The vaisnava community is divide into 4 lineages (sampradaya); Sri, Madhva, Vallbha and Nimbarka. Of these 4 lineages, Sri Vaisnavism is the oldest and perhaps the largest. However, this theological system had received little attention and remains unkown except to scholars. The only Vaisnava theistic school that has received attention in the west is the Hare Krsna movement ( aka Iskcon)
Philosophical System
The philosophical system of Sri Vaisnavism is known as Visistadvaita (Qualified non dualism). Its fundamental position is that the Supreme Reality is the Highest Personal God, possessing innumerable auspicious qualities and devoid of any inauspicious qualities. The individual soul is a spark of God and their consituitional position is to remain separate and subservient and completely dependent upon God's existence.
The doctrine Prapatti (self surrender)
In the 18th Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krsna declares :
sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja
Aham tva sarva papebhyo moksayisyami ma suca
Abandoning all other means (dharmas) take refuge in me alone:
I will liberate thee from the effect of all sins, grieve not
Prapatti (saranagati or surrender) is total resignation of oneself to God and relying upon His grace alone.
Taking refugee of the Lord is the easiest way to God realisation and liberation. In the scriptures we find anecdotes of Prapatti performed by personalities like Gajendra, Jatayu, and Draupadi. There is no restriction as to time, place and states of purity.
It is not merit, which is the operative cause of Grace but the sense of one's unworthiness and the inability to follow the three conventional yogas (Karma - Action, Jnana - Knowledge, Bhakti - Devotion). The Lord Himself is the means (upaya) as well as the end (upeya) and prapatti is the act of self-surrender to the Lord. Redemption is essentially a justification by faith and not works, although included in the act of self surrender is the resolution to perfect one's act as well.
Role of Sri (Laksmi) - The Mediatrix
In Srivaisnavism theology, the Supreme Person expresses His will to redeem by having a dual Spiritual Form - Narayana and Sri.
Lord Narayana with perfect justice rules the universe but Laksmi (Sri) His eternal consort resides within His heart as the embodiment of Saving Grace. – The Universal Mother.
The Lord dispenses justice in accordance with the merit and demerit of the soul and Laksmi through Her Beauty and Grace captivates the Lord and transforms His desire for justice (nigraha-sakti) into redemptive grace (anugraha-sakti) as She acts as a Mediatrix between the Lords and the jivas.
The Lord too, is innately gracious, but His grace is an 'initial' grace (krpa), which is common to all beings. By virtue of this grace one is impelled to seek refuge in Him. But the grace of Sri is specific grace (prasada). It is the saving grace, the action of 'condescension' of the Divine into the realm of being, which permits the soul to be released.
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