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Re: RAMANAND PHILOSOPHY

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V.Srimahavishnu • February 11, 1999 


       SrImatE rAmAnujAya namah.
            dear BhAgavatas,
                       namO namah.
                          The question raised by SrI Tandy is very much
interesting.In one of the verses of rAmcharitmAnas,TulasIdAs in fact says
that rAma is the origin of thousands of VishNus and sItA is the origin of
thousands of lakshmIs.This is a prArthanA SlOka in sanskrit at the
beginning of one of the kAndas.However, it is acknowledged in the core
text of rAmcharitmAnas that SrI rAm is an incarnation of VishNu.hence
what TulasIdAs wrote can be taken in a poetic sense.Also the
supremacy of nArAyaNa is upheld.however, tulasIdAsjI says worship of Lord
Siva is equally imp.This may be due to that Siva is a great BhAgavata.
        All rAmAnandIs respect tulasIdAs a lot and consider him to be in
the disciplic succession of rAmAnand only.This can be taken as  official
position of rAmAnandIs though I am in no way connected to them, except
that I revere them because of their having Urdhva pundra on their forehead
and their ananya bhakti for SrI rAm.mIrAbAI, a great krishNa bhaktA, is
connected to this paramparA
thru sant ravidAs, a cobbler who became a great haribhakta due to AchArya
krupA.It is also believed that mIrAbAI and tulasIdAs were contemporaries
and respected each other a lot.The influence of SrI sampradAyam can be
seen in mIrAbAI's kIrtans.She addresses Him at many points as
nArAyaNa,rAma etc. 
        SrI maNi may be right in saying that SrI piLLai lOkAchAriar comes
in their pUrvAchARya paramparA.Their Urdhva pundra is akin to that of
Tengalai disciplic succession with a middle red line and a pAdam below the
junction of marks of His feet.     
        One more evidence to show that they are more of haribhaktas , is
their being the trustees of Tirumala temple for about more than hundred
years.The founder of hathI rAm mutt was  a great devotee of
SrI VEnkatESwara.The mUlavar of SrI varAha svAmI was installed in the
present upAlaya by mahant prayAg dAs, a pontiff of the mutt..Similarly it
is learnt that SrI
vyAsarAya of madhva paramparA did the pratishthA of bEdi AnjanEya svAmI of
Tirumala temple.It is to be noted here that JIyars of Tirupati are the
permanent Vedic trustees of the temple (SASvata vaidika dharmakartAs).
          I don't think rAmAnadIs belong to nirguNa school.Theirs is
saguNa school only.KabIr is considered to be a disciple of SrI rAmAnand
but preached a totally different philosophy.His followers are called
kabIr panthIs and theirs is nirguNa school.
                               rAmAnujasysa charaNau SaraNam prapadyE
                                      VaishNav dAs               
                                    V.Srimahavishnu