[Advaita-l] Temples , smArtha-s, vaiShNava-s

[Satish Arigela]

>I heard recently Sri
>Velukkudi Krishnan Swamigal addressing a
 group 
of followers/admirers in the
>US or Canada 
(where he toured last year)
 on this subject.  He reasoned thus:
>A
 pativrataa stree is loyal to 
ONLY her pati, husband.  And a 
Srivaishnava
>is like this.  He would 
go ONLY to Vishnu 
aalayam and NOT to Shiva aalayam.


Though analogies are not meant to be stretched, consider this:

What kind of pAtivratya is this where everyman has to be compared or looked upon as pati-like!? :-) 
Ask him if a pativrata does not have brothers, in-laws, uncles. If shrImannArAyaNa is the pati cant the other devata-s be looked upon at-least like male and female relatives and respects paid?
That is why their silly reasoning falls flat on its face.

Here is a version of rAmanuja's hagiography which is less popular:
--------------------------------------------------------shrI rAmAnuja deshika, one of the last 
great kaumAra tantrics

			
				The below note is neither meant as a 
sectarian effusion nor a historical account. It is a hagiography and 
just that.
sarva-bhUtAmakaM manmanobodhakaM sat-kR^ipAsAgaraM 
devasenApate pAhi mAM pAhi mAM pAhi mAM deva tubhyaM namo deva tubhyaM 
namo deva tubhyaM namaH ||
The shrI-vaiShNava  AchArya, sudarshana sUrI, was proceeding to 
shrIperaMputtur after visiting the old temple of viShNu at venkaTagiri 
(not Tirupati) and consecrating a shalagraman there.  On his way back on
 his horse cart he had to pass by the shrine housing the great vAyu 
li~Nga of the terrible rudra, kAlahasti. rudra’s presence was felt here 
in the form in which he had destroyed gajAsura. The zealous vaiShNava 
who did not recognize the greatness of The god, asked his henchmen to 
draw the curtains in his cart and he closed his eyes so that even by 
error he might not cast his eyes on the shrine of rudra. When he was a 
safe from kAlahasti distance he opened his eyes but to his horror he had
 turned blind. Shocked he uttered the verse:
sarvAtmatA te shrutiShu 
prasiddhA satyaiva sA kAlakarIsha nUnaM |
apashyatastvA madhunA 
samastaM yato na me dR^iShTipathaM prayAti ||
He was constantly tormented by bhUta-s and agents of sharabha. He 
recalled the great vaiShNava tantric, the master of pA~ncharAtra 
prayoga, rAma deshika and wanted to seek his aid. That night he had a 
dream that shri rAma deshika had already attained mokSha but he appeared
 in his dream and asked him to seek the aid of his illustrious student, 
the accomplished tantric shri rAmAnuja deshika. He met rAmAnuja deshika 
at Tiruttani who performed an appropriate rite to release sudarshana 
from the grip of rudra’s wrath, even as vishvaksena was brought back to 
life by kAla bhairava, when he had drunk viShNu’s blood from the 
skull-bowl fashioned of brahmA’s severed fifth head.
rAmAnuja deshika, was born in kA~nchipuraM in family of devote 
vaiShNava brAhmaNa-s of the ubhaya vedAnta stream who regularly sung the
 DP4000 and lit lamps at viShNu shrines. rAmAnuja was a natural poet and
 mastered kAvya and alaMkAra at an early age in addition to the study of
 the taittirIya school of the yajur veda. He then proceeded to study the
 mantra shAstra with the great tantric guru rAma deshika who had 
mastered the entire lore of pA~ncharatra mantras. Having initiated 
rAmAnuja into all of them he asked him to perform purashcharaNa of the 
104 mighty astra mantras of viShNu, which leads one to highest 
pA~ncharAtric siddhi. In order to do this he proceeded to a desolate 
spot near Tiruttani where he began his japa in seclusion. One day as he 
was wandering in the forests of the Nagari hills he saw mysterious 
vaikhAnasa brAhmaNa wearing a yellow dress. The brAhmaNa saw him but did
 not speak anything but merely gestured to him the way kApAlika’s do. 
That night he had a dream in which kumAra communicated to him the 
bagalAmukhi vidyA-s. He did japa of those mantras and attained siddhi — 
he had become the master of the sAmkhyAyana tantraM. Then that same 
brahmin came by and asked him to accompany him to Tirupati. As they were
 ascending the slopes to have a view of the great nArAyaNa, the brahmin 
gave him two mighty mantra-s, that of the goddess trailokya-vijayA 
(along with its saMputIkaraNa for the mantra of vilistengA) and viShNu 
trailokyamohana. Then he asked him to proceed to Bellary after having 
seen the image of the deva on Tirumala.
As rAmAnuja was proceeding to Bellary a jaina mantravadin attacked 
him with the mantra of kurukullA, but he retaliated with the 
trailokya-vijayA spell and destroyed the jaina’s entire mantra bala. 
rAmAnuja passed through to Bellary which was in a precarious condition 
due to the ravages of the green-robed, bearded, ruffianly Meccan demons.
 Here, after he had finished his mantra japa, he suddenly saw an 
apparition of the great war-god kumAra, with six heads wielding several 
terrifying weapons. He spontaneously composed two poems to kumAra in the
 daNDaka and bhuja~Nga meters. At that point he met the last 
kaumArAchArya of the va~Nga lineage (from what is now in the terrorist 
state of Bangladesh), kumAra-guru , who gave him all the kaumAra 
mantras. He instantaneously attained the siddhi of all but two, which 
are the most secret – the krodha-kumAra mantra and vkR^itagraha mantra.
He was asked to go to nAgArjunakoNDa and perform their japa. As he 
was performing the purashcharaNa he saw the dreadful skanda appearing 
with a single head and he uttered a 4-syllabled mantra. That mantra 
became varAha, who held in his hand a great sword dripping with the 
blood of hiraNyAkSha, with an upavIta of 3 intertwined snakes. Then from
 the snout of varAha emerged that awful emanation of kumAra, krodha-rAja
 kumAra, with 6 heads, who is irresistible.  With these mantra-s he had 
attained the height of tantric perfection, he was called a deshika. He 
was the master of the kaumAra lore, an impregnable mantra-vAdin. After 
his marriage he was proceeding with his wife to  kumAra parvata when he 
was attacked by the turuShka-s on the way who tried to seize his wife. 
He deployed the krodha-rAja ShaNmukha hR^idaya mantra and got ready to 
fight them with his small band. The mahAshUla of kumAra entered his 
weapons and they killed 80 turuShkas sending the rest scampering over 
the country side. Having reached kumAra parvata he installed himself 
there for worshiping the deity.