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Re: A question

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Mani Varadarajan • January 28, 2000 


Vijayaraghavan Srinivasan writes:
> The second line - does it imply that one should not turn around in circles 
> (standing at the same place)in front of perumAl sannidhy.  This sems to be 
> contrary to the smArta practice of saying ....pradakshina padE padE where 
> they remain in one place and turnaround in circles.  Does this slOka 
> disapprove that practice.  I would request BhaghavatAs to clarify.

It appears that it does disapprove.  I cannot speak with certainty about 
this sloka, but I can extrapolate from other advice that if at all possible,
one is to never turn one's back on Perumaal, especially as part of ritual
practice. For example, even in sandhyAvandanam, Perumaal is given precedence 
over the sun (Aditya-maNDala-madhya-vartI nArAyaNa). If one is doing
sAyam sandhyA in the ananta-saras in Kanchipuram Perumaal kOvil, for example,
one offers the arghyam in the direction of Lord Varada, irrespective
of where the sun is.  In the dig-dEvatA pradakshina and namaskAra after
the sandhyA, Kozhiyalam Swami recommends that we ensure that we not turn
our back on Perumaal. I follow this practice if I am forced to do my
sAyam sandhyA inside the house near our Perumaal sannidhi for some reason.
 
> Similarly, VaishnavAs do not follow the practice of keeping the hands over 
> the arati and accepting it after the karpoora Arati is offered to PerumAl.

It is not our practice to do this, but when asked, Sri Rangapriya Swami said 
it is "not wrong" to do this.

daasan,
Mani