This Sri Vaishnava gentleman from the holy city of Sri Rangam has shown he has the guts and gumption to defend one of the fundamental tenets of Sanatana Dharma : viz. Varnaashrama, the foundation of all social systems in Vedantic thought.
He asserts boldly that all 3 founders of India’s Vedantic tradition — Adi Sankara Bhagavatpada , Madhwacharya and Ramanujacharya — have indeed clearly validated one’s Varna as being determined at birth itself and being the result of the soul’s deeds and /or misdeeds in previous incarnations (Poorva janma karma).
He points out how even amongst our own Hindu fold today, there are many pseudo-Sanatananis who misrepresent Sanatana Dharma and misguide Hindus on Varnaashrama just to appear politically correct and as being in tune with Ambedkar’s Constitution, the new Holy Book of India. They quote Shloka 4.13 of the Bhagavath Gita to portray Varnaashrama erroneously as being determined by Guna, human qualities, and not by Birth. Examples according to him are Subramaniam Swamy, H. Raja , even Dushyant Sridhar .
He also rues the fact that our present-day Acharyas of the Orthodox Vedantic schools in the country fight shy coming forward to openly refute all these pseudo-sanatanis and their new-fangled, twisted theories on Varnaashrama. He accuses the Acharyas of dereliction of their duty. He says they are abdicating their prime duty or obligation to educate Hindus about their true faith exactly as it was propounded by Adi Sankara, Madhwacharya and Ramanujacharya. He says present-day Acharyas are all narcissistically absorbed inside their own self-built cocoons, focused on protecting their own loukeeka empires and financial self-interest which they fear will be harmed if the powerful pseudo-Sanatani politicians have any cause to get annoyed with them and withdraw support.
Sri. Rangarajan Narasimhan of Sri Rangam is well known to be a stormy petrel for Sri Vaishnavism and Hindu religious causes. He is fearless but often foolhardy too as some of his detractors say.
His stout defence in this video-presentation of Varnaashrama is certainly a case in point.
Will his strident voice be heard or will he be ignored by the Acharyas and even by the Hindu community?
Will the Dravidian ideologues now thank him profusely for feeding them with more useful and toxic ammunition in their war against Brahmins and Sanatanam ?
Will the Secularists amongst the Hindus of INDIA now begin pillorying him as a Hindu bigot who is not only anti-Constitution but also anti-social ?
To the best of my knowledge of current affairs in India today, not many like Sri Rangarajan have come out openly to defend and reaffirm Varnashrama in the forthright manner he has done. He minces no words. His plain-speaking is hugely “politically incorrect” and is in utter defiance of the prevailing and normative social ethos of our times in India.
As someone who would like to believe I am a Sri Vaishnava myself.. albeit an Unknown One … I find myself now in a real quandary … I ask myself if I am a real Sanatani or a pseudo-Sanatani? And to be honest, I just can’t tell the difference.
Sudarshan Madabushi