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Re: FW: saranagati (etymology)

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vinjamoor_venkatesh • August 26, 2002 


srImathE rAmAnujAyA namaha
srImadh varavara munayE namaha

Sri Mani wrote:

> [ While 'SaraNa' does mean protection or refuge, as stated earlier
>   the preferred meaning in the context of the rahasyas is 'upAya'
>   or means. This derivation comes straight from the pAncarAtra
>   Agamas. -- Moderator ]

In fact I was wanting to convey the same thing, but the jumbling of 
the paras led to a small confusion. Yes, saraNa in the context of 
rahasyAs means upAya though it has a direct meaning of 'protection'.
This is well supported by Sri nammAzhwAr in ThiruvAimozhi
" nAgaNai misai nampirAn charaNE saraN namakkenRu....". Look at both 
the words being represented here. 'charaNE' meaning His lotus feet 
and 'saraN' meaning upAya here. It could be directly construed 
as 'His lotus feet are the protectors for us', 'protectors' being the 
direct meaning of 'saraN'. But by protecting what is projected is the 
upAyathvam of His lotus feet. 

Hence 'saraNa' means both 'protect' and hence the 'upAyA'.

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam
adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan 
Thirumalai Vinjamoor Venkatesh



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