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5th follow-up on "PPS"

From the Bhakti List Archives

M K Sudarshan • February 17, 1997 


srimathE lakshmi-nrsumha parabrahmaNE namaha
sri vedanta desika gurave namaha

Dear 'bhAgavatOttamA-s',

We take up now for examination the other question (A) raised on the 'PPS' posts:

"How does an act of "prappati" suddenly transform strong feelings of
"virakthi" (self-denial rooted in revulsion) for the "material" world into
one of benign "resignation" --- an attitude Bharatha is said to have shown
towards Ayodhya and his ministry after the 'padUkA-pattAbhishEkam" ?

The human mind is a biological marvel, no doubt, but it is not a machine to
change gears instantly. 

The mind can deal with only one set of emotions at one time. It can change
tack and show opposite sets of emotions, too. It can move from "hate" to
"love", from "greed" to "generosity" from "cowardice" to "heroism", for
instance. But such drastic changes in the Mind's psychological orientation
usually occur over a certain length of time and after considerable effort.

We all know that the process through which a patient, suffering from severe
"fear-or-depressive psychosis" ("bheethi"), recovers to a condition of
normal mental health is a gradual one. It takes many months, sometimes
years, of painstaking, therapeutic treatment.

Given the abject condition of the human mind as we described it after the
'virakthi' or 'bheethi' stage in the "PPS", how can we say that in the
'prasAdana-parva' -- after performing 'prappathi'--  it miraculously
overcomes its feelings of chronic revulsion or fear and thereby, and
thenceforth, assumes a wise and "cool-headed professional" attitude of
"benign resignation" towards the world and fellow-men ??!!

We know from the Ramayana, Bharatha did bring about such a change in his own
personality after the 'paduka-pattabhishEkam'. But are such things possible
for ordinary mortals like us ?

Are our own petty and "stressed" 20th-century minds amenable to the miracle
of psychological transformation that "prappati" involves ?

Dear 'bhAgavatOttamA-s', in spite of living in an age of "instant-coffee",
"instant car-washes", "instant airline reservations" and "instant
bank-tellers", isn't it supremely ironic that we, in this modern age, cannot
help, however, being skeptical about the "instant personality-shift" that
SriVaishnavism -- or Swami Desikan in his "PPS" -- states is so much
possible through genuine "prappathi" in the 'prasadana-parva' phase of one's
life ?!!

But the truth is, dear 'bhAgavatOttamA-s', such a sudden and dramatic shift
in a true "prapanna's" mind -- from feelings of revulsion for the world to
one of "resigned acceptance of it" with all its warts and infirmities -- is
indeed possible !!

HOW ?!!

To answer that we resort to another of Sri.Parashara Bhattar's famous
"nirvAham-s" !! 

I will describe it in my next post.

srimathE srivan satagopa sri narayana yathindra mahadesikaya namaha

sudarshan