[Advaita-l] Question about Rudra Trishati

[V Subrahmanian]

On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 7:44 PM, Gopal <gopal.gopinath at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Sri Subramanian,
>
> While i am not sure, like you, how true is the incident in Sri Acharya's
> life, very recently I had to witness a similar behavior by acontemporary
> sri vaishnava pravachana kartha.  I do not want to name the bhagavatha  in
> a public list.  In the place where I currently reside,  both siva and
> vishnu sannithis are side by side though following respective aagamaa-s for
> puja vaibhavam.  This gentleman refused to go near siva, siva family
> deities but walked straight to Balaji sannidhi before started to give a
> talk on hindu religion.   This was witnessed by a dozen laymen devotees who
> were perplexed. The snubbed priests are sivaachariyaar-s and at least 2 of
> them are dvivedhi-s.  He was not disrespectful to them but told them on
> their face:  " I do not visit siva sannidhi-s".  I am glad Sri Raama did
> not think  so  before the battle nor the rishi drushta of naraya suktam who
> declared :  sa brahma, sa shiva, sa hari, sa indra..".
>
> Adding on to another response, it is not just veera shaivetes and
> lingayats, many madhwas abhor  vibhoodi prasaadam, visiting shiva temples
> after bath etc.   I have not heard a maadhva yajur vedi vaideeka chant sri
> rudram or chamakam although Anantheshwara at Udupi has been worshipped by
> krishna mutt swamijis and followers for a very long time.
>
> Is it part of sri vaishnava sampradaya principles that once somebody has
> initiation to the nithya upaasana that they have to desist from worshipping
> shaiva and saaktha deities? Or is it a generic blind orthodoxy?  Do you
> have an idea  how common this absolute sectarian division of even deities
> and the shaastra support (if at all it could be supported sensibly) for
> such attitudes?
>

Dear Gopal,

In all such traditions there are what can be called: radicals and
moderates.  I have personally seen and reported here about the beautiful
shrine for 'Rudra devaru' as it is called by Madhwas, at the pUrNaprajna
vidyApITha, Bangalore, consecrated by the Pejawar Seer.  They do a very
devout pUja regularly at the shrine.  Sri Rudra chanting goes on there, by
an audio CD.  There are vedic pundits among Madhwas too who must have
learned the Sri Rudra too as part of their adhyayana.  I do not think they
are averse to Shiva since for them Shiva is 'manaHkAraka' whose grace is
prayed for to attain pure devotion to Vishnu by Madhwas.  Sri Purandaradasa
has composed soul-stirring songs on Shiva and praises him as the foremost
bhakta of Vishnu.

Such odd behaviour can be seen only among selected few but there are many
who are more broad minded.  In fact I heard Sri VeLukkuDi Krishnan Swami
addressing srivaishnavas (maybe on his tour to the US and Canada) saying:
People say 'we visit all temples and therefore why you (srivaishnavas) too
should not visit Shiva and shiva parivara temples?  Our reply should be: we
are devoted to Vishnu and we stick to our one-pointed devotion to Him
only.'  So that is the kind of teaching they give and some people take it
seriously and apply it in their lives.  They quote some Azhwar's works and
say: rather than vishnu bhaktas being devoted to Shiva, it is Shiva who
should be 'careful' with vishnu bhaktas...and so on...'  One can see
fanaticism in some vishnu bhaktas' works.

regards
subrahmanian.v

>
> thanks,
> -gopal
>
>
> > I heard from a talk by Sri VeLukkuDi Krishnan Swami, a noted scholar of
> the
> > Srivaishnava sampradaya that when Sri Ramanuja was walking the street of
> a
> > town there was a very heavy downpour.  When someone from a Shiva temple
> > there called him in to rest for a while till the rain stopped, Ramanuja
> is
> > reported to have replied:  A pativratA will not go to a parapuruSha.  In
> > the same way I will not enter a temple other than Vishnu's.
> >
> > subrahmanian.v
> >
> > >
> >
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