Search:
Bhakti List Archives

Re: Fact or fiction?

From the Bhakti List Archives

Venkatesh Elayavalli • January 11, 1998 


Parthasarati Dileepan wrote:

> Somewhat related to the above is, what is the extent of Mahavisvasam for
> prapatti to be complete?  Of course we must have unshakable faith that the
> Lord will grant us mOkshan at the end of this life.  But are we required to
> believe implicitly in every details of the Ithihasa puraaNaas for the
> prapatti to be fruitful.
>
> Azhgiyasingar thiruvadigaLE saraNam...


I can add some thing to the second part of your email. I was going over a
particular work by Sri Pillai Lokacharya called 'arthapanchakam'. In the section
on Upayaswaroopa, the acharya adds prapati and AchAryAbhimana in addition
to karma, jnAna and bhakti.

Sri Lokacharya further explains  that attaining the Lord through prapatti is much
easier than through karma, jnAna and bhakti yoga. He further classifies prapatti
into two types:

Artaprapatti: the aspirant approaches the Lord with the help of his AcArya's
teaching and by HIS grace attains salvation. Sri Pillai Lokacharya outlines
five steps to be adopted for this purpose.

Draptaprapatti: This form of prapatti is for a person who fears hell. With the
knowledge obtained from the AcArya, the aspirant transfers his burden to the
Lord  and takes refuge under HIM.

Sir Lokacarya goes on to explain that parapatti is distinct from karma, jnana and
bhakti path.

AcAryAbhimAna, Sir Lokacarya says, is for a person who cannot do any of the
above but takes shelter under the AcArya. It is then the responsibility of the
AcArya to deliver him to the Lord.  AcAryAbhimAna is not a upaya by itself, but helps
the other 4 upayas.

Based on his work, it seems that prapatti cannot be performed without the help of the
AcArya. Also, for prapatti, it is not required to know the details of ithihas and puranas
since prapatti is a parallel path to attain salvation. All that seem to be  required is
AcArya's blessings and guidance.

On the issue with youngsters, our responsibility should be to educate them the
importance of AcArya and their teaching, rather than just making some blanket
statement on what they said. NAMA and the Conf. that you attended are right
steps to that end.


Sri Pillai Lokacaryar thiruvadigalE Saranam.

Venkatesh.