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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00003 Mar 2001

 
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SrI:
SrImatE rAmAnujAya namaH

namO nArAyaNa!

Dear SrI Jai Simman and other devotees,

> I merely presented what my spiritual master Srila Prabhupada has explained
> in his books
> with regard to the Archa Murti.

I know that you are a follower of SrI BhaktivEdAnta SwAmi
and you sincerly try to reflect his views in your writings.
While I am not against you following the views of that 
SampradAya, I would like to remind you that this list has the 
basis of SrI VaishNava SampradAya. Kindly read the following 
on what SrI-VaishNavas has to say on the philosophical 
issues which you had written.

The Sanskrit term "Vigraha" is very much used to denote 
archA-avatAram of PerumAL {Like "Vigraha AarAdhanam" etc}. 
"Idol" is its English equivalent. There is nothing wrong 
in that word as such to denote PerumAL. But some modern thinkers 
started criticizing "Idol Worship" etc and the name "Idol" got 
involved in such issues while referring to PerumAL => Usage 
of this word became mis-leading. Thus, we may resort to other
terms.

>It is verily the Lord Himself since in the ultimate issue there is
> no difference between the Lord and His form, wherever It may be manifested
> in as much as the Lord is present wherever Harinama is chanted because there
> is no difference between Him and His Name. 

Earlier, you wrote on these lines in another SrI VaishNava list
also. I had written few mails explaining from Brahma-SUtras
(+SrI-BhAshya) and other pramANas that Lord is different 
from His divine body which is another tattva{reality} called 
Suddha-Sattva. While you made a blanket statement that these
things are "mAyAvAda" etc, I had explained as to how 
Bhagavad RAmAnuja follows Sage VyAsa and Upanishads 
correctly regarding this issue. I also enlisted some 
books for your reference. 

Still, you have written the very same thing probably 
thinking that your understanding is same as that 
of SrI-VaishNava sampradAya {and probably forgot everything
of what I wrote earlier}.

There is a lot of difference between Lord's picture and
His archA-avatAram like either Vigraha Or SAlagrAma-MUrti.
The former is only a representation of Him with His divine 
form {the paper etc being prakruti only} and the latter is 
verily Himself with the suddha-sattva form {either due 
to consecration by Aagamas Or taken by Lord Himself on His
own}. Lord eternally has divine form at SrI-VaikuNTham. The
archa-avatAram is the descent of that Para-VAsudEva {avatAram =
descent) in making the materialistic forms made of Gold 
etc as Suddha-Sattva because of the procedures of the Aagama
SAstras lovingly followed by His devotee and assumes that 
form out of abundant mercy for all the devotees to worship, 
serve and benifit. 

SwAmi dESikan quotes from AgamAs and says that, the excessive 
amount of milk when mixed with water, still remains as milk
( eg: 10 litres of milk + 1 litre of water gives 11
litres of milk ie. the milk and water are so well
mixed that the difference between milk and water
can't be found). Similarly, the thirumEni of PerumAL
in arcAvatAram has excessive suddha sattvam mixed with
matter(prakruti) such as gold , and we shouldn't
distinguish between suddha sattvam and the gold present.
Thus, arcAvatAra thirumEni is suddha sattavm only (
similar to how 11 litres of milk is referred to as
milk, though technically 1 litre of water is present).

Actually, its a very great sin to view the archa-thirumEni
as something made up of some materialistic substance.

One important siddhAnta is that even during the advanced stages 
of bhakti-yoga like Para-bhakti, the yOgi has only the 
darSana-samAna sAkshAtkAram ie. not actual sAkshAtkAram
but mental image of Lord acquired by his yoga attains a very 
good stage, which is similar to the actual suddha-satva thirumEni
viSishTa SrIman nArAyaNa, but not the same. 

I am not interested in any further discussion etc due to 
my time constraints and other important commitments. You can 
refer the books for your further doubts. If you are interested,
I can send you an article of mine that was written on this
issue.

I would like to conclude reminding the 17th verse {ViSvAtiSAyi..}
of VaradarAja Pan~chAsat by SrI VEdAnta DESika, which beautifully
states {in a characteristic style of SwAmi DESikan} that (even) 
Bhakti-Yogins meditating upon Lord gets the doubt/confusion 
as to whether the divine form is Either You Or Yours, as 
both are declared in VEdas to be of the same nature as that 
of jn~AnAnanda-maya. 

While the two are actually different in tattva, Lord VaradarAja's 
divine body's mAhAtmyam {greatness} is also something unimaginable 
--conveys SwAmi DESikan. Thank God that unparalleled PUrvAchAryas 
of our sampradAyam like BhagavAn RAmAnuja and BhagavAn VEdAnta
DESika have very well explained the intricacies of SAstras 
and I am no more in such a confusion as even other great yogins
might have :-) {On a lighter note ...But the hidden message 
about our PUrvAchAryas is true}.

SwAmi DESikan thiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,
anantapadmanAbhan.




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