You are here: SriPedia - Ramanuja - Archives - Jan 2004

Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00100 Jan 2004

 
Jan 2004 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


Dear Sri Mohan Ramanujan,

I'll try to answer your question based on my limited understanding. 
Our orthodox elders would most probably disagree though. We have to 
understand that the kalpa sutras and parishisThas belong to a much 
earlier date than 'we' becoming 'strict vaishNavas'. Most probably, 
the Sri VaishNava brahmins were smArthAs prior to RamanujacAryA's 
times (I myself am a descendent of a vadama - One Mr. AnanthanarayaNa 
dIkshitar, a great great grandfather who lived about 1000 years back 
and his son dAsharathi is quite famous - he was later called 
mudaliAndan and was a nephew and disciple of Shri ramanujAchArya). 

Seen in this light, 'our ancestors' worshipping different deities 
should not at all be surprising until our sampradAya reinterpreted 
all worship of anya devatAs goes only to nArAyaNa, as his is the 
antaryAmi.

Also, though we may nominally belong to a particular veda/sutra, we 
not necessarily follow its prescriptions - Apastambha dharma sUtra 
gives a list of animals and birds we can eat, which includes cows 
(and he cites shathapatha brAhmaNa for pramANa). We don't do that. As 
a matter of fact, the meat of 'udumbu' (is it iguana?) was used in 
shrAddham and pitrs were said to become very happy if it is used 
during shrAddham.

>From these we may tentatively conclude that we discontinued lot of 
practices mentioned in our sUtras and retained only some important 
samskAras with the prescribed mantra viniyogas. (i.e. you 'don't have 
to' do something just because your sUtras prescribe it!)

Regards,
Kasturi Rangan .K

--- In ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Mohan Ramanujan" 
<mohan_ramanujan@xxxx> wrote:
> Dear Sriman Kasturi Rangan,
> 
> I need a small clarification in this regard. I am a Rigvedi and I 
happen to belong to "Ashvalayana Sutram". 
> 
> Now, you know, I am a SriVaishnava. You had mentioned that 
according to Ashwalayana grhya sutram, I have to worship Ganesha, 
Siva & Uma. Where as being a SriVaishnava, I have to worship Sriman 
Narayana.
> 
> I am little confused with this. Could you or any body in the group 
kindly educate me on this and clarify my doubts.
> 
> Regards
> Mohan Ramanujan
> 
> 
> On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 amshuman_k wrote :
> >Dear Badri,
> > Let me try to answer with my limited knowledge. I think similar
> >topic was discussed sometimes back.
> >
> >Vaishnava Agamas: I've heard about 4 of them -- pAncharAtram,
> >vaikhAnasam, pratishThasAram and vignyAnalalitA.
> >
> >Though vaikhAnasam is termed as a vaishNava Agama, I haven't come
> >across a text called vaikhAnasam that is strictly Agamam. What 
exist
> >are these - vaikhAnasa srauta sUtra, grihya sUtra and dharma sUtra.
> >vaikhAnasa sUtra belongs to taittriya shAkhA of krishNa yajur-veda
> >(the most 'popular' sutras are Apastambha & BaudhAyana for this
> >shAkha). This should answer your last question - you cannot become 
a
> >vaikhAnasa just by getting trained in it. You have to born in a
> >vaikhAnasa family (just like you cannot arbitrarily jump from
> >following say Apastambha sUtra to BaudhAyana).
> >
> >The fact that vaikhAnasa sUtra deals with VishNu worship with all 
the
> >associated sectarian rites, it may be (rightly or wrongly) 
classified
> >as an Agama, though strictly, it is a kalpa sUtra.
> >
> >(This shouldn't be surprising - Kalpa sUtras and parishishThas
> >mention worship of sectarian deities. If I remember correctly,
> >Ashvalayana grihya sutra mentions worship of ganesha, shiva, umA.
> >Atharva veda parishishTha talks about skanda yaga that involves
> >images of skanda & pAshupata vrata.)
> >
> >Relation between Agamas & Sri VaishNavAs:
> >If you mean the followers of Shri RamanujachArya as 'Sri 
VaishNavAs',
> >most probably they would be pAncharAtrins. vaikhAnaAs, despite 
being
> >vaishNavAs, need not belong to our guru parampara.
> >
> >Why some temples follow one as opposed to other:
> >I don't have concrete answers for this. Probably, the king or
> >chieftain who built it decided this ( the availability of local
> >brahmins to function in temples might have dictated which Agama was
> >favored). We have examples in history on temples that switched from
> >vaikhAnasa to pAncharAtra.
> >
> >Two different procedures or separate sects?
> >vaikhAnasa & pAncharAtra are quite distinct.
> >
> >Regards,
> >Kasturi Rangan .K
> >
> >--- In ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, badri narayanan 
<b11_narayanan@xxxx>
> >wrote:
> > > Do all vaishnava temples in North India also fall under 
Vaikhanasa
> >or Pancaratra Agamas?.
> > >
> > > What is the basis for following any one partcular agama.Why do 
some
> >temples follow Vaikhanasa and others Pancaratra.
> > >
> > > Do vaikhanasa and Pancratra simply denote two different 
procedures
> >or are they a separate sects?
> > >
> > > What is their relation with SriVaishnavas?.
> > >
> > > Can anyone who is learned in these agama sastras can become 
temple
> >priest?, or is there any restriction?
> > >
> > > regds
> > > Badri
> > >
> > >
> > > ---------------------------------
> > > Do you Yahoo!?
> > > Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
> >azhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyAr thiruvadigalE saranam
> >
> >
> >Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >To visit your group on the web, go to:
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ramanuja/
> >
> >To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> > ramanuja-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> >Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
> > http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
> >
> >
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
ramanuja-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list