What is Saranagathi & Prapatti? Are they the same?

[Guest guest]

sri:

Please accept adiyEn's humble pranams

 

There are some discussions going on in other lists about Saranagathi,

it seems the discussions are generating some Mis-information

 

To get to a clear undertanding of Bhakti, Prapatti & Saranagathi as taught by

Purvacharyas.

adiyEn is hoping to get the discussion started on this topic in this list as

well.

 

Please write with what you think is the Prapatti & What is Saranagathi?

 

 

 

 

 

azhwAr emperumAnAr JeeyAr thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

Mukundan Vangkipuram Pattangi

http://www.radioramanuja.com

[Guest guest]

Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:

 

Dear Mukunda and devotees,

 

Dear VEnkata KrSNan of Tiru AllikENi,has the unique

majestic look that other DD PerumALs don't possess! Whenever I look

at Him,i only think of His revealing the cosmic form to Arjuna. Let

me share a few thoughts with you all.

 

Vedic understanding of bhakti/devotion is interpreted

in terms of the Gita's category of bhaktiyOgA(GitabhASyA).

BhaktiyOgA,as explained in RAmAnujA's GitabhASyA and

SribhASyA,primarily involves loving meditation on the Lord and His

qualities as described in the upanisads. It's to be accompanied by

the rites and sacrifices as specified in the sAstrAs according to

one's own varNa and AsramA. KarmayOga and jnyAnayOga are anicillaries

to bhaktiyOgA. But these can't lead to salvation without culminating

in bhakti and hence they are not separate means. That is,bhaktiyOgA

demands the performance of sacrifices,meditation,worship etc

culminating in the "antimasmrti" or the final remembrance of the Lord

at the end of one's life. Any mistakes/omissions along the way for

which proper atonement/prAyascit is not performed,will delay the

mOksA until the next life time when bhaktiyOga's requirements can be

fulfilled and bhaktiyOgA is limited to males of twice-born castes.

 

Prapatti/saraNagati(same for RAmAnujA and

pUrvAchAryAs),a simple surrender to the Lord as one's upAya for

mOksA,is documented in the hymns of AzhwArs,the

epics,purANAs,pAncharAtrAs and is open to all regardless of

birth,learning or ability(RAmAnujA quotes pAncharAtrA Agamas in

SribhASyA and directly defends their validity and authority). To

qualify for prapatti,one neeed only be "akincana" and "ananyagati"-

helpless and with no other refuge. Prapatti is a one-time performance

that achieves its result at the end of this very life time. When one

surrenders to the Lord,He Himself takes the place of all the

auxiliary activities and becomes the upAya for salvation(RAmAnujA

gives two interpretation to carama slOka). Hence this upAya is called

nirapEksOpAya,the upAya which needs nothing else and it is also

siddhOpAya,an accomplished upAya.

 

According to pAncarAtrA,once one has surrendered

himself to the Lord for his salvation,engaging in any other upAyAs

for salvation is forbidden. This is beautifully illustrated through

the incidences namely "brahmAstra","rAvaNA" and "dasaratha" in

RAmAyaNA;(i)the demons bound hanumAn with supremely powerful

brahmAstra weapon but doubting its efficacy,they tied him further

with a jute cord. So brahmAstra slipped of and hanumAn escaped (ii)

when RAmA and rAvaNA were engaged in combat,rAvaNA wanted to withdraw

but RAmA would not let him go as rAvaNA still had bow in his hand.

But the moment rAvaNA dropped his bow,RAmA granted him permission to

leave (iii)dasarathA lost the fortune to live with RAmA,Eternal

dharma,by clinging to the dharmA of truthfulness which is only a

semblance of dharmA. Same is true with bhISmA and karNA. On the other

hand,vibhISaNA sought His feet as the soul refuge and nothing else.

This clearly shows that clinging to false upAyAs actually impedes

with the attainment of God.

 

RAmAnujA himself taught and practised an alternative

spiritual path to the bhaktiyOgA that he saw as central to

vEdAntA:saraNAgati/prapatti.In saraNAgati gaDyam,RAmAnujA performs

his own solemn act of surrender and follow temple practice byfirst

approaching the Goddess Sri,gaining her blessing and then

surrendering to the Lord. He uses arjunA's words in the Gita,in

reuqesting the Lord for forgiveness and gAndhAri's words(in another

passage in the mahAbhAratA)in addressing the Lord as

his "father,mother,friend,teacher,wealth,knowlege",in short,as

his "all". The Lord's promises to his devotees in various scriptural

passages are also brought into the conversation. In Sriranga

gaDyam,RAmAnujA admits that he doesn't deserve the privilege of

service that he has requested since he is unable to practise

bhaktiyOgA and possesses no other good quality. Therefore he takes

refuge at NArAyaNA's lotus feet.

 

Bhakti,practiced as a sAdhanA proceeds in three stages

as mentioned in RAmAnujA's saraNAgati gaDya (1)parabhakti-desire to

realize the Lord (2)parajnyAna-realization of the Lord (3)

paramabhakti-love arising from the joy of realization. When prapatti

is done independently as sAdhanA,takes the place of parabhakti. You

see only prapatti in AzhwArs hymns because the Lord Himself out of

His nirhetuka krpa,provided the first two.

