Is Prapatti an upAya?

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Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:

 

Dear bhaktas,

PerumAL(LakshminAth)is the default AchAryA. After reading

Smt Sumitra's reply,I would like to briefly say the two views

(srirangam and kanchi acharyas)and go directly to MM's view on carama

slOkam,and AchArya abhimAnam. I request Sri Tirunarayanan

Parthasarathy and other devotees to pay attention and see whether I'm

truly expressing the views(in english)of PiLLai lOkAchAryA and

MaNavALa mAmunigaL.

 

The one community under one God disagreed on the issues of

Divine Grace and also prapatti. Whether or not prapatti is to be

called an "upAya" is a question that plays a central role in the

dispute between Srirangam and kAnchi achAryAs

 

Srirangam AchAryAs

 

It is contrary to the soul's true nature of dependence

to perform any act for his own salvation and infact it's an affront

to the Lord's unlimited autonomy if He can not save the soul out of

His own will and power but must depend on some frail/futile action on

the soul's part to carry out His aim. MM argues that prapatti is not

to be seen as something that forces,wins or earns the Lord's grace.

On the contrary,it's the Lord's Gracious will and overwhelming efforts

(through teaching,avatArAs etc)that prompt the soul to surrender to

Him. So,God is to be considered as the sole means for salvation and

prapatti as an effect of His Grace without any instrumental efficacy

of its own.

 

KAnchi AchAryAs

 

Vedanta Desika considers that it's proper for the soul

to perform the appropriate upAyA which the Lord has enjoined for his

salvation using the dependent agency and limited autonomy which the

Lord has granted him. If the Lord chose to save some souls and not

others,without regard to the code of conduct and prescriptions of

upAyAs which He has laid down in the sAstrAs,it would render

meaningless and subject the Lord to the charge of cruelty and

partiality. Desika affirms that the Lord is the ultimate upAya for

salvation but the soul's performance of bhakti/prapatti must be seen

as having some instrumental efficacy/upAyatva.

 

Examples for MM's view:

 

1)Tirumazhisai (2)Draupadi (3)RavaNa (4)Dasaratha

 

(1)In the case of Tirumazhisai,when he was relaxing in front of a

brAhmaNa's house,the brAhmanAs who were chanting yajur suddenly

stopped chanting without realizing the greatness of Tirumazhisai and

also thinking that he belonged to the low class. But Tirumazhisai

realized it and started to leave. The brAhmaNas, who wanted to resume

their chanting,forgot(due to ahankAram) and Tirumzhisai reminded them

through "sign" language.

 

(2)Draupadi had too much "self" confidence that she could save her

own chastity without the help of external agency(svarUpa ajnyAnam).

Time is running out and fortunately she realized(again thro' His

grace only) what was in between her and the Lord in coming to her

rescue. Her "EGO associated with self-effort".

 

(3)Why SriRama didn't grant permission when RAvaNA wanted to withdraw?

The latter was still holding the bow in his hand. The bow was

interfering. It's not because of RAvaNA's act(RAvaNA dropped the bow)

that Rama let him go but for the "bow" itself.

 

(4)DasarathA was clinging to the "vow" he had promised and not to

dishonour the "vow" instead of clinging to Rama Himself who is DharmA

incarnate.

 

It's precisely for these reasons,PiLLai lOkAchAryA and ManavALa

mAmunigaL says that all these sAstrA(sruti,smrti etc)which assumes

particular nature and form which is contrary to the soul's true

nature of dependence. Ramanuja's time period was different and it was

dominated by brahmins. Ramanuja's main aim was to refute advaitic

philosophy,so he kept silent about azhwars in his samskrt works. Does

that mean R didn't know about AzhwArs works as per some article in

Saptagiri? Some westerners who do research in SrivaisNava philosophy

question the veracity of gaDyatraya. They strongly believe that it

couldn't have been composed by Ramanuja. Why Ramanuja called PiLLAn

as his jnyAna/mAnasa putra? PiLLAn's ST will come handy to prove

that "no one,other than Ramanuja could dare to compose a poetry in

the form of jet speed,non-stop emotional prose".

 

Does the mother depend on the baby's effort in the former taking care

of the latter? NO. The mother considers as her sole responsibility to

take care of the baby and the baby's effort doesn't matter to her at

all.

 

The next post is on carama slOkam as per PiLLai LOkAchAryA and

MaNvALa mAmunigaL.

 

AzhwAr EmperumAnAr Jeeyar TiruvadigaLE saraNam

nappinnai