OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOQOOOOOOOOOOOOO THE PUBPOSE AND THE PLAN 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000' THE PURPOSE AND THE PLAN Chapter Contents Page I The Three Questions 1 II The Temple - Centre of Social Activities 7 III Devotion and Prayer 13 IV The Great Trio 18 7 God - Our Soul and Saviour 31 VI The Plan 34 Books Consulted 46 I THE TBBEE qUESTIOSS Experimenta in philosophy and religion could be as exciting as experiments in the field of science* The energetic personalities in any walk of life represent an adventure in living. When we examine the principal ideas imbedded in a system of philosophy, we find that the procession of a man's thoughts can be as thrilling a spectacle as the moving scenes of a modern novel* It is Just as enchanting to plunge into new ideas as it is to penetrate into new lands* Our world becomes wider, our imagination richer and our life more colourful and more Zestful as the result of our union with the travellers of the spirit and the pioneers of thought* -2- « LiliiB all of us, there are three vital questions put by all the philosophers of the world; and also answered: 1. What are we; What is this world in which we live? 2, Mho put us here? J. Vhy? What is the way-out? Every nan has to live his own life, in spite of the dogmas in religion and philosophy, as well as in social set-up* Yours is not to question Mhy.* - was the order of the old-day preceptors» But every thinking nan, at every tine, makes his own observations and conclusions to solve the problems of his life* Vhen the problems of a man are greater and stronger than the man himself, he stands perturbed, unable to move further, seeking refuge in a spiritual head, which could lead him further* Here lies the duty of the great scriptures - the Vedas, as Sdyanacharya says - Vhen there are no means to understand a thing through perception or inference, a man is perplexed, and here comes the Veda to equip him with the knowledge he requires; because the Veda is the storehouse of all knowledge* The Veda leads him unto Light from the path of Darkness, Tbe Vedic Mantras, contained in various Samhitas, were visualised by great seers by their inner power of deep penance, devotion and quest for knowledge. As is said in Sgveda, the Be seers were engrossed in contemplation to solve any single mystery in life, in the hollow caves of the mountains or at the confluences of rivers, and as if in a flash, the idea couched in words came forth, solving the mystery, and thus an intellectual was born: But, is this thought of the intellectual static or stagnant? No, The philosophy of life is practised daily in thought, speech and action. When an action is performed by an individual, not only for his own benefit, but for the good of the society, with devotion, the action reaches its height in a kind of sacrifice; because, life is not only a battle~field, but a sacrificial altar also. Thus, our individual actions done with the spirit of service to humanity is nothing but service to our Great Master, our God, There is nothing like my God and your God, He is one, in many forms and in many names, in different nations, in the whole Universe, In short. He is the Universe, To understand the Universe is to know Him, '4' What i9 the use of all these fedas - Samhttas, Brahmanast Aranyakas and Upanishads - to us, when ve are not practically connected with themf asks the modern youth, A very significant question, indeed. When our rituals - Vedic or worldly - have become a farce, conducted by Purohits who are themselves ignorant of the inherent meanings and the nuances of the words in the Mantras, it is natural that our youths have no fascination for them. As Br, S,Sadhakrishnan states in his preface (page 11) to The Brahma Sutra's^ The classics should be not only guardians of the past but heialds of the future. They are dead if they are mechanically and unthinkingly accepted. They are •live if each generation consciously decides to receive them. Any system of thought should satisfy two basic requirements; it should state the truth and interpret it for each new generation. It must Ko&e back and forth between these two poles, the eternal and the temporal. Truth is expressed in a human language formed by human thinking. The consciousness of this leads to a continual clarifying and full understanding of the truths, Ve may not accept the scientific thought of those days, but the suggestions about the ultimate questions of philosophy and religion which they set forth with philosophic depth -5- and enanctpation from the transient preoccupations of the current hour are of palue to us epen today," This is true of all the systems of philosophy and religion on earth; and the subject which I had undertaken for research