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RE: small clarification

From the Bhakti List Archives

Mohan Sagar • August 11, 1997 


Sri Srikanth Hemmige asks:

>Why is there an apparent contradiction between "karmaNye vAdhikArathe....."  
>and "sarvadharmAn parithyajya..." ? 

Srivaishnavism holds that the bhagavad gItha offers two approaches to the
Divine, the path of bhakti yoga, with its ancillaries karma yoga (suggested
by "karmaNye vAdhikArathe....." ) and jnana yoga, and the path of prapatti
(suggested by "sarvadharmAn parithyajya..."), the way of self surrender in
which the Lord Himself becomes the means to the soul's salvation.  

The level of correlation, or contradiction, between the two approaches
varies between the two brances of our religion.  It is my understanding that
Swami Desikan supports the view that the path of bhakti yoga is both
complimentary to and complimented by prapatti. To give up everything and
surrender to the Lord, one requires the knowledge, discipline and humility
that comes from bhakti yoga; to truly dedicate oneself to the Lord through
bhakti yoga, one must first surrender to the Lord.  

Pillai Lokacharya and Manavalamamunigal hold a slightly different view,
maintaining that since bhakti yoga involves self effort, it is contradictive
to the nature of prapatti, which involves  a mood of passive non-resistance
to the Lord's Grace. Their teachings seem to suggest that Perumal first
presented the yogic path to Arjuna to test his humility, waiting to present
His ultimate means to Him only after Arjuna realized the futility and lack
of qualification of trying to reach the Lord through self effort.

>also in the RAmAyana, Sri Rama 
>says that it is the duty of every individual to perform "pithru VAkya 
>paripalana".  In that case why did't Prahlada follow the same with his 
>father? 

I can find no scriptural answer to this question, although I do have some
opinions based on my own readings.  However, I would also like to learn the
reasons for this from the more erudite members of this forum.

adiyEn,

Mohan