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Clarification on VibheeshaNa and Bharatha's SaraNagathi

From the Bhakti List Archives

Madhavakkannan V • December 5, 2001 


SrI:
SrImathE Ramanujaya namah:
Dearest Srivaishnavas,

There was a point in one of the posts: (under a different subject)

>The prapatti did by Sri BharathAzhwAn, for Sri rAmA to return to ayOdhyA 
>did
not yield result, though the act of performing the surrender was clearly 
done
according to the books, whereas VibheeshaNa saraNAgathi yielded results for 
him,
though it was not done according to the books. I mean to say that actually
VibheeshaNA was in the sky and emberumAn was in the ground when the
saraNAgathi was done.
==============================
I discussed with Sri Hari at great length and based on that discussion given 
below is the clarifcation/ enrichment for our understanding.

Swamy Desikan has taken up the above cases in great detail.
(as he can visualize Dec 2001 discussion in our list 700 years ago:-)
It is all in his abhaya-pradAna sAram. (it is a rahasya grantham and needs 
to be
studied under a bonafide AChArya. However, let us refer the same without 
going into
details for clarifying our doubt (or my doubt).

Swamy has ascertained the meaning of SrImath rAmAyana's incidents that are 
related in the above context. The prapatti done by SrI bharatAzwAr was 
perfectly
successful. Also, the prapati done by SrI vibhIshaNAzwAr was also in 
accordance with SAstra.

Firstly, let us see the Prapatti (SaraNAgati) done by SrI bharatAzwAr [Refer 
foot note 1]:

When SrI SeeTA PiraaTTi and SrI rAman were in SrI chitra kUtam forest, SrI 
bharatan
(SrI bharatAzwAr) came and pleaded before SrI rAman and requested him in 
several ways to return back to ayOdyA and ascend the throne. At last, SrI 
bharatan did prapatti at the divine lotus feet of SrI rAman and did the same 
prArtanA to SrI rAman. But SrI rAman did not return to ayOdyA. Is the 
prapatti of SrI bharatA a failure? No. It was only successful. To conclude 
this, one has to study the SAstra properly and fully and then make 
conclusion. It has to be noted that, before bharata's prapatti, one other 
prapatti at SrI rAman's feet (which was done by thousands of dEvas) was 
expecting its result. The dEvas (demi-gods) who assembled during the yAgam 
done by SrI daSarata wanted freedom from the evil rAvaNan. Therefore, they 
did prapatti at the lotus fee of SrIman nArAyaNan. SrIman nArAyaNan gave 
"abhayam" and thus promised them the result of their prapatti. Therefore, 
SrI rAman (who is SrIman nArAyaNan in incarnation) did not immediately 
return back to AyOdyA. SrI rAman, as per his previous satya sankalpam 
(unchangeable real will) which he had for the prapatti done by dEvas, 
proceeded. By doing so, he never made the prapatti done by SrI bharatAzwAr 
to fail. This is the very important point to be noted. He immediately gave 
his SrI pAdukA (SrI SaTakOpa swAmi) to SrI bharatAzwAr. SrI pAdukA is 
representation of his tiru-vadi though tiruvadigal (divine lotus feet) is 
the direct phalam (fruit) for the prapatti done by SrI bharatAzwAr. Here, 
SrI bharatAzwAr's prapatti succeeded to an extent and he made paTTAbhiShEkam 
to SrI pAdukA of SrI rAman and did all divine services to it. Even layman 
appreciated SrI bharatAzwAr's excellence and noble nature.

SrI rAman made the prapatti of dEvas to succeed by killing rAvaNan and then 
completely made the prapatti of SrI bharatAzwAr to succeed by returning to 
AyOdyA (quickly by pushpaka vimAnam) and ascending the throne.  It has to be 
noted that SrI bharatAzwAr did not do any other efforts other than the only 
prapatti which he
did at citra kUtam for SrI rAman to return to AyOdyA and ascend the throne.

The prapatti of SrI bharatAzwAr was thus completely successful. SrI rAma 
thus
made the prapatti of dEvas as well as the prapatti of SrI bharatAzwAr
successful without any mutual contradiction or clash between them.

Next we take up SrI vibhIsha-AzwAr's SaraNAgati (prapatti):[refer footnote 
2]

The prapatti done by SrI vibhIshanAzwAr was perfectly as per Sastra. It was 
a
perfect SAstra-vidhi-vihita niyata-panchAnga-bharanyAsam. He was standing in
air above the sea and this never affect prapatti's angams. One can remember
SrI drOwpadi's SaraNAgati and the physical condition that she had during 
that
time. The angam and the five angis of prapatti as per SAstra are perfectly
present in the prapatti done by SrI vibhIshanAzwAr.

1. AnukUlya sankalpam in the prapatti done by SrI vibhIshanAzwAr: SrI
vibhIshanan did updEsam to rAvaNan and asked him to return SrI seetA to SrI
rAma. Therefore, he wanted to do and did that which is pleasing for the
tiruvuLLam of SrI rAman.

2. prAtikUlya-varjanam in the prapatti done by SrI vibhIshanAzwAr: When SrI
AnjanEyan came to the court of rAvaNan as messenger of SrI rAman, the evil
rAvaNan attempted to do harm to SrI AnjanEya. SrI vibhIshaNAzwar at that
instant, wanted to stop rAvaNan from harming SrI AnjanEya and rescued SrI
AnjanEya from the evils of rAvaNan. Also, SrI vibhIshanAzwAr immediately
(after his debate with rAvaNa in court) simply left all his
wealth and all that is associated with rAvaNa and came to surrender SrI
rAma.

