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"Giving Up"

From the Bhakti List Archives

Vijay Triplicane • October 4, 1996 


Hello,
	Thanks to Sri Mohan and Varadhan for their interesting posts on
	mumukshuppati and very thoughtful commentaries by Sri maNavaaLa
	maamunigaL. Though i don't remember verbatim, i read an interesting
	anecdote related to the act of 'giving up' and how it IS the upaya
	and nothing else. You knowledgeable bhaagavathaas could enlighten us
	with more elaborate commentaries and analogies (which sri maNavaaLa
	maamunuigaL is known for) 

	This is during the Rama-RavaNa yudhdham. Fierce fighting is going on
	and Sri Rama was giving a very tough time to RavaNa who was fighting
	with his bow in his hand. He thought that the bow in his hand is a
	saadhana (upaya?) to reach the objective which is protecting
	himself from Sri Rama.  But he obviously couldn't do that. The
	moment ravaNa dropped his bow (or rather it fell down) Sri Rama with
	his abundant grace let him go!! So this act of "Giving up" those 
	so called saadhanaas (his bow) actually fetched him the fruit. So
	the only upaya to get the fruit(mOksha) is to realise that the bow
	in his hand is not the route and then to relinquish it in order to
	achieve the intended objective. 

	One interesting observation is that the Lord with HIS abundant grace
	is fighting the tough war to actually get the soul drop the other
	non-fruit-bearing saadhanaas and do paripoorNa saraNaagathi which
	alone fetches mOksham.

	(Please pardon me if i have made any mistake in the usage of the
	paribhaashas. viz., the upaayaa, saadhana...which might have some
	intricate differences whatsoever. And please DO correct me wherever
	i am wrong)

	Thanks
	-Viji
	(Vijay Triplicane)