________________
VISISTĀDVAITA
413 and signifies a resolve 'to follow the will of God, not to cross his purposes, to believe that he will save, to seek help from him and him alone and to yield up one's spirit to him in all meekness.': In one of its forms described as 'resignation in extreme distress' (ārta-prapatti), it is believed to bring deliverance immediately. A single moment of seriousness and sincerity is considered enough; and this also testifies, in the eyes of the Visiştādvaitin, to its superiority over bhakti which means a long and laborious process of training. The inclusion by Rāmānuja in his doctrine of a means to salvation which is accessible to all, explains the wide popularity it has always commanded; and the social uplift of the lower classes to which it has led is of great value in the history of India. But it is outside our purpose to dwell upon that aspect of the Visiştādvaita at any length. Rāmānuja attaches so much importance to prapatti that he makes it essential to bhakti also in its final stages. He maintains that it represents a form of knowledge and is not therefore in conflict with the Upanişadic view that jñāna alone is the means of releasean explanation rendered necessary by prapatti being the distinctive characteristic of Vaişnavism rather than of the Vedānta. The prominent place given to it in the teaching shows the need for absolute self-suppression whatever course of discipline a person may follow. Though zealously upholding the persistence of personality, Rāmānuja commends the cultivation of an attitude which makes one feel and act as if that personality did not exist. He means thereby that it is not belief in a permanent self but selfishness which is the enemy of true life.
· Anukūlyasya samkalpaḥ prātikulyasya varjanam:
Rakşisyatiti viśvāsaḥ goptstva-varanam tatha:
Atma-niksepa-kärpanye şad vidhā saraṇāgatih. See com. on BG. xviii. 66.
