Prapathi and Bharnyasam are one and the same. Prapathi or Baranyasam is submission to Acharyan through whom we submit ourselves to Sriman Narayanan for reaching Vaikuntam after death.
The text below is the doubts I've shared with my father -in-law. So i've just reproduced his explanation for that. I’ve also stated my understanding below that
The other names are: Parasamarpanam, Upayanushtanam.
Actually, Prapathi is of 4 types. Namely,
1. Swa Nishtai: In this the person himself realises the means of reaching Sriman Narayana directly without other's help. As on date, no body practises this.
2. Ukthi Nishtai: Person not knowing the means of prapathi but merely repeats what Acharyan says, blindly having faith in Sriman Narayana.
3. Acharya Nishtai: Knowing the rahasyarthas conveyed by the Acharyan and believing in reaching Sriman Narayana by means of Sarangathi being done by the Acharyan, who represents us to Sriman Narayana on behalf of the Sishyas. ( Almost all of us follow only this type of prapathi)
4. Bhagavata Nishtai: Person who sticks to and follows a Bhagavathar who does Saranagathi to Sriman Narayana.
Here, a prapathi where a person desires immediate Moksha is called Aartha Prapathi.
If Moksha is desired when normal death occurs, it is called Dhruptha Prapathi.
Is Prapathi doen only in the fag end of life?
It is wrong to state that prapathi is done at the fag end of man's life. No! You can do Saranagati just after Samasrayanam. Once you take prapathi, you have to be very strict in all the anushtanams right from the food you take, worship you do etc. You cannot take food outside. You cannot worship any other devatha except Lord Narayana, You cannot even think of some thing which is Papa and not suited to the Lord.
You have to observe 5 codes of conduct towards the Lord. They are:
- · Strictly following vedas, sastras and other things which are to the liking of Lord (Anukulya sangalapa),
- · Strictly shun all activities that are forbidden by Veda-sastras which are naturally to the disliking of the Lord (Prathikulya varjana),
- · Have unshakable faith in the Lord that he would save you (Maha Visvasam),
- · Understand that you are otherwise not capable of reaching the Lord and his abode and so the prapathi you do alone is the way (Akinchanyam),
- · Earnestly and continuously beseech Lord to save you, fully understanding him as the Saviour at all stages and times (Gopthruav varanam).
Thus Samasrayan is the present upayam (tool) for living a vaishavaite life and Prapathi is the ultimate upayam for raching Vaikuntam and not ever returning to this sinful worldy life.
Since many people are not able to be very strict in observing post-prapathi life due to occupation, health and other circumstances, they postpone the Prapathi to older years, since it is highly sinful to fail in anushtanams after taking up prapathi.
My understanding: (Not as a rule but as Common Sense...
When Samasrayanam is done, we promise to oblige to the rule of "Maha Vishvasam" which means, I am truthful to Mahavishnu alone. So People who actually take up that vow follow it to the end. My understanding: (Not as a rule but as Common Sense...
My understanding of this concept In our philosophy we do Idol worship (i.e.) we start by fixing our mind on a Roopa (form). We then associate the Roopa to His Gunas (qualities). As common sense would suggest us, the more the roopas, the more the distribution of concentration and thus the distribution of love. Since Sri Vaishnavism has Lord Vishnu as its Epicenter, one is asked to resort and imagine Him as the only God and to get immersed in His Qualities. There is yet another way of seeing it. A Sri Vaishnavin would know a lot more about Lord Vishnu and His qualities than any other and so it is easy for the person to fall in love with Lord Vishnu and His qualities than any other. So the love for God and the bakthi that comes out of his loyalty to that one God is much more powerful and will bring him to the lotus feet of Sri MahaVishnu than the concept of following many.
Abt the single god worship, its like a husband and wife relationship, one man wedded to one woman only...thus giving a sanctity to the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteIts a good article, but as per my humble opinion I find it difficult to digest the concept of prapathi mentioned! perhaps it is "one" of the ways.I agree with the technical benefits of having a single form to represent the infinite brahman. There are many mahatmas who didn't play by the rules..Arunagirinathar for example! Ramakrishna paramahamsa says that it is perfectly fine to offer fish to kali and then eat it! But it doesn't stop with attaining the beloved form alone...this will be clear when totapuri maharaj comes into paramahamsas life...and oh, Ramakrishna and Ramana bhagavan are examples to Sva-nistai, i believe nisargadatta maharaj as well...Wat about aurobindo did he have a guru?
