Sri: Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama: Dear Devotees, This example is important as it shows the nature of sharanagati and nirhetuka krpa clearly. Even though the rabbit had performed the act of surrender, it did not bear fruit until mercy was born in the heart of the hunter. This is a key point in nirhetuka krpa. Our acharyas have not said that we should not surrender to Him. In fact, such surrender through an acharya is essential to being a Srivaishnava. However, we cannot assume that moksha is automatic at this point (though due to Ramanuja sambandham, we can). Being a sarva svatantra, He can reject one who has surrendered, if He so wills and no one can question Him. However it is His infinite mercy that allows Him to accept this feeble surrender and grant moksha in return. Therefore, the bottomline is that, it His nirhetuka krpa that is the means; not the act of surrender. The question that might follow is this. Isn't the act of surrender a cause for the mercy to flow? On the surface it might appear to be the case. However, studying it, one realizes that there is no one-on- one relationship here. For one act to be considered a cause of another, the two should be close. In our case, we have committed countless crimes and have not performed a single worthy act in all our lives. (adiyEn is reminded of a story here. An acharya was discoursing and came to the point where he was describing the vedic statement that the Lord has infinite guNas and doShas. We all know that He has countless auspicious qualities (guNas), but how is that one can say that He has countless deficiencies? The acharya explained: His auspicious qualities cannot be counted because they are infinite. His deficiencies cannot be counted because there are none - we can start counting only if there is at least one; when there are none, how can we count? At this point, a listener stood up and said that his guNas and doShas too could not be counted, because he had no good qualities and infinite doShas. Therefore, he has achieved equivalence with the Lord :-) ). Then, we perform a single act of surrender and expect that in return He give us the grandest favor of all. Where is the comparison? It is like taking the first step in a staircase of a zillion steps; He then carries us through the remaining steps. Once we reach the top, we claim that it is out first step that brought us to the top! Since the two are not comparable, how can we say that it is our act and not His mercy? We could claim that we will be performing service to Him, so He is getting something out of it. But what does He lack that He needs from us? Andal says that all we can do is "kuRREval". We can say that He is gaining our soul. But then He already owns it. So how do we demand something from Him for returning something which belonged to Him in the first place. Azhvar says "unakku Or kaimmARu nAn onRilEn, enadhu Aviyum unathE". It is through these beautiful little examples and episodes that our acharyas explain to us the great wealth that is our sampradhayam. Azhvar Emperumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Sharanam adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan --- vaidhehi_nc <nappinnai_nc@xxxx> wrote: > Sri: > Srimathe Ramanujaya nama: > > Dear devotees, > Sometime back we had lot of discussion on > nirhEthuka and > sahEthuka krpa from AzhvArs,human and the Lord's > perspective:-) This > example of Bhattar is a clear indication that even if one > does > sharaNAgathi without even knowing "what it is",the Lord > (&sharaNAgathi) does wonders for the jIvAtmA. Isn't this > example > alone a pramANa for sharaNAgathi? If the mere hunter > shows > sharaNAgatha rakshathvam to the mother rabbit(which was > not > taught "sarva DharmAn...mA shuca:") which sought > protection,how much > the omnipotent,omniscient Lord will show towards His > subjects? Thanks > to TCA Venkatesan for citing this great example. > > AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE sharaNam > NC Nappinnai > > > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
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