sri:
FACT CORRECTION
Saaththatha Vaishnavas are doing kainkaryams (helpers) in THaayaar
sannidhi in Srirangam.They are NOT priests.
Sarathy
--- In ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "rvv21" <ranjan@...> wrote:
>
> Dear members, praNAmams
>
> If I may, I would like to offer a couple of my observations
> about this gained from visits to our beloved Sri Rangam Kovil and
> from my simple reading of Ramanuja Gita Bhashya.
>
> On going to the Thaayaar Sannidhi (Lakshmi's shrine) at Sri
> Rangam, I noticed that many of the archakars there
were 'shaathaadha
> shrivaishnavas' (Sri Pritesh Swamin, in Tamil that refers to Shri
> Vaishnavas who do not wear the sacred thread). I understand that
> they are privileged to have this position in the Sri Rangam kovil
> since Ramanuja's time, it's not because of any government quota or
> anything like that. So Sri Vivek Swamin, indeed it would appear
> that our acharyas and elders have allowed non-brahmins to become
> priests for centuries. Let us get our information correct before
we
> make a blanket statement such as "non-brahmins cannot become
> priests" which certainly does not seem to have any basis if my
> observations at Sri Rangam were correct. Learned members, please
> correct me if I misunderstood what I saw.
>
> What is also another issue is whether other communities are
> allowed to have the sacred thread, and there definite cases of
even
> western europeans being given both yagnyopaveetam and
samashrayanam
> by our own Sri Vaishnava acharyas - anyone can search on the net
to
> check this is true. So let us also not presume to make judgements
> on this, as that is effectively discrediting the Sri Vaishnava
> acharyas who initiated those people. 'Varnashrama dharma' is one
> thing, but 'bhaagavata apaachaaram' is (or should be) a much
bigger
> thing to worry about.
>
> Regarding Sri Vivek swamin's point about 18:47 of Bhagavad
> Gita: "Doing ones own duty, even if faulty, is better than
adopting
> that of others" does not mean 'shUdras should not do a brahmin's
> job' or anything like that: according to Ramanujar's Gita Bhashya
it
> means that we should not presume to take up the difficult process
of
> jnaana yoga and control of the senses when karma yoga is what we
are
> more innately suited to by virtue of our connection with prakrti.
> Please refer to Swami Ramanujar's commentary and learned members,
> again please correct any mistakes in my understanding.
>
> I would hope our Sri Vaishnava community at least, would have
a
> bit more sensitivity to the issue of non-brahmins serving in
temples
> rather than a knee-jerk reaction of condemnation. Nothing is
quite
> as black and white as we think it is... although I am not Indian-
> born or raised and therefore not qualified to comment on the
> intricacies of caste politics in India, I would at least ask us
all
> to approach this issue with the compassion that is meant to be a
> hallmark Sri Vaishnava lakShaNam. Let's leave such judgements to
> the acharyas who understand the true significance
> of "varNa", "jAti", "dharma" and all those things better than we
lay-
> ShriVaishnavas do. I hope I have not offended anybody.
>
> sarvAparAdhAn kShamasva
> namO nArAyaNAya
> Ranjan
>
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