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Re: Of Hari, Green and Radha

From the Bhakti List Archives

swamy swarna • February 12, 2002 


Hari Om. I am a new entrant of this discussion group
and as already mentioned in my earlier postings, a
Smarta, i.e. a worshipper of all Gods including Vishnu
and Siva. I do not pretend to completely understand
the discussion about Hari, Radha and their colors.

But I have one point to submit. Shri Malolan Cadambi
says at the end of his reply that one should not offer
worship without knowing all the attributes of a name.
But if the person did not know that the word Hayagriva
applied to both the demon and God (Vishnu), he would
obviously be thinking of the positive aspects of that
name only and not the negative aspects, isn't it?

So, even if a person utters or praises a name without
fully understanding all its attributes, he may still
be saved by God. After all, Valmiki as a hunter was
given the mantra Rama turned backwards (Mara) by the
sages and he went on repeating the same and became a
great Sage!

In Devi Puranam also, Krishna and Radha are portrayed
supreme. I don't claim to have studied all the
different schools of thought and hence don't wish to
confuse the issues further with my limited knowledge.

I would like to make one appeal to the members of this
elite group, that they correct each other with love
and affection.

Hari Om.

S.V.Swamy 

--- Malolan Cadambi  wrote:
> --- In bhakti-list@y..., "Srikant Sadagopan"
>  wrote:
> > Dear Kumari Kalaivani et al,
> > When I started to read Kalaivani's explanation on
> the color "green" for 
> > Krishna, I wondered if you were heading in the
> right direction because, 
> > Radhe per se is not considered as "Piratti" or
> Thaayar in toto among Sri 
> > Vaishnava Acharyas. It is Rukmini, the officially
> wedded wife of Sri Krishna 
> > who is considered the manifestation of Thaayar.
> All other feminine forms 
> > attracted to Krishna were either Amshams of
> thaayar or Gopikaas(reembodiment 
> > of Vaanaras from the Ramayana times --there's a
> sperate story to that).
> 
> True. Radha is not pirAtti in the purest sense of
> the term. In the ISKCON(Gaudiya Vaishnava)
> Sampradaya Lakshmi is consider as the Amsham of
> Radha and Naarayana is considered the Amsam of
> Krishna. These notions are in one word *FALSE* and
> represent very poor understanding of tarka sastras.
> I wish to bring to the notice of members that this
> list is dedicated to the Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya
> and is meant for discussing the works of Sri
> Vaishnava Acharyas. Please do not mix Gaudiya
> Vaishnava Logic over here.
> 
> On the other hand, Radha in the Sri Vaishanava
> Sampradya was outlined by Sri.Krishna Kashyap in an
> old post which I picked up from the archives. Radha
> in the Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya is recognised as an
> amsam of the Vaanaras who re-incarnated during the
> Krishna Avatara as Gopikas. Radha is refered to in
> Swami Vedanta Desikar's Yadhavabhudayam.
> Yadhava-bhudhayam was commented upon even by the
> Advaitha Scholar Appayya Diskhita. This also means
> that the advaita school or as a matter of fact even
> the dvaita school do not recognise Krishna as the
> supreme god-head, but Krishna is recognised only as
> an avatara of Sriman naarayana.
> 
> For a Complete Reference, please check the following
> link:
>
http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/sep99/0005.html
> 
> Further more, in the Sri Vaishnava Sampradayam,
> Radha is a jiivatma and is Anu(finite) not
> vibhu(infinite). This is not the case in the Gaudiya
> Vaishnava Sampradaya.
> 
> 
> > But I must admit I was bowled over by your
> deduction of color schemes. It 
> > was pure Bhakthi, intense anubhavam and a very
> constructive use of logic. 
> > Really good to see some variety in Anubhavams
> among the youth today.
> 
> I did not reply to Smt.Kalaivani's previous mail
> about the question of hari being green. The
> Combination with Radha does not make Sriman
> Naarayana Green as Smt.Kalaivani draws from her
> kindergarden logic. I refered to the Samskrutha
> Sabakosha (Sanskrit Dictionary) and here is what is
> present:
> 
> HaritA means Green. This word is attributed to
> Mahalakshmi to emphasize the fact that the green
> wealth of the forests and crops have personified
> Mahalakshmi as Green therefore HaritA. Hari due to
> his association with Mahalakshmi is also Green
> therefore becoming HaritA sametha Hari. Equating
> Radha with Yellow is then again *now-where* found in
> sruthi vakhyams. To me, Smt.Kalaivani's logic does
> not go more than Kindergarten Logic or even
> represent 1% of the logic present in vyakharanam or
> tarka sastram.
> 
> Her bhakti anubhavam is laudable. But without proper
> knowledge of attributes, contemplating on them or
> devotion towards them not recommended. For example,
> let us consider this;
> 
> A person confused the Demon hayagriva with Bhagavan
> Hayagriva and presumed that both are the same.
> Thence, the person was singing in praise of
> Hayagriva without knowing the difference between the
> both. It is for this reason that worship should
> never be offered just by invoking a name, without
> knowledge of attributes.
> 
> Without knowledge of attributes invoking a name is
> not recommended. Why would a person want to sing in
> praise of the demon Hayagriva???
> 
> 
> > 
> > ||Rukmini SamEtha sri Venugopala swAminE namaha||
> 
> Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan,
> 
> Malolan Cadambi
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
> 
> 
> 
>
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