Bhakti List Archives

Re: VibIshaNa saraNAgati

From the Bhakti List Archives

T.V.Venkatesh • Tue Oct 13 1998 - 12:14:11 PDT 


                                 SrimathE NArAyaNAya nama:

Dear BhAgavathAs,

Today morning I was talking to Sri M.A Venkatakrishnan swamy in 
Parthasarathy swamy koil. He is one of the profound scholars in our 
VisishtAdvaita philosophies and does a lot of kAlakshEbams.

In fact every Sunday, between 4 to 5, he is now doing upanyAsam on 
Sri Vachana bhooshaNam. This Sunday I attended it for the first time 
and he was explaining the 15th and 16th Soothram in which Sir PiLLai 
LOkAchAryar explains, how purushakAram and upAyam are important, 
together, for saraNAgati.

In continuation to that I asked the question about pirAtti's 
purushakAram in vibIshaNa saraNAgati and whatever I am writing below 
is as heard from him.

There are 3 ways in which we can say that vibIshaNA did saraNAgati 
only thro' pirAtti. It is not necessary that pirAtti should do 
purushakAram in the direct sense. As very clearly pointed out  by Sri 
Mani's friend, nowhere in the RAmAyaNam, it is stated that vibIshaNa 
did saraNAgati thro' pirAtti or for that sake atleast like SugrIva or 
Hanuman.  What proves, the role of pirAtti in vibIshaNa saraNAgati is 
as follows :-

1) When RAvaNa abducted pirAtti and kept Her in prison in AsOka 
vanam, it was vibIshaNA who argued with his brother that this is not 
dharma and that RAvaNA should not do this and decided to leave his 
brother who is doing this adharmam. The reason vibIshaNA left RAvaNA 
was because of pirAtti. Seetha pirAtti came to know about this and 
blessed vibIshaNA for his good deeds. This blessing from pirAtti's 
heart was enough to be the purushakAram for saraNAgati as Rama and 
Seetha were only physically apart.

2) When all the rAkshashi's in the AsOka vanam used to trouble 
pirAtti saying that RAvaNA was the most powerful and hence submit to 
him etc., it was only ThirisaDai, daughter of vibhIshaNA who 
consoled Her saying that "Please do not worry, PerumAL will reach 
soon and free you from RAvaNA". Naturally any word of consolation 
from a person, when one is trouble, will create an affection for that 
person. So naturally our pirAtti blessed the family of vibhIshaNA 
from her heart. Once again " mAnasIka purushakAram" from pirAtti.

3) In addition to the above to two, considering the one to one 
presence of pirAtti at the place of saraNAgati, eventhough She was 
not present in person, She is always present in the ThirumArbu of 
PerumAL, be it RAman or VAmanan. So when VibhIshaNA did his 
saraNAgati, pirAtti was still doing purushakAram from within the 
heart of Rama.

These are the three proofs given by Sri Venkatakrishnan swamy to me 
today morning when I asked this question. I am convinced. However if 
there are any mistakes in my above reply, it is entirely due to my 
misunderstanding and all the credit goes to Sri Venkatakrishnan 
swamy.

adiyEn RAmAnuja dAsan

Thirumalai Vinjamoor Venkatesh
Regards

T.V.Venkatesh
E-mail : TVV@SANMARGROUP.COM
Phone: 91-44-4960455 extn. 5218
Fax      : 91-44-4960913
Visit     : http://www.sanmargroup.com