Re: About Sri Venkateswara
Right, I believe posting here would not be controversial. I can see that my views would give the moderators quite a headache otherwise.
The archa form in temples is itself an avatArA. What is an avatArA? Krishna describes it in the gita - an avatArA descends, and exhibits two traits - 1)sAdhu paritrAnam 2) vinAshAya ca duskrtAm.
Now, what is sAdhu paritrAnam? Swami rAmAnujar describes it as giving darshan to devotees. The azhwars say that his act of rescuing devotees is mainly by appearing in front of them. If he did not do so, his devotees would die. So, sAdhu paritrAnAm is simply giving seva to devotees who cannot live without him.
The next aspect, vinAshAya ca duskrtAm - is only a side-effect of giving such seva. Obviously, there are many things that hinder the devotees from enjoying bhagavAn even if he appears in front of them - the tApatrayam, enemies, etc. So, bhagavAn destroys these obstacles so that they can see and serve him.
SrI vedAnta desikan summarizes it beautifully as follows - when planting crops, one automatically removes the weeds. Similarly, sAdhu paritrAnam entails destruction of asurAs. His killing of rAvana, sisupAla, the kauravas, etc are incidental. The main purpose was to give seva to devotees like Vibhishana, Guha, Akrura, Vidura, etc who were hindered by the likes of rAvana, duryOdhana from serving him. The killing of asurAs is NOT the main purpose of his avatAra.
Hence, the purpose of srI venkatEswara is his appearance itself.
Now, the reason why his eyes are closed - nammazhwar says that he possesses the guNam of dayA to an infinite extent in this particular form. So, the logic is this - His lotus eyes exude dayA like an ocean. If we saw his fully open eyes, we would be swept away by this ocean and our eyes would moisten with tears of happiness. These tears would obstruct us from seeing him properly. So, by covering his eyes, he hides his beauty and lets his dayA out gradually, rather than a torrent of karunA! This tattvam is mentioned by swami thondaradippodi azhwar.
Swami peryiavAcchan pillai calls this as the guNam of "satmya" (sAtmya bhOga pradE - says swami vedAnta desikan as well). This means, he does not seek to overwhelm the jivAs in ecstasy at once, but shows his wonderful guNams gradually and slowly for the jivA to take in properly and absorb it.
[CENTER][COLOR="Black"][COLOR="Red"][COLOR="DarkRed"]No holiness rules over my freedom
No commands from above I obey
I seek the ruin, I shake the worlds
Behold! I am blackest ov the black
Ov khaos I am, the disobediant one
Depraved son who hath dwelt in nothingness
Upon the ninth I fell, from grace up above
To taste this life ov sin, to give birth to the "I"[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]
[B]~ "Blackest Ov the Black" - Behemoth.[/B]
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P-JdwtK1DY[/url] [/CENTER]
Bookmarks