years in prison. 

/vantanam.

Visu




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