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Nuance of surrender

CHENNAI: The Ramayana is revered in the spiritual tradition as the testament to the Supreme Being’s promise to protect whoever surrenders to Him. Rama took this oath when Vibhishana parted ways with Ravana and surrendered to Him, “I vouchsafe security against all living beings to him who comes to Me only once and seeks protection (from Me) saying, ‘I am Yours’— such is My vow.”

It is no wonder then that this is the most oft-quoted scriptural authority for the doctrine of Self-surrender (Saranagati, Prapatti), besides His assurance given in His advent as Krishna while summing up His teachings in the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna in the battlefield. Saranagati, according to Visishtadavaita, is the means to liberation for a spiritual seeker who is unable to follow the path of devotion (Bhakti yoga). When one surrenders to the Lord expressing one’s inability, the burden of one’s emancipation shifts to Him, and what is required is only total faith in His benevolent grace.

In his discourse, Kalyanapuram Sri R.Aravamudachariar said the precursor to Rama’s paradigmatic pledge to mankind (during Vibhishana’s surrender) was His consent when Lakshmana submitted to Rama through Sita to allow him to accompany them to the forest.

A nuance relating to the efficacy of Prapatti is highlighted by commentators in this context. As an individual has accumulated a gargantuan baggage of sins from countless lives, his sins stand in the way when he approaches the Almighty during Saranagati, and there is every possibility that the Lord in His role as the dispenser of man’s Karma might get angry with him, even though he is repentant. But there is a way out in the form of the Divine Mother who is the very embodiment of compassion. She will not brook anyone being chastised or turned away. So She intercedes (Purushakara) on behalf of the penitent soul with the Lord, and hence there is no question of surrender becoming ineffective. Knowing this well, Lakshmana submitted to Rama pressing His feet at the same time appealing to Sita with tears streaming in his eyes, “I shall do everything for You whether You are waking or sleeping.” Rama immediately agreed.

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