after prapatti---doubts

[Guest guest]

radhe krishna!

namo narayana

 

dear bhaktas,

adiyal has a doubt. it's stated that after one does prapatti, one should not

bow 2 any other devathas except sriman narayana. so y do we have the idols

of other deities in our perumal temples? and when we do enter our krishna's

temple, r we s'posed to just ignore the other gods and just go straight to

our kanna in garbhagraham?(this after one performs prapatti)

 

and aren't the other devathas and every other living being for that matter

part of krishna? aren't the other devathas basically an anga of krishna? so

wouldn't we be disrespectful to krishna if we ignore these devathas? and

aren't these devathas, bhaagavatas as well since they pray to narayana as

well? so how is it that once one does prapatti and pays respects to these

devathas, one is doing a serious offence?

 

i'm really confused. after i got the answers on bhakthi and prapatti, all

these OTHER questions have popped up in my mind. please help me understand.

 

thank u

 

regards

kalaivani

radhe krishna

namo venkateshaya

andal thiruvadigale sharanam

 

 

_______________

Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com

[Guest guest]

, "kalaivani retnavellu"

<Kalaivani4krishna@h...> wrote:

>

>

>

>

> radhe krishna!

> namo narayana

>

> dear bhaktas,

> adiyal has a doubt. it's stated that after one does prapatti, one

should not

> bow 2 any other devathas except sriman narayana. so y do we have

the idols

> of other deities in our perumal temples?

 

Most of the older temples are separate temples according to

sampradayam. Only recent temples tend have many different sannidhis

to try and get more income.

 

and when we do enter our krishna's

> temple, r we s'posed to just ignore the other gods and just go

straight to

> our kanna in garbhagraham?(this after one performs prapatti)

>

 

Our Acharyas compare a Prapanna to a girl in a small village that

happened to have the fortune of marrying the empoeror of a vast

empire of which the village is a small part. Once this girl becomes

the empress, she is bound by the protocol of the empress. She can no

longer prostrate to the members of the panchaayat (devas) as she used

to before.

 

 

> and aren't the other devathas and every other living being for that

matter

> part of krishna? aren't the other devathas basically an anga of

krishna? so

> wouldn't we be disrespectful to krishna if we ignore these

devathas? and

> aren't these devathas, bhaagavatas as well since they pray to

narayana as

> well? so how is it that once one does prapatti and pays respects to

these

> devathas, one is doing a serious offence?

 

We do not know if the other devatas are Bhaagavatas or not. For

example, the Siva who wrote the Mantra Raja Pada Stotram was a

Mahabhaagavata. The Siva that battled Daksha and stripped in front

of the wives of the sapta Rishis was not. Since we have no

information on whether the devatas currently occupying various devata

posts are Bhaagavatas or not, we do not prostrate to them, just as we

do not prostrate to Vajpayee, Bush, or others in high places.

 

adiyen Ramanuja daasan,

jagan.

>

> i'm really confused. after i got the answers on bhakthi and

prapatti, all

> these OTHER questions have popped up in my mind. please help me

understand.

>

> thank u

>

> regards

> kalaivani

> radhe krishna

> namo venkateshaya

> andal thiruvadigale sharanam

>

>

> _______________

> Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger:

http://messenger.msn.com

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Kalaivani,

 

This question has been put an innumerable number of

times by people sometimes to themselves and sometimes

to others.

 

What I feel on this is as follows :

 

A person does prapatti to the Lord when he realizes

his utter helplessness to come out of the clutches of

his past karma and the 3 gunas. Also he/she doing

prapatti to the Lord indicates that he/she loves the

Lord to a good extent. Its only when you love him, you

want to do something for him, you want to be good in

his eyes, you want to create happiness in his heart

when he sees you and so on. So you realize that

somehow you want to elevate yourself from the position

you are in. But you keep failing again and again on

your self-efforts filled with ego ( I can protect

myself ). Its no doubt that effort is required from a

soul, but while doing that, the person should remember

that all these are being made possible by the Lord

himself. As Lord Krishna said, "What ever sacrifice

you do, do it as an offering to me". There should be

no ego that I am doing this. Otherwise, it can result

in a downfall.

 

Many people now a days do prapatti to the Lord

thinking that thats the end of it and the Lord will

protect them. Its not the case. Prapatti is the

acceptance of lack of ego and accepting the Lord as

the supreme everything for the soul and raising your

hands towards him like a fallen child, which is asking

its father to lift him up. But one cannot lift the

hands to the Lord once, say that he has done prapatti

and drop the hands. He need to keep that thought

constantly in his mind, that the Lord is the only one

who can deliver him from the clutches of this karma

and make the soul fit to enjoy serving HIM. Finally

its for the Lord to decide on the fate of the soul.

