You are here: SriPedia - Ramanuja - Archives - Jul 2003

Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00031 Jul 2003

 
Jul 2003 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


Dear Shri Devotees, 
I have a few questions and please forgive me if they are offensive 
in anyway. I haven't been active in the forum for past few months due 
to personal reasons. I put forth my stance immediately before I pose 
my questions. Though I am from an orthodox Vaishnava family, I do not 
subscribe to most of the beliefs of our tradition. I was a moorkha 
once :) ( Only my Lord is THE Lord, na devo narayaNaat para: ), proud 
of my tradition, doing sandhyavandanam and samidhadaanam regularly. I 
can't recall what exactly cause my faith to slip away. Probably, I 
was digging deeper into the contents of Veda samhitas and embarrassed 
to find few things... So, here are the questions.

1. Vishnu appears to be a minor deity in Rk Vedas. (Totally 6 suktams 
I presume) In fact he is none other than Sun. No description of him 
as (Shanka-chakra-gadaa-paNi) etc. On the other hand Indra appears a 
thousand times with other deities like Agni, Pushan, Ashvins, Dyaava-
Prithvi, Rbhus, Varuna: etc. So on what basis we claim Vedas as our 
authorities and Shriman Narayana is mentioned as the supreme in the 
Vedas? (Of course, I am aware of NarayaNa-Valli in Taittriya 
Aranyakam)

2. What about the 108 odd upanishads? There are varying number of 
Upanishads that are considered authoritative. But while reading the 
commentaries, I've seen "sectarian" upanishads quoted. This brings to 
an interesting question. There is a Shaiva upanishad called 
Sharabhopanishad, in which Shiva taking a form of Sharabha kills Lord 
Nrusimha!!!!!! I find this extremely offensive. Now, if Upanishads 
are part of Shruthi, and Shruthi is infallible, what about this 
Upanishad? If we ignore this as fake but take "Nrusimha-
tapni", "gopala-tapini" upanishads as authoritative aren't we being 
hypocritical? (There aren't major upanishads either). 

3. Why aren't shudras allowed to read vedas? How about women? Even if 
one is pure by heart and deeds?

4. Is God one? Then why is he taking different forms in different 
places of earth? God according to Semitic religion is totally 
different from our construction. So are they deluded? What objective 
criterion would we use to see who is correct and who is not?

5. Why should the vedas be in Sanskrit? Why not in Tamil or any other 
vernacular language?

6. Can a Shudra ever aspire to become a religious figure in our 
tradition?

7. In Gita-Bhashyam, Shri Ramanuja casually mentions that sacrificing 
animals during agnishToma is not ahimsa. How so?

8. Queer practices in Ashwamedha yagnya? (I am not going to give 
details!). Human sacrifice in Purushamedha yagnya? (mentioned in 
Shathapatha brahmana)?

More later.

Regards,
Kasturi Rangan.





[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