Saranagathi , the easiest way of salvation for this soul.

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Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha !

Srimathe Vedhantha Desikaya Namaha !!

Srimate Sri Lakshminrisimha Divyapadukasevaka Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya namaha !!!

Dear Bhagavathas !

The writer , humbly , submits this article to the group , prepared , keeping in mind the modern youth , who , probably were not lucky enough to have an exposure to this subject so far. The article was written based on the details collected during the various lectures and upanyasams attended and also reading some of the books on this subject. While many may find it very elementary , it is expected that the addressed audience would find it quite interesting and useful .

May Sriyapathi bless us all.

Regards

yours- Ramanuja Dasan G.Sampath.

Saranagathi , the easiest way of salvation for this soul.

Vedas are the starting point of all the Indian philosophies . Srivaishnavism is as old as the Vedas . Our Jagathacharya ‘ Sri Ramanujar ’ has based the ‘Srivaishnava ’ philosophy on the Vedic principles. According to ‘Sri Vaishnava ’ philosophy ‘ Mokshaprapthi ’ for doing the ‘ Kainkaryam ’ to Sriman Narayanan , for His Satisfaction alone , is the ultimate goal in all our lives .To attain that‘ Mokshaprapthi ’ , the ‘ Jeevathma ’ can take up different paths , as laid down in the vedic scripts , Upanishads , Ithihasas and Puranans . The easiest among them is the path of Saranagathi.

In this mundane world every ‘ jeevathma ’ has to understand its permanent relationship with the ‘ Paramathma ’. It is called self realization or ‘ Aathma saakshathkaaram ’. Srivaishnavism recognizes three realities - namely Chit , the Sensuous objects , Achit , the non Sensuous objects and the Eeshwara , the Supreme God .The Lord has created this universe as one of His acts of leela, with the above ‘chits ’and ‘ achits ’ and He also placed Himself as ‘ Antharyami ’ in each and every creation of His . Both Chit and Achit are subordinate to Eeshwara.

Thus , according to Srivaishnavism , every individual in this world is an inseparable combination of Soul (Chit) , Prakriti ( Achit) and Eeshwara ( Antharyami ) . Every soul gets a body ( evolved out of prakriti ) in accordance with his Karmas. The soul ( aathma ) and the body are inseparable and interdependent , in an individual . So long as the soul is inside the body , the body continues to function. Once the soul departs from the body , the physical body then becomes dead or inactive . Eshwara ( Antaryami) , though resides in the body , it does not take part in any of the worldly activities of the body . However , the Lord as ‘Antharyami ’ tries to help the soul to cross the Samsara ( cycle of births and deaths ) . Here again one’s past Karma plays an important role in salvation .

Hindu Dharma sastram , while talking of Saranagathi describes it as under :

“ Ananya Saadhye Swabhishte Mahaviswasa Poorvakam !

Thatheka Upaayantram Cha Prarthana Saranagathihi !! ”

Also , “ Thvameva Upaaya Bhootho Me Bhava , Ithi Prarthanagathihi Saranagathi ” .

Meaning , Sriman Narayanan alone would be the ‘ Upaayam ’as well as ‘Saranyan ’ .

In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna tells Arjuna , in Chapter 18, verse 66 , as under :

Sarva Dharmaan Parityajya Maamekam Saranam Vraja !

Aham Thvaam Sarva Paapebhyo Mokshayishyaami Maa Suchaha !!

Meaning , “ Abandon all forms of Dharma to be done as a means to attain salvation , but surrender unto my feet alone . I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions and offer you ‘ Mokshaprapthi ’ . Do not fear ”..

By this Lord Krishna is asking all the ‘ Mumukshoos ’ , through Arjuna to do Saranagathi unto Him. Saranagathi is a term used to represent this act of surrendering oneself , through mind , to the Holy feet of Sriman Narayanan , for attaining salvation. There are no restrictions prescribed for this act , except that it has six ‘ Angams ’ or attributes. The process is very simple with huge benefits. Any one irrespective of caste , creed , age or sex can follow this path . It can be done for oneself or for others including birds , plants, animals etc. There is no restriction on time or place for doing this .