 

If Krishna lifts everyone who just says I am doing

prapatti, then there is no justice there. His grace on

a soul should be based on something. A person who does

prappati ( Accepts the Lord as the Supreme and the one

and only relation to Him ), Keeps loving the Lord

continuously in all adversities of life, tries to do

his small bit of service which is dear to the Lord

becomes dear to Krishna and then Krishna chooses him (

ye me vaisha vrunute tena labhyaha ).

 

So real prapatti is one in which the soul has accepted

its utter helplessness and is looking for the Lord's

grace, but at the same time, continues its efforts to

lead a life dear to the Lord. All this is automatic as

real prapatti is done by those who Love the Lord to

the core and so even after accepting his supremacy,

they cannot stop doing things which try to please him.

A child which is dear to its father, knows very well

that the father is taking lot of pains to save it and

also that the father will save it when the time comes.

But it also loves its father, when it realizes his

love towards it and so starts doing things which try

to please him.

 

Today many people say that we have done prapatti and

stop there. This is not the real prapatti. Its the

mental feeling of total surrender to the Lord, but as

the person who loves the Lord really only can do the

real prapatti, that person continues to do his small

bit to please the Lord and will not remain actionless

thinking that he has done prapatti and now its the

Lord's turn.

 

All this I said, because the word Prapatti is being

used very freely now a days. It is no doubt the easy

means to reach the Lord, but it is fruitful and has

real meaning when done by people who are in the real

exalted position and who have that intense love to the

Lord. All others escapists like me, say that we have

done prapatti and can forget and live with our worldly

selfish pleasures and since we are prapannas, the Lord

will some day come and deliver us.

 

Now coming to the worship of other deities,..A person

who has done real prapatti really loves the Lord. To

him the Lord is his only relative. He is like a pious

wife who is only devoted to her Husband and no 0thers.

When you have accepted the Lord as the supreme and the

only means to deliver you, you have accepted that all

others are inferior to him. If you have a doubt in the

supremacy of the Lord, then how can your bharanyaasam

help you. Personally, even though I am totally a bad

guy who is only interested in the worldly pleasures,

no other form pleases me except that of Lord Sri Hari.

 

Lord is the supreme one. All other deities are

definitely to be respected, but not to be worshipped.

So if this is really understood, this question will

never arise. Lord is everything. All other deities are

working for him and serving him and are parts of his

divine body. So all of them become automatically

respectable. There is no doubt or question about that.

 

If a person says that Lord Krishna is the only supreme

one to me and I have done bhakti or prapatti or what

ever to Krishna and I will not respect any other

lesser souls, it means that he has the ego that His

Lord is great, His family is great, His path is great,

His bhakti, prapatti is great etc. How can this be

called true Bhakti and Prapatti then?.

 

The person who really did prapatti, respects and loves

every being equally, but with the thought that all of

them are related to the Supreme Lord who is everything

for the person. He will not quarell with anybody about

the supremacy of the Lord as he is not egoistic in

thinking that he has to prove that his Lord, Path etc

are superior to others. He knows, that if the Lord had

to prove his supremacy, he can do it himself or make

this person as an instrument in that. Sri Periyaalwaar

was commanded by the Lord himself to establish his

supremacy in the pandya raja sabha and as a real

devotee to the Lord He did. Sri Periyaalwar was also

called Sri Vishnu Chitta. He had the Lord in his heart

forever. He loved the Lord as his son. But he was the

most humble person and lived all his life serving the

Lord out of love. There were no questions in the great

Alwar's minds about whoom to respect, whoom not and

how to preach about the supremacy of my Lord. They

loved the Lord to the core, served him to the core,

had automatic respect to everyother being in the world

and they were actual prapannas and deserved the

position they got in Srimad Vaikuntham.

 

Guys like me just say that we do Prapatti and do all

sorts of non-sense in this world. How can we be

eligible for the grace of the Lord?.

 

Its been a long mail, mainly due to my own frustration

of not being able to match the standards which will

please the Lord.

 

Your mails on Surdas poems ( especially the ones on

Little Kannan ) were excellent to me as I really love

the little form of the Lord. I wish that someday, he

will give me enough Love and strength which will bring

me to a position which will please the Lord and make

me the true father to my Loving little Lord. I pray to

my aacharya to protect me constantly and protect me

from falling into the trap created by my own bad

karma.

 

Kindly forgive me for any wrong things that I have

written.

 

Jai Sriman Narayana

 

Maruthi Ramanuja Das