FW: saranagati (etymology)

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Forwarding message from a private respondent to my question.

 

[ But 'SaraNa' probably means 'protection'.

Thus 'SaraNa + aagati' perhaps means

'to approach the Lord for protection'.

adiyen, Ramkumar

]

 

> The word sarana refers to feet and gata is to rech.

> Saragati thus refers to the action of bowing down to

> the feet, here of the Lord.

> Sanskrit is unique in combining root words.

> Sarana+agatha (arriving at one;s feet) from the Lord's

> point of view is also Saranagati, surrendering.

>

> =====

> Krishna Praba

 

[ I think Sri Krishna Praba is confusing 'SaraNa' with

'caraNa'. The latter means feet or foot. The former

means (a) house (b) protector © means to achieve

a goal. There is no doubt that Bhagavaan is the

protector, but in the context of SaraNAgati the Agama

shastras and our acharyas have always taken the third

meaning, viz., that one approaches (Agati) the Lord

with the idea that He is the sole Means or Way (SaraNa).

Technically this is denoted as approaching the Lord

as the 'upAya'. Please refer to the rahasya granthas

of our principal acharyas for more detailed explanations

of this. -- Moderator ]

[Guest guest]

srImathE rAmAnujAya namaha

srImadh varavara munayE namaha

 

Sri Mani is correct. 'saraNa' means protection and 'charaNa' means

the Lotus feet of Sriman nArAyaNan. Actually saraNAgathi is not just

to approach the Lord for protection, but the realized state that He

is the ONLY protector. The word 'ONLY' is what is emphasized

by 'gathi'.

Sri Mani wrote :

 

Technically this is denoted as approaching the Lord as the 'upAya'.

 

 

Yes, this is what is emphasized in the slOka 'tvamEva upAya bhootOmE

bhava ithi prArthanA mathi: saraNAgathi'. The prayer for emberumAn to

be the upAya is called saraNAgathi.

 

Remember the first part of dwayam. 'srIman nArAyaNa charaNau saraNam

prapathyE'. This clearly says that I pray to srIman nArAyaNan's Lotus

feet (charaNau) to be the protectors (saraNam).

 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

Thirumalai Vinjamoor Venkatesh

 

[ While 'SaraNa' does mean protection or refuge, as stated earlier

the preferred meaning in the context of the rahasyas is 'upAya'

or means. This derivation comes straight from the pAncarAtra

Agamas. -- Moderator ]

[Guest guest]

srImathE rAmAnujAyA namaha

srImadh varavara munayE namaha

 

Sri Mani wrote:

> [ While 'SaraNa' does mean protection or refuge, as stated earlier

> the preferred meaning in the context of the rahasyas is 'upAya'

> or means. This derivation comes straight from the pAncarAtra

> Agamas. -- Moderator ]

 

In fact I was wanting to convey the same thing, but the jumbling of

the paras led to a small confusion. Yes, saraNa in the context of

rahasyAs means upAya though it has a direct meaning of 'protection'.

This is well supported by Sri nammAzhwAr in ThiruvAimozhi

" nAgaNai misai nampirAn charaNE saraN namakkenRu....". Look at both

the words being represented here. 'charaNE' meaning His lotus feet

and 'saraN' meaning upAya here. It could be directly construed

as 'His lotus feet are the protectors for us', 'protectors' being the

direct meaning of 'saraN'. But by protecting what is projected is the

upAyathvam of His lotus feet.

 

Hence 'saraNa' means both 'protect' and hence the 'upAyA'.

 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

Thirumalai Vinjamoor Venkatesh