in my present thesis is not an exception to this. In Southern India were born the three great philosophers who answered the Three Great Questions in their own way: Sankara, Bamanuja and Madhva, who are greatly revered to this day, and whose followers interpret and practise their teaehif^s to make even modern scientific life, happy and useful to mankind. Of all the three systems of philosophy, Ram&nuja's teachings are greatly misunderstood even in the scholarly circle: because, they are based not only on Samskrit Vedas, Upanishads, Brahmasutra, Gita, Puranas etc, but also on temple worship everywhere throughout the country on the lines of Pancharatra Agamas, and the Tamil Vedas of the Alvars sung in temples along with Samskrit Vedas, and the synthesis of the Tamil and Samskrit Vedanta, called Ubhaya-'Vedanta, To understand Bamanuja in full, a scholar requires mastery in the Vedas and Ubhaya^Vedanta, This Srivaishnavite literature is very wide in volume, and -5- haa deep significance in ite interpretations, as there are Sauskrit and nanipravala (in nixed Sanskrit and Tamil style) commentaries on most of the classical works by celebrated Acharyas. Sribhashya alone of Bamanuja has more than ten Samskrit commentaries to its credit, and his other works viz* Yedarthasangraha, Gitabhashya, Gadyatraya and Mityagrantha are commented by Acharyas like Sudarsana~ suri, Periaoachanpillai, Yedantacharya etc* Siuyaprabandhams of Alvars have elaborate commentaries by Srivaishnava Vedic Acharyas, which are studied even to this day* There­ fore, every Srivaishnava Acharya has two titles added to his name: 1) Srimad-vedamarga-^pratishthapanacharya and 2) Ubhayavedantacharya* I therefore consider it purposeful and meaningful to introduce and display the essential ingrediants of Samanuja's popular system, which had not only brought its followers from all over the world, but also delved deep into many other systems of Indian philosophy, with some variations, as ia the teachings of Madhva, Ram^nanda, Nimbarka, Vallabha, Obaitanya etc* I have tried my best to put my ideas in a nutshell in simple and flowing Samskrit so that every reader could understand the subject* -7- II THE TEMPLE CENTBE OF SOCIAL ACTIVITIES A popular Tamil prowerb says: Koil ilia uril kudi- yirukka vendam: Do not live in a willage where there is no temple** The temple was and is to this day the centre of social activities in all the villages in Southern India. The structure of the temples and modes of worship are unique, and different from those in the northern region. Every village has temples dedicated to Vishnu and Siva separately. Temples of Mariamman and village deities are situated at the border of each village. The Vishnu temple (as well as Siva's) has gopurans on all the sides-or at least on one side -, prakaras (boundary walls), dhvajastambha, ardha mandapa, maha^nandapa, antarala, garbhagriha, vimana, special shrine for the Consort of Vishnu (or Siva) called Srimata*s (Tayar or Amman) Sannidhi, and small shrines for all Alvars (Mayanmars in Siva*s temple) and Acharyas. These temples are built in granite, with bricks and mortar in some places. They are built as prescribed by Pancharatra (or Saiva) Agamas. Vaishnavas and Saivas go to their respective temples for prayers and pujas. The common people go to both, in large numbers during special and annual festivals. The people assemble in lakhs during Garuda Otsava, Ratha Utsava etc. -5- Every Vishnu temple has five features: U the name of dtvyadesa, as sung by Alvars, 2, the name of the deity, J. the name of the Consort of the principal deity, 4*. the name of Yimana, and 5* the name of the puskarini ie, the tank attached to the temple. For example: 1, Tirupati, 2. Sriniuasa, J. Alarmelmangai Tayar (Padmavati), 4, inanda-^ nilaya Vimana and 5* Svami Puskarini, There are 108 temples, celebrated and sung by Alvars, the great Vaishnapa saints, vhich are held in high esteem. The temples at Srirangam, Tirupati, Kanchi and Melkote (Karnataka) are deemed to be very important centres of worship. There are also some temples, small in number, which are famous because the important Acharyas were born, or lived there. For example: Sriperumbudur, the birth-place of Bamanuja, Madurantakam, the place where Bamanuja received initiation (Pancha-Samskara) from Mahapurna, etc. The great temples in the south were built mostly by the kings of Pandya, Chola and Pallava dynasties, the rulers of njayanagar empire and the Naiks of Madura etc. These temples required the services of eminent sculptors, artisans, carpenters, masons, engineers, priests well-versed in Agamas, Yedic scholars, reciters of Divyaprabandhas, musicians, potters, cooking utensils, expert cooks and temple servants for all kinds of works from lighting to cleaning.