Sri: Srimathe Ramanujaya nama: Dear devootees, Humble praNAms to all. This is a general post. History speaks for itself as Sri Sriram mentioned. If we look back,we strangely observe that whenever people(not belonging to the Vedic) gave utmost importance to their religions,the society underwent utter cruelty in all possible forms. We have been ruled by Britishers and Moghuls for centuries and no one needs to be told about what had happened. Ours is the only country which stands by itself without getting shaken by the surroundings. Even within our own vedic tradition, there are more eveidences for shaivite kings torturing SV's (my dear kUraththAzhvAn is the example) than vice versa. Atleast I'm not aware of it and my knowledge is weak in these areas. Whenever we gave utmost importance to our religion,we obseved a "golden period"(example King Gupta's or pallava period)in our society. In our case,religion is directly proportional to the welfare of the society. All problems arise when knowledge is misused. Shankaracarya might have written many samskrt works but he was surely not a "social" reformer(he was not at all bothered about the welfare of the other jIvAtmAs) and so is true with Madhwacarya. Only Emperumanar/Ramanujacarya is a true theologian,philosopher,social critic/reformer etc...R.K.Das(PhD and who does research in Vaishnavism) says that vaishnavism existed much much before veda vyasa period. He says vaishnavism is as old as the vedas which is ageless! I would say our religion is much more scientific in answering fundamental questions than any other religion. It will probably take Scientists some million years to prove the "objectivism" rather than the "subjectivism" of Sriman Narayana! Like Kulashekhara AzhvAr,I'm of the conviction that sri vaishnavas would never(would be the last creatures if it ever happens!)go to the extent of torturing(or being indifferent or hostile to) others. To do certain things,one needs to have the smartness/sAmarthyam and I'm pretty sure SVs lack that trait. I would say that an SV is the most compassionate person who embraces everything despite all the differences that exist. My father is the example for that. He is a "pakka" SV,doesn't step into shaivite temples but that didn't stop him from learning about other religions/cults/sects and he has the heart and the mind to accept people as they are and also if his kids marry someone belonging to other religions!!!!!!! I wish I have that same heart and mind and right now I don't possess one. My mother always used to say that "people who are extremely orthodox will also be forward in thinking and they will accept everything;but those who are neither here nor there create a mess out of everything". Kindly pardon me if I offended anyone's feelings in the process of writing some junk. AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE sharaNam NC Nappinnai
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