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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00015 May 2003

 
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Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Dear Shri Vishnu,

> Now, where is the question of Lord's expectation from the Jeeva to 
> turn toward Him?
If he does not want us to turn towards him, why would he say "Maam 
ekam Saranam Vraja" in His charama slokham?

There are pre and post realization processes. Only when we realize 
Him, then we will realize His Nirhetuka krupa and that it was He who 
had been doing everything and we are just the toys. For those who 
haven't realized, if you tell them "Accept Him and that acceptance 
(if happens) is only out of His krupA" it would drive them away from 
our sampradayam, because for an analytical mind, it does not sound 
practical, but is hypothetical. For those who have not realized, as 
they do something as a upayam(like bhakthi, karma, gyana etc) the 
realization is at the end for them. For prapannas, the moment they 
realize He is the Upayam, then the realization is accomplished and 
atmaujjeevanam is over. They live the rest of their samsaric life 
just to support the jagath vyaparam and to get rid of the karmas that 
would support the deha-vyoham. And after the realization, they 
understand that even their realization was only because of His krupai.

As you yourself said, "Thinking that He is the only way":) means some 
effort has to be put in(this is one of the initial steps to make one 
understand the sampradayam i.e pre-realization). But, after one 
starts "thinking", he/she will realize(due to His Grace) that he/she 
was able to realize Him only out of His will i.e post-realization.

> So when he is not leaving Alwar (including his manas, 
> vAk, karmA etc.) even for a split second, is the Lord not 
> instrumental in Alwar's saying "ThirumAlirumjOlai"?

Very true. But, same Azhwar sang "Mayakkoottha vamana... oru naal 
kaana vaaraye", "Katkilee unnai kaanumaaru arulai".. It is the lord's 
samslesha vishleshams. Azhwar gets into the Gyana dasai during his 
Samslesham and gets into the Bhakthi dasai during his Vishlesham. 
This must not be confused with the current subject "madi mangai 
nyayam", these are two different threads altogether. Please remember 
all Azhwars sang the prabandhams only after the realization. My point 
is that we have to understand their works only from that perspective. 
If we have really attained realization then we would automatically 
talk only about His Nirhetuka krupa. For those who have not, we must 
share our bhagavadh anubhavams and make them do something "for" Him
("including the sharanagathi"). But, once they do the sharanagathi, 
they would understand that it was His krupai that even made them 
perform the sharanagathi. Lord is indeed instrumental in everything 
as an antharyami. But, this understanding comes only after the 
realization doesn't it? Azhwar has realized it. How about others who 
haven't? How do we make them understand this? For them, if the lord 
is instrumental and the jeevatmas do "nothing" then aren't we 
advocating one of the aspects of the "Advaitam" i.e brahmam is only 
one that does everything and anything else that we perceive are just 
the maya? That is why I insist that Acharya Hrudhayam has to be felt 
from the position of Azhwar. It should not be discussed from our day 
to day samsaric perspective. It is purely from a prappana 
perspective. As Shri NC Narasimhan mentioned, these are Rahasya 
Granthams and need to be understood only from the right acharyan. We 
may read these and try to get familiarity with the information 
available in it and ask questions. But, this is different from the 
intent and the perspective of the author Swamy Azhagiya Manalavala 
Perumal Nayanar.

> ALawandAr, in his stotra ratna, who first offers himself to Him 
> saying "ahamadyaiva mayA samapritah" corrects himself in the next 
> Sloka by saying "athavA kinnu samarpayAmi tE?" ((when evrything is 
> Urs, what can I offer you?)

This is a perfect example of the pre and post realization process.


> In our definition, SaraNAgati is nothing but accepting Him as upAya 
> and upEya.
"accepting" him, itself is an effort isn't it(from a normal 
perspective). But for the person who realized his "incapability", 
this realization itself is due to the Lord's grace.

Here is the catch in our sampradayam. "accepting" is different 
from "realizing". One may accept if one is forced or if one is 
convinced. Lord does not expect people to blindly "accept", 
otherwise, he would have incorporated that blind belief in the human 
design. Morever if we expect everyone to accept the lord as the 
upayam at the initial stage itself, this would get rid of many of the 
people.

I have heard in many kalakshepams that He indefinitely waits for us. 
For what? If he uses his Nirhetuka krupa, we would not be here. 
Everyone should have been in moksham. All I am trying to say is that, 
we must not restrict the view of our sampradayam only to those people 
who are born and brought up in it and who could easily understand it. 
It is open to all and hence we must provide appropriate views 
depending on the audience. To me, we must not even let anyone have a 
doubt that the lord may be Partial because "HE IS NOT".

My apologies in case of mistakes. Kindly correct me in case of 
mistakes.

Yatheendra Pravanam Vandhe RAMYA Jamataram Munim

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan,
Lakshmi Narasimhan





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