A Day in the Life of our Acharyas - 6

[Guest guest]

Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

 

After stopping at the hunter's home in a village,

Bhattar enquired about him.

 

The hunter said "I went into the forest for hunting.

There I caught a young rabbit. On the way back, the

mother rabbit come to my path and started praying.

Therefore, I felt mercy in my heart and left the

young with its mother".

 

Bhattar then told Nanjeeyar "No one taught sharanagati

to the rabbit. No one taught the hunter to protect one

who surrenders to him. Yet, sharanagati has worked

here. Here is another example that it works."

 

Azhvar Emperumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Sharanam

[Guest guest]

Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:

 

Dear devotees,

Sometime back we had lot of discussion on nirhEthuka and

sahEthuka krpa from AzhvArs,human and the Lord's perspective:-) This

example of Bhattar is a clear indication that even if one does

sharaNAgathi without even knowing "what it is",the Lord

(&sharaNAgathi) does wonders for the jIvAtmA. Isn't this example

alone a pramANa for sharaNAgathi? If the mere hunter shows

sharaNAgatha rakshathvam to the mother rabbit(which was not

taught "sarva DharmAn...mA shuca:") which sought protection,how much

the omnipotent,omniscient Lord will show towards His subjects? Thanks

to TCA Venkatesan for citing this great example.

 

AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE sharaNam

NC Nappinnai

[Guest guest]

Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

 

Dear Devotees,

 

This example is important as it shows the nature of

sharanagati and nirhetuka krpa clearly.

 

Even though the rabbit had performed the act of

surrender, it did not bear fruit until mercy was

born in the heart of the hunter. This is a key

point in nirhetuka krpa. Our acharyas have not said

that we should not surrender to Him. In fact, such

surrender through an acharya is essential to being

a Srivaishnava. However, we cannot assume that

moksha is automatic at this point (though due to

Ramanuja sambandham, we can). Being a sarva

svatantra, He can reject one who has surrendered,

if He so wills and no one can question Him.

However it is His infinite mercy that allows Him

to accept this feeble surrender and grant moksha

in return. Therefore, the bottomline is that, it

His nirhetuka krpa that is the means; not the act

of surrender.

 

The question that might follow is this. Isn't the

act of surrender a cause for the mercy to flow? On

the surface it might appear to be the case. However,

studying it, one realizes that there is no one-on-

one relationship here. For one act to be considered

a cause of another, the two should be close. In our

case, we have committed countless crimes and have

not performed a single worthy act in all our lives.

 

(adiyEn is reminded of a story here. An acharya was

discoursing and came to the point where he was

describing the vedic statement that the Lord has

infinite guNas and doShas. We all know that He has

countless auspicious qualities (guNas), but how is

that one can say that He has countless deficiencies?

The acharya explained: His auspicious qualities

cannot be counted because they are infinite. His

deficiencies cannot be counted because there are

none - we can start counting only if there is at

least one; when there are none, how can we count?

At this point, a listener stood up and said that

his guNas and doShas too could not be counted,

because he had no good qualities and infinite

doShas. Therefore, he has achieved equivalence with

the Lord :-) ).

 

Then, we perform a single act of surrender and

expect that in return He give us the grandest favor

of all. Where is the comparison? It is like taking

the first step in a staircase of a zillion steps;

He then carries us through the remaining steps.

Once we reach the top, we claim that it is out first

step that brought us to the top! Since the two are

not comparable, how can we say that it is our act

and not His mercy?

 

We could claim that we will be performing service

to Him, so He is getting something out of it. But

what does He lack that He needs from us? Andal

says that all we can do is "kuRREval".

 

We can say that He is gaining our soul. But then He

already owns it. So how do we demand something from

Him for returning something which belonged to Him in

the first place. Azhvar says "unakku Or kaimmARu nAn

onRilEn, enadhu Aviyum unathE".

 

It is through these beautiful little examples and

episodes that our acharyas explain to us the great

wealth that is our sampradhayam.

 

Azhvar Emperumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Sharanam

 

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan

 

 

--- vaidhehi_nc <nappinnai_nc wrote:

> Sri:

> Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:

>

> Dear devotees,

> Sometime back we had lot of discussion on

> nirhEthuka and

> sahEthuka krpa from AzhvArs,human and the Lord's

> perspective:-) This

> example of Bhattar is a clear indication that even if one

> does

> sharaNAgathi without even knowing "what it is",the Lord

> (&sharaNAgathi) does wonders for the jIvAtmA. Isn't this

> example

> alone a pramANa for sharaNAgathi? If the mere hunter

> shows

> sharaNAgatha rakshathvam to the mother rabbit(which was

> not

> taught "sarva DharmAn...mA shuca:") which sought

> protection,how much

> the omnipotent,omniscient Lord will show towards His

> subjects? Thanks

> to TCA Venkatesan for citing this great example.

>

> AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE sharaNam

> NC Nappinnai

>

>

>

>