Introduction - What it is
It’s good to have problems in life – for without them, we don’t get any wiser. It’s like learning cycling - we can’t possibly learn cycling without falling off the cycle at least few times. How many times we fell off isn't important; what is important is how much did we learn. If only life were as simple as learning cycling! There are books describing how human body works. But who'll describe to us how to live life effectively? Is there a code or such technology that help us breeze through life? Like a perfect rain gear in times of rain, a perfect vehicle, which helps us in reaching our destination soon, safe and sound? I believe the Srivaishnavic philosophy helps us do just that. There may be many philosophies in the world which may claim to do the same. This is one “way of life” philosophy that has deeper and yet simpler answers to complex questions of life. This is a humble attempt by the author to share what he has learnt of this great philosophy by listening to various lectures by scholars for a period of about 2 years and counting. This piece is a humble attempt to communicate the basics of the philosophy in contemporary idiom and phraseology so that all of us appreciate its greatness and its relevance to our lives today. Whether we buy into it or not is rather peripheral, but as a first step, we need to try and understand why we are doing what we are doing. If we take srivaishnavism today, sections of people think of this as another “caste” or “sub-caste”, with some “rituals” and some “beliefs”. It would be wrong to term "Srivaishnavism" as a religion, caste or sub-caste; it is actually a philosophy of life based on a true and complete interpretation of the Vedas. But not many of us don't know the philosophical part though. Due to the vagaries of time, we have stuck on to the rituals and lost understanding of their deeper meaning and background. So now, the rituals look empty stuff to us, whereas they were only front-ending a great philosophy of life. This loss of meaning has led to more conflicts and more problems in our lives today. This is not a fault of any particular section of people though. This is something that has happened over a large period of time due to various factors. And there are many great elders who are doing quite their bit to educate all of us on the essentials of srivaishnavic philosophy and its relevance in today's life. But for the yeomen service of our elders, ordinary people like me wouldn't have known even this little. Let's delve into what this philosophy is, what it is not and why it is relevant today!
There are a few things I wish to understand here.
ReplyDelete"It would be wrong to term "Srivaishnavism" as a religion, caste or sub-caste; it is actually a philosophy of life based on a true and complete interpretation of the Vedas." - I just dont understand why you think SriVaishnavism alone is this way. In my opinion there are many systems that detail their philosophies of life, and even stuck themselves to simpler philosophies. There are many systems that have adhered to stricter rituals/ beliefs also.
The Greatness I can attribute to Srivaisnavism and its leaders is that they have made sure that a well organised, explained and practised form of interpretation exists- meaning I know of no other system where understanding, rituals, beliefs, philosophies and everyday life has been so properly sequenced and made the ideology and its core so complete and perfect.
Other systems have philosophies but lack in a proper way of life. Some have good base beliefs but no complete understanding. Others have great philosophies but no proper way of life detailed. Some have simple philosophical base but never have anything to do over it. In many cases their systems are never as organised in all spheres and also have never come closer to living for a very simple philosophical truth as SriVaisnavism. This, by itself, is a far greater achievement, that I personally hold Sri Ramanujar responsible for. He has combined all our daily lives with the best of philosophies and brought down, through generations, simple rules and complex philosophy alike without producing any slack in the system. That is why even today the way of life he espoused is the best.
I believe, to understand SriVaisnavism, we also need to delve or in-fact dwell in philosophies, not only the philosophy of Srivaishnavism but also in all others. Only then, I feel the true Greatness of our elders can be really understood. Every time I try to parallel, I see what they have done, and it is more than clear that what they have done is unquestionably the best for all of us. The truth is, when we understand them, we will see that many activities have been made to help us and guide us in such a way as nobody can imagine or can think of.
I am an objective thinker, and I believe i have found only one flaw in the entire organisation of Ramanujar. This in itself can be considered as a flaw by many, but I see his greatness here also. Ramamnujar has organised all our ways of life, but he has never concentrated on "spreading his message through his disciples to the world". This, in itself can be considered wrong by many. But, in my opinion, ramanujar had great respect for Srivaishnavites, in general, and what he did was to cement our organisation rather than ordering us to spread it. So, naturally he was more edging towards keeping the philosophy and tradition alive rather than planning to spread his philosophies through his followers, like any other prophet(for want of a better word). This is a greatness that makes Ramanujar unique in my mind. Look at any other organised section today and tell me if it does not have any prophet to tell them to spread "God's Word" as they call it. Srivaishnavism has known people who tried to spread it. They did, not because their Acharyas asked them to do so, but they did because they felt its their duty to change ignorant people/ they believed in establishing the philodsophy.
People may find my argument to be true to all Hindu groups, but if you look closer you will find any organised hindu group, as such, tries to pull u towards them. That is why many scholars or even 'knowledgeable' elders today wrongly call Srivaishnavites a closed community!
@Ravi, your understanding is perfect. May be you and me and people like us have this understanding.
ReplyDeleteBut my target audience for that statement was a little different. Over the many years of interactions I have had with many different people at many levels - many srivaishnavites included - many only see/know srivaishnavism as a sort of Vishnu-Bhakthi religion/theology and don't know/don't know properly the philosophical part. This loss of meaning has led to funny beliefs in many srivaishnavite families which the younger generation is unable to understand / comprehend. Just how many srivaishnavites actually know what Vishishtadvaita is all about?
Many know we do "certain things", but actually don't know their meaning. So my intention was to first and foremost say that this is a philosophy crystallized into a theology and not just a theology or a belief system. That was the intent.
But am happy to note, people of younger generation like you have a good understanding of this uniqueness of srivaishnavism - a philosophy based theology which results in a complete system of life.