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

Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00105 Oct 2003

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


Dear Sri Ram & Lakshmi Narasimhan,
Thank you for your considered responses, which point to pragmatic 
approaches to the position of Vedas in our tradition.
(a) We are in trouble only if we treat "Narayana" is different from 
Rudra, Brahma, Devi, Ganapathy etc. etc. If we consider that 
the "supreme" is one with different names, all the contradictions 
would be solved.
(b) Vishnu paratvam is completely a subjective view of us (Sri 
Vaishnavas) of the vedas.

#(b) is a bold stance to take!!
#(a), painting a "tolerant hindu" picture, seems to contradict our 
traditional view on Narayana and other devatas (sorry if I am 
mistaken). My understanding is Narayana is "supreme" as well 
as "different from other devatas". All other devatas derive their 
powers form the inner controller Narayana alone and he alone is 
capable of giving "mukti".

Let me make my motives clear before I post any further. Call it 
paranoia, but I feel that our "Indian" religions are under assault 
from proselytizing ones (by this I am including Vaishnava, shaiva, 
shakta, buddhism, jainism, sikhism, 'animism' - everything). Other 
non-religious factors like "dravidian movement" in tamil nadu, 
portraying anything brahmin/sanskrit is anti-thesis to 
dravidian/tamil. Members might remember organized physical abuses on 
brahmins during 60s-70s. There is a subtle malignation of "Hinduism" 
in our history text books. A brahmin is sombody to be ridiculed in 
tamil movies. (NOTE: I am not making the mistake of equating "Shri 
vaishnavam" belonging to "brahmins alone" or anything. However most 
of the masses do not see it that way.) 

Our children in this generation are exposed to these instead of our 
traditional values. The subtle brainwashing is successful to such an 
extant that, our children feel ashamed to associate themselves with 
hinduism (constant hammering of caste discrimination, exploitative 
brahmins in school text books, movies, tv serials etc. etc). We can 
escape most of the criticisms by claiming "we aren't hindus, we are 
Shri Vaishnavas". I feel this is a dangerous passive position to 
take. I feel that we have to come to terms with the assaults we are 
facing. 

What is the fundamental requirement on our part in this scenario? I 
feel a thorough understanding of our traditional values - a knowledge 
of our roots. This means our most fundamental root - the Vedas. All 
my questions were framed in this context. 

Regards,
Kasturi Rangan .K


--- In ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Lakshmi Narasimhan" 
<nrusimhan@xxxx> wrote:
> Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha
> This is an excellent point. Thanks to Shriram Swamin. It has 
already 
> been figured out by our ancenstors(including the dvaita, advaita 
and 
> vishistadvaita and certain other philosophers), that, per 
> vedas, "Narayana Parambrahma, tatvan Narayana para:" i.e Narayana 
> is "the" shabda that best describes the brahmam. As Shriram Swamin 
> had mentioned, the problem arises when we debate on "who" is the 
> supreme. It is a simple fact, that we miss all the while, in most 
of 
> our discussions. 





[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