१३ कृत-कृत्याधिकारः

१३ कृत-कृत्याधिकारः

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CHAPTER - XIII

Kritakrityadhikara

“When a spiritual aspirant has surrendered the burden of his protection to the Lord, who is omniscient and omnipotent, and a well wisher of all by his very nature, and when such a Lord has accepted the burden of protection, thus entrusted to Him, he has nothing more to do regarding that in this universe. He engages himself totally in the loving service of that Supreme Lord, who is an ocean of Supreme bliss, and becomes fulfilled. Though he was, prior to his surrender, an indigent person, now after entrusting the burden of his protection, he considers himself as one, who is most affluent on account of the attainment of loving service to the Lord. He is considered to be one who has donc his duty that ought to be done.

The essential features of a ‘Kritakritya’, are described in this section. He will have no care or anxiety about his protection as he has un-burdened himself. A person, who has performed self-surrender at the feet of the Lord, will have absolutely na duty to perform in respect of his desired object as his part of duty is fulfilled by surrendering once the burden of protection to the Lord. As he has no responsibility of protecting himself, he feels highly relieved. He reflects on the assurance ‘Ma-Shuchah’ given by the Lord, who is all independent and whose will is infallible, and becomes care free, without any worry regarding his protection. The Lord has verily willed to grant the object of desire by saving him from all sins. He will have no doubt in the realisation of his aspiration, as he thinks of the Lord, who is trustworthy, capable and ever existing means of all

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mean attainments. He becomes ‘Nirbhaya’ or fearless and he discards totally other objects of life and other means of spiritual perfection. He becomes overjoyed when he thinks of the supreme object of life that he is going to gain, just as a poor man comes to gain a great wealth without any effort. He becomes supremely delighted and will not have any relationship with other deities like the four-faced-Brahma or Rudra and others, who are all ‘kshetrajnas’ or jivatmans, just like himself. It is declared that a person who surrenders unto Supreme Narayana, is not a servant of any other deity. “He, who surrenders unto Sriman Narayana, who is the one refuge of all, and who is the one preceptor of all in this universe, is not the servant of either the gods or sages or other entities or human beings or the manes. He is not

indebted to anyone here.”

देवर्षि भूतात्मनृणां पितृणां न किंकरो नायं क्रिणी च राजन् । सर्वात्मना यः शरणं शरण्यं नारायणं लोकगुरुं प्रपन्नः ॥

When such a person has to perform the duties of his station in life, such as the panchamaha-yajnas he may be offering worship to various deities, but all those terms and names relate to the Supreme Narayana through them and so he will have a firm conviction that he is worshipping the Lord alone through all these obligatory duties. This is declared in the following verse :

ये यजन्ति पितॄन् देवान् ब्राह्मणान् सहुताशनान् । सर्वभूतान्तरात्मानं विष्णुमेव यजन्ति ते।

“Those who worship the manes, gods, brahmins, having the sacrificial fire with them, are in fact worshipping the one Great Lord Vishnu, who is the innerself of all beings”.

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When the servants of the king garland their sovereign with garlands and decorate him with ornaments, they are placed on the body of the king they intend to worship like this, for gaining the love and goodwill of the king, who is the atman in the body. Similarly, all gods are bodies of the one Supreme Narayana, and when the gods are worshipped it is really Sriman Narayana who is the innerself that becomes worshipped. It is the Great Narayana, who has granted powers to those other gods to bless their respective devotees. If one worships these gods with the idea that he is worshipping these gods alone, and that these gods alone grant one’s desires, one is not worshipping in the proper form. They will be worshipping in a different way or ‘Avidhipurvakam’. So, when a prapanna undertakes to do this obligatory duties and when he utters the names of other deities, he must be always thinking of Sriman Narayana, whom he is serving through all these gods. So, he will not be doing a fault, if he utters the names of other gods and worships them as required by shastras prescribing his normal duties.

He has to obey commands of the Lord, as known from the shastras and never should he violate those commands. In this respect, he is similar to the liberated, who can know the intention of the Lord directly.

The prapanna is similar to the liberated, who will be rendering his little service to the Lord, and as he has observed the means of salvation, is a ‘Kritakritya’ or one who has done his duty and he is called a ‘Krithartha’ who has gained his ‘Purushartha’ or object of attainment.

Sri Ramanuja has described in the ‘Sharanagati Gadya’, how a ‘Kritakritya’ should be thinking in these words - : me

अतः त्वम् तत्त्वतो मज्ज्ञानदर्शन प्राप्तिषु निस्संशयः सुखमास्व ।

“So, having absolutely no doubt as regards the attainment of my knowledge, my vision and my attainment, rest in peace.”

The significance of this statement is as follows :

“The ‘samsari chetana’ who was revolving in this world from birth to birth, on account of the wrath of the Lord, caused by the transgression of His command, was blessed with the compassionate glances of a virtuous preceptor on account of the grace of the Lord, waiting for an opportunity to redeem humanity. This fact of performing surrender at the feet of the Lord, by uttering the words of surrender as taught by the preccptor, is most effective in awakening the mercy and grace of the Lord and on account of this, all causes of displeasure of the Lord, have been removed and the Lord who is capable of transforming the migrating soul, will surcly protect him on His own account.”

*Placing full confidence in the Lord thus, you be without fear whatsoever.” This is the essence of the statement of assurance given by the Lord as 7 T: the concluding statement of the charama-sloka’.

An aspirant should have sorrow and dejection prior to the performance of surrender unto the Lord. If not, he will not be fulfilling the conditions for seeking the grace of the Lord. ‘Nirveda’ or dejection is a necessary requirement for urgently seeking a preceptor for saving him from sorrow and misery. “If there is no cause, there will be no effect” - This is true in the case of a prapanna also; but, if he does not have full confidence in the assurance given by the Lord, and if he

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sorrows for his destiny after prapatti, the means of attainment of liberation becomes deficient, and the fruit will be delayed till that ‘upaya’ becomes fulfilled completely. It may be summed up that a person who is divested of doubt, sorrow and fear after surrender, is verily a ‘Krita-kritya’. Desika concludes this section in a verse, the meaning of which is summarised below :

भगवति हरौ पारं गन्तुं भरन्यसनं कृतं परिमित सुखप्राप्त्यै कृत्यं प्रहीणमकृत्यवत् । भवति च वपुर्वृत्तिः पूर्वं कृतैर्नियत क्रमा परमिह विभोराज्ञासेतुः बुधैरनुपाल्यते ॥

“To go beyond the vast ocean of samsara, the responsibility of protection was entrusted to the Supreme Lord, Sriman Narayana. Hereafter, to do anything for gaining little and transient objects of life like wealth, power or pleasure, etc., is unbecoming of a prapanna, just like prohibited action. His living in the world, goes on as determined by his past karmas, as before. The wise people who have unburdened their responsibility of protection to the Lord, implicitly obey the commands of the form of the scriptures, so long as they are stationed here.