Bharata SaraNAgathi & VibhIshaNa SaraNAgati

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Ramanujaya namah:

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

Sri Anand Karalapakkam has written the following summary and compilation on

Bharata's SaraNAgati.

As usual, quite lucid and well written. Please find forwarded his write up

for our enjoyment.

Thanks to Sri Hari and Sri Anand for their input and enriching us on this.

Regards

Namo Narayana

aDiyEn

===============================================================

aDiyEn would like to just summarize and add

few points here :

 

Whenever prapatti is performed in accordance

with SAstras {ie.properly}, PerumAL will never violate

in granting the needs of the prapanna. There

needn't be any doubt on this. Otherwise, no one can develop

mahAviSvAsa while performing Prapatti - that PerumAL

shall bless one with eternal kai~nkaryam- and everybody will

be in the lurch as to whether moksham will be granted or not.

The SAstric injunction of mahA-viSvAsa {to the effect that

Lord shall certainly grant moksham for He is with unbounded

mercy - SaraNAgatha Vatsala} as an a~nga {infact

most important} will then be useless. It is NOT a black mark in

the Lord's Paratvam that Himself being independent is forced

to give what a Prapanna requests, like a dependent who is bound to

give - rather It is a superior added Glory to His kalyANa guNas

that He is ever ready to grant the wishes of His bhaktas/prapannas

and is always waiting for it.

 

First of all, a person performs prapatti with something in his mind

{needn't always be for moksha}. He/She will be happy to attain

that goal Or in other words, if one is very happy by the reward

given by PerumAL, it implies that he/she got fulfilled in their

desire {due to which prapatti was performed}. In this case, PerumAL

didn't come back to Ayodhya citing various reasons. After a very

long to and fro dialogues, Bharata was made to realize the position

of Lord RAma who can't act in the ways of adharma and has to

discharge dharma at any cost. Instead, Lord offered His PAdukAs.

VAlmIki, then says that Bharatan while getting into his chariot was

"beaming with joy" (Ayodhya KANDa 113.1) - signifying that the

purpose with which he came is fulfilled - RAma's pAdukas are equally

great and he got the treasure. Bharata atlength had earlier

described his earnest wish to bring back Lord RAma and asserted that

he would accomplish it at any cost. If the same Bharata was unhappy

while returning, then we could say that the prapatti of Bharatan

for something in his mind didn't get realized. Since he became very

happy, it only implies that the prapatti for which Bharatan wished

in his mind has been granted. According to Bharatan, RAma's PAdukas

are as sacred as RAma and he was satisfied => PerumAL didn't violate

granting desired boon for the prapatti and rewarded the prapanna

to his satisfaction for the prapatti he performed. PAdukA-Sahasram

also has some hints on this issue - SwAmi DESikan explains that

Bharatan got these precious PAdukAs, which are more glorifiable

{in certain aspects ofcourse understood appropriately} than

Lord RAma and which made Bharatan very happy etc.

 

Its not that Lord RAma bluntly refused the original request of

Bharata without any feelings - that He is the "Boss" and It is

His own discretion to do what He wants and "Will Not" heed to

the request of Bharatan as it will be an insult to His Lordship

etc. The whole conversation should be read and re-read to

understand the depth of emotional outpourings involved - One of

the most important sections of RAmAyaNam.

 

This special extrordinary case has occured since Lord RAma has

already promised to devas and is set on a mission towards La~nka.

The whole sketch of plans in meeting out the avatAra-rahasya, by

revealing Himself to the yearning Sages and other great high

order bhAgavatas like Hanuman are still to be carried out. These

forthcoimg incidents for the benifit of innumerous other bhaktas

can't be erased. Moreover, Lord RAma explains that, in accordance

with dharma, He has to abide by the words of Dasaratha and has no

rights to nullify it. Caught in between these things, Lord RAma

had no other alternative than to turn down Bharata's original

request. Instead, Lord made an excellent arrangement and immensly

satisfied Bharata - It is to be noted that, this is the pretext

under which Lord RAma established the Supreme Glory of His Holy

PAdukAs.

