Dear Madhusudhanan,Neither prapatti nor the formal practice of Bhakthi Yo:ga can assure anyone of mo:ksha. Mo:ksha is solely the gift of the Lord Himself, out of His Boundless Compassion, and only at a time when He feels that an invidual is ready for it.
The challenge with Bhakthi Yo:ga is that it can only belong to a few, namely qualified Brahmin males who are well-suited to live a life of strict discipline, meditation, and practice; those with the tenacity to be able to forsake material comforts and wordly obligations and focus only on the goal of achieving salvation, despite the knowledge that such salvation can only be given at the time the Lord feels that one is ready. Needless to say, this path is filled with many obstacles and hardships, and is virtually impossible in this day and age. Consequently, prapatti is afforded to everyone, irrespective of race, caste, or gender, as the only method for one seeking Connection to the Divine.
It is important to note that the term "method" is being used only for description's sake, because prapatti is not a ritual or some sort of step-by-step process that has clear-cut guidelines and specific requirements. Nor can we truly say that it even has a specific goal. It is instead a realization, an awakening, if you will, in which one realizes that all that we are, all that we experience, all that we know and love, is but a gift of the Divine, and has Him Alone to which it must owe its very existence. This awareness makes us realize that ours is just to revel at just how much Love He must feel for each and every one of us to provide us with all of this without condition. What else can one do at this point but love in return, becoming simple receptacles to His Grace and instruments to His Good?
Such a realization, such a profound awakening, cannot happen without God's Grace, either, which comes to us in the form of the Acha:rya, under whose guidance we place ourselves through the sacrament of panchasamska:ram. It is he who prays to the Lord to give us the right mood of humility and servitude such that we can know Peace and Joy in His Loving Hands. Since it is really the Acha:rya who is "doing all the work" in praying and interceding on our behalf, it could be said that we should be less concerned for prapatti as we should be for serving our Acha:rya in gratitude for all that he is doing for us. And, indeed, as one of our great works, Sri: Vachana Bhu:shanam tells us, if there really is a guaranteed method for achieving mo:ksha, it is serving the Acha:rya with faith and love.
I hope this helps. Ramanuja dasan Mohan k_madhusudhan22 wrote:
From my understanding the criterion required for Prapatti andeventually Moksha are: 1. Devotion only to Sriman Narayana 2. Refrain from Bhaagvadh AbacharaamCorrect me if I am wrong, but because of the lord's "Daya" Gunaa "anyone" can get Prapatti done.So my question then:
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