Philosophy of Ramanuja-karma and kripa continued.

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.. Hence the individual effort wholly consists in total surrender to the Lord with complete faith and love and it becomes the responsibility of the Lord to redeem him even if he was a confirmed sinner erstwhile. It looks easy but not so in reality. The Lord says in the Gita `ananyaaschithayantho maam ye janaah paryupaasathe theshaam nithyaabhiyukthaanaam yogakshemam vahaamyaham,' " I will take care of the welfare of the one who consistently and persistently thinks of me and of nothing else." The divine grace thus manifests unobtrusively supplementing the efforts of the individual in turning towards the Lord with intense love and devotion. The feeble efforts of a devotee is compensated by the Lord who takes up the responsibility to help him in his spiritual progress.

 

To sum up, the individual soulhas the power of knowing, feeling and willing. Hence he is the knower, jnaathaa, the agent , karthaa and enjoyer, bhokthaa.. The knowledge of the real nature of oneself consists in realizing that the individual soul is the sesha, that is, belongs to the Lord, as the body belongs to the soul. The intrinsic nature of the individual soul is to be free from evil, distinct from the body, mind and intellect and one of absolute bliss. The final attainment of the real nature is called salvation.

Thus ends the enquiry into the first principle of the ontology of visishtadvaita, namely , the Thathva or reality, the other two being hitha and purushaarTha, the means and the goal.