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usdeiva • June 3, 1997 


> Dear Ms Manjula Sriram,
> 
> Yr message of to-day.   There is no need to ask for 'forgiveness' or
> anything for yr entering the discussions.   I think you have made some
> very valid points about the responsibility of the elder generation to
> convince the younger members of the community that the SrIvaishNava
> religion is a source of genuine consolation and joyful living, and     that our oral traditions and recorded literature constitute the best    gifts available to humanity.   Owing to the several distractions of     historic (and partly unwholesome) changes of the last half a century,   this responsibility has not been discharged;  this is why your note is   quite valid, even though your point could register with a little   practice.

> I myself plan to write on the point touched by you.   It is in fact an
> issue of 'generation gap' which is bandied about as a cliche, but     stands for a serious breakdown which, however, can be remedied.

> A feedback from the younger ones of yr age-group is important, as
> without it all the abstruse discussions on our network would become
> meaningless.
> 
> Best wishes from T.S. Sundara Rajan, at Memphis.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As for the propriety of asking questions, please remember that two of
our upanishad (viz. kEna and praSna) are actually named after this
necessary spiritual exercise of asking questions.   The praSna starts
with the anecdote of the group of rshi seeking out bhagavan pippalAda,
who sets the right mood for the ensuing dialogue, by saying, 
"yathA-kAmam praSnAn prcchatha, yadi vijnAsyAmah, sarvam ha vo
vakshyAma" ("Do ask your questions as you please and we shall tell you
all, if we [ourselves] understand them!")    The venerated dialogue of
SrImad-bhagavad-GItA occurred as a consequence of a simple question
put by arjuna in frustration: "kim nO rAjyEna GOvinda, kim bhOgair-
jIvitEna vA?" ("What if I gain the kingdom, oh Govinda, or the
pleasures; or What of living itself?") ~~ a fundamental question which
pushed the entire run of nineteenth century existentialists (right down
to Jean Paul Sartre) disconsolate.   The Book of Isaiah (in Old
Testament) contains a call in the same spirit of invitation to a
dialogue, asking and considering and answering and again considering and
ingesting: "Come, let us reason together!  If your sins be red as
scarlet, they shall be washed white as snow!" 

No restraints, therefore, on questioning!  We have only to remember
pippalAda's three preconditions for the questioning:  "tapasA,
brahmacharyENa, SraddhayA!"   (It just won't do to translate these
terms into English!)

aDiyen rAmAnujadAsan, T.S. Sundara Rajan.