Chapter One: Rāgamayī Bhakti and Its Vaishnava Tradition
—is mere pretence.1 The Alvars' devotion is as firmly fixed upon the Lord as the attachment of worldly people is fixed upon sense objects, and it is so profound that no adequate comparison can be given.2 J. S. M. Hooper translated the Alvars' hymns from Tamil into English; the work is unique of its kind.3
The point is that the devotion of all the Alvars is rāgamayī, a devotion filled with loving affection, in which love alone predominates. The principal note of their songs is the loving gift of oneself—the complete surrender of the beloved. Goda Andal was a celebrated woman devotee among the Alvars. She said: "I have now attained the fullness of youth, and I shall offer the whole of my youth at the feet of Sri Hari. Other than he, who possesses any right to enjoy it?"
Sri Ramanujacharya stands in this same Alvar tradition. Complete self-surrender is the principal note of his doctrine of prapatti. Whatever action is performed by body, speech, mind, senses, intellect, or soul, or in accordance with one's inherent nature, is all offered to Narayana.4 "I possess no steadfastness in dharma, nor am I a knower of the Self, nor have I devotion to your lotus feet. O Lord, I am destitute in every way and have no refuge but your feet. Filled with thousands upon thousands of offences, I surrender myself at your feet, O Lord!"5
Footnotes
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Prīyate 'malayā bhaktyā harir anyad viḍambanam—"Hari is pleased by stainless devotion; everything else is mere pretence." ↩
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Yā prītir asti viṣayeṣv avivekabhājāṃ saivācyute bhavati bhaktipadābhidheyā / bhaktis tu kāma iha tat-kamanīya-rūpe, tasmān muner anijakāmuka-vākya-bhaṅgī //—"The love that the undiscerning bear toward sense objects, when directed to the Infallible, is called devotion. Here devotion is desire for his beautiful form; hence the sage speaks in the manner of a lover." Drāmiḍopaniṣad-saṅgati. ↩
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"Day and night she knows not sleep / In floods of tears her eyes do swim, / Lotus like eyes. She weeps and reels. / No kinship with the world have I / Which takes for true the life that is not true, / For Thee alone my passion burns, / I cry Rangam, my Lord!" Hooper, Hymns of the Alwars. ↩
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Kāyena vācā manasendriyair vā buddhyātmanā vānusṛta- svabhāvāt / karomi yad yat sakalaṃ parasmai nārāyaṇāyeti samarpaye tat //—"Whatever I do with body, speech, mind, senses, intellect, or soul, or by force of my inherent nature, I offer it all to the Supreme Narayana." ↩
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Na dharmaniṣṭho 'smi na cātmavedī na bhaktimāṃs tvac- caraṇāravinde / akiñcano 'nanyagatiḥ śaraṇya! tvatpādamūlaṃ śaraṇaṃ prapadye //—"I am not established in dharma, nor do I know the Self, nor am I devoted to your lotus feet. Possessing nothing and having no other refuge, O giver of shelter, I take refuge at the root of your feet." Stotra-ratna 22. ↩