Progress indicators in the Prapatti marga

[Guest guest]

>ARE THERE PROGRESS INDICATORS IN THE PRAPATTI MARGA?

>

>In this daunting project we have undertaken of leading the life of a

>prapanna after at first performing prapatti at the Lotus feet of Lakshmi

>NArAyaNa, do we have similar progress indicators? Can we correct our ways,

>if need be, or commend ourselves on our progress by reading these

>indicators?

>

>I am sure we all realize that the very act of our prapatti is not enough to

>fetch us moksham,

>[bharadwaj, Jaganath]

adiyen is not sure what Murli means by this, but going by the meaning of

the statement of the words themselves, this is denied in the concept of

Prapatti. Bhakti Yoga is compared to a 5 year old child that comes

running to meet the mother when seeing her after an interval of time.

Prapatti is compared to a toddler, who wants to come to the mother, but

falls upon attempting to run. The mother comes running to pick up the

child. Worrying about our spiritual progress after Prapatti is like

wondering whether the mother is taking us in the right direction.

 

The 3 gunas control all our actions. Understanding how these Gunas work

from Srimad Bhagavad Geeta will put these questions to rest. Sriman

Narayana manipulates these Gunas to get His work done. He tells Arjuna

to get up and fight, but also tells him "Even if you want to run away,

upon hearing the jeering remarks of your enemies, your gunas will force

you to do the very thing, which you say you will not do at this time."

 

Murli's question is more to do with understanding where one has the

freedom of choice and how to use it.

 

Sri Srivatsarangachariar uses the following analogy. A child (jivatma)

wishes to wear new clothes. This desire is expressed to the father

(Bhagavan). The father takes the child to a cloth store, tells the

merchant to display various varieties of cloth to the child. The child

chooses which cloth he wants to wear. Here alone he has the choice.

Next the father takes the cloth to a tailor, gets it stitched and the

child wears the new outfit. Therefore out of 5 components that complete

one transaction of karma (action), the jivatma has choice in only one.

>The other 4 are controlled by Sriman Narayana.

>and neither is any effort from our side thereafter.

>

>Granted. However, although surrendering to the Lord is a one time event,

>practicing it is a lifelong struggle. The situation is paradoxical: Our

>personal effort can never be up-to-the-mark; yet, we cannot relieve

>ourselves of that effort. In such a situation, I think it would help to

>have some indicators that will help us analyze the "I was there; now I am

>here; how am I doing?" kind of questions. Will that paramAtma indicate in

>some way His acceptance (since He is the user-in-chief) of our efforts,

>however insignificant they might be?

>[bharadwaj, Jaganath]

Based on what was stated above, it is upto us to live in peace

understanding that whatever happened in our lives, could not have

happened unless Sriman Narayana allowed it to happen. If He allowed it

to happen, there is some good in it for us. For example, even if we

doubted His supremacy and later regretted it, we realize our

helplessness and give up pride. (If we never doubted His supremacy at

all, that can lead to pride when we see someone else not having firm

faith). Even if we committed Bhaagavatha apacharam and afterwards

regret it, it is good for us, because after that we will consider

ourselves the lowest of the low, following in the footsteps of

Nammazhwar, Parasara Bhattar and Swami Desikan and any Acharya worth

that name.

 

How does Sriman Narayana stop us from doing wrong after Prapatti? A

group of us had gone to a temple one icy morning. There was ice on the

streets, grass everywhere. After coming out of the temple, the 5 year

old child ran to the car, in a situation where even walking was

dangerous. The mother allowed him to run on the grass, where there was

enough friction in spite of the ice, though she kept telling him not to

run. But when he ran onto the street, she caught hold of him. His feet

continued the motions of running, but since she had caught hold of him,

he did not fall. In the same way Sriman Narayana is protecting us every

moment, both this body and the soul. Remember while He delegated the

tasks of creation and destruction to jivatmas, He kept the task of

protection to Himself.

 

Swami Desikan says that if Prapatti is completed one time with all its 5

angas, there is no way after that, that Moksham can be stopped. If a

person does not get Moksham, then it means that Prapatti was never

completed with all its 5 angas. Usually Mahavishwasam is the missing

element or a realization of our helplessness to attain moksham. One

attains peace of mind after understanding the meaning of the 3 mantras,

or by doing a regular parayanam of the second chapter of Srimad Bhagavad

>Geeta after getting Upadesam from an Acharya.

