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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00053 Sep 2002

 
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srisailEsa dayapAtram dhIbhaktyAdi guNArNavam |
yatIndrapravaNam vandE ramya jAmAtaram munim ||

carama slOkam(Supreme secret that grants mOksa)

sarvadharmAn parityajya mAm Ekam saraNam vraja |
aham tvA sarvapApEbhyO mOksaiSyAmi mA suca: || (BG 18:66)

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Bhagavad Gita : Brief Introduction

SriKrSNA - Divine Charioteer & Divine AchAryA
Arjuna - disciple

BG has 700 verses in total with one verse attributed to 
dhrtarAstra,40 to samjaya,85 to arjunA(not all are in question 
format) and 574 verses to the Lord. It'snot an ordinary chariot but a 
Divine one which represents an allegory taken from the KathOpanisad 
and BG elaborates the famous "Tat Tvam Asi" of ChANdOgya Upanisad
(both Upanisads come under sAma vEdA,the Lord says HE is the "sAman" 
among the vEdAs). Chapters 1-6 deal with "tvam"(karma and jnAna 
yOgAs),7-12 deal with "Tat"(bhaktiyOga),13-18 with "Asi"(universal 
relation between Him and the rest).

Chapter 4 deals with jnAna yOga and chapter 18 deals with 
SamyAsa/mOksa yOgA.

paritrANAya sAdhUnAm vinAsAya ca duSkrtAm |
dharmasamsthApanArthAya sambhavAmi yugE yugE || (BG 4:8)

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Most of the disputed issues(between Srirangam and kAnchi 
AchAryAs)regarding the relative value of prapatti and sAstric 
sAdhanAs are brought out in the first phrase "sarvadharmAn 
parityajya" of the carama slOkam

sarvadharmAn - all dharmAs enjoined in sruti and smrti as sAdhanAs 
for mOksA that is karma,jnAna,bhakti yOgAs along with 
their accessories and pre-requisites namely daily 
(nitya) and occasional(naimittika)rites

parityajya - relinquish/abandon

PiLLai lOkAchAryA[Mumu 191-7]says: "having relinquished all 
dharmAs/duties"

MaNavALa mAmunigaL raises the question:"why these are here called 
dharmAs which instead ought to have been caleed adharmAs as they are 
contrary to the soul's true nature"

PiLLai lOkAchAryA says there is a reason(hEtu)for calling these as 
dharmAs[Mumu 198]:

"These things viz.,karma,jnANa etc,ought to be called adharmAs 
because they are contrary to the soul's aim(uddEsya)which is extreme 
dpendence on the Lord(bhagavad atyanta pAratantrya). But these are 
called dharmAs because arjunA was confused thinking that "fighting" 
was adharmA and these "other things" as dharmAs

PiLLai lOkAchAryA[Mumu 200-1]interprets "parityajya as follows:

The verb "tyAga" means to consider these upAyas & relinquish 
them with the particular attitude that says "like those who have 
conceiived mother of pearl to be like silver or like those who have 
set their minds on a wrong direction,we(PL and other pUrvAchAryAs)
have attributed the notion of upAya in things which are not upAyas". 
The upasarg/prefix "pari" states that just as giving up serious sins
(pAtaka),one has to give up the desire and tendencies to "these 
things" again so that they don't recur.

MaNavALa mAmunigaL in his commentary[Mumu 201] quotes ViSNu dharmA to 
show that engaging in other upAyas(other than NArAyaNA)is tantamount 
to sin;one should feel ashamed and remorse that one has been engaging 
in other upAyas which are contrary to his nature,just like sins. MM 
makes an exception:"learned" people may continue to do these dharmAs 
out of compassion in order to keep others from being mislead,in the 
spirit of lokasangraha as taught in BG 3:23-4. MM in his commentary
[SVB 278]says:"performance of dharmAs appropriate to varNa and Asrama 
done with the idea that they are for the sake of others is desired. 
But those performed with the idea that they are for one's own 
purposes are not desired; performed out of fear in accruing some sin 
to oneself if they are omitted for this would be contrary to svarUpa"

When a sanyAsi like Ramanuja does nitya karmas,it will vibrate with 
tremendous "positive" energy that it has the power to uplift the 
entire society;on the other hand,if someone does with selfish 
motives,it will have a negative effect which is dangerous to the 
svarUpa. This is what highlighted by PL and MM.

To be continued...

AzhvAr EmperumAnAr Jeeyar TiruvadigaLE saraNam
rAmAnujasya caraNau saraNam prapaDyE
nappinnai












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