SrImatE rAmAnujAya nama: Dear SrImad jIyar-svAmi-ji, jai SrIman-nArAyaNa! daNDavat praNAma-s & dAsasya vigyApaNam, I have heard “SaraNAgati is merely the knowledge that the Lord Himself is verily the Means and the End. Therefore any action performed or words uttered by a jIva seeking mOksha/bhakti is svarUpa-viruddhaM (ie inconsistent with SarIrAtma-bhAva/artha-pancaka gyAnam)”. In view of the above, I have difficulty understanding SrI-rAmAnuja’s explicit requests (in SaraNAgati-gadya) to the Lord to bestow upon him para-bhakti/para-gyAna/parama-bhakti. dhanyOsmi, aDiyEn rAmAnuja-dAsa: /Ramkumar

Jai Srimannarayana! Your question seems genuine. Sarana:gathi does not mean realizing God as 'means & end'. It is total surrenderance. You may realize Him in any manner. Once surrendered then you loose your identification. Yet, you do everything, because, your

Is “ma” a nama-mantra?

Jai Srimannarayana! Ma:, is a nama of goddess Lakshmi. If it is short "ma" then it refers to the soul. This is 'jeeva'. The meaning is one who is an embodiment of knowledge or one who possesses knowledge as his