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Salutations to the contributors to this group. -> Re: SRI MANI'S REQUEST

From the Bhakti List Archives

Raja Krishnasamy • July 29, 1997 


In his posting of July 27, 1997 4:47 PM, Shri Keshava Prasad says:

>
>Frankly, when I joined the group, I was very enthusiastic about being able to
>participate productively and felt being privileged to be in the good company
of
>so many erudite people. 

Very True ...  I am proud to be an audience to such distinguished
contributors.

>Now and then, I was able to express my voice about a

>topic under discussion. The enthusiasm has now worn off however,  partly
because
>time and again I have felt out of place with the group's objectivity. If
there
>was one, I think the group  has lost it. 

Definitely not.  The charter of this group is to discuss issues relating to Sri
Vaishnavism.  And this group has never so much adhered to this purpose as now. 
If you have issues relating to the marketing of this doctrine, then please
bring your ideas to the table.

>I have tried but unsuccessfully,  to
>get some of the youth members of our society to subscribe to the group. They
>came forward but backed off after a short while. The reason given to me was
that
>the postings were too lengthy, repetitive, too abstract and at times too
>outdated in some ways. Though I do not totally agree with this point of view,
I
>surely think that there is more truth to it than meets the eye.
>

The typical youth of today are used to fast food and fast life.  If they can
not sit back and enjoy a couple of pages worth of true Sri Vaishnavite
literature, then they are the ones to loose.  Sri Vaishnavism is too deep. 
Shri M. K. Sudarshan has proven that so right with his twenty odd postings
illustrating two verses of ShrI BhIshma sthuthi.  And these postings are
typically no longer than two to three typed pages with line wrap set at 60
characters.  We are also gifted with some outstanding writers, who make the
illustrations easy to understand maintaining the line of thought.  If the youth
of today, feel that these passages are too long to read, then you should
complement it with the thought as to how long it took for the contributors to
compose and post them.

>The discussions and parables that figure in the discussions do  not seem to
have
>a message for them. It might be argued that only if one is interested and
stays
>long enough will appreciate the depth of information being put out. The
purpose
>of the discussions does not seem to focus on  winning new followers but for
some

Not true again.  I have had more arguments among friends than I can remember
about the concept of worshipping srIman nArAyaNa alone.  And when I posed my
question to this sathas, there was an outpouring of "gnana-amritham".  I will
shortly be summarizing these contributions, but the discussions here do have a
serious message.

>If the format  or the material is the same as
>or similar to what can be found in any book,  we do not need a mailing list
such
>as this. 

I am surprised you said this.  I have never found the rich knowledge presented
here in any single book.  In fact some of these books are either out of print
or the publishers no longer exist.  In very crude terms, this group even serves
as a source for book reviews.

Although the request that people space out their postings was long overdue, I
was hoping it would stay postponed.  It is quite amazing how with all the
demands of modern day's life, attention to family and business matters, people
like ShrI Sadagopan, shrI Sudarshan, shrI Krishna Kalale and others (pardon me
for not mentioning your names) make a commitment to contributing to this group.
 Similarly, I have made a commitment to try and keep up with them however hard
it may be.

Our lives are too short to understand the complete concept of ParaBhrahman. 
This reminds of the story of the devotee who had nothing to offer to the Lord,
but his heart (Refer to shrI BhIshma sthuthi by shrI M.K.Sudarshan part 13). 
He had so much understood the concept of shrI Vaishnavism.  It is not about
offering coconuts and betel leaves and "akkara vadasal" to perumAl, but to
offer him one's heart and soul.

The Lord says in the bhAgavat gItA "yAnti mad-yAjinopi mAm", "meaning those who
worship Me reside in Me". (BhAgavad gItA 9.25).  In the erudite definition of
the purpose of this group shrI maNi varadarAjan has described the Lord's
infinite existence and His unfathomable activities.  Great saints have
explained this Infinite Cosmos to us through the "srImad BhAgavadam" and other
sacred texts, and still we fail to understand Him.  The contributors to this
group make this even more clear to us.  Great souls are indeed many - Thanks to
every one of them ("endarO mahAnubhAvulu - andariki vandanamu" - St.
thyAgarAjA).  Let's not deride their deeds.

"All the goodwill in our deeds are solely due to the influence of our AchAryAs
on us, and all our deficiencies, are solely due to our own shortcomings".  In
the same spirit, the people who give us the knowledge on this Mail List are the
equivalent of maha yathis, even comparable to the greatest yathis of all time. 
They deserve a lot more respect from us.  Let us focus our efforts in that
direction with the singular inference that the only reason that today's youth
do not gravitate toward this group is because of the kind of marketing we
direct towards them.

With that I would like to conclude this post with the following quotation from
shrI yathirAjasapthathi:

upavIthina-m-Urdhva pundravantham
thrijagath punya phalam thrithanda hastham
sharanAgatha sArthavAhamItE sikhayA 
sEkhariNam pathim yathInAm

After saluting the guru paramparA lineage, shrI dEsikan says that I salute the
yathi, the greates one of all, the one with the supreme upavIthinam across his
body and the clean thirumaN kAppu on his forehead, the one who is a thrithandi,
the one who seats himself at the foot of the Lord performing sevai to the Lord
and periya pirAtti.  I salute him who has spread His word and I salute him who
has performed the supreme sEvai to the Lord's devotees - thathiyA, by spreading
the word of God, for there is no greater sEvai than sEvai to the Lord and his
devotees (thathiArAdhanai).

For truly people like shrI SadagOpan, shrI sampath rangarajan, shrI sudarshan,
shrI maNi varadarAjan, shrI dileepan, etc (pardon me for those names I left
out) perform a thankless task, although extremely spiritually satisfying.  They
deserve quite the same level of respect we extend to our great AchAryAs.

adiyEn

Raja Krishnasamy
raja@cyberdude.com