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Re: Avataaraas

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Sampath Rengarajan • January 4, 1996 


On Jan 3,  5:03pm, D2C30T8@CALVRTN4.BELL-ATL.COM wrote:
> Subject: Re: Avataaraas
But it
>      is sad that the very braahmanaas and other pious/gentle people that he
>      so conscientously protected, failed to reciprocate the generosity by
>      not even remembering his contribution.

Last year in India Parasuraama jayanthi was celebrated with record particpation
in the capital. It was well attended by prominent mutts representativ es and
also by religious organisations. Prime Minister PVN Rao has sent his
representative too. The Hindu organisations in fact declared that they would
want to make this day as a National Hoilday and would lobby for the same.


>
>
>      2. No. He is blessed (or cursed?) to be a Chiranjeevi (not the
>      actor!). He is believed to exist as a formless force (or being) in the
>      verdant land of KEraLam. He is generally attributed as the original
>      sthaapaka (installer?) of the Ayyappa shrine.
>
This doenot seem to be the answer for the second question Mr, Dileepan had
asked. However, you have mentioned these things in response to my thoughts.
When this general belief is hanging around that he exist in KEralam I wanna
know from you or anyother who is from kerala, if there is any citation
available for this in any of the malayaalam scripts. If so please post it also.
I am not sure if traditional srivaishnavas accept Ayyappa worship, leave alone
muruga or shiva. This is a new thread I am hearing for the first time that an
avathaaram of Sriman Naraaryana was the sthaapaka for Ayyappa shrine. Though
one can argue the case of Lord Rama installing the shivalingam at rameswaram,
Aiyappan is believed to be  the son of Mohini avathaaram and hence a section of
core sriviashnavas consider Swamy Aiyyappan as  demigod and it is
(srivaishnavaas) believed that that some people worship aiyappa for pursuit of
materialistic needs only, without realisng the fact the same can be obtained by
sriman naaraayana worship alone. (Sriman Naaraayana provides all support for
our materialistic pursuits, protects us  and as well as grant saranaagathi for
us ) .   This is not to undermine the sentiments of Aiyappa followers in this
group but only to state the position of srivaishnava sampradaayam. It is
surprising and misleading  to note that increasing number of sriviashnavas
visit this shrine in contrary to our principles on saranaagathi and
baranyaasam. Can you substantiate the claim that parasuraama established this
shrine for ayyappa.

>
>      3. Unacceptable. If you agree with the fact that he is an avathaaram
>      of Lord Vishnu as a brahmin warrior, he can in no way be considered
>      inferior to Lord Vishnu's Kshattriya forms of Sri Rama and Sri
>      Krishna.
>
>      I have tried to answer the questions based on whatever knowledge I
>      have on this subject. Other learned members of our group would know
>      more. Pardon me if I have inadvertantly written anything offensive.
>
>      Dilipan.
>-- End of excerpt from D2C30T8@CALVRTN4.BELL-ATL.COM

The integrity of the avathaaram as a warrior was not questioned in my opinion
by Mr. Dileepan. When Ramaa avathaarm [not the actor  ramaa (rao) ] (two
saranaagathi's demonstrated) and krishnaa avatharam [not the actor krishna and
naagaarjuna] (Srimath bagawath geetha) has unique lessons for us, Does
Parasuraama avathaaram has any such lessons to offer. Your contention and the
quote from the movie Tamil song ...

>
>      1. Not at all. Even though there is a tamil film song in the film
>      "Thirumaal Perumai" that goes,
>
>                         Thaai thandhai sollE uyar vEdam
>                         EnRu kaattiyadhinnumoru avadhaaram
>                         Parasuraama avadhaaram....    Kannadaasan?
>

is not a main contribution, may be right. But winning all the shaktriyaas is
also not a major contribution, in light of the fact that he is ever existing
and is contributing for ever. But what are the lessons he has to offer for us ?
I believe his penance is one.


For those who are still disputing this avathaaram, I wanna quote from the
aazhwaar who requested Lord Arangan for the dasaavathaaram sannithi moorthis
(Arangan blessed the moorthis to appear as suyambu and you can have the darshan
of them at dasaavathaara sannithi in Srirangam. Thanks to the heroic efforts of
Mr. Jagannath in arranging a one year support for the nitya kainkaryam of this
sannithi recently)  has this to say.

Thirumangai aazhwaar in Periya thirumozhi, ainthaam paththu, lists 8 of the
lords avathaarams in praise of "THiruveLLaRai perumaaL". Incidentally the first
avathaaram he referred was parasuraama avathaaram.

venRi maamazhu vEnthi mun MaNmisai
mannaRai moovEzhukaal
konRa thEva, nin kuraikazhal thozhuvathOr
vagaiyenak karuL puriyE
manRil maampozhil nuzhai thanthu malligai
meLavalin pOthalarththi
thenRal maamaNam kamazh thara varuthiru
veLLaRai ninRaanE.

SOme one else passionately appealed to have universal pursuit of avathaarams
taking into consideration all the other religions. In Veda, it is said that
every one is "Vasudeva kudumbam".  There is no contradiction to this, and
nammaazhwaar's quote on "avaraavar thaam thamthu vazhi vazhi .."for several
schools of thoughts,supports this. The various prophets of the world are
respected. But we as Srivaishnava has to worship Sriman naraayana only  and
follow the footsteps of our poorvaachaaryaas who have contributed tons and tons
of sthothrams, research and analysis for sri vishitadthvaidam and Sriman
Naaraaynan worship. If every one in the world is considered his family
(vasudeva kudumbam) ,Srivaishnavaas will acccept  Budhdha  as  a creation of
sriman naaraayanaa . However, the question is whether budhdhaa is one of the
selected ten avathaarams  ? The answer is NO. I donot see any more argument
necessary on this when We trust our aazhwaar and Swamy Desikan.
Sampath Rengi