Simple Guide to SrivaishNavam – apachArams to avoid

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In this article we will understand the different types of apachArams (offences or misdeeds) that SrIvaishNavas should avoid.

For SrIvaishNavas, SAsthram is the foundation – we depend on SAsthram
for every action we do. SAsthram means that which instructs us on what
to do (vidhi) and what not to do (nishEdham). Primarily SAsthram
instructs us to perform our nithya karmas (daily activities) and namiththika karmas (periodic/specific activities) and restrain from
theft, attachment towards others’ properties, violence, etc. Our pUrvAchAryas took the essence from the SAsthram and consolidated them for us.

In SrIvachana bhUshaNa dhivya SAsthram, in sUthrams 300 to 307, piLLai lOKAchAryar explains that a SrIvaishNava must be asakthan (incapable to do) in the following 4 matters:

• akruthya karaNam – not indulging in what is rejected in SAsthram
• bhagavath apachAram – apachArams in emperumAn‘s vishayam
• bhAgavatha apachAram – apachArams in bhAgavatha vishyam (devotees)
• asahya apachAram – apachArams in bhagavath/bhAgavatha vishayam which happen without any reason

Let us see one by one in detail:

akruthya karaNam
SAsthram in general asks us to refrain from the following items:

• para himsai – giving trouble to any living being. even hurting a plant or small ant unnecessarily is not accepted in SAsthram.
• para sthOtram – our speech ability is provided by emperumAn to praise him and his adiyArs (devotees). It should never be used to praise avaishNavas.
• para dhAra parigraham – we should never think about others’ wives with any wrong intentions.
• para
  dhravya apahAram – we should never take someone else’s property
  directly or indirectly unless the owner gives it to us willingly.
• asathya kathanam – speaking what is opposite to reality/truth and what is not helping any living being.
• apakshya
  pakshaNam – eating food stuffs which has 3 types of dhOsham (defects)
  viz jAthi (by nature), ASraya (due to ownership/association) or
  nimiththa (specific reasons) – see AhAra niyamam (https://granthams.koyil.org/2012/07/29/srivaishnava-aahaara-niyamam/) for detailed discussion on this topic.
• many other such restrictions given by manu smruthi, etc.

It is important for a SrIvaishNava to first follow the sAmAnya SAsthra vidhi and avoid the nishEdha vishayams.

bhagavath apachAram


piLLai lOKAchAryar continues to explain the next nishEdha vishayam – bhagavath apachAram. He explains this in great detail and mAmunigaL gives wonderful commentary for these. The following are listed as bhagavath apachAram:

• To
  consider emperumAn at the same level as dhEvathAntharams (other
  dhEvathAs) – for a SrIvaishNava it is paramount to understand that
  emperumAn is sarvESvaran,
  one who is the lord of every one (including brahmA, Siva, indhra,
  varuNa, agni, etc) and he is the antharyAmi (one being inside everyone
  to control their acts). There is no one equal to him or higher than him.
  With that understanding, we should fully abstain from indulging in any
  relationship with dhEvathAntharams.
• To consider avathArams such as SrI rAma, krishNa, etc as normal or (even super) humans. One should understand that emperumAn
  appears in this samsAram (material realm) with all his qualities as in
  paramapadham (spiritual realm). As part of his leelA, he enters into
  garbham (womb) of a woman, being born on a particular day, goes through
  difficulties like vanavAsam (dwelling in forest), etc – but he is not
  bound by karma at all – instead all of these happen out of his ichchA
  (desire) to help jIvAthmAs
  who are suffering in samsAram. So, just because of these difficulties
  he takes up on himself, we should never think that he is also like other
  humans.
• To disrespect the varNaSrama limits – One should
  strictly follow varNa and ASrama rules and regulations. Because
  emperumAn says “Sruthi smruthir mama Eva AgyA … AgyA chEdhi mama dhrOhi, madh bhakthOpi na vaishNava:”
  – He says that Sruthi and smruthi are his orders and those who do not
  follow them are his dhrOhis (traitors) and even if he is a bhaktha he
  will not be considered a vaishNava. In this particular case, mAmunigaL
  explains, fourth varNa SrIvaishNavas using vaidhIka manthrams during
  thiruvArAdhanam, sanyAsis eating beetle nuts are some of the acts which
  are not allowed by SAsthram.
• To value the archA vigraham (deity)
  based on the raw materials which are used to making it – we should
  understand that emperumAn out of pure love for his bhakthas, takes up
  the form which they desire. If we say that this is a golden vigraham and
  hence it is great or this is a stone vigraham or just a picture and
  hence it is not good, it is bhagavath apachAram. This is explained in
  SAsthram as questioning the purity of one’s own mother.
• To consider the jIvAthmA as independent – our svAthanthriya budhdhi (independent will ignoring bhagavAn‘s will)
  is the main cause for all kinds of sins and this is explained as the
  biggest theft in SAsthram. We should understand that jIvAthmA is only
  subservient to emperumAn and act according to that.
• To
  steal bhagvath dhravyam (things that belong to emperumAn). This
  includes stealing emperumAn’s properties like his bhOgam (food),
  thiruvAbharanam (ornaments), vasthram (clothes), etc. Also stealing
  immovable properties like his land, etc., can be included here which are
  quite common these days.
• To help those who do the above acts of stealing.
• To accept those stolen properties from those who steal or help others to steal emperumAn‘s
  properties. Even accepting with the thought of “well, we did not wan’t
  those, but they are giving it, so why not accept it” is not favourable
  to emperumAn.
• many other such behaviours that are condemned in SAsthram.

