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From the Bhakti List Archives

Ramprasad Santhanakrishnan • September 11, 1997 


Erudite Scholars and members of the list:

I have been a passive member of this list for a long time and i have
gained a lot of knowledge about our SriVaishnava culture from the 
postings. My knowledge of our culture used to be limited to  stories
 toldby my parents and desikar slokams which i learnt when i was a kid.
But i managed to read up on our culture after coming to this country.

One issue that was lingering in my mind for sometime was about the
comparison  of Lord Narayana with  other hindu gods. I found several 
Srivaishnava publications which went the whole nine yards in convincing
that Lord Vishnu is the param poruL. I am happy about this.
But they dont have to say thatthe other gods fall under the category 
"lesser gods". Nobody is having any doubt if Lord Vishnu is the ultimate
god or not. Nobody asked whether if Lord Vishnu is more/less powerful than
Shiva (or for thatmatter any other hindu god). 

Without offending anyone, these arguments make me think of those days
when i was kid when i use to argue with my friends about who will
win if we had a fight between my father and his father.

I really dont understand why there should be a lengthy discussion
about powers of Gods or who is the ultimate god. At the offset if
somebody is subscribed to this list, one can assume that he/she
believes in Lord Vishnu and efforts can be focussed on discussing
the kalyana gunas of our god.

Also regarding the statement of Sri Mani Varadharajan about
doing pujas to pillayar, does the same rule apply to Hanumar too?
What is his position with respect to nithya suris?

-Ram prasad