 

Direct Reference to BG in NDP

NammAzhwAr's TiruvAymoshi 7-5-9(3389)"kaRpAr"

 

mAyamaRibavar mAyavarkALanRiyAvarO?*

dAyamseRumorunURRuvarmanga OraivarkkAy*

dEsamaRiyaOrsArathyAychchenRu sEnaiyai

nAsamseithittu* nadanthanalvArththaiaRinthumE

 

nalvArththai-BG

 

Kaliyan's Periya Tirumozhi 11-4-8(1939) "nilaiyidam"

 

Lord KrSNA teaches in the Gita that one must abandon

the idea that the self can do anything for its salvation. Concept of

freewill is ruled out! HE is both the actor and the One worshipped

through the action,the upAya and as well as upEya. HE Himself is the

phala and we are mere instruments.

 

Pardon all my errors/mistakes in this. We will see how

MaNavALamAmnuigaL explains these things in the next mail.

 

AzhwAr EmperumAnAr Jeeyar TiruvadigaLE saraNam

sarvam KrSNArpaNam astu

nappinnai

 

sarva dharmAn parityajya mAmEkam saraNam vraja |

aham tvA sarvapApEbhyO moksaiSyAmi mA suca: ||

[Guest guest]

ramanuja, "vaidhehi_nc" <nappinnai_nc> wrote:

 

> According to pAncarAtrA,once one has surrendered

> himself to the Lord for his salvation,engaging in any other upAyAs

> for salvation is forbidden.

>

 

Dear BhAgavatAs,

 

As a sophomore to this, I have some doubts.

 

It has become a practice to perform Saranagathi at a very early

age.

 

It has also become a practice for egroup SriVaishnavas to take

every opportunity to write that there is no need for us to do

pradhakshiNams for Navagraham. The reason they say is, having

surrendered to HIM there is no need to fear nor favour demigods.

 

If this being the case, even those who espouse and claim to have

utmost maha Visvasam in HIM rely on horoscope compatibility for

fixing the marriage (or for that matter anything risky) of their

kith and kin. It is very rare to see anybody giving a ChevvAi

dOsham bride to a non-ChevvAi dOsham groom (or vice versa). Doesnt

this show the fear for anya dEvatAs? If they TRULY believe in HIM,

why should these things be taken into consideration.

 

I know Im wrong somewhere but where?

 

Regards

dAsan

R.SoundararAjan

[Guest guest]

Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:

 

Dear Soundararajan,

When people don't know the true nature of

svarUpa,they get confused,speak/claim one thing and practise/do

somethingelse. When people go by human efforts,they obviously would

be affected by the human weaknesses and just for the sake of

satisfying X,Y or Z in society,they may do certain things which have

no basis. I agree with you that these things happen in many brahmin

families and even in TK families(strange)but with His grace,we don't

have such problems in my house. Even to realize certain(and all)

things,one needs His grace. That's my realization(with His grace)

 

AzhwAr EmperumAnAr Jeeya TiruvadigaLE saraNam

nappinnai

[Guest guest]

Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Dear Sri Soundararajan

>> It has become a practice to perform Saranagathi at a very early

age.

 

The ceremony of undergoing pancha samskaram can be done at any age. It is only

the identity card to enter the college of Srivaishnavism. But only when we

learn the lessons under our acharya properly and mentally get prepared to take

the test kept by the chief Sri Parthasarathi we become true srivaishnavas and

when emperuman becomes happy with us and due to the purushakAram of thayar and

our acharya emperuman gives the Srivaishnava the pass mark and grants us moksha.

So actual saranagathi is the mental state.

 

>>the fear for anya dEvatAs? If they TRULY believe in HIM,

why should these things be taken into consideration.

 

The devatas work under the emperuman. The rules have been framed by the

supreme lord and he is the antaryami of all the devatas and hence acts as the

driving force. Actually true Srivaishnavas who have total faith in emperuman

need not see any jathakam or nEram kAlam to do anything, if they do anything as

bhagavat sankalpam and as service to the lord. Here i do not mean to say that

jathakam, ragu kalam etc are fake and dont have effect. Astrology is true and

various kala doshangal also exist. But when we say a Srivaishnava need not see

them it means emperuman does it on our behalf. If we have the mahavishvasam

that what ever happens is bhagavat sankalpam and that he is always there to

protect us then there is absolutely no need to see any jatakam and even if we

dont see the match will be prefect since no astrologer can be better than Sri

Parthasarathi himself. But as you said a chevvai dosha bride and non cheevai

dosha bridegroom cannot marry since it will give its effect. If such a thing

happens in a Srivaishnava family then what else it could be than bhagavan's

leela ofcourse he will only play but surely give his hand in need. In

Mahabharatha, sahadeva was supposed to be the best scholar. Even duriyodhana

came to him to get a good date for his bali, so that he can win. Even such a

great astrologer couldnt predict that he had a brother. After karna's death

sahadeva tore off all his jhodhisha material. Only a part of it was saved by

his shisyas that is why even today the jhostisha available to us is only partly

and that is why many a times mistakes arise in prediction. Jhodhisham has

become half true and half false. But jhodhisham is one of the 6 angas of the

vedas. In the case of Srivaishnavas, they consider emperuman to be their

protector and hence the navagrahas and even eman fear to come near them. Like

even in lowkikam, though only the prime minister has the power people give due

respects to his relatives and close friends too. But still the rules of the

country holds good for each one of them.

 

Alwar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

 

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

azhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyAr thiruvadigalE saranam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finance - Get real-time stock quotes