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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00005 Sep 2002

 
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Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:

Dear bhaktAs,
An attempt in the line of our pUrvAchAryAs' works. If you 
feel that I'm deviating from the original ideas of our 
AchAryAs,please feel free to correct me then and there. Now comes the 
emphasis.

Srirangam AchAryAs: are those who give primary importance to the 
interpretation of the AzhwArs hymns and rahasyAs,epics,purANAs than 
the dictums of the sAstrA

MaNavALa mAmunigaL(AD 1370-1443)identifies himself with the AchAryAs 
of Srirangam.

KAnchi AchAryAs: are those who give emphasis on the samskrt heritage 
of the vEdAntA and sAstrA and defending visistAdvaita

VEdAnta Desika(AD 1270-1369)identifies himself with the AchAryAs of 
kAnchi 

Before I go to Sri MM,I will briefly say how Sri Desika views:

Sri Desika sees bhaktiyOgA and prapatti as alternative 
means to the same goal,equally sanctioned by the Lord in the 
scripture and enjoined upon two mutually exclusive groups of 
individuals. Those having the specified qualifications of 
birth,knowledge,ability and patience are commanded by the sAstrAs to 
perform bhaktiyOgA. Only those who are akincana and ananyagati due to 
their disqualification of bhaktiyOgA, are eligible to perform 
prapatti.
I will come back to this point later wrt arjuna(kshatriya,fit to 
perform bhaktiyOgA),Lord and carama slOkam in a separate post.

For Sri MaNavALa mAmunigaL,bhaktiyOgA is to be relinquished 
upon realizing the higher truth of the svarUpayathAtmya,that is, the 
soul's utter dependence on the Lord. BhaktiyOgA and the sAstric 
dharmAs,demanding self-effort and self-purpose,operate only at the 
level of svarUpa. They are considered as inferior means and although 
they have provisional validity leading to prapatti,they are 
ultimately contrary to the soul's true nature of dependence. MM in 
his commentary on SVB,says that the difference between the followers 
of Tirumantra who have ceased their own efforts by surrendering to 
the Lord and the followers of sAstrA who practise bhaktiyOgA by their 
own efforts is due to "their different proportions of svarUpajnyAna"
PiLLAn says that other upAyAs are mixed with egoism like holy water 
in a pure gold pot mixed with a drop of liquor.

MM explains that bhakti itself,pure devotion to the Lord,is 
not contrary to the soul's nature. Only when it is practised out of 
egoism,with self-effort aimed at one's own salvation(remember Lord's 
words in BG:one must abandon the idea that the self can do anything 
for its salvation) that it is objectionable to those who know the 
soul's true dependence.

In nutshell:prapatti is not an act but a mental state of realizing 
the soul's true nature and the "cessation of efforts". Unless or 
otherwise specified explicitly,the views expressed belong to 
Srirangam AchAryAs. We will see things in detail in subsequent mails 
and bear with me if I tend to go back and forth to RAmAnujA and his 
SB and GB(I would like to quote certain things).

Please feel free to correct if I sounded wrong in my expressions.

AzhwAr EmperumAnAr Jeeyar TiruvadigaLE saraNam
nappinnai





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