Who is a Srivaishnava?
Translation of an article by Sri PB Annangaracharyar Swami
In the divine work Sri Vacana Bhushanam by Swami Pillai
Lokacharyar, there are many wonderful sutras. Amongst
which is a beautiful one that goes "kuRRam seythavaragaL
pakkal poRaiyum, krupaiyum, sirippum, ugappum, upakAra-
Smruthiyum nadakka vENum".
As Manavala Mamunigal says in his work Upadesa
Ratthinamalai "Ar vacanabUdaNaththin AzhporuL ellAm
aRivAr? Ar athusol nEril anuttipAr?", there is not one
in this world that can match their acts to this good
word. However, even if we are not able to follow it,
it would be good to at least understand it. Its meaning
is as follows: If someone were to commit a sin or a
crime against us, we should be patient with them; we
should give them our grace; we should smile at them; we
should appreciate them; and, we should be thankful to
them.
- We should neither pay them back with a wrong act
nor detest them in our mind for their act. This is
being patient with them.
- When a person commits a crime against a devotee
(bhAgavata apachAram), it is guaranteed that the Lord
will punish them. Therefore, we should remain very
concerned about them that even if we are patient the
Lord is bound to punish them. This is giving them
grace.
- What does it mean when someone commits a wrong
against us? It is abusing us by stating that we have
many poor qualities or that we have committed wrongful
thingss. We should think about what bad things are
likely to hapen to us due to this abuse. There are
two kinds of bad things: one that happens in this
world and one that happens in the other world. It is
very clear that they cannot create a bad thing for
us in the other world. But they can make a bad thing
happen to us in this world. For example, they can
prevent someone from giving us some wealth. Were
that to happen, we should take delight that we lost
something that was not worth keeping and not feel
bad. Being that the case, we should feel that these
people are silly thinking that we will be worried
by the bad things created by their abuse, and smile
at them.
- When someone does a bad thing to us, they can
insult our body but not our soul. This body is
actually an enemy to us. Therefore we should be
pleased with them for insulting our enemy. Also,
as these worldy things are not needed for us, we
should appreciate them for preventing us from
obtaining these things.
- We should always be aware of our wrongdoings,
but we are not. Beign that the situation, we should
thank them greatly for their help in reminding us
of them.
If even one of these five qualities were to happen
within us, it is equivalent to winning the three
worlds.
Were that to happen, there is no higher qualification
to being a Srivaishnava.