Dear Sriman Sri Ram, I have following observations on your note: 1. I do not think anybody is missing what you think is the central point of discussion.With whatever little understanding I have of our sampradaya, it is clear to me that we hold that Narayana is the Vedic supreme and Brahman of Vedanta is none other than Narayana. And also Narayana is congruent to Vishnu and vice versa. That is the position held by our Purvacharyas. And we hold this as parama vaidika sampradayam. All other references to contrary in vedic texts are reconciled by our Acharyas in their inimitable style ( Refer to chapter on Ishwara in Yateendra Matha Deepika ). Now that is the position of our sampradayam. 2. We do not consider Shiva, Devi, Ganapathi as different from Narayana in so far as Narayana is the indweller of all. 3. If you imply this position of our sampradaya is fundamentalist, then I am a fundamentalist and I do not find anything wrong about believing in fundamentals of our sampradayam. 4. We are monotheist in our practice. That is where it ends. We do not go about fighting other systems on everyday basis. At the same time we do not find any reason to uphold the validity of other sampradayams as our duty. I want to be a good srivaishnavite in the way shown by our Acharyas. 5. In any case there more than enough people around to uphold the validity of other schools. In my humble opinion, it is more than sufficient for us to strive to live upto tenets of our sampradayam. 6. No offence meant. I am not against honest interrogation of one's own faith. But we should gaurd against trying to draw too many conclusions about our sampradayam with too little analysis. 7. Dasoham adiyen srinivasadasa --- purohit@xxxx wrote: > > Dear Bhagavatars, some of us seem to be missing the > point on this discussion > on the Vedas and the Supremacy of Narayana. No one > is doubting the > "supremacy" of Narayana - seeing that Narayana means > the "ground of all > being" - therefore the name in itself is > self-evidently absolute. The > problem arises when we enter into this Puranic > discussion about who is > supreme - like debating who is the president is it A > or is it B. The Vedas > declare "khalvidam brahma" "sarvam vai rudra", > "tvameva (ganesha) sarvam > khalvidam brahmasi", "narayana evedagam sarvam". So > by a process of logic if > A = X, B = X, C = X and D = X then the relationship > between A,B,C,D must be > identical. This is then supported by the Ghataka > sruti = "ekam sat vipra > bahudha vadanti" - the Truth is ONE but the wise > describe is differently. > > If we regard Narayana as a person who is different > to Siva, Ganesha, Brahma > and that they are all contenders for the throne then > we are divided into > different camps with different agendas and end up > fighting and dirt raking > like a presidential election! When we understand > that the Vedas repeatedly > say the trimurti comes from Narayana, and then the > same trimurty comes from > Siva, Ganesha etc, we come to a non sectarian > conclusion that they are all > aspects of the one Supreme Being, different forms of > the same energy. We as > vaishnavas have a personal subjective bias towards > Vishnu, but let us not > deny the validity of the Saivite or Ganapatya or > Sakta approach. Let us > simply accept what Krishna has said in the Gita - > that he accepts all people > in whatever way they wish to take refuge in Him, be > it as Siva, Ganesha, > Sakti Brahma or as Vishnu. > > The truth of Rig veda is that the majority of > suktas are indeed addressed > to Indra and Agni, and only 3 or 4 to Vishnu, > Narayana does not get a > mention. So let us not get carried away by > fundamentalism and dogmatism. Let > us treasure our sampradaya and also respect and > accept the sampradaya of > others. Let us pursue the path of unity in diversity > which to me is the true > message of the Vedas. > > Adiyen > Sri Ram > > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com
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