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xx] Prapatti Doctrine in Srīvacana-bhūsaņa 375
The mercy of God is dependent on Him and on no one else; yet there exists in Nārāyaṇa the deity Lakşmi who is like the essence of Him or the body of Him, and who has voluntarily reconciled her will absolutely with that of Nārāyana. Though in such a conception the Lakşmi is dependent on Nārāyaṇa, yet for the devotees Nārāyaṇa and Lakşmi go together, and for him the mercy of God is to be attributed to both Lakşmi and Nārāyaṇa taken as a whole.
The conception of Lakşmi is such that she is the greatest object of love for Nārāyaṇa, who has conceived her as a part of Himself, and Lakşmi has also so identified herself with Him that there is no separate existence for her. As such Lakşmi has not to make any special effort for bringing Nārāyaṇa in consonance with her will; for there is practically no existence of duality, and for this reason there is no necessity for devotees to cling separately to Lakşmi. The nature of Lakşmi is the pure essence of the mercy of God".
When the devotee is in a state of separation from God through the wrong conception of his own independence and separate individuality, he has to make an effort in the negative direction in forsaking his own sense of freedom and adopting God as his ultimate end. But once he has forsaken his false egoism and surrendered himself entirely to God, there is no need of further effort on his part. At such a stage through the influence of Lakşmi all the sins of the devotee are destroyed and through her influence God extends His mercy to him? Lakşmi also rouses in the human mind through internal moral persuasion the belief in the necessity of seeking His friendship. She performs the dual function, first that of turning the minds of the people, who are under the sway of beginningless avidyā by which they are always being attracted by mundane interest to God; and, secondly, she also melts the heart of God Who is bent upon giving fruits in accordance with the deserts of the people, and persuades Him to extend His bliss to all people by overruling the bondage of karma.
The prapatti, as seeking the protection of God, is not restricted
i devyā kārunya-rūpaye'ti tad-guna-sāratvena kārunyam svayam eve'ti. Śrīvacana-bhūşana. MS.
? prapatter desa-niyamah kāla-niyamah prakāra-niyamah adhikäri-niyamah phala-niyamaś ca nästi. Srivacana-bhūşana-z'yākhyā. MS.
The above idea is supported in the commentary by a quotation from Bhāradvāja-samhitā which runs as follows:
brahma-ksatra-visaḥ śūdrāh striyas cā'ntara-jātayah sarva eva prapadyeran sarva-dhātāram acyutam. Ibid.
