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From: Mani Varadarajan (mani_at_best.com)
Date: Wed Aug 04 1999 - 16:07:57 PDT
Srimaan Krishna Kalale wrote: > Visistadvaita subscribes to the view that one should only leave > the karma-phala or fruits of karmas and kartrtva ie. not consider that the > he/performer is the agent of the karma. > Visistadvaita does not > subscribe for karma-svarupa tyaga or total relinquishing of the activities > themselves. I am glad Krishna, a veritable export on the Gita, has clarified things for us. What Krishna has written is exactly in line with what Swami Alavandar explains in sloka 31 of the Gitarthasangraha: [The highest devotee] performs all acts, from the enjoined ones upto bhakti, only out of selfless love of the Supreme. Abandoning the notion that these various activities form a means (upAya) to moksha, he should consider the Lord himself as the means thereof. nijakarmAdi-bhaktyantam kuryAt prItyaiva kAritaH | upAyatAm parityajya naset deve tu tAmabhiH || The enjoined religious acts are not abandoned. What is abandoned is the fruit of any of these activities (karma-phala-tyAga), the notion that one is the doer (kartRtva-tyAga), and the notion that any of these activities (karma-yoga, sandhyAvandana, or even bhakti) are a "means" of getting moksha. The Lord himself is the means. adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan Mani