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From the Bhakti List Archives

Thirumalai Anandanpillai • October 5, 1996 


Mohan writes about 'giving up'

 ---------begin quote
Which leads to a slight clarification. Pillai 
Lokacharya and Manavalamamunigal maintain that the act of "giving up,
" i.e. prapatti, is really NOT the Upaya at all.  Prapatti is merely 
the humble acceptance of what is the True Upaya, the Lord Himself. 
And in light of the Lord's efforts in bringing us to Him, our act of 
Prapatti becomes meaningless and all is the result of His Grace Alone.
-------end quote


It is indeed true that Sriman NaaraayaNa alone is the Upaayam.

The second chapter of SriVachanaBhooshanam deals with Prapatti.  I will
 attempt a crude translation into English of the relevant commentaries of
 our Achaaryas. My skills in translation are rudimentary at best. My 
 understanding of the commentary itself is nowhere near to complete by any means.
 I will try my best not to include any of my opinions & 'understanding'
 in this attempt & make it a direct translation (however crude it might be)
 of the commentaries.
 
Any mistakes that you may see here are a result of my attempt.

I am going to quote from sub-chapter 2.6.  


2.6 : Prapatti uppaayamanRu
----------------------------
Prapatti is not the upaayam.

sutram 54:
'idhu thannaip paarththaal pithaavukkup putran ezhuththu vaangumaapolE
 iruppadhonRu'

 idhuthannaip paarththaal - If we consider the prapatti that is done by the
			    chetana to the Lord as the upaayam

 ezhuthtu vaangumaapolE   - is like the son getting in writing from his father
			    that he (the father) will protect him (the son).

 Just as protection of his son is in the father's nature,  protection of the
 chetanas is in the Lord's nature.  So, thinking that the protection that 
 the Lord grants us is because of the prapatti that we do to Him is like 
 undermining the relationship between the Lord & the chetana.

sutram 55:
  'idhu thanakku svaroopam  thannaip poRaathozhigai'

 idhu thanakku svaroopam - the nature of prapatti
 thannaip - considering prapatti as the upaaya
 poRaathozhigai - does not include in it

 i.e the nature of prapatti is such that it does not lend itself to
 considering it as the upaaya.
 
 prapatti is basically surrendering to the Lord and the Lord alone.
 If we consider that performing prapatti is the upaayam, then we are
 not really understanding what prapatti is & we are surrendering to
 the 'act of performing the prapatti' rather than the Lord himself -
 i.e. we are going against what prapatti essentially is.

sutram 56:
 'angam thannai ozhiNdhavaRRaip poRaathozhigai'

 angam - something that is an essential part - in this case something that
 	  is an essential part of the act of prapatti.

 thannai ozhiNdhavaRRai - something that is other than  prapatti
 
 Not following anything  other that prapatti ('veRu edhaiyum paRRaamai' in tamizh)
 itself is like an anga to prapatti.
 So, if we follow something else that is not prapatti, then we do not
 derive anything from prapatti.

sutram 57:
 'upaayam thannaip poRukkum'

 upaayam - The Lord, who is the upaayam
 
 It is appropriate to consider the Lord as the upaayam.

 sutram 58:
 'upaayaanthram iraNdaiyum poRukkum'
 upaayaanthram - saadhya upaayam that is contrary to siddha upaayam
		 (siddha upaayam is the Lord)
 
 iRanDaiyum	- two things are mentioned here
		the first is performing the saadhanaas prescribed by various 
		srutismritis as mokshapalasaadhanaas
		the second is the belief that the mokshapalasaadhanaas that
		are mentioned in the srutismritis will lead to the goal

 i.e saadhya upaayam includes the two things mentioned above

 
sutram 59:
  'idhu iRaNdaiyum poRaadhu'

 idhu - prapatti
 iRaNdaiyum - the two things mentioned above - i.e. performing the
	      mokshapalasaadhanaas
              & the having the belief that the performing them will lead to the
              goal.
 
 The two things mentioned above are against the essence of prapatti. 



Daasaanu daasan,
Varadhan