The Rahasyaratnavali is a short work by the Sri Vaishnava Acharya Vedanta Desikan on the subject of Sharanagati, complete surrender to Vishnu as a means of attaining Moksha. And Vedanta Desikan himself wrote a commentary on this work, known as the Rahasyaratnavali Hridayam. In this excerpt from the Rahasyaratnavali Hridayam, Vedanta Desikan discusses the fact that one person can perform Sharanagati on behalf of another person:
“This surrender of the burden may be effected either by oneself or by an Acharya and the like on one's behalf.”
This means: Just as the fruit of the Prapatti will be attained by a person if he adopts it himself the fruit will no doubt accrue to a person if it is performed on his behalf by the Acharya and the like:
- Since the performance of certain religious rites by the father and others on behalf of the son and the like is quite in accordance with the Sastras, even though there is a general rule that the fruit of an act enjoined by the Sastras will accrue only to the doer of the act.
- Since there are statements by the sages Parashara and Saunaka to the following effect: "May Lord Hari confer on all souls the prosperity of being free from birth, old age and so on." “When I have now meditated on Vasudeva, who is the ruler of all rulers and the creator of the Universe.”
- Since there are stories of many other Maharishis.
- Since it is seen that Prahlada, Vibhishana, Dasharatha, Draupadi and others have performed [Sharanagati] on behalf of some of those connected with them.
I discuss the Parashara part in my question here. But now I'm interested in the part in bold. Most of these examples are recognizable: Prahlada performed Sharanagati to Narasimha on behalf of his father Hiranyakashipu, Vibhishana performed Sharanagati to Rama on behalf of his four attendants, and Draupadi performed Sharanagati to Krishna on behalf of the Pandavas. But I'm interested in the other figure mentioned, Dasharatha, here is what the translator says:
Dasharatha sought to protection of his sons from Parashurama.
That is a reference to this chapter of the Bala Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana:
On hearing that sentence of Bhargava Rama, then king Dasharatha became a pitiable one, and with a downcast face and adjoined palms said this: "Aren't you a Brahman with inviolable ascesis, and whose rancour on Kshatriya-s has calmed down long back. Why this hostility again. It'll be apt of you to award aegis to my sons, for they are yet youngsters. Aren't you from the bloodline of Bhargavas who always conduct themselves in self-study of Vedas and self-principled ways? Haven't you readily discarded weapon-wielding on your promise to Thousand-eyed Indra? Such as you were, you on becoming a dedicatee to probity, haven't you given the planet earth to Kashyapa and haven't you repaired to forests, and haven't you flagged yourself on Mt. Mahendra? Or, oh, insurmountable sage, have you chanced upon us for a total annihilation of ours? When Rama is singularised and eliminated, nay-said that we all will be living."
Thus Dasharatha had gone on appealing in his love for his sons. While Dasharatha is speaking in that way that intransigent Bhaargava Rama of Sage Jamadagni uncaring for those merciful words of Dasharatha addressed Rama of Dasharatha alone.
My question is, do any Sri Vaishnavas discuss the nature of this Sharanagati by Parashara? For other scriptural examples of Sharanagati, like those Bharata, Vibhishana, and Draupadi, various Sri Vaishnava works like Vedanta Desikan’s Rahasyatraya Saram and Abhayapradhana Saram and Pillai Lokacharya’s Sri Vachanabhushanam analyze the nature of each Sharanagati.
So are there similar analyses in this case, like whether Dasharatha had all five Angas of Sharanagati, whether he had the Adhikaram to do Sharanagati for this fruit, and whether Parashurama had the Gunas of a Sharanya in this case?