According to Swami desikan , it would be beneficial for the ‘ mumukshoo ’

to do the Saranagathi to Lord Sriman Narayanan , through the ‘ Piratti ’ ( Thayar ) . The amount of sins committed by all of us , during the course of various births, are so innumerable and the accumulated ones are so large , it would be next to impossible for any one to perform ‘ Prayachitham ’ , to wipe off those sins in a single birth . Lord Sriman Narayanan , being a ‘ Nirankucha Swathanthrayan ’, no one can question His decisions or actions . So , when a ‘ mumukshoo ’ approaches the Lord , to forgive his sins and offer ‘ mokshaprapthi ’ , the possibilities of the Lord rejecting such a request are quite high. To avoid such a situation , if that individual approaches the Lord through ‘ Piratti ’ , then She would consider the case sympathetically , being an embodiment of “ DAYA ” and would properly recommend the case to the Lord , to make the Saranagathi meaningful. This was one of the reasons , Swami Ramanujar did his Saranagathi to Lord Ranganatha , on the

Panguni Uthiram day , when the Lord was in ‘Serthi ’ with Thayar Ranganayaki .

The six attributes of Saranagathi are :

‘ Aanukoolyasya Sankalpam ’- Decide that we will do only such acts that are favoured by Sriman Narayanan .

‘ Praathikoolyasya Varjanam ’- Decide that we will avoid all actions not favoured by Sriman Narayanan.

‘ Rakshisyatheethi Viswasam ’- We will have full and implicit faith in Sriman Narayanan that He will protect us from all sinful actions , without fail .

‘ Gopthrithva Varnam ’ – Requesting Sriman Narayanan to accept our Saranagathi done to Him , through prayers . We should confess to Sriman Narayanan , our inability to do anything except this surrendering activity unto His Holy feet and no where else to go for our salvation .

‘ Kaarpanyam ’ - Expessing clearly that there is nothing in our hands that we can offer to Sriman Narayanan ( ‘ Aakinchanathvam’) and expressing one's total dependence on Sriman Narayanan for protection .

‘ Aathma Nivedanam ’ - Offering our ‘Aathma ’ , being His property , for His kainkaryam alone .

Generally Saranagathi to Sriman Narayanan is done with the help of one’s Acharyan.

Firstly , the acharyan would perform the purification ceremony of the body , to make it a Srivaishnavite , through Pancha Samskaram . They are :

Embossing the impressions of conch ( Sankha ) and wheel ( Chakra ) on the left and right arms of the ‘Saranagathan ’. Then he will teach us how to wear the twelve Srivaishnava marks on the body, reciting the appropriate names of the Lord . He then will add ‘ Dasan ’ to our names , indicating that we become Sriman Narayanan’s recognized disciple. Acharyan will then explain to us in detail , the three Srivaishnava mantras with their invocatory slokas. The three Srivaishnava mantras are ‘ Thirumandiram ’ , ‘ Dvayam ’ and ‘ Charama Slokam ’ . This is an important Samskara and should be performed with full devotion . Chanting these mantras with devotion everyday will enable one to earn the blessings of Sriman Narayanan. Acharyan will then tell us how we should perform the daily ‘ Aaradhana ’ to Sriman Narayanan in our house itself. With this our Saranagathi to Lord Sriman Narayanan becomes complete.

The greatness of Saranagathi can be seen very well in the various episodes in Ramayanam and Mahabharatham. To cite some examples ,

In Ramayanam – Vibhishana , even though a Rakshasa by birth , becomes a ‘ Sreemaan ’ , ( ‘ Antharishagadha Srimaan ’ ) the moment he decides to surrender to the Holy feet of Sri Rama , leaving all his belongings and family . He considered Sri Rama alone as the only relation in this world.

