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Re: Third branch

From the Bhakti List Archives

Mani Varadarajan • December 8, 1997 


Krishna Kalale wrote:
> Interesting issue! I remembered to have listened to Dr. N.S. Anantha
> Rangachar talking about this Meganadhasuri.  Sri Meghanadhasuri was I think
> a senior contemporary of Sri Vedanta Desika who had a different view on
> prapatti.

meghanAdAri sUri (note the name is "meghanAda + ari" = destroyer
of Indrajit [Meghanada], not "meghanAda" by itself!) was a 
philosopher-acharya who lived a little before Pillai Lokacharya
and Vedanta Desika. His views on SaraNAgati differed
significantly from the other two acharyas, and are detailed
in the work "mokshopAya sangraha" (summary of the means to
liberation).  

According to meghanAdAri sUri, SaraNAgati, being a principle
and act ordained in the Vedas, is strictly limited to males
belonging to the three varNa-s which bear the sacred thread.
In addition, in the Ramayana carama sloka, wherein Sri Rama 
assures all who take refuge in him of protection, meghanAdAri
sUri understands the word "sakRd" to mean "surrender to Me 
*at* once", and further clarifies that this surrender needs
to be repeated throughout life, like bhakti-yoga.  

The other acharyas of our tradition believed that "sakRd" 
meant that only a single surrender was required, and that
taking refuge was possible for all entities, whether male
or female, human or non-human, bearer of the sacred thread
or otherwise.

All this shows that there was a great deal of variation
in what the early acharyas of our tradition believed concerning
the details of SaraNAgati.  What Swamis Lokacharya and Desika
believed and taught are virtually identical compared to thinkers 
such as meghanAdAri sUri.

Mani