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:: Sri GuruBhyoh Namah ::

 

My name is Karimanasseri Narayanan Venkataraman Sarma - KNV

Sarma for short. At home I am known as 'Balaji' - my wife

Madhavi and I live in Ottawa, Canada - we were in touch

with some friends in Toronto who told us about this group's

existence.

 

I feel privileged to join this Satsangam as a serious

seeker, with an Attitude of Gratitude. I am grateful to all

of you for sharing the holy thoughts and enabling younger

seekers like me surrender fully at the feet of the master,

GuruVaayoorappan, Sriman Naaraayana.

 

With the eagerness of a new member I am starting my

participation - I had the opportunity to be asked the

following and I put it to the group for further

elucidation:

 

1. "Is the surrender at the feet of the Lord Naaraaayana

more sublime, more important, more necessary than a

surrender to one's ['Janma Hetu'] - parents, and one's

SadGuru?

 

2. Can surrender be of differing shades - i.e., the

surrender to the Lord being the highest form of surrender

and all other surrendering being of lower nature?

 

3. Can a surrender to the Lord without the blessings of

one's parents and Sadguru result in Liberation?

 

I am asking these for my own benefit as also for those

having doubts on these matters.

 

::Sri GuruVaayoorappan SsaraNam::

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Venkataraman,

 

Welcome to the group

 

bhakti-list, "K.N.Venkataraman" <knv123> wrote:

> :: Sri GuruBhyoh Namah ::

>

>

> 1. "Is the surrender at the feet of the Lord Naaraaayana

> more sublime, more important, more necessary than a

> surrender to one's ['Janma Hetu'] - parents, and one's

> SadGuru?

 

In one way, yes, surrender to the Lord is the most important and

prefered way for moksham, but I believe one cannot get there before

surrendering to one's Acharys.

 

Sri Periyavaacaan Pillai, in his work Manikka Maalai, outlines the

acharyas a mumukshu has in his life time (father is sort of an

acharya), for example, the one who teaches variuos mantrams, starting

from Gayatri Mantram. Of all the acharyas, the one who teaches the

tirumantram (and performs the Samashrayanam) is considered THE

ACHARYA.

 

The acharya then teaches the mumukshu the ways to surrender

(Saranagati) or even in some cases acts as a mediator between the Lord

and the mumukshu in getting salvation for the later. Sri Pillai

Lokacharya call this Acharya abhimanam.

 

Sri A. Govindarachrya says in his translation of the section related

to Acharya abhimanam (Arthapancakam of Sri Pillai Lokacarya).

 

" AcAryAbhimAna, is either resort to the Mediator by the aspirant for

salvation, or resort to the saved by the Mediator Himself from His own

free choice.

 

This fifth Means of Salvation possesses the virtue of being within the

nearest reach of mankind, as contra-distinguished from all the other

Means aforesaid. These no doubt prescribe God as the object for

resort, but He is so beyond the reach of mankind's senses, minds, and

hearts as to forbid His being used in the manner of other objects more

accessible. This want is supplied by the mediator, insomuch as he is

tangibly present in the midst of mankind, as one of their own, and

therefore so accessible and so within reach, that the work of

salvation becomes for souls to say, a practical reality. This

contriviance in the Scheme of Salvatoin has been devised by God

Himself, in the manner of the mother feeling love for her child, and

the mediator, patent to all mankind, is the result. The Mediator sees

his children as weak and helpless, incapable of shifting for

themselves. He stretches his hand down to them, on the one side, to

lift them up, and he stretches his hand up, on the orther side, to

present them to God as fit objects for His mercy and compasion. The

function of the Mediator is therefor twofold. He is the mother who is

ready to sacrifice her own comfort by voluntarily treating herself to

medicine and regimen for the sake of saving the sick child, and he is

the Servent who, by such act of self-sacrifice, performs a great deed

that pleases the Master, god, who ofcourse, in the first insatance

delegated him, or deputed him, for this loving task. He submits to

personal suffering in order to redeem the fallen. The Mediator, then

is the Ready Means, under the grace by which souls may take refuge and

shape their conduct entirely at his sole bidding.

 

The resort to a Mediator is both an independent Means and an auxiliary

Means to the other Means aforesaid, just as God Himself, the eternal

is both directly the Goal, and indirectly as the Spirit indwelling in

all the lesser Gods of the Pantheon."

 

In the above the other means are Karma, JnAna, Bhakti and Prapati. The

complete translation of this and other works can be found at

http://www.srivaishnava.org/sva.htm (and follow the links for varioius

acharyas).

 

In some sence, prapati (which is surrendering to the Lord) cannot

happen without Acharya Abhimanam and vice-versa. They kind of go hand

in hand.

 

I hope, other learned members would provide more insight into these

questions.

 

>

> 2. Can surrender be of differing shades - i.e., the

> surrender to the Lord being the highest form of surrender

> and all other surrendering being of lower nature?

>

> 3. Can a surrender to the Lord without the blessings of

> one's parents and Sadguru result in Liberation?

>

 

Adiyen

 

Venkatesh Elayavilli

http://www.srivaishnava.org