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Do we need to ask?

From the Bhakti List Archives

Mohan Sagar • December 2, 1996 


Mani Varadarajan writes:

>Dileepan wrote:
>> No doubt His grace is the prime cause for salvation, but not begging for it
>> (mOksham) seems a little, I am sorry to say, haughty to me. 
>
>I tend to agree. And I think Mohan may have unknowingly
>implied something about the position of ManavaaLa MaamunigaL
>which is not the case.  Whether or not one considers prapatti
>an act in the Vedic sense, prapatti is considered by all
>acharyas as an act in the colloquial sense.

I did not intend to imply that the Srirangam Acharyas saw Prapatti, or
pleading for Nityakainkaryam, as being unnecessary.  On the contrary, as
Mani points out, both schools equally extoll prapatti as an efficacious and
valid approach. However, it is important to note that the Srirangam Acharyas
intended to emphasize, at times to apparently excluding everything else, the
Kalyana Gunas of the Lord and His intense desire to save us.  Consequently,
they rejected the idea that Prapatti is an act in what Mani calls a "Vedic
sense," i.e., for the purpose of propitiation or invocation of the Lord's
Grace. As Viji writes:

>	We should not think that it is because of our
>	pleading that he gave us the mOksham. The act of giving the mOksham
>	is by HIM. It is not that we do something and *attain* mOksham. It
>	is that he *gives* mOksham to us just because he feels immensely
>	happy being with his beloved bhakthaa.
	
Indeed, Mumuksupatti states that the pleading is necessary, but only as part
of the Upeyatvam of performing kainkarya to the Lord as is the soul's true
nature.   The example is used that when a sick child recovers from an
illness, say the flu, and asks her mother for food, the mother rejoices,
even though the mother is longing to feed the child.  Sutram 164 states:

"If the desire for the Goal arises in the cetana and he approaches the Lord,
the Sesi's Heart rejoices...That is the only reason for requesting it."

So, although the pleading for Moksha is necessitated in this way, it is not
an "invocation" of the Lord's Grace, but rather the expression of the
devotee's realization and acceptance of it.

The above are only my own ramblings based on my limited knowledge.  I hope
that others will correct me on any misinterpretations or mistakes I have made. 

Daasanu Daasan,

Mohan