Saranagathis in Sriramayanam - Why did and why did'nt they succeed
In Sriramayanam, there are 6 places in which different people have done saranagathi. To put it in simple words, "Saranagathi" is the act of recongizing that one does not have anything in himself, one has renounced everything and has taken the Lotus Feet of the Lord as the lone protector". Every alternate saranagathi is a success and so every other one is a failure. We shall see what those are and then delve into why some were successful and some were not. Here is the 6 saranagathis. This is entirely from Sri.U.Ve.Velukudi Krishnan's swami's Pasurapadi Ramayanam upanyasam. Anything wrong here is due to adiyen's ignorance in understanding and anything good is swami's and acharyan's krupai. 1) Devas perform to Lord Sriman Narayana: This is when all the Devas and other demi gods went to Lord Sriman Narayanan to protect them from the wrath of Ravana. This was successful as the Lord himself incarnated as Rama in Tretha Yugam.
2) Dasaratha performs to Parasurama: On the way back from Mithilapuri to Ayodhya, Parasurama threatened Rama that He had broken just the shiva dhanush and that He needs to break the Vishnu Dhanush. If only can Rama do it, Parasurama would allow them to go, otherwise a war was in the cards. Dasaratha did saranagathi to Parasurama, but that was not successful as Lord Rama Himself has to intervene as Parasurama did not pay any heed to Dasaratha's words.
3) Lakshmana performs to Rama: When Rama decided to go to the forest for 14 years, Lakshamana wanted to join them as well. But Rama initially refused it. Later Lakshmana did saranagathi under the Lotus feet of Rama. Rama yielded to his request and hence all 3 went to the forest. This saranagathi was successful.
4) Bharatha performs to Rama: On hearing the news that his brother Rama had gone to forest, Bharathat wanted to bring HIM back to Ayodhya and wanted to hand over the kingdom to Rama. In order to do that, Bharatha went to Chithrakootam, did saranagathi to Rama. However, still Rama refused. We shall see why later.
5) Vibishana performs to Rama: Vibishanan did saranagathi at Thirupullani Sethu karai in Southern Tamil Nadu. He abandoned everything and seeked refuge under Rama. Rama gladly accepted him, though he was from the opposite army.
6) Rama performs to Samudra Rajan: In the same Thirupullani shore, Rama did saranagathi to the King of Ocean (Samudra Rajan) for 3 days. It was not successful as Samudra Rajan did not yielded to Rama's request.
So, on what factor does the success of a saranagathi depend? There are three main factors that we need to understand to comprehend it. They are (a) Quality of the person who does saranagathi (b) Quality of the person to whom sarangathi was done and (c) Lord's discretion. We shall go in to each one of these in detail (a) Quality of the person who does saranagathi: In order to do saranagathi, a person who does it (saranagathan) should not have any qualification. In other words, "Lack of any qualification" is the only qualification of a saranagathan. He should not have anything left in him like a little bit of karma yogam, little bit of gyana yogam, little bit of bhakti yogam etc. He should not have anything with him and should reliquinsh everything he had. Our poorvacharyas have coined two terms to describe the lack of qualification. (1) Akinchanyam and (2) Ananya gadhithvam. Akinchinyam is the lack of any principal, lack of anything (kai mudhal illamai) that we can take it as a prerequisite for attaining moksham. Anaya Gadhithvam is the lack of a place where one can take refuge except Sriman Narayanan (veru pugal idam/ veru gathi illamal irupadhu). (b) Quality of the person who accepts saranagathi: This person is known as the "Saranyan". "Saranyan" should have 2 qualities for him to protect the person who does saranagathi. They are (a) Parathvam and (b) Sowlabhayam. "Par" is boundary and "Para" is transgressing or crossing boundaries. It signifes that there is no one greater than Him, nothing stronger than Him, nothing invincible for Him, nothing that is beyond His knowledge, nothing that He cannot create, nothing He cannot protect and nothing He cannot destroy. So these parathvam qualities talk about the highest and the infinite. The second category is "Sowlabhyam" qualities that glorifies the great qualities of making oneself available, approachable and to be able to easily mingle with one and all. To remember the word "Sowlabhyam" easily, remeber that it means "ease". We know that "sulabham" means easy in Thamizh. One who is easy or sulabham is known as "Sowlabhyan" and thus that quality of his is "Sowlabhyam". It is this quality that is of utmost importance to a saranagathan, because if not for this, there is no way a saranagathan can love a saranayan. If not for this, a sarangathan can, at the most have a respect for saranyan and may be a fear towards a saranyan, but certainly not love. However, the "Parathvam" qualities are also important because if not for it either, He cannot protect us in the first place.