3. mahA viSwAsam in the prapatti done by SrI vibhIshanAzwAr: SrI
VibhIshaNAzwAr clearly had the firmness in his mind that SrI rAma is
"sarva-lOka-SaraNya" - the protector/refuge for entire universe. Also, he 
came
to do prapatti at the lotus feet of SrI rAman who was surrounded by millions
of vAnara soldiers without any fear though he very well know that these
soldiers of SrI rAma will cause harm to him because he is coming from 
rAvaNa's
place. His mahA viSwAsam "rakshayatIthi" is indeed great.

4. GoptrutvavaraNam in the prapatti done by SrI vibhIshanAzwAr: SrI vAlmikI
rAmayaNa words in the very same context "rAghavam SaraNam gata:" clearly
brings out the gOptrutva-varaNam because the verse conveys the upAya-varaNam 
-
requesting SrI rAman to be his (vibhIshaNa's) upAya - rakshaka protector/
refuge.

5. kArpaNyam in the prapatti done by SrI vibhIshanAzwAr: The loud voice &
words of SrI VibhIshaNa out of his ananya-gatitvam and Aakincanyam like
"swarEna mahatA mahAn", "rAvaNO nAma durvrata", "praNAdaSca mahAnEsha: 
tatOsya
bhayamAgatam" etc., clearly brings out the kArpaNyam.

Thus the prapatti done by SrI vibhIshanAzwAr is having all the required
SAstra-prescribed five angams. With these five angams, the angi, is clear 
from
the words "rAghavam SaraNam gata:" "nivEdayata mAm kshipram". That is, the
Aatma-rakshA-bhara-samarpaNam done by SrImath VibhIshaNAzwAr is clear here.
"nivEdayata" in this context not just means "inform my arrival" but stresses
the prapatti angi. Therefore, his SaraNAgati is SAstra-prescribed
sAnga-prapadanam.

The concept of sahEtuka (and nirhEtuka) krupA in this context has been
discussed in detail in these lists few years back and the tiruvuLLam of 
SrImath SaTakOpa, SrImath nAtamuni, SrImath yAmunAchArya, SrImath rAmAnuja 
has been brought out by scholars like Sri Satakopan swamin, Sri Anand K 
Karalapakkam and others. Let us not take up again.

SrI rAman himself did SaraNAgathi before samudra-rAjan. But that prapatti
failed definitely. This is because, SrI rAman (being paramAtmA SrIman
nArAyaNan) does not have the qualifications which are prescribed for one to 
do
prapatti (bhara-nyAsam). Also samudra rAjan is not qualified to accept
prapatti (bhara-swIkAram).

Please note that prapatti is only a sAdyOpAya. The sidhdOpAya is SrIman
nArAyaNa. The other sAdyOpAya is bhakti (upAsanam as told in vEdAntam with 
its
own angams). Prapatti/bhakti is to be practiced only as per the
prescriptions of Sastras. If done as per SAstra, they will never fail 
because
the sAdhyOpAya anushTAnam by jeevan does vaSikaraNam of the
sidhdOpAya paramAtma SrIman nArAyaNa and the paramAtmA SrIman nArAyaNa
gives the results without fail. Bhakti and prapatti are not the same. They
are different but they give the same result (in this case, nitya bhagavath
kanikaryam). Each has its own prescribed angams. The yOgyata 
(qualifications)
for a person to do bhakti is different from the yOgyata for a person to do
prapatti. All these are defined in the SAstra

Erudite scholars may kindly correct me. Anything good is due to Sri Hari's 
lucid explanation and points and all mistakes and faults are mine.

[1] "muRpAdarAna dEvargaL paNNina prapattikkAga rAvaNa vadattukku 
ezhundaruLugayum
piRpAdArAna SrI BharatAzwAn paNNina prapattikkAga mINDum
tiruvabhiShEkam paNNi rAjyam paNNugayum virudhdamAna padiyAlE SrI
bharatAzwAnukku prapatti paNNina pOdE parama-palam cadakkenat
talai-kaTTiRRillayEyakilum, avarukkuk kaikEyi
varattAlE prasaktamAna avadyam tIrum-padi,
maravadiyait tambikku vAn paNayam vaiththup-pOi vAnOr vAzha (SrI periyAzvAr
tiru-mOzhi 4-9-1)
enkiRapadiyE appOdu sAkshAth palamAna tiruvadigaLukkupf prathi-nidhiyAna SrI
SaTakOpanAlE saphalatvam solli, pinbu pUrva-prati-jnyAtmAna dEva
kAryam talai-kaTTinavARE SrI pushpaka vimAnattAlE sAkshAth palamAna
tiruvadikaq swayam-AagatangaLAi ayatna labdangaLanapadi sonnAn."
(abhaya-pradAna sAram, adhikAram 3 SaraNAgathi tAtparya prapanjakam)

[2] "sarvagnya samhitAdhikaLil sonna AnukUlya sankalpAdhigaLum adanga ip
prakaraNattili kANalAmÂ…"
(swAmi SrIman nigamAnta mahA dESika's SrI abhaya pradAna sAram,
adhikAram 4 prakaraNa tAtparya nirNayam)

AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Regards
Namo Narayana
aDiyEn dAsAnu dAsan

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