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Vijay Srinivasan • March 11, 1996 


Mani wrote:

>Here is a paragraph that is worth thinking about.
>It is from a private email sent to me from someone
>who shall remain unnamed.

> In my understanding, any discussion however speculative,
> if it will trigger sincere aspiration to see for oneself
> the Truth and even a glimpse of it, is more important
> than a thousand pages of verbatim quoting of poorvacharyas,
> forgeting to focus on the essence and latching on to
> the outmoded forms.

>Mani

I am somewhat confused by the above comments.  Can I seek the following 
clarification:

(1)  Is he implying that Anushtanams like sandhyavandhanam, ekadashi  etc., 
represent only the ritualistic part of our religion (outmoded forms?) and 
therefore do not represent the essence of our religion or that even if we 
decide to perform them, we should not attach too much importance to how they 
are done.  Therefore we should discourage discussions pertaining to correct 
performance of these activities.

(2) Will the same person also include in the category of outmoded rituals, 
worship of idols (Archa Murthys).  For example pouring of milk during 
Abhishekham etc.

 Being born in a scientific age, one may not be wrong in assuming that people 
who practice the path laid out by our fore-fathers do think and not act 
blindly.  I think I would be also be correct in assuming that the people who 
participate in this group investing their time and effort are all sincere 
aspirants.  View-points and emphasis can differ.  For example, some may value 
learning about our prabhandhams more than say the life history of our 
acharyas.  If we cannot appreciate what is being written, at least we should 
show restraint in not condemning such contributions as outmoded etc..


Vijayaraghavan Srinivasan