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Re: Reco for Admission to Sri VaikuNdam

From the Bhakti List Archives

Mani Varadarajan • March 14, 1996 


On Mar 14,  8:07am, Sampath Rengarajan wrote:
> We have debated on our quest for Logical solutions and some "unknown"
> (eventually logic may be  applied for finding his identity also if it is
worth
> doing so) person even charecterised our poorvaachaaryaaLs work as outmoded.

I have heretofore stayed out of this discussion,
as it was rather amusing to see all this acrimony
based on some reactionary misunderstanding of our
anonymous friend's words.

But Rengi, well-intentioned though his words are,
has grossly mischaracterized Mr. Anonymous's
statement.

Never was it said that all the pUrvAcArya's work
was outdated.  On the contrary, I believe what he
meant was that mere parrot-like recantation of
pUrvAcArya's opinions are useless without attempting
to personally contemplate on these opinions, in turn
stimulating introspection and attempts at determining
the Truth.  In otherwords, the ``manana'' phase of
the ``SravaNa, manana, nidhidhyAsana'' process that
is described in the Upanishads should *not* be
discarded.  [SravaNa -- hearing the acharya's teaching,
manana -- thinking about and discussing the essence
of the teaching, nidhidhyAsana -- actual contemplative
meditation on the ParamAtma (Truth).]

What then are the outmoded forms? I have not asked
my anonymous friend, but I am sure we can come up
with some expressions of life that were present
during our acharya's time that reflected their cultural
viewpoint without having lasting value.  This is all
that was meant.

The essence is this -- simply quoting pages and pages
of some Upanishad, Rahasya Traya Saaram, or other work
does one no good, unless one actually engages in the
process of sAdhana, using these works as a basis for
practical application in modern times.

As another bhagavata put it, if you don't try to keep
Rama in your heart at all times, none of these other
things are worth anything.

``hridi mugdha SikhaNDa maNDano
  likhitaH kena mamaiSa SilpinA?'' -- Swami Desikan

Mani