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Re:new member

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bindinganavale suresh • February 21, 2001 


Dear venkataraman,
                  Welcome to the group :-
You asked :- 

>>With the eagerness of a new member I am starting my
>>participation - I had the opportunity to be asked
the
>>following and I put it to the group for further
>>elucidation:

>>1. "Is the surrender at the feet of the Lord
>>Naaraaayana more sublime, more important, more
>>necessary than a surrender to one's ['Janma Hetu'] -
>>parents, and one's SadGuru?

The answer to this question is both yes and no.

The following is the reply for "yes".

As Narayana,who has infinite auspicious qualities and
is a blend of both supremely good character and
strength to protect devotees unparalled by any other
entity,is the only reality having all the cit i.e
jiva atmas and acit i.e prakriti as his attributes or
body,he is truely all in all i.e father,mother,guru
etc to every jiva atma.From the worldly point of view
or from the point of view of identification with our
present body,we all have father,mother,wife,children
etc,but these relationships have meaning only from
this
point of view and is temporary.But,from the point of
view of the true nature of jiva atma all are equal
qualitatively and there the terms like
father,mother,guru etc apply properly only to sriman
narayana.As the later relationship confirms with
eternal reality as compared to the former which is
temporary,surrender to lord narayana is proper and
logical.

The answer to the term "No" :-

If our parents and sadguru have the knowledge as
mentioned above and are bhagavathas themselves i.e who
serve lord sriman narayana with the above
knowledge,then surrender to them is same as surrender
to lord narayana like surrender of madhura kavi alwar
to nammalwar because a devotee of lord narayana always
dwells in the thought of narayana and Lord in turn
will always be with the devotee as mentioned in the
gita.This is why alwars and many devotees say"Oh
lord,Let me be a servant of your servant's servant".

>>2. Can surrender be of differing shades - i.e., the
>>surrender to the Lord being the highest form of
>>surrender and all other surrendering being of lower
>>nature?

Surrender to the lord and his devotees is proper
according to the reality and then only it will have
some meaning and correct result.Surrender to other
persons who are disposed otherwise is a result of
ignorance and leads to pain.For more on this,read the
last portions of vedartha sangraha of Bhagavad
Ramanuja where this is discussed in more detail. 

>>3. Can a surrender to the Lord without the blessings
>>of one's parents and Sadguru result in Liberation?

This has been answered in the answer for the first
question,but i will add more to this.A True parent and
sadguru is one who wishes good to his child or student
respectively.The term "good" for a person is
confirmation of himself with the reality i.e as the
shesha or servant of Lord sriman narayana.If one
forsakes the blessings of a parent and guru who are
properly disposed,then surrender to the lord is
meaningless.But,if the parents and the guru are
disposed otherwise,then their blessings or surrender
to them is improper.Take the case of hiranyakashipu
and
prahalada and compare it with the case of Rama and
Dasharatha or his guru,the conclusions arising out of
this will answer your question.


>>I am asking these for my own benefit as also for
>>those having doubts on these matters.

I thank you and appreciate you for asking these
questions.I hope the answers satisfy you.All the
errors
are mine and you are welcome to write to me for more
discussion.

Sri krishnaarpanamasthu
Suresh B.N.



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