bhAgavatha apachAram

Primarily,
it is explained that just considering another SrIvaishNava equal to
oneself is a bhAgavatha apachAram – we should always consider ourselves
lower than other SrIvaishNavas. In this section, piLLai lOKAchAryar
very briefly explains that “bhAgavatha apachAram is that enmity which
is developed in us against SrIvaishNavas, out of desire towards wealth
and lust”. But detailed explanation of bhAgavatha apachAram is discussed
in SrIvachana bhUshaNam sUthrams 190 to 207. Let us see the essence of
those sUthrams.

First we need to have some context on bhAgavatha apachAram:

• Those
  who have SrIvaishNava vEsham (dress, Urdhva puNdram, etc) but engage in
  bhAgavatha apachAram are like clothes which are folded nicely but burnt
  internally. When a strong wind blows, the cloth will fly into pieces.
• We
  also have to understand that emperumAn’s avathArams like varAha,
  naraismha, rAma, krishna, etc and his acts in those avathArams are
  mainly due to him unable to bear such apachArams done by hiraNya,
  rAvana, etc., towards his own bhakthas. It is because of anguish in
  seeing the suffering of his bhakthas, he takes up these avathArams in
  samsAram. We can easily understand this from his own words on his
  avathAra rahasyam in the fourth chapter of bhagavath gIthA in the slOkams – “yadhA yadhA…”, “parithrANAya sAdhuaNam…”, “bhahUni mE vyathIthAni…”, “ajOpi sann…” and “janma karma cha mE dhivyam…”. In their githA bhAshyam and thAthparya chandrikai, emperumAnAr and vedhAnthAchAryar have explained these slOkams in great detail.

There
are also several types of bhAgavatha apachAram –
discriminating/disrespecting a SrIvaishNava based on his/her birth,
knowledge, acts, food, relatives, place of living, etc.

Out
of these, discriminating/disrespecting based on a SrIvaishNava’s birth
is the cruelest one. This is considered to be even worse than valuing
the archA vigraham (deity) of emperumAn based on the raw material it is
made of (it is already explained that this is similar to questioning the
purity of one’s own mother).

The fact that we disrespect
another SrIvaishNava based on any of the above is in itself sufficient
to cause bhAgavatha apachAram. Our pUrvAchAryas
have maintained such strict standards while dealing with other
SrIvaishNavas. They were cautious all the time. For example, even an
AchArya will treat his Sishya with utmost respect – that is the level of
dignity they were maintaining. What we see today to some extent is
total degradation – even the Sishya is not giving respect to his/her own
AchArya and saying things like “well, he is not so knowledgable.”, “but
he is also after money, how can I respect him?”, etc. It is best for
the Sishya to respect their AchArya and let emperumAn guide the AchArya in his spiritual pursuit.