Sri Hanuman , met Sita Devi in Asokavanam as a Ramadhoothan. His tail was set on fire during his return journey. But , with the blessings of Sita Devi , he returned as a Sita Rama ‘ Dasan’ . He was blessed with the ‘ Aalinganam’ ( the Holy embrace ) of Sri Rama.

Sabari was offered ‘ Moksham ’ by Sri Rama , due to her immense devotion and implicit faith in the Lord , coupled with her obedience to her acharyan in performing her duty. Swami Desikan says that Sri Rama was a ‘ Saakshi Bhoothan ’ to Sabari’s ‘ Mokshaprapthi ’ .

The Elephant Gajendran got its ‘ Mokshaprapthi ’ through total surrender to

Sriman Narayanan.

Similarly Drupathi got her shame saved by her implicit faith in Lord Krishna and her total surrender unto Him .

Prahlad , though born to an Asura , was saved by the Lord Lakshmi Narasimhan , due to his implicit faith and utter devotion to Sriman Narayanan.

All the above incidences go to prove that if we develop in us that implicit faith in the Lord , accept that we do not have anything in our possession to offer to the Lord as new and do total surrender through ‘ Piratti ’ , then our Saranagathi to Lord Sriman Narayanan should enable us to achieve the goal in life.

Saranagathi in nothing but a process by which we transfer the responsibility of salvation of our soul to Sriman Narayanan. It is thus an act of transferring the ‘Bharam ’of our soul to some one else . Hence it is also termed‘ Baranyasam ’.

There is a common feeling among all of us that, this act of Saranagathi or Baranyasam could be done at the fag end of one’s life. It is a misnomer. Infact , Saranagathi should be done by every Srivaishnavite in his / her life as early as possible , to save this soul , as it is the property of the Lord . The basic fear for doing the Saranagathi early, is probably , on account of certain disciplines to be observed strictly in life , after the act of Baranyasam. But , if one really analyses those restrictions , one would be able to appreciate , why such codes of discipline are attached to this act.

Firstly , once we do the Baranyasam , we are not supposed to do ‘ Ananya Devatha ’ pooja. When one gets introduced in a proper way , to the Supreme Personality of Godhead , through the acharyan , why we should bother about others for our salvation. So this is not a problem area.

Secondly , we should be watchful on our intakes. One cannot eat anywhere and whatever is offered from any place . It is logical. Our acharyan , through the act of Pancha Samskaram , had taken pains to purify this body before the Baranyasam. Let us not forget , it is a sort of an act of wedlock of this ‘Jeevathma ’ with the ‘ Paramathma ’ , the ‘ Suddha Sathvam ’ . After such a purification how can we think of impurifying this soul by giving inputs which can increase our Rajo and Thamo Gunas , instead of maintaining only the Sathva Gunas. Hence, if we analyze all our intakes , to maintain this Sathva gunas , we would be able to automatically observe the codes of discipline. If one is able to maintain the Sathva Guna in the body , one would be able to win all , in this mundane world , by his / her disciplined actions. Thus , it is not that difficult to observe.

Thirdly , one should do his / her daily routines in ‘Nimitha Karma ’ and ‘ Naimithika Karma ’ as prescribed in our philosophy, which again , could be done without fail , with a little bit of adjustment in our other routines. Human has lots of potential and can take up immense loads without difficulty. It is only the determination to do certain actions without fail , that would be required. As such , this also is not a problem area ..

When we are all prepared to do plenty of sacrifices to maintain this temporary body of ours , can we not observe some extra precautions to take care of this Soul in us , which is the property of our Creator , the Supreme Personality of Godhead . Since it is His property , it is the beholden duty of every Srivaishnavite to save this soul by doing the Baranyasam without fail .

The writer is sure that this article would be of benefit to the young Srivaishnavites , who are the torch bearers of the future generation.

Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavanthu ! Adiyen- Ramanuja dasan- G.Sampath.

 

 

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