ReplyDeleteJ krishnamurthy didn't. And meera sings, janmas and janmas of austeries performed will not give u moksha, but by His grace alone He is attained. (janam janam ki..)
Austerity is more of a self disciplining and assesment tool than a technique! Ramanas enquiry is a technique!
hari Om..
The rules don't apply for mahatmas i guess....I feel rules help the janmas who are lost in their pursuit of understanding the Brahman.
ReplyDeleteAll the philosophies...anything for that matter are only pointers, (as gurudev used to tell),tools (as u said Siva) As you say....to get his grace..we gotta have his grace.
My attempt was to just throw some light on what these practices were meant for.
The reply below is Venkatesh mama's view:
ReplyDeleteJust an extension to some of the points she has mentioned - Bharanyasam or Saranagathy is an act of expressing unflinching faith on SRIMAN NARAYANAN only and no other God!
Interpretations to such Gospel are more important than simply trying to decipher the meaning with what we have known or for that matter what books narrate. Bhagawath Gita is a nectar of concentrated wisdom with so many interpretations. The finest gospel in my view is what finally Lord Krishna himself says which is "Dharma is complex, and quite a challenge to tread the path of Dharma. When in doubt as to what is the path of Dharma itself, follow your elders path"
Linking this to Bharanyasam or Prapathi or Saranagathi wherein the doctrine is to "worship SRIMAN NARAYANAN ONLY" , the million $ question comes which is - In our family, we worship Muneeswaran, Veerasingampettai Mariamman and strangely, is it right to conclude that our ancestors starting my father and upwards did not know this??
Ranganatha Deekshithar performed consecration (Samprokhshanam of Muneeswara temple) so did my father in his times. Our family tradition for "Mudi Irakkal" (mottai podudal) is in three temples - 1st Varadhan, 2nd Muneeswaran and 3rd Veerasingampettai.
The biggest gospel is "when in doubt, follow what your elders did" God himself says this.
When I had sought clarification from my father for this so called aberration - he clarified in two ways (1) Read just above bold statement and (2) If we believe that SRIMAN NARAYANAN is worhiped by these Gods even, it does not dilute our unflinching faith on Him.
By the way, many may have compelling reasons not to follow the "acharya anushtanam" to be complied post Bharanyasam but may only emphasis on one point that don't worship other than Sriman Narayanan which in my view is psedo following.
I read somewhere that a staunch Vaishanavit did not want to go to a temple of "Murugan" where there was an Upanyasam of a renowned scholar going on, simply because of the fact that the venue was not Vishnu temple. When this person expressed his reservation to the Upanyasaka himself, the latter asked him "Did Perumal scale this Murugan temple too when he did the "Thrivikrama Avatharam" when he scaled the entire universe or did he exclude this temple?"
Thanks for the post.. from the little knowledge I earned i can share some
ReplyDelete- simple and silly beings as we are, it is better to concentrate and divert our whole mind into ONE brahmAn.. the comment above is simply superb... we must also not forget the difference between vishitadvaita and advaita (aham brahmasmi)
- regarding food.. scientifically it has been proven that there are different food types giving different feelings.. sattvic, rajasic, tamasic i guess... for a stable and clam mind sattvic food is preferred (green leaves and simply digestable food) .. oil, onion, garlic etc fall under rajasic i guess.. meat, liquor etc fall under tamasic i think.. i might be mistaken .. online resources are good on this.. the food tht we have outside all will surely fall under rajasic/tamasic and hence best avoided for a spiritual mind..
That was a beautiful insight on "Saranagathi Thathuvam".
ReplyDeleteEverybody goes to their parents for whatever they want. Sriman Narayana is everything to us...(Father,Mother, Friend etc) Why ask or even surrender to others? Always stick to one GOD...I, as a Shri Vaishnava, will always say "Jai Sriman Narayana"!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIs there any age restriction can I perform that in my 40s
ReplyDelete