The results of bhAgavatha apachAram are also explained in detail here.

• thrisangu’s
  example is explained here – He insisted to his AchArya (vaSishta
  maharishi) and subsequently vaSishta’s sons to make him go to svargam
  with the existing body. Since they refused to do that he got angry and
  seeing that vaSishta’s sons cursed him to become a chandALa (dog-eater).
  The same yagyOpavItham which establishes his brahma gyAnam, became the
  belt which chandALas wear. Likewise if SrIvaishNavas commit apachArams,
  being in a such high position (being a SrIvaishNava) any pApams/mistakes
  that they do will have the most severe punishment according to SAsthram
  – since they are expected to be very pure. Just like if the Prime
  Minister of the country is involved in some corruption – every one
  thinks so low of him, but if a common man is involved in corruption no
  one will care about that.
• thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr said “thamargaLil thalaivarAya chAthi aNthanNargaLElum” (“தமர்களில் தலைவராய சாதி அந்தணர்களேலும்“)
  – even if a person is born in brAhmaNa family, had brahmOpadhEsam
  (instructing of gAyathri japam) and fully qualified himself in vEdham,
  if he commits an apachAram to a SrIvaishNava (who just understands the
  sambandham between emperumAn and himself but may not have any other gyAnam and anushtAnam), this brAhmana will become like a chandALa immediately. We
  should not think that even after doing so many apachArams to
  SrIvaishNavas we do not see anyone change their forms – the change need
  not be physical.
• Even when garudan thought about
  chANdili (who is emperumAn’s bhakthai) that, why she is living in a
  secluded place instead of a dhivya dhEsam, he immediately lost his
  wings.
• When piLLaippiLLai AzhwAn continuously commits bhAgavatha apachAram, kUraththAzhwan corrects him in many ways highlighting the importance of avoiding such apachArams.

Finally,
we should understand a very important point. As we understand/believe
that, “we get mOksham purely by our relationship to our AchArya
irrespective of our gyAnam and anushtAnam”, the same way “we will fall
down to the bottom of samsAram purely by our apachAram to a SrIvaishNava
irrespective of our gyAnam and anushtAnam”.

asahya apachAram

asahya means without any reason. These are the apachArams we commit towards emperumAn, AchArya or SrIvaishNavas without any specific reason.

• In bhagavath vishyam – hiraNyakaSipu just did not want to hear about emperumAn – even though emperumAn did not do anything particularly against him.
• In
  AchArya vishayam – not following his instructions, explaining the
  knowledge he taught to unqualified persons in expectation of wealth,
  fame, etc
• In bhAgavatha vishayam – having jealosy towards other SrIvaishNavas, etc.

It
is explained that each of these apachArams (in order) are more cruel
than the one before. That is, bhagavath apachAram is crueler than
akruthya karaNam (indulging in prohibited activities), bhAgavatha
apachAram is crueler than bhagavath apachAram and asahya apachAram is
crueler than bhAgavatha apachAram.

Our pUrvAchAryas were very respectful to SAsthram and were very fearful of commiting any apachAram. Every AchArya in our guruparamparai
(as we can see from their history), towards the end of their life in
this samsAram, will gather all their Sishyas and other SrIvaishNavas and
ask for their forgiveness even though they did not commit any apachAram
at all. Such was their humility.

For us also,
it is important to understand this clearly, and try to apply in our
lives. gyAnam (knowledge) exemplifies when it leads to anushtAnam
(practice) – if that does not happen that gyAnam can simply be the
called agyAnam (ignorance).

We should also understand
clearly that this does not mean that SrIvaishNavas did not share their
knowledge in SAsthram to other SrIvaishNavas fearing that it will cause
bhAgavatha apachAram. If that were the case, we would not have so many
granthams by our pUrvAchAryas and even contemporary AchAryas
in our sampradhAyam explaining how we should live. The goal of these
granthams is to educate us to develop these good qualities by reading
them.

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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