Will some expert iyengar/iyer tell me the doctrinaire difference between vishisht advaita philosophy of ramanuja, dvaita of madhvacharya and advaitha philosophy of adi
sankara?
No. | Concept | Vadakalai | Thenkalai |
1. | Who is supreme Ishwara? | Sriman Narayana and Mahalakshmi | Only Sriman Narayana, Mahalakshmi is a jeevatma |
2. | Who can grant mohsham? | Sriman Narayana and/or Mahalakshmi can grant moksham | Only Sriman Narayana can grant moksham |
3. | What is the role of Mahalakshmi? | She acts as recommending agency (purushakaratvam) as well as moksham granting agency. She also joins Sriman Narayana as enjoyer of muktas service (bhokta) | She only acts as recommending agency (purushakaratvam) and be bhokta along with Sriman Narayana. |
4. | What is the means (upaya) for moksham? | Bhakti Yoga or Prapatti (total and unconditional surrender) | Only Prapatti |
5. | What is prapatti? | A separate ritual to be performed with the necessary prerequisites | Just declaring oneself to be a Vaishnava via Panca Samskaram is prapatti. |
6. | Nitya Karma | Must be performed by all, including sanyasees | Need not be performed by prapannas, but must do anyway to set an example for others. |
7. | What about the papa karma of prapannas (ones who have performed prapatti)? | Due to his unlimited compassion Sriman Narayana will erase the papa of prapannas? | The lord actually loves to remove the sins of prapannas like a cow licks the impurities off of her calf, and like a lover enjoys the impurities in the body of the loved |
8. | Acharya paramparai | Same as Thenkalai up until Ramanuja. The preeminent acharya after that is Swami Sri Desikan | Same as Vadakalai up until Ramanuja. The preeminent acharya after that is Swami Manavala Mamunigal |
No. | Concept | Vadakalai | Thenkalai |
1. | Namam | U shaped with turmeric srichoornam in yellow color | Y shaped with turmeric srichoornam in red color |
2. | Prostration | Four times | Strictly one time |
3. | Madisar | Different from smarta | Similar to smarta |
4. | Serving food | Rice and ghee first, everything else after that | Everything first, then rice and ghee |
I have already shared the experience of my Iyer friends, who were advised by one of the disciples of Jeer Swami to dress up... Ahobila madam in the temple complex has good facilities for stay including AC rooms. There are separate ones for senior and junior jeer.
Some get free meals there if one displays caste signs and acts devout. .........
hiLord Balaji has left his consort Padmavathi at lower tirupathi.
A trip to tirumala is not complete without calling on Thayar.
Even here , there is normal [free] darshan and special darshan.
There are strict timings for darshan and archanai with differential rates.Hundred for darshan after 5 pm , 200 rupees for archanai before 5 pm.
Laddus are not as good as in tirumalai
Here also wait time of an hour or so in queue.
similar security checks and dress codes.
What is excellent are the roads on tirupathi and tirumalai undertaken by Road and building department{R and B] leading to these places from rail heads ,hotels , airport.
But taxis fleece unless one opts for ola etc.Buses to tirumalai are good and inexpensive.
Most from chennai take tourism buses I suppose.
hiThere are three options-TTDC, AP tourism. ITDC.
I think they arrange for temple entry tickets also.
What I do not like about these is that they stop at hotels of their choice for food.
So one is stuck for lack of choices.