The Hindu : Miscellaneous / Religion : Acharya plays crucial role

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 08, 2005

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous - Religion

Acharya plays crucial role

CHENNAI, JAN. 8. The sum total of all human endeavours is to attain liberation. To this end people strive to lift themselves to a higher spiritual plane. However, the human mind is the most fickle of all the impermanent aspects of life. It tends to swing from one extreme to the other. Despite the rare gift of the faculty to discriminate right from wrong, human nature is ape-like — restless and swinging from the branch of one extremity to another. Thus a person finds himself indulging in acts of charity at one phase and ruthlessly pursuing chimerical goals of power and pelf at another. In order to anchor a person to his spiritual moorings and safely steer him towards his goal, the role of God's messengers becomes crucial and mandatory.

In his discourse Sri. R. Aravamudhan said that without the blessings of an acharya, the intermediary between God and the individual, one could not aspire for `moksha'. Through their literature, commentaries and devotional hymns these teachers spread His message, helping simplify the abstruse tenets into readily comprehensible concepts. In one of her hymns Andal the Vaishnavite preceptor hails Krishna's abode as a temple.

One may wonder as to how a house can be called a temple? According to commentators, Andal's hymns are not a result of mere ecstatic devotional outpouring; rather the reference to "Nandagopan's koil" has a two-fold interpretation. While it is a hallowed shrine because Krishna, the manifestation of the Supreme lived there, it was also the repository of all the permanent wealth.

Nothing pleases the Lord as the reference to His prime devotees, who, having realised Him, guide humanity towards Him. Hence the reference to the father Nandagopan, who unlike a reluctant Dasaratha, readily shared his divine son with humanity.

Given the fact that the abode of the Lord is open to all, one may wonder, at the need to solicit the guards to gain entry into His sanctorum as done by Andal. It is to reinforce and reassure aspirants in regard to the Supreme Being's pledge to protect the righteous and the virtuous that the Azhwar enters into such a `dialogue'.

His soldiers, Acharyas, constantly live in a state of divine bliss. The only balm to our emotional and spiritual turmoil is God and one should meditate on Him as recommended by our mentors who have experienced God's glory.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Miscellaneous

News Update

Stories in this Section

The Hindu Crossword 8186

Solution to puzzle 8185

Acharya plays crucial role

dated January 8, 1955: Radhakrishnan's appeal

dated January 8, 1955: Mavlankar replies to critics

dated January 8, 1955: Conquest of space

dated January 8, 1955: 13 tremors in 24 hours

Weather