[Advaita-l] Madhvas custom of Sraddha is not correct

[Venkatesh Murthy via Advaita-l]

Namaste
On Thu, Sep 18, 2014 at 1:35 PM, V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> On Thu, Sep 18, 2014 at 12:45 PM, R Krishnamoorthy via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > Dear Sri Venkatesh Murthy
> > Now a days it is difficult to get good brahmanas for srardham food.The
> > sastrigal says it is difficult to get smartha Brahmins to represent the
> > pithru and viswedeva.I used to tell my priest one month in advance. Also
> > the Brahmins are now days aged and suffer from some ailments too.They are
> > not able to eat well. They simply stuff the uneaten things in the leafy
> > dhonnais-cups-and get up. Only they want dakshina. It is now 500/-rupees
> > each .So from practical angle also it is proving difficult to perform
> > srardham as designed by our Rishies.We are happy to do this but
> > availability of persons conducting the srardham is becoming scarce. That
> > may be a reason for Madhwas doing like this.R.Krishnamoorthy.
> >
>
> This is well said.  Also, there is the practice of giving svayampAkam to
> the brahmanas in case we are unable to serve them cooked food.  This
> involves giving rice, raw banana, some vegetables, etc. optionally and
> dakshina.
>
> It is sad to see Brahmin stereotyping statements  by well respected
members in this list. Can you say ALL Brahmins in Sraddha are aged and are
greedy for Dakshina. I have seen many Brahmins middle aged sitting in
Sraddha and not expecting  high Dakshina. I have seen Brahmins in Sraddha
getting not more than 200 rupees. I have seen many young Brahmin Purohitas
performing Sraddha ceremony. What can you say to that? Kindly stop making
general statements on Brahmins. Every Brahmin is different.

It is only people like the above members try to justify why they cannot do
Sraddha properly. I agree Sraddha is not easy and cheap ceremony. But it is
not beyond the reach of a middle class Brahmin. The same people complaining
of high Sraddha expenditure Maximum 10000 rupees yearly will not hesitate
for a nano second to give lakhs of rupees yearly for the children's
education in India and abroad. They proudly even say they paid lakhs to
educate children in front of friends. The most dangerous animal is the
Modern Educated Brahmin. He has licked the Britishers boots before
Independence and now he is licking the foreigner's boots after
Independence. The Britishers filled his mind with contempt for Brahmins and
he is continuing it now.

The giving Swampakam to Brahmins is for lazy and stingy people only. If you
can afford to spend 10000 rupees Maximum annually and 2 - 3 hours time for
your departed parents yearly why not do it? Cut your other expenditure like
eating food in hotels.



subrahmanian.v
>
> >
> > Sent from Windows Mail
> >
> >  *From:* Venkatesh Murthy via Advaita-l <
> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
> > >
> > *Sent:* ‎September‎ ‎17‎, ‎2014 ‎10‎:‎38‎ ‎PM
> > *To:* A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <
> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> > *Subject:* Re: [Advaita-l] Madhvas custom of Sraddha is not correct
> >
> > Namaste
> > On Wed, Sep 17, 2014 at 12:16 AM, Ajit Krishnan <ajit.krishnan at gmail.com
> >
> > wrote:
> >
> > > namaste,
> > >
> > > Advaitins really aren't in a position to criticize these kinds of minor
> > > things. In homas, we see advaitins invoke brahma in darbha as a matter
> of
> > > course. Often, the purohita recites both portions of the
> punyahavachana.
> > > The nandi shraddha, which involves a homa and several brahmanas is
> hardly
> > > being done that way.
> > >
> >
> > I heard we have some freedom for doing Devata Karyas like Homa. We can
> make
> > adjustments and take short cuts. But there is not such liberty  for doing
> > Pitru Karyas. You can do Chandi Homa on any day whenever you like. But
> > Pitru's annual Sraddha must be done exactly on the death tithi date. You
> > cannot do it earlier or later some time. Like this there are more
> > restrictions for Pitru Karyas.
> >
> > Second point is the most important part of the Sraddha ritual is the
> > Brahmana Bhojana. The Sraddha Karta will invite Pitrus in the body of
> > Brahmana and ask them to eat and be pleased in Brahmana's body. If
> > Brahmanas are well fed the Pitrus will be pleased. Which Brahmin are you
> > pleasing if you keep Darbhe instead of Brahmana? After the Brahmanas have
> > taken the food the remaining cooked food is the Pitru Sesha. The Sraddha
> > Karta and his family will eat the Pitru Sesha and they be blessed by
> Pitrus
> > through this Pitru Sesha. How can you get blessings of Pitrus if you are
> > not feeding any Brahmana?
> >
> >
> > > The bigger problem is that few people make an attempt to understand the
> > > significance behind what they are doing. Even fewer people do it with
> > > bhakti and shraddha. And this problem spans all divisions.
> > >
> > > sasneham,
> > >
> > >     ajit
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Sun, Sep 14, 2014 at 9:47 PM, Venkatesh Murthy via Advaita-l <
> > > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> > >
> > >> Namaste
> > >>
> > >> I am seeing lot of Madhvas go to Maths for doing Paksha Sraddha. I
> went
> > to
> > >> learn what they are doing. They are doing Group Sraddha like one
> > Purohita
> > >> is saying Mantras and instructions and all Kartas are doing at the
> same
> > >> time. This is not correct.
> > >>
> > >> The second mistake is they are doing only Chataka Sraddha with Darbhe
> > >> Brahmanas but not Pratyaksha Brahmanas. They are using Darbhe instead
> of
> > >> real Brahmanas.
> > >>
> > >> I went to Sankara Math and asked the people there. They also said we
> > >> should
> > >> not do Chataka Sraddha when Brahmins are available. If there is acute
> > >> shortage of Brahmanas to sit in Vishwe deva and Pitru Sthana we can
> use
> > >> Darbhe Brahmana.
> > >>
> > >> Other comments welcome.
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> Regards
> > >>
> > >> -Venkatesh
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> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Regards
> >
> > -Venkatesh
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-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh