________________ ہے individual seeking moksa should pray to God formally requesting Him to accept the responsibility of protecting his soul. This is the implication of atma-niksepa and Vedanta Desika has expressed this truth in one verse: 'My self, the responsibility of protecting it, the fruit of its protection, is not mine; it is that of Sripati (God); it is in this manner that a wise person should surrender himself to God. ! There are numerous episodes in Itihasas and Puranas narrating the observance of Saranagati by the celestial deities (devatas), the sages, human beings of all kinds and even the living beings of lower kind such as animals seeking the refuge of the Almighty for securing the desired goals including moksa. The saranagati observed by Visbhisana seeking the protection of Rama in the Ramayana is a classic example. The efficacy of Saranagati or prapatti as a means to moksa cannot be doubted if we bear in mind and also are fully convinced about the noble qualities of the Supreme Ruler and the intimate relation of jiva to God. God is sarva-raksaka, one who is willingly ready to redeem all jivas. He is saranagata-vatsala/one who has natural loving disposition to those who seek His refuge. He is sahaja-suhrt friendly towards all by nature. Besides these divine qualities He is sarvajna (omniscient), sarvasaktiman (omnipotent) and satyasankalpa or one whose words of assurance to the devotee never go false. On the other hand, the individual soul belongs to Tsvara and by virtue of its intrinsic nature it has the potential right and capacity to enjoy the bliss of Brahman. All that stands in its way to attain the spiritual goal is the accumulated karma from a beginning-less time and it is to be overcome by securing the grace of God by the observance of either upasana or selfsurrender. If we bear in mind all these facts, there should be no room for doubt as to whether God would ever respond to our sincere and ardent prayer seeking moksa. Prapatti-yoga, as we have explained, is total self-surrender with an ardent prayer and with unshakable faith in God as the saviour to accept the responsibility of saving the individual self. This point has been brought out clearly in the final teaching imparted to Arjuna by Lord Krsnain the Bhagavad-gita in the following significant verse: 'sarvadharman parityajya mamekam Saranam vraja; aham tva sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma'sucah? The implication of this verse as correctly interpreted by the Vaisnava acaryas, is that when an aspirant for moksa is incapable of observing the path of bhakti-yoga along with karma-yoga and snana-yoga, he should surrender himself to God. The allcompassionate and all-powerful God will redeem him from all the sins standing as 37. See Nyasadasaka, verse A. 38. Bq, xvele 66.