> And what are those efforts in the

>first place? Is Sandhya Vandanam enough? Is Bhagawad ArAdhanam enough?

>Will inviting a few bhAgawatAs to sumptuous lunches and taking care of their

>needs for the time they have blessed their presence complete the deal? Will

>one have to construct temples? Or is it all of these and much more? (Of

>course, it goes without saying that all of these are to done after

>renouncing the sense of doership.) When and how will we see an assuring

>"prapannas, stay in this lane" sign? And then even if we take final success

>for granted (for we know that that success is attributed to the Lord alone),

>how will He let us know of his displeasure of our ways or otherwise during

>our now-confirmed ephemeral stay here on earth?

>[bharadwaj, Jaganath]

If our mind is not peaceful, there is some unforgiven offence for which

Prayaschittam has to be done. If we do not know how to do this, that

mental anguish itself is the Prayaschittam and the suffering will go

away if do not use our limited freedom of choice to further disobey

Sriman Narayana.

 

What kind of kainkaryam one does after Prapatti depends upon one's past

karma. This has no relation to attaining moksham. Just as moksham

means to do uninterrupted kainkaryam, that kainkaryam Sri Nammazhwar

>says, begins here itself.

> Will He resort to subtler

>forms of rewarding and reprimanding such as what we experience daily, or

>will He be more expressive?

>

>Any inputs are welcome.

>

>> || Sarvam Sri KrishNArpaNamastu ||

>>

>> -- Murali KaDAmbi

>adiyen

>jaganath.

[Guest guest]

On Jun 10, 10:19am, Bharadwaj, Jaganath wrote:

> > Murali Kidambi wrote:

>> When and how will we see an assuring

> >"prapannas, stay in this lane" sign? And then even if we take final success

> >for granted (for we know that that success is attributed to the Lord alone),

> >how will He let us know of his displeasure of our ways or otherwise during

> >our now-confirmed ephemeral stay here on earth?

> >[bharadwaj, Jaganath]

> If our mind is not peaceful, there is some unforgiven offence for which

> Prayaschittam has to be done. If we do not know how to do this, that

> mental anguish itself is the Prayaschittam and the suffering will go

> away if do not use our limited freedom of choice to further disobey

> Sriman Narayana.

>

>

> >Any inputs are welcome.

 

PramAnam for the following part is from this pAsuram:

 

uLathAna val vinaikku uLLam veruvi uLagaLantha

vaLar thAmaraiyiNai van saraNAga varitthavar than

kaLai thAn ena ezhum kanman thuRappar thuRanthidilum

iLai thAm nilai sega eNgAL pirAn aruL thEn ezhumE

(aparAtha parihAram)

adikAra sagraham - 25

Swami Desikan

 

For most cases All the sins committed prior to prappatti are

absolved by doing prapatti. Some sins that may have to be

committed due to circumstantial situations knowingly after

prapatti and some other sins that may have to be committed

unknowingly after prapatti are kept away from prapannAs.

 

When a chEthanan undertakes saranAgathi with a feeling of fear for

the pApams (type of repentance at the moment of prapatti being

ordained) that he has accrued so far, he will never do pApams or

sins that are impediment to bagawath kaimkaryam or bAgawatha or

AchArya kaimkaryam in his rest of the life after his prapatthi.

 

Many a times a surrendering soul may not realize this at the time

of prapatti. Lord brings such realizations for those souls in

strange ways. i.e., repentance once prapatti is performed.

 

While there are several materialistic sins that may also be

committed, the most important sins that a prapanna must definitely

watch out for and realize from that are as follows.

 

pApams or sins committed as an impediment to the service of either

of the three (bagwAn bAgwathA and AchAryA) are bagwatha bAgawatha

achArya apachAram and prAyachittham can be done only with the

respective above for each of such apachAram. By chance one's ego

or lack of wisdom and knowledge induces one to do such serious

sins, it is said that such ego or lack of wisdom is enacted due to

one's past karmA prior to his undertaking prapatti and due to his

failure to have the feeling of repentance at the time of doing

prapatti for such past sins that are carried over and enacted and

that an opportunity is provided by the Lord to absolve it in an

easier way.

 

A question may arise in one's mind i.e., Why a prapanna may be

still doing sins despite the assurances given during prapatti ?

"thirutthip paNi kolvAn" - It is the desire of the Lord or

perumAL's thiru uLLam that such bAgawathA has to be corrected and

made to serve the kula dhANam.

