SrimathE RAmAnujAya nama: Dear Nappinnai (such a beautiful name!): Your desire and enthusiasm to learn is both infectious and apparent. However, all learning processes (and probably most processes in prakrithi) involve a process of evolution. It is important to accept that we may not be able to comprehend certain concepts because we may not be intellectually ready for them. For instance, if I try to talk about the general theory of relativity or Schroedinger's Cat to my four year old daughter (given that she is quite inquisitive and sincere), it may not make a lot of sense. Likewise, to a lot of people, the 'apourushEya' notion falls outside their 'common sense'. However, such absence of comprehension in no way alters the truth of the apourushEya concept or that the vEdas exist independently (as all truth does). There is a lot that one has to learn (in terms of basics of shAstra) before one can even begin to comprehend the natures of chith and Eeshwara or vEdic statements. It is important to recognize that such comprehension is not necessary to get near KaNNan or experience perumAL, not is it sufficient. All that the comprehension provides is a sense of cease less wonderment at the infinite beauty of perumAL, His sousheelyam and soulabhyam. Ultimately, we will realize He is the one who will give us that comprehension, if we are ready for it. Now, more importantly, it is critical to recognize that all learning is a step by step process. And when it comes to the ultimate knowledge, understanding the glories of srImannArAyaNA and His vibhoothi, even the vEdas give up (yathO vAcha nivarthanthE aprApya manasA saha - unable to comprehend with the mind (Intellect), we come back to repeating with words that we are not able to grasp with the Intellect), meaning, we surrender to the notion that the true vibhoothi of emperumAn can only be experienced and not comprehended. Instead of rushing to ask the first hundred questions that pop up in our fertile, febrile minds, when confronted with a statement from shAstra, it may be useful if we attempt to understand the simpler things of our inalienable relationship with perumAL, like, understand every word in thiruppAvai or listen to the swApadEshartham, or learn sanskrit and tamizh or read about the lives of our poorvAchAryas or stop making statements from hearsay/ignorance - that DP contains 75 percent sanskrit words - or find an Acharya to help us (I speak for all of us, because most of us are in the same boat when it comes to ignorance) - now before somebody jumps on me for attributing ignorance, this is a statement from srI vachana bhooshaNam of Swamy piLLai lOkachAryar (that inimitable guide to how to live a life as a sri vaishNava) - where Swamy says agnyAnathAlE prapannar asmadAdigaL gnyAnAdikhyaththAlE prapannar maharshigaL bhakthi pAravasyaththAle prapannar AzhwArgaL Swamy, in his infinite kindness, includes himself with us in saying that our only qualification state for prapathi is our agnyAnam (ignorance). > Truly speaking these vEdAs confuse a person like me. It's like > saying that knowledge and ignorance co-exist. Which is why our Acharyas have created vyAkyAnams for divya prabandham (created for many of us explicitly to obviate the need to learn the vEdas as a basis to understand emperumAn), the very essence of the vedas, much more accessible. Our dear Kannan says in the BG (yAvAnartha udapAne sarvathaha sampluthOdake, thAvAn sarvEshu vEdEshu brAhmaNasya vijAnathaha) that it is important to learn from what is applicable to our station in life (mannassukku eTTara vishayam), the vEdas contain material for everybody, but a brAhmaNa has to take what is applicable to him. The reason the vedas confuse many is because they do make the statement that ignorance is the basis of knowledge (He who knows that he does, does not and He who knows that he does not, does). But the vEdic statement here makes perfect sense for a few gnyAnis who have the intellectual maturity to comprehend the substance of the vedas. For some one like me, who may not have it, there is the bhakti siddhAnjanam (perumAL Himself). Once we decide to go along with perumAL (and not turn away, even attempting to comprehend things as a process of self discovery is achith sambandham), our doubts/questions will vanish with the same alacrity as we will discover the ultimate joy. aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan, sridhar
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