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Reply to Mr.Apraman's question.

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B N SURESH 's ACCOUNT • Fri Apr 23 1999 - 07:54:15 PDT 


                                                   Sri Raamaanuja
tiruvadigale sharanam

       Respected members,

                               I am happy to know Mr.apraman ,who has
joined the bhakti list. His question is
       very relevant  and i will try to answer it to the best of my
knowledge.
       His question is as follows :-

                                  In Ur Reply to Mr.Suresh's Questions
about
        Bhagavadgeetha and kainkaryam. You have referred the sentence
"suhridam
        attains peace after knowing the friend of all - Lord Krishna".
But
       Krishna in Geetha has said(Pardon me I do not remember the
chapter and
       that only one in millions aspire for sidhi. Of them only one in
million
        attains sidhi and of them only one in million knowns krishna. If
that is
        the case, being the greatest sinner how can i ever understand
him. All
        our Acharyas and other Purushas who tasted and enjoyed Krishna
are
       Avatars of Permul's Various Angams ans so they cannot be
classified just
       under jeeva .
      What is  part of Jeeva then in reaching Krishna ? Since everything
rests
       with Krishna(either to bless us with devotion or to throw us in
unending
       Samsara) what should we do?

       The answer is as follows :-
                The following  gives a list of assurances and the role
to be played by a
        jiva in bondage striving for moksha, which are from bhagavad
geeta itself.

        1. In the third chapter of geetha,krishna says that "even a
worst sinner can
             cross the sea of samsara by Knowledge  of self "and as
Mr.Kalale  has
             rightly pointed out that ,even for knowing the self the
jiva requires the
             lord's support. But still we can see that an initial
sincere effort in the
             direction of knowing the self is required on the part of
the jiva. Also
             note that even the worst sinner is guarenteed a good end
and so it is
              not only avataara purusaas who alone are  guarenteed a
good end .

       2.  In the sixth chapter, Krishna assures arjuna that even a yogi
who slips
             in the right performance of yoga will be  guarenteed a good
end in
             subsequent births. In short he clearly mentions " No one
who does
             Good will ever come to a sad end".

       3.  In the seventh chapter krishna says that " Those who take
refuge in me
             cross maaya".  This implies the erring bounded self has to
take refuge
              in krishna.

        4.  In chapters dealing with bhakti yoga , Krishna clearly
mentions to arjuna
              that he sees to it that his devotees come to an good end.

         5.  In sixteenth chapter, Krishna says that a life confirming
to do's and dont's
               of shaastras on the part of jiva assures him success in
this world and the
               next.

          6.  In the eighteenth chapter, krishna says to Arjuna ( Here
Krishna seems to
                be a little serious and strict), " Thinking in your mind
that the self is
                sub-servient to me, do all works for me and .......,
Iam telling  all this
                only for your good O Arjuna, Listen to this and do the
same else you will
                perish".   The above slokhas come just before the 64th
shlokha or charma
                shlokha.

           I remember there are still many places in geetha, where
assurances to jiva and
           what exactly he has to do are given. Probably learned members
like Mr.Kalale
           can throw more light on the same.

                Thanking you.

           With Regards
               B.N.Suresh.