Questions about punah janmams

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One can make a strong case that even our acharyas, including Ramanuja,

Vedanta Desikar, Yamnucharyar etc., based on their writings viewed

jati as important, and an INTEGRAL part of the philosophy. One can

also make a case for the opposite, based on other writings and

hagiographies. There is no way to settle this matter. Frankly, it is

left up one's personal opinion, faith and sensibilities as to what the

"true" views of our acharyas were on the subject of jati.

 

However, there are few issues that I believe may have objective

answers. I want to list a few specific questions for which I hope some

light can be shed.

 

1. Is one's birth is determined by chance, by law, or by one's free

will? Provided that a jivam has not taken any of the five-fold

paths to moksha, does the jivam, at the time of death have the

"choice," of the next womb that it will enter? If it has no

choice, is the next womb determined by random chance? or is it

determined by a set of "rules" for which a jivAtma has no control?

 

2. Is one required to be a Sri Vaishnava to attain moksha? I know

one can quote Bhagavad Gita and say that all paths lead to Sriman

Narayana. But these passages only establish this in the "asymptotic"

limit; namely, one will *eventually* find Sriman Narayana regardless

of the path. However, they say *nothing* about what happens at the

conclusion of any given birth.

 

An argument that I have heard is that other path's to Sriman Narayana

are possible, but more "difficult" and that when there is an easy path

that is "guaranteed" to work (i.e. prapatti), why not embrace this

path. This looks like a reasonable argument, BUT, what is meant by

"difficult"?

 

Consider for example the Catholic Pope. Certainly, one

would not argue that he is a religious man, and one who devoutly

believes in his God. But he knows nothing (or atleast next to nothing)

about Vedanta, let alone Ubhaya-Vedanta. Will there be moksha for him

immediately upon death, or will he be subjected to further cycles of

birth and death in which he will eventually be born, or become

associated with a Sri Vaishnava upon which he will "see the light" and

become a prapanna.

 

I am sure these questions bother many of you and are certainly not

"profound," BUT I think the answers to them are extremely

important. Further, I am sure these questions have vexed our

philosophers since the dawn of human history.

 

I have some ill-formed opinions on these matters. But rather than

express opinions, I am very interested in hearing what our shastras

and our acharyas have to say on these subjects. For example, I have

heard that Sri Vedanta Desikar has written in Paramapada Sopanam on

what a prapanna sees upon death, but I do not have a copy of the

text. If someone has a translation, it would be nice to get a brief

summary of the chief points. Sri Bhasya contains a lengthy discussion

on this topic, but I could not arrive at conclusive answers to the

above questions from reading the Bhasya. I have been unable to find

answers to these questions from any of Ramanujacharya's principal

works.

 

I am particularly interested in knowing what our Sruti and acharyas

(through their commentaries and discourses) have to say about these

questions. Inferences from hagiographies is possible, but as we

have seen in earlier discussions (e.g. Vidyaranya and Desikar), they

can be "contaminated" by human embellishments and veracity cannot be

rigorously established.

 

I look forward to an interesting discussion on this subject.

 

Sumanth