 

All through the years, Lord RAma was fully aware that He couldn't

fulfill the original intent of Bharata - NOT because He is NOT

obliged to heed to the very humble requests of the prapannas -

But, the circumstances were such that He could not return back

to Ayodhya. In SaraNAgati Gadyam, EmperumAnAr while listing out

the host of kalyANa guNas with PerumAL, ends with "kRtitva"

and "kRtajn~atA". SrI SMS Chari, translates the bhAshyam as,

"After fully complying with the request of the devotee, God

feels relieved that He has fulfilled His obligation to the

devotee and there is nothing more to do in this regard".

SwAmi DESikan, cites the following text as an illustration of

the manifestation of this kalyANa guNa : "SirasA yAchatastasya

vachanam na kRtam mayA - Uddha KANDam" wherein PerumAL feels

deeply in his heart that the words of *begging* by Bharatan with

bowed heads couldn't unfortunately be fulfilled by Him - All

those years, Lord RAma was ever thoughtful of this humble request

by Bharatan and only after returning to Ayodhya felt greatly

relieved !!

 

Will such a Lord, shall ever forsake the wishes of a prapanna ?

 

In another angle, SrI PerukkAraNai ChakravarthAchArya SwAmi

suggests in his book on RAmAyaNam that Bharatan can be even

considered to have had a very minor lapse in his mahA-viSvAsam,

and hence a time-lag in the fulfilment of his Prapatti by Lord.

While declaring to all in a very elaborate fashion, with deep

remorse, that he would bring back Lord RAma at any cost, Bharatan

also says the following in between (AyodhyA KANDam):

 

"yadi tu aaryam na SakshyAmi vinivartayitum vanAt |

vanE tatra Eva vatsyAmi yathA aaryaH laksmaNaH tathA ||" (82.18)

 

" If I find it impossible to persuade RAma to return his steps

back to Ayodhya, I will abide in the woods with the noble

LakshmaNa {whose heart never fails in respect and reverence

towards his elders}" <Trans: SrI SrInivAsa Iyengar, LIFCO>.

 

Since, there is a trace of thought in Bharata regarding the

possibility that Lord would not come back to Ayodhya, this

can be considered as a very minor lapse in mahA-viSvAsa.

This interpretation is introduced to easily avoid the likes

of following questions without detailed explanations :

 

(i) Didn't Lord KRshNa forsake His own sa~nkalpa to make

Bhishma's vow to make Lord take His chakra in the war ?

Why not then Lord RAma forsake His other sa~nkalpas for

the sake of Bharata ?

 

(ii) Lord KRshNa demonstrated that He could simultaneously

be present at multiple places. Why not Lord RAma then

simultaneously be at Ayodhya to fulfill Bharata's desire

and proceed towards La~nka as per the routines ?

 

This can be held as a secondrary explanation alongwith the other

primary reasonings.

 

Interestingly, Bharata who was so determined that he would

only be at the forest following the footsteps of LakshmaNa, if

Lord RAma would turn down his request, came back very happily.

Does this not imply that he has obtained back Lord RAma (though

Not in factuality - as he has only the pAdukAs) as far as he is

concerned ? This is the subtelity which is imparted and

elaborated in PAdukA-Sahasram.

 

In either way, the Prapatti SAstra is not at its stake and the

siddhAnta that PerumAL will certainly grant moksham for a properly

performed prapatti is unshakable. In the above case, there

were conflicting requests in multiple prapattis from different

people and PerumAL had to satisfy everyone => Made such decision

for Bharata. For one performing Prapatti for moksha, there are no

such obstructions. The SiddhopAyam SrIman NArAyaNa is highly eager

to grant moksham and is ever looking for a jIvAtma to perform

either bhakti Or prapatti.

 

As the essence, one should deeply realize the fact that Its nothing

but Lord's Grace that grants moksha and the act of Prapatti as

SAdhyOpAyam is only a "pretext" for Lord and even considering

it as a pretext is a great act of mercy from the Lord's side.

Don't take the moksha granted as an automatic process as

in a business transaction like "Pay the price in dollars and

get the commodity" - realization of Lord's unbounded mercy as

SiddhOpAyam - the primary upAyam - is the key. These are

inbuilt in the "SAtvIka-TyAgam" with which the Prapatti is

performed. Similarly, for any other Prapatti, the focal point

to be realized is the Lord's Grace - This is what highlighted

in the Bharatan's SaraNAgati as well.

 

Note: PerumAL implies the Divya-Dampati - To be understood as per

the context.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

Anand.