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Who is a Sri:vaishnava?

Every category of people have certain characteristics. We characterize an engineer , a doctor or an artist on some general terms. These definitions may not be conclusive , yet they may serve the purpose of communicating to the world a first hand idea of the individual. Similarly , a Sri:vaishnava also has many characterisitics , a few of which will be defined for the benefit of our discussion.

A Sri:vaishnava is one who does not tolerate the sufferings of his fellow beings. He is a person whose heart overflows with kindness , love and compassion.
We are souls.The body will perish if the soul departs from the body(the occurence of death). Similarly , the soul will perish if the Lord ceases to pervade it . The question arises if the Lord will discard us(souls) and thereby destroy us ? This loomimg fear of being driven into nothingness does not arise as the Lord is ever merciful . He will never destroy any of us (souls). He allows us to exist for ever , so we try to attain Him at some stage.

If we have power in our hands , we tend to indulge in taking revenge , troubling people or creating actions that make others understand the extend of power we wield. But the Lord , who is all powerful and ever powerful does not just destroy us though He is powerful to do so . He is full of compassion towards us that He never disturbs our existence , but gives us innumerable opportunities to attain Him. Such is the Love of the Lord.

Its a worldly affair to expect the traits of father to be found in the children. We are children of God. The traits of our father - the Lord should be found in us . While we talk of the great love of the Lord towards us , we , sri:vaishnavas must also be compassionate towards the sufferings of all beings. If the Lord is our father, all beings are our own kith and kin - aren't they !

If one needs to know if he/she is a sri:vaishnava , then one must conduct certain tests for oneself. These tests may not be final , but atleast would indicate if we are in the right direction.
A great a:cha:rya , sva:mi Nanjeeyar once told Sva:mi Nampillai , his disciple thus , "In the event of spiritual promotion of a Srivaishnava in terms of the grace of either the Lord or Sri:vaishnavas inflicts envy in your heart, then you dont possess the characteristics of a Sri:vaishnava. Otherwise , you can know the traits remain in you."

If a person
1. firmly relaizes that the archa:vatara form of the Lord is the Lord in reality and not just an image
2. is attached to other Sri:vaishnavas atleast as much as he is attached to his family
3. happily accepts even abuses from other Sri:vaishnavas
4.has no attachment towards the materialism (especially with respect to those which belongs to others)
then he can ascertain that the characteristics of Srivaishanava in him.

Further a Sri:vaishnava must not seek cheap material gains. He must be focussed only on the Lord Vishnu or Srimanna:rayaNa. He must only seek kainkarya or service to the Lord and His devotees. He must always be inclined towards spiritual pursuits.
A Sri:vaishnava must understand the essence of all teachings without being misled by false interpretations. He must be fully aware of the state he is in . He must be equipped with knowledge of his practices.

A Sri:vaishnava must serve the Lord and His devotees in whatever capacity possible. He must be able to perform many important services. At the same time , he must not long for fame. He must realize that serving the Lord and His devotees itself is a great fortune.

A Sri:vaishnava is one with great rationale. He sees between his body and himself(soul). He sees between soul and God. He knows the differences between materialists and Sri:vaishnavas. He knows the difference of the Lord from other deities. He knows the greatness of his preceptor against other teachers. He knows the superiority of sidho:pa:ya over sa:dhyo:pa:ya. He knows the glory of kainkarya to other wordly benefits.

There are many more such qualifiers that point to a sri:vaishnava . We will gather up such features as we progress through these sections.

(certain words have been used of which the reader may not grasp the meaning . such terms will be discussed in further sections.)