Guest guest Report post Posted October 22, 2003 Dear Sri Sukumar, At the outset I am sorry for delay in response as I was out of station. There is no doubt that the Lord is full of compassion and my posting is also about that only. As far as comparing udayavar's compassion to the Lord, perhaps there may be two reasons for which we can conclude that sri rAmAnuja was more compassinate 1. The Lord had several compulsions and restrictions while granting salvation. He had to heed to sAsthra mariyAdhai - reckoning the good and bad deeds and decide accordingly. He does decide on His own even on this( veRidhEA aruL seivar, seivArgatku vugandhu), but generally by and large He goes by the good and bad deeds as per the sAsthric prescriptions. sri rAmAnuja did not have this restricitions and hence he can be more termed as compassionate. I would like to refer thiru-voi-mozhi 4-10-6 " pORRi maRROr dheivam pENap puRath ittu, vummai innEA thEARRi vaithadhu ellErum vEdu peRRAl vulagillai enREA...." Edu commentary on this runs as follows: 'ellArum irundhadhE kudiyAga mOkshathaip peRRAl, lElaikku adiyAna sAsthram nirarthamAi vidum. sath karmathai paNNuvArum, asathkarmathai paNNuvArumAyiREa nAdudhAn iruppadhu;pApam paNNinavargaLum, puNNiyam paNNinavargaLudaiyaLudaiya palathai anubhavikkum anRu, sAshthra mariyAdhai kulaiyum....' The essence of this is that the Lord has to maintain the rules framed by Him. sri rAmAnuja did not have this restriction and hence definitely can be more liberal and freedom to do as per His will. 2. Further, we find from sri rAmAnujA's history that He threw open the philosophical studies to one and all who were interested which was earilier restricted to one-to-one study. This was out of His pure mercy. Kindly refer to "OrAn vazhiyAi upadhEsithAr munnOAr, yErAr ethirAsar innaruLAl, Asai udaiyOrkellam, AriyargAL kUrum enRu, pEAsi varmbu aRuthAr pin' upadhEsa rathinamAlai Hence, rAmAnuja's compassion also had no bounds. There is no doubt that Lord was the innermost propellor of sri rAmAnuja but should that eclipse sri rAmAnujA's great benign attitude. We should also accept the fact that irAmAnusa nURRandhAdhi is dedicated to sri rAmAnujA by thiruvarangath amudhanAr and the prime focus was on sri rAmAnujA and him only. If I remember correctly -please correct me if I am wrong, this will fall under the category of nahi-nindhA nyAyam. Thank you and regards vanamamalai padmanabhan - sukumar vanamamalai Friday, October 17, 2003 2:12 PM DEGREE OF COMPASSION Sri Krishnaya Namah!The Lord is inside every soul -antharyAmi- and does only the good for them for their betterment. However, even the Lord can be termed as compassionless- parivu ilan Am padi - when compared to sri rAmAnujA who by his works and deeds granted salvation to one and all by descending to the earth from the Lord's abode.I beg to differ as I believe that Lord being antharyami resides in the heart of Sri Ramanuja and propelled him to come down and save us. To this extent, Lord cannot be termed as compassionless, once we are agreeing as Him being antharyami and reason behind our action (all knowing, all pervading Lord).SukumarSri Krishna Parabrahmane Namah nsp [sMTP:aazhwar (AT) vsnl (DOT) com] DEGREE OF COMPASSIONHow does one measure compassion?It is a subjective and relative one. Is it subject to comparison? It is not quanitifiable like bananas or oranges. Hence, can be termed as compassionate, more compassionate and most compassionate or no compassion.Who is the most compassionate one? The Lord of course. He is the most compassionate Supreme Being who strives for our retrieval and again and again creates the universe and gives us opportunity directly or through AzhwAr-AchAryAs despite our indifference. He takes pity on us and tries to elevate us from this samsAra and grant us salvation. He resides in the inermost of our souls and thinks and does things for our good. He is thus the most compassionate being.The first sUthram of AchArya hrdhayam will amply corroborate this point."kAruNikanAna sarvEswaran aRivilA manisar vuNarvenum chudarvilakku yERRi....."The compassionate Lord bequeaths the sAsthric knowledge for the good of the souls for discerning between good and the bad.He does not come in front of the soul as the soul may reject Him outright. Notwithstanding this indifference The Lord does good for the souls remaining in the backstage and seeing to it that the soul attains the benefit.Full of compassion is the attribute of the Lord. Having said so, can His compassion be compared with Others? Is there any chance for anybody else to near to His compassion. Being a subjective phenomenon can this study be undertaken. After observing that He is the most compassionate one, it can be mathematically argued that nobody else can be as compassionate as He is.' He being less compassionate and anybody more' can be categorised into a null set.Nevertheless, if somebody else can shower more compassion which in a way eclipses His, can it not be termed as less compassion or compassionless? That is really implausible. However, thiru arangahtamudhanAr in his 'irAmAnusa nURRandhAdhi'has dealt this very topic in the following pAsuram:"vuL ninRu vuyirgaLukku vuRRanavE seiyyum , avarku vuyavE paNNum, paranum parivu ilan Am padi,palluyirkum viNNin thalai ninRu vEd aLippAn em irAmAnusan maNNin thalthudithu, maRai nAlumvaLarthananE" irAmAnusa nURRandhAdhi 95The Lord is inside every soul -antharyAmi- and does only the good for them for their betterment. However, even the Lord can be termed as compassionless- parivu ilan Am padi - when compared to sri rAmAnujA who by his works and deeds granted salvation to one and all by descending to the earth from the Lord's abode.AzhwAr emperumAnAr jEyar thirvadigaLE charaNamvanamamalai padmanabhanTo from this group, send an email to:VanamamalaiYour use of is subject to the Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
