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Re: intro Bzzzz_23

From the Bhakti List Archives

go moothram • December 28, 2001 


dear sandeep
as far as i know vaishnavisam was in a typical
condition at ramanujars time. he worked flying between
karnataka kanchipuram and srirangam. before that there
was a great sage called natha muni who complied the
nalayira divya prabantham, the sacread saying of
alwars compraising 4000 hymns. there are 12 alwars
including one woman called andal. out of them
periyazhwar, andal, madurakavi, thondaradippodi and
muthal alwarkal- pey, bhootham and poigai- were
brahmins, the great nammalwar was a vellala,
kulashekara perumal was a king of kerala,
thirumazhisai was a harijan, thirumangai was a king
come robber, and tiruppan alwar was a panar. Alwars
(in pure Tamil "AzhwAr") means "One who immerses 
himself".  They really,  deeply immersed  themselves
in their devotion and bhakti towards the Lord Sriman 
Narayanan.  The  AzhwArs  are belived  to  be 
incarnations  of  NithasUris of Sri Vaikuntam, 
namely, the weapons, the Vanamaali, the GarudA, etc.
their life span is a matter of debate, many scale it
from dwapara yuga to kaliyuga upto 8th century, which
is reported as a last sangham age, the books like
akananooru, purananooru, chilappathikaram, tirukkural
and thevaram hymns by saivites may be of the same age.
but by the time of 10th century all the
paasurams(hymns) were lost (may be due to the riots),
and it  was nathamuni who found it back by his
meditation power by the grace of our perumal. but at
the time of ramanujar the situations had a political
image. battles began between hindus and muslims,
battle between buddists and vaishnavaits more over
battle between saivats and vaishnavaits, what a pitty,
with out knowing the deeper sense of siva and vishnu,
pepole took armour. i think you need not worry that
the other alwars are nonbrahmins. for the lord there
is no caste barrier. 
you know who is a real brahmin?
have you heard that
janmana jayathe soodra*
karmana jaayathe dwija*
vedabhasethu vipra*
brahma jaanethu brahahmana* that means you must
realize the ultimate truth, there is no buddists,
saivaite, or vaishnavaite born, they are only made,
have you heard this- Communists are not born but are
made- this is a similler case. Can you find a real
brahmin.worship is as you like that is the flexibility
in hinduisam. see i am a saivaite brahmin, dont even
have a distant relation to tamil naadu and
vaishnavism. pepole of kerala are generally belivers
in both.i got intersted in tamil vaisnavism through
series articles in THE HINDU daily and now i enjoy the
sacread hymns.now a days i and the  author of
www.srivaishnavam.com site Mr. VEnkat are doing a
combined work of translitrating the tamil hymns to
malayalam. i consider it as a small offering to the
lord. a i worship siva also. you have to see the story
of tiruppan alwar and tirumazhisai alwar. even
thirumazhsai was a saivaite later he was converted as
a vaishnavaite by pey alwar
he himself says in one of his paasurams as "saakiyam
katrom, saman katrom, sankaranar aakkiya aagama nool
arinthom bhakthiyal senkatkariyanai sernthom yam
thethilamaiyenkatkariya thontril means-"After my
futile efforts to know the supreme principle through
jainism, buddhism, and saivic philosophy, I am blessed
by sriman Narayana to take refuge at the Lotus feet of
Sri Devi and have escaped all problems and misfortunes
since then." 
  www.srivaishnavam.com
  www.ramanuja.org
  www.srivaishnavan.com
  and the links there in gives you good referance
materials. if you want some introductory articles i
can also help you. but these sites are excellent. you
can enjoy vaishnava tradition at your level. i am also
a child, sometimes the discussions are beyond our
limits. but their importance does matter. you can find
many articles in the bhakthi list archives of
ramanuja.org. this what i understood about the history
of tamil vaishnavism. the scholors can of this group
can certainly add up
regards and a HAPPY NEW YEAR
sreekanth

  

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