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elayavalli_at_hotmail.com
Date: Tue Feb 20 2001 - 11:09:09 PST
Dear Sri Venkataraman,
Welcome to the group
--- In bhakti-list@y..., "K.N.Venkataraman" <knv123@y...> wrote:
> :: Sri GuruBhyoh Namah ::
>
>
> 1. "Is the surrender at the feet of the Lord Naaraaayana
> more sublime, more important, more necessary than a
> surrender to one's ['Janma Hetu'] - parents, and one's
> SadGuru?
In one way, yes, surrender to the Lord is the most important and
prefered way for moksham, but I believe one cannot get there before
surrendering to one's Acharys.
Sri Periyavaacaan Pillai, in his work Manikka Maalai, outlines the
acharyas a mumukshu has in his life time (father is sort of an
acharya), for example, the one who teaches variuos mantrams, starting
from Gayatri Mantram. Of all the acharyas, the one who teaches the
tirumantram (and performs the Samashrayanam) is considered THE
ACHARYA.
The acharya then teaches the mumukshu the ways to surrender
(Saranagati) or even in some cases acts as a mediator between the Lord
and the mumukshu in getting salvation for the later. Sri Pillai
Lokacharya call this Acharya abhimanam.
Sri A. Govindarachrya says in his translation of the section related
to Acharya abhimanam (Arthapancakam of Sri Pillai Lokacarya).
" AcAryAbhimAna, is either resort to the Mediator by the aspirant for
salvation, or resort to the saved by the Mediator Himself from His own
free choice.
This fifth Means of Salvation possesses the virtue of being within the
nearest reach of mankind, as contra-distinguished from all the other
Means aforesaid. These no doubt prescribe God as the object for
resort, but He is so beyond the reach of mankind's senses, minds, and
hearts as to forbid His being used in the manner of other objects more
accessible. This want is supplied by the mediator, insomuch as he is
tangibly present in the midst of mankind, as one of their own, and
therefore so accessible and so within reach, that the work of
salvation becomes for souls to say, a practical reality. This
contriviance in the Scheme of Salvatoin has been devised by God
Himself, in the manner of the mother feeling love for her child, and
the mediator, patent to all mankind, is the result. The Mediator sees
his children as weak and helpless, incapable of shifting for
themselves. He stretches his hand down to them, on the one side, to
lift them up, and he stretches his hand up, on the orther side, to
present them to God as fit objects for His mercy and compasion. The
function of the Mediator is therefor twofold. He is the mother who is
ready to sacrifice her own comfort by voluntarily treating herself to
medicine and regimen for the sake of saving the sick child, and he is
the Servent who, by such act of self-sacrifice, performs a great deed
that pleases the Master, god, who ofcourse, in the first insatance
delegated him, or deputed him, for this loving task. He submits to
personal suffering in order to redeem the fallen. The Mediator, then
is the Ready Means, under the grace by which souls may take refuge and
shape their conduct entirely at his sole bidding.
The resort to a Mediator is both an independent Means and an auxiliary
Means to the other Means aforesaid, just as God Himself, the eternal
is both directly the Goal, and indirectly as the Spirit indwelling in
all the lesser Gods of the Pantheon."
In the above the other means are Karma, JnAna, Bhakti and Prapati. The
complete translation of this and other works can be found at
http://www.srivaishnava.org/sva.htm (and follow the links for varioius
acharyas).
In some sence, prapati (which is surrendering to the Lord) cannot
happen without Acharya Abhimanam and vice-versa. They kind of go hand
in hand.
I hope, other learned members would provide more insight into these
questions.
>
> 2. Can surrender be of differing shades - i.e., the
> surrender to the Lord being the highest form of surrender
> and all other surrendering being of lower nature?
>
> 3. Can a surrender to the Lord without the blessings of
> one's parents and Sadguru result in Liberation?
>
Adiyen
Venkatesh Elayavilli
http://www.srivaishnava.org
--------------------------------------------------------------
- SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -
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