Smt. Subha Narayan's Question on Draupadi

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Dear Members,

 

1. Draupadi called out for Sri Krishna as a last resort, not first

 

2. Intent was other than an unconditional voluntary saranAgathi

 

3. Even if 'intent' is overlooked and the 'the act' alone considered a

qualified saranAgathi, it does NOT preclude bhagavAn's Will - here we can

hypothesize that Krishna upon saving Draupadi, (Willed) let her take the vow

to leave the door open for a potential war (eventually) and give pAndavAs

the indignation to fight (adharmA)

 

Note - the argument "If BhagavAn's Will prevails anyway, why bother about

saranAgathi?" is incorrect for

How do we know BhagavAn's Intent at any given point? Can we second-guess

Him? No.

What if BhagavAn Willed and waited for us to come to Him first and ask for

it?

Seems obvious, in Draupadi's case, and gajEndrA, and for all avatAras.

 

4.

sarva DharmAn parithyajya mAm Ekam charaNam vraja |

aham tvAm sarva pApEbhyO mOkshayishyAmi mA suchaha ||

 

If one abandons other upAya and simply surrenders unconditionally and

willfully, to Sri Krishna, He affords protection from all sins - committed

thus far - but no such guarantee seems to be indicated implicitly or

explicitly for any automatic change in ones intrinsic gunA, after

saranAgathi

 

So I don't think it is correct to expect that post prappati or saranAgathi,

one would automatically become immune to non-sAtvic behavior, after coming

across Bhagavan's raksha / dayA / anugraham - willingly or otherwise

 

For E.g. - RAvanA, though he never even thought of saranAgathi, was given a

last chance in the battlefield, but he did not take it to surrender and

instead fought to death. Apparently, direct contact with (Sri Sita first

and) Sri Rama had no good effect on him whatsoever, unlike Vibhisana.

 

So, either way, choosing to surrender or not to, per se, does not seem to

DEFINITELY result in an AUTOMATIC change in character subsequently.

I suppose it could, but does not have to.

 

We'll continue to remain what we are, and will have to bear the consequences

to the extent that perumAl had given an undertaking to kindly *overlook* our

past sins and (perhaps some future *un-intentional minor transgressions*).

 

The only change we can expect in our attitude is having surrendered

wilfully, we might better be more careful and cautious to follow proper

dhArmA and not commit further pApams, so as not to lose the advantage of

having expiated the past sins.

 

Please feel free to correct / comment on adiyEn's opinions.

 

dAsan,

Sriram