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Re: nArAyananE, namakkE

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Sampath Rengarajan • August 7, 1997 


Dear Sri Varadhan, thanks for your personal note and as well as this.
Prior to going into the subject i wanna make a small note. Actually I
have written that "in sequence of all pasurams of thiruppavai prior to
this pasuram", it is to be read that the sequence of all pasurams of
thiruppavai itself, in one way. On a second way it is also to be seen
that the sequence of periyazhwar thirumozhi prior to this thirppavai is
the premisese for presenting the "bAlyam" stages of Lord Krishna and
establishing that HE is the only ultimate. And that ANDAL had the
"mindset" already from her father's pasurams that were delivered
chronologically prior to that. There are certain flow among all the
4000 pasurrams the way in which they are delivered. We discussed a
small example on pasurams of thiru viN Nagaram as to how nammalwar's
last and thirumangai's first were connected in one sequential incident
of vamana thiruvikrama avatharam. Similarly periyazhwars' pasuram and
andal's pasuram are also connected in flow and thiruppavai researcheers
may want to (already are) take closer look at this.

	Coming to the first way,and her own pasurams in thirup pavai
the vyAkyAnams, it is said that the first pasuram itself
conveys the entire thiruppvai itself by presenting both the "prApyam"
and the "prAbagam" in it. ie the premeises, introduction and the
conclusion are presented as an moderen day "executive summary" in this
pAsuram itself. The "prApyam" is delivered by the notion to get
together in the first two lines in margazi thingAL to be with Sri
Krishna and the "prAbagam" is presented by "nArAyananE parai tharu vAn"
(as Narayana HE (Sri Krishna) HIMself, will prtesent the "upAyam").
Hence it is also conceived that if one can chant even this one pasuram
alone they will get the benefits of chanting the entire thiruppAvai.
Atleast one must bring the thought to their mind on this pasuram and
its meaning and it is enough even if they cannot chant this in tamil
and it is said that they will also get the benefit of the chanting the
entire thiruppavai.


>
> >   Yes! Agian in the flow of these pasaurams the Lord here means Lord
> > Krishna. (It seems this gopiyar or nappinai) is aware ahead of time,
> > that
> > charama slokam is to be delivered. HE (Lord Krishna) did teach to all
> > and those
> > gOpiyars as well afterwards through Srimad bagwad Geetha the way
> > through  "Mam
> > ekAm charaNam vraja" ("Surender to ME ...") at the end. The very fact
> > that this
> > is at end of Srimad bagwad Geetha is such that this is the *most*
> > important
> > purushArththam (prapatti) one "may" perform in his life that will lead
> > to
> > mOksham.
> >
>
> Not to be nitpicking, but when you say 'surrender to me'
> is the upaayam, then the whole meaning of prapatti is lost. The
> 'performance'
> of prapatti is not what leads to mOksham. We have discussed this before
> on the list. (pithaavukku putran ezhuththu vaanguaapOlE..)
>

Yes you are right ! Logically this statment of mine can be proved
wrong. I am wrong in presenting this concept of prapatti by these mere
statments and without any details. I was not focussing to go into the
debate between our two paths. The object of my post was to present that
our school also derives from the same words, the authority for our path
while not contradicting the existance of your path. To discuss about
prapatti and answer your question, I have presented in detail, in my
own of account of my own undertyaking of baranyAsam at Srirangam
earlier in this forum.  The only and only upAyam is bhakti mArgham. But
then we "realise" (due to HIS own grace this realisation takes place)
at this moment that our souls have been HIS belonging all the time and
that it rightfully belong in there only (with HIM) and therein submit
ourselves and surrender to HIM and request HIM one last time with the
"I" in mind, to substitute bhakthi mArgam the "upAyam" all by "HIMself"
and deliver us the eternal status for this soul with HIM.

While doing so we undertake to observe some protocols also. The whole
"process" is known as prapatti. Here agian if you go into detail of
this process, we request the LORD HIMself to be the upAyam replacing
the bhakthi mArgam (as it is extremely difficult for our souls to
accomplish). So one can say that the word "prapatti" (meaning
surredner) is not an upAya by itself. HOWEVER, We do beleive that Lord
agrees to be the "upAya" HIMself in response to our undertaking of
prapatti (ie both surrender and and undertakings of protocols) at this
moment as conferred by the performing achArYAL who is the
representative of the LORD and has the "say" to confer this through a
dialogue with the lord by a sequence of slokams (manthrams) in a
"request" and "answer" format. Actually achARYAL tells back to us that
"Yes, the Lord has now accepted your prapatti and will deliver you the
required status at the end of this life for you". HE also waives the
requirement for anthima sruthi and assures that there is no need to
take any special effort to chant anything or perform anymore yagas to
get the anthima nyAnam.


	 Hence we end up calling prapatti process as prapatti itself.
Since an upAyam is attained through this process (we beleive the Lord
gave the word to us through acharyAL at this moment) it can also be
called technically as an upAyam as whole (process). In Sri Ramanuja
vaibavam Lord VARADHAR answers that "prapattiyum upAyamE" in those
questions and answers. The thenkalai schools also accept this
conversation of Lord Varadhar as real. But then what is their vyAkyAnam
or interpretation for this. Can you or someother thenkalai bAgwathALs,
please explain. I am requesting this just as an info and not as a
challenge.  Finally if you will agree with Lord varadhar's words as
truth, then Will you allow me also to call prapatti as an upAyam and
repeat Lord Varadhar's words whatever may the interpretation from one's
school for that?

Sri Varadhan, I am thrilled at your intelligence and your devotion for
prabandam. It is our bAgyam to be in the company of those of you and
others who are so closely associated with our achAryAls like Sri
prathivAthi bayankaram SwamigaL. I look forward to reading more from
you. Please forgive me if I have offended your or anyone else's
sentiments in writing these infant observations of mine. It is great
to read from your quotes from Sri Periya vAchchan pillai's vyAkyAnams
for thiruppAvai which I dnot have. It is "the authority" for all
vyAkyAnams undoubtedly as we consider Sri PIllai HIMself to be the
incarnation of the of thiruk KaNNa managi perumAL.

azhwAR emperumAnAr thiru vadikaLE charaNAm
ANDAL thiruvadikaLE charaNam
adiyEn
Sampth Rengarajan