You are here: SriPedia - SriRangaSri - Archives - May 2001

SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00064 May 2001

 
May 2001 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


SrI:
SrImathE rAmAnujAya namaH
SrImathE vEdAnta guravE namaH

namO nArAyaNA!

SrI Manohar,

You opined:
> I agree with Sriman Murali Sampath that what one
> eats is matter of 
> personal choice. In the Gita the Lord says, "offer
> all that you do and 
> eat." He does not put any conditions like no
> MacDonald french fries 
> etc.. Ours is a religion of upadesa not
> commandments. 

No one is born into any religion, whether it is
Srivaishnavam or anything else. Only when one accepts
the "upadesa" of the preceptors of the religion "as
commandments" does he / she become a follower of that
religion.

As far as a Sri Vaishnavam is concerned, the Supreme
Lord comes down as AchAryAs and gives upadesam to
those who are sincere. It is upto one to take the
upadesams as commandments or not; Yes it's a matter of
personal choice. But onething - when you don't accept
the commandments of Sriman Narayana (or SrI vaishnava
AcharyAs) you are not deemed to be called as a Sri
Vaishnava. 

You opined:
> Someone those outside sri sampradaya have no reason
> lecturing us, 
> considering that their original motive in
> participating in this forum 
> is to learn Sri Vaisnava theology. Soon we will have
> the likes of the 
> Talibans and Fundamental Baptist instructing us on
> what to eat and 
> offer God.
> 

Whatever SrI Jai Simman said in regards with eating
prasadam is in line with SrI Vaishnava AchAryas'
upadEsams. Hence there is no reason for you / me to
discourage him or the likes of him to write in this
forum. If he were to advocate something that is not
inline with our philosophy, then its a different
story.

You opined:
> First, I like to clarify that the term "demigods"
> was coined by 
> Prabhupada. This word he 'borrowed' from Greek
> mythology and 
> 'mis-used' it to refer to the devas. The term
> demigod is only 
> applicable to someone like Arjuna. 
> 

Pray, what would be the correct term for devAs then?
When you can borrow the english word "God" to equate
with BhagavAn Sriman NarAyaNa, while the word God in
noway can be equal to "BhagavAn", I don't think there
is anything wrong in using the word "demigod" for
devAs. 

You opined:
> On the issue of mental offering, there is a story in
> the Srimad 
> Bhagavatam, where a rishi mentally prepares an
> offering for the Lord. 
> The rishi puts his finger into maenatlly visualised
> preparation and 
> gets his fingers burnt. This story is an
> illustration on the power of 
> an offering done mentally. 
> 
> On the issue of sattvic and non-sattvic etc. Hitler
> was a vegetarian 
> but he killed millions of Jews, and minorities like
> homosexuals, 
> gipsies etc. The leaders of a world famous Krishna
> cult, are/were 
> 'pure vegetarian' who only partook bhagavad prasadam
> prepared 
> according to 'shastric code'. But did that prevent
> them from molesting 
> young children and having sexual affairs with their
> female and male 
> disciples (which are still very rampant in that
> movement). Did their 
> consciousness change from eating bhagavad prasadam? 
> 

Your kudharkAs (illogical arguments) can only be
considered under pure "Sectarianism".

You opined:
> On the issue of killing silk worms and insects
> ....blah blah. Our sri 
> vaisnava acaryas have not included insect/worms etc
> in the category of 
> sentient beings, and for practical reason we do not
> try and emulate 
> the Jainism concept of ahimsa.

Can some learned SrI Vaishnava scholars clarify if
insects/worms are not considered as sentinent beings
by our AchAryAs?

> 
> Rules and regulations are used by some 'groups' as a
> means to achieve 
> the end Goal - Sriman Narayana. But for sri
> vaisnavas the means and 
> the end is one and the same. Acknowledging, that we
> are not capable of 
> following all these rules and regulations of bhakti
> yoga, our alvars 
> and acaryas have showed us the easy path, Prappatti,
> as taught by Lord 
> Krishna Himself in the Gita. 

While I agree with this point by you, it is not
written in its correct context. If you were to think
eating in McDonalds or Steak House is allowed for a
prapanna, I am compelled to write this:

Prapatti is not an escape for not following the rules
of ShastrAs. Prapatti has its own set of rules and
regulations albeit much easier ones. Infact, one of
the angas of prappati is taking the resolve to not to
do anything against shAstras (Sruti & Smruti), which
are verily the commandments of AchAryas, and another
anga is following the rules and regulations of the
Shastras.

I request learned scholars to correct my mistakes in
this mail, if any.

aDiyEn ramanuja dAsan,
lakshmikumAr.

Srimad Azhagiya Singar thiruvadigalE saranam!


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices
http://auctions.yahoo.com/




[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
srirangasri-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list