(c) The act of Saranagathi itself and His independent wish: This is a tricky clause because though the four qualities of a saranagthi ("Aakinchanyam" and "Ananya Gadhithvam" for a sarangathan and "Parathvam" and "Sowlabhyam" for a Saranayan) are exactly in place, at the end of the day, it is Perumal's thiruvullam (wish) to grant success. He is independent (swanthran) and is not controlled by anything and anybody. He can act to His whims and fancies.
With these three facets of saranagathi, if we analyze the aforementioned six saranagathis in Ramayanam, we can get answers as to why three failed and why three succeeded. We shall list:
1) Devas perform to Lord Sriman Narayana: Devas were troubled to an extreme extent that they did not have anything left in them other than to seek the Lotus Feet of Sriman Narayanan. Brahma and Siva gave a boon to Ravana that made him very close to inconquerable. So Devas, not only did they have anything in their hand to protect them , they cannot go to anyone else to ask for protection. So, saranyan had the two qualities of Aakinchanyam and Ananya Gadhi thvam to the fullest. Similarly, saranagathan Sriman Narayanan is the only one who has both Parathvam and Sowlabhyam.
2) Dasaratha performs to Parasurama: It was unsuccessful as Dasaratha was a mighty warrior himself to protect a whole kingdom. Parasurama was an incarnation of Sriman Narayanan, however He was known just for the Parathvam and Sowlabhyam was missing completely. So, this saranagathi failed miserably. 3) Lakshmana performs to Rama: Lakshmana had both qualities of a saranyanan. Though he is a great warrior, he always was aware of the fact that there is nothing for him to be proud about it, because he does not possess those powers. It was given unto him by his great brother Sri Rama. This was successful as Rama had the complete quality of a saranagathan and also there would be nothing stopping in pursuing His ulterior objective of Ramayanam. 4) Bharatha performs to Rama: This is an interesting one because both saranyan (Bharatha) and saranagathan (Rama) had the qualities in the fullest extent possible. This is when the third factor comes into picture. The third factor is nothing but the act of saranagathi itself that deals with when it was done and subsequently Sriman Narayanan's independent wish. Bharatha performed sarangathi and want to reroute Rama to Ayodhya. Rama was on a mission to meet and protect the rishis in the forest, meet Jatayu, Sabari, Sugreeva, Hanuman, Vibishana and finally kill Ravana. Rama was on a roll to let the story flow so that the world would know the importance of Sita, the universal mother, her sacrifices and the messages that she imparted to the world. Bharatha, though he was a complete saranyan with full "aakinchanyam" and "anaya gadhi thvam", he performed in the wrong time for the reasons we saw above. So Rama did not yield to his request and asked him to go back to Ayodhya, after giving His "paadhukai". So, it is the Lord's wish totally because, if this is not, then it becomes a contract or a business, wherein, a saranyan goes ahead and says to Sriman Narayanan "I have shed everything. I do not have aakinchanyam. I am not going to anyone else apart from you. So you need to make sure this saranagathi of mine is successful right now and grant me moksham instantly". This is akin to a person who wanted to store water. He dug many deep holes in his back yard but complained "I have been doing a lot of hard work of digging holes to save water. I dug the holes very deep yet there is no rain when I finished it. This is not fair". So, it is the duty of a saranagathan to do saranagathi. The time of saranagathi and Lord Sriman Narayanan's ultimate wish depends if it will be successful now or later. 5) Vibishana performs to Rama: This is a very complete saranagathi and does not need any explanation as to why it succeeded. Azhwars celebrate Vibishana as "selva vibishanan", meaning "prosperous Vibishana" only after renouncing the worldly luxuries in Lanka and seeking the eternal luxury of being at the One and the Only Sriman Narayanan.
6) Rama performs to Samudra Rajan: As a saranyan, Lord Rama did not have "aakinchanyam" and "ananya gadhi thvam" and neither did the Samudra Rajan as a saranagathan. The King of Ocean is nothing compared to Rama. So, there is no wonder this saranagathi failed.