Self-effort and Bhakti - just some thoughts

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>Anand Hudli wrote:

>

>> On Wed, 28 Feb 2001 13:32:10 -0500, Chaitanya Bhagavat

>> <chaitanya_bhagavat wrote:

>>

> > >Anand Hudli wrote:

 

Shree Sundaram wrote:

>

>Whether lioness or domestic cat, the principle is the same viz. the mother

>takes full responsibility for transporting the cub safely from point

>A to point

>B.

>The cub makes no effort at all. This is known as the maarjaara nyaaya -

>cat principle.

>The opposite principle is the markata nyaaya - the monkey principle. In the

>case

>of the monkey, it is the cub that has to cling to the mother for dear life,

>as the latter

>jumps from tree to tree. The mother allows the hitch-hike, but takes no

>responsibility

>for safe transportation ! The cub is entirely responsible for its

>own survival

>during

>the journey.

>

>Note that both examples refer to the transportation stage only. In advaita,

>once you have lost your ego, you have already reached the destination.

>

> I have said something that just came to my mind. I hope it is not

>irrelevant.

>

>V.M.Sundaram.

 

As I understand the distinction between vaDahali and Tengalai in the

Shree Vaishanavism essentially rests on this difference in the

Sharanaagati - maarjaara and markata nyaaya-s - cat and monkey

analogy.

 

Anand - I looked at the write-up you had on Sharanaagati --

 

"The principle of sharaNAgati or prapatti as found in shrivaiShNava

works is not found in advaita. The only advaitin that I know of who

comes close to something like sharaNAgati is MadhusUdana SarasvatI.

But then he seems to treat it the same as bhakti.

 

The support for sharaNAgati is often claimed to be gItA verse 18.66

by the shrivaiShNavas, referring to the famous words "sarvadharmAn.h

parityajya mAmekaM sharaNaM vraja ...

 

This does not mean, MadhusUdana points out, that one should abandon

all karmas/duties and surrender to God. This will be against the

teaching of the gItA itself because it drives home the point

that all actions should be performed with a sense of dedication

of the fruits of those actions to God or abandoning only the fruits

of actions."

-----------------------------

As I understand - Bhagavaan Ramanuja does not interpret that

sarvadharmaan prarityajya - involves giving up all the actions - The

emphasis is only on kaikarya - offering to the Lord all actions and

the fruits of the actions. Nitya naimittika karmas - daily and

occasional obligatory duties must be performed that includes

archarna, sandhyaavandana etc. What is surrendered is the ego at the

altar of the Lord. What is give up includes kaamya and of course

nishiddha karam-s. In vishishhTaadvaita surrenderance of ego

involves recognizing the aswatantra aspect (dependence ) of the jiiva

on the Lord and in fact the avidya that is talked about is exactly

this - Jiva thinks he is swatantra operates with that notion and gets

entangled in Maaya. The key Giita sloka 7-14 that is emphasized is -

daivii hyeshhaa guNa mayii mama maaya duratyayaa, maamevaye

prapadyante maayaametam tarantite - this maya of mine is of divine

origin and is impossible to cross over by one's self-effort - Only

surrendering to me one can overcome this maaya - Here me stands for

Naarayaayan who is sarvaswatantra and is only one who can help in

crossing this maaya - since rest of gods are considered as exhaulted

jiiva-s only with limited powers that also given by the grace of

NaaraayaNa. In the very Naaraayana Mantra - na ra and ayana - ra

means that which gets destroyed and na ra means that which does not

get destroyed - that includes three satyams- jiiva, jagat and

paramaatma - ayana the very goal - hence NaarayaNa is the very goal

for the rest of the two - They very substratum of the whole thing.

 

There are various types of sharanaagati-s that are mentioned under

prapatti - but the essence is the same - surrendering the one's will

to the Lord and perform all nitya niamittika karmas as kainkarya to

the Lord. Hence what is given up is only the notion of doer-ship and

the fruits of the results - shesha- sheshi dharma involving

dependence of jiiva, and purpose of the jiiva is to be involved in

the service of the Lord. Service involve action hence action is not

totally given up under prapatti. - but the acation is redircted

towards the service of the Lord that involves - nitya naimittika

karam-s - that includes bhaagavata seva - service of the Lord and

service to the devotes of the Lord.

 

One interesting note - I just learned from Shree Krishna Kalale that

Shree Ramanuja and Shree Vedanta Deshika interpreted swadharma as

karmayoga and paradharma as j~naanayoga - I am still waiting to learn

the motivation behind this interpretation.

 

Hari Om!

Sadananda

--

K. Sadananda

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