 

Also as per the second sentence of the sarama slOkam it is

understood that Lord has given assurance that both the sins

committed prior to saranAgathi and after saranAgathi are relieved

(aham twA sarva pApEbyO mokshayisyAmi ! mA sucha! ) from the

prapanna by the Lord.

 

What are the options made available to get these absolved ?

 

What a prapanna can do here is first to understand that when a

fellow prapanna or bAgawathA or achArya kaimkaryam is being

performed if it is seen that he is an impediment to that he must

know that he is committing bagwatha bAgawtha achArya apachAram.

There are other types of bAgawath bagwatha and AchArya apacharams

as well.

 

 

path 1:

 

Some prapannAs may know that they are impediments to others doing

these kaimkaryams merely due to their egos but may not be able to

reconcile the fact that what they are doing is an apachAram of the

highest order. This is called murattuth thaNmai or being brutally

ignorant. For such a soul Lord punishes them within their life

time i.e., in this life itself and absolve them of their sins

prior to their ascending to mOksham.

 

path 2:

 

The best thing a prapannA can do is to reconcile that he has such

ego and lack of wisdom that comes in the way of doing bagwatha

bAgwatha achArya kaimkaryam. And that such ego and lack of wisdom

is contained by the realization that these are due to the past

karmAs and that they are being enacted by the Lord in the process

of absolving the sins. At this time perumAL either chooses the

path 1 for certain prapannAs to go through or path 2 which is the

path of seeking to correct and serve the kula dhAnam. Mostly

puNNya athmAs (i.e. one who has several punniyams in additions to

some pAvams) are chosen by Lord to seek this path of

reconciliation or prAyach chittham. There are others as well who

are made to follow these path. Tune into sarangathi journal for more

details.

 

perumAL makes them do another saranAgathi (*) for seeking relief from

these pAvams or sins that causes these ego and lack of wisdom to

commit more apacharams. By doing such, perumAL absolves such left

over karmAs as well and let the prapanna do certain kaimkaryams in

the rest of the life.

 

 

When a prapannA commit the apachArams after prapatti when there is

no circumstantial need or danger, such sins are absolved by the

followings i.e. knowingly well that it is a bagwatha bAgwatha or

AchArya apachAram.

 

The first quarter of the sin:

0 to 25 % Feeling bad and repenting in one's mind for

such apachArams

 

The second quarter of the sin:

25 % to 50 % Refraining from committing such sins anymore

 

The third quarter of the sin:

50 % to 75 % thinking and attempting to do prAyacchittham

 

The fourth quarter of the sin:

75 % to 100 % is finally absolved by doing prAyacchittham

at the feet of those for whom the apachAram

was committed

 

Doing prayacchittham is the final phase of the absolving. For a

prapanna the praychittham are best followed in the ways mentioned

below. if due to brutal ignorance one may not want to reconcile

his apachAram a punishment will be given by the Lord during this life

of such and the sins will be absolved.

 

If someone has done some parts of the above prAyacchittham and didnot

complete the rest, a punishment will substitute the such imcomplete

prAyachitthams and the sins will be absolved.

 

But it is the desire of teh Lord that the following may be followed

in doing a prAyacchittham.

 

A bAgawatha apachAram committed to a prapanna has to be relieved

mainly by seeking relief or prayachittham performed at the feet of

such prapannA HIMself or HERself.

 

An AchArya apachAram committed to an AchArya kaimkaryam has to be

relieved at the feet of the AchArya HIMself.

 

A bAgwath apachAram is sought to be relieved only by the Lord.

 

Thus for a prapanna who has done sarangathai there is no pirAvi or

birth due to his past pAva karmAs after this life one way or the

other.

 

note: I learnt the importance of sarangathi from thiruk kudanthai

ANdavan in amuthan sannithi and that certainly is an "aRivin payanE"

in my teens. The tamil knowledge of Andavan is unquestionable and

even tamil scholar from every walk used to admire his holiness's

pulahAngitham in tamil. His rasam or bAvam in conveying the

essence of saraNAgathi makes even a sAmAnya as similar to adiyEn

understand these. I simply surrender this ramblings at his holy

feet and seek forgiveness if I have committed any apachAram in

writhing these.

 

adiyEn

Sampath Rengarajan

 

 

 

(*) quoted from vyAkyAnam of navaneetham swami and kAlakshEbams.