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The role of an Acharya

CHENNAI: Among the options for the individual soul in search of the ultimate goal, the way shown by ancestors and past generations is sure to be the most effective. The Vaishnavite tradition assigns a high value to the influence of the Acharya (religious preceptor) in the spiritual welfare of his disciples and enjoins propitiating the lineage of such preceptors. An Acharya qualifies to the role of leading his disciples towards attainment of Moksha only when his knowledge of the Vedas is matched by an unflinching devotion to the Lord, total absence of egoism and outright renunciation of wealth and desire.

The term Acharya signifies one who is on the move, and one who mingles with his disciples as he instructs and initiates them in the spiritual path. In a lecture, Sri M. V. Anantapadmanabhachariar drew attention to Vedanta Desika's praise for the path shown by Madhurakavi Azhwar whose steadfast devotion to his Acharya Nammazhwar proved that paying obeisance to one's preceptor is equal to seeking the feet of the Lord. When reposing faith in the Acharya, it is imperative that one should have implicit trust in the preceptor and see him as a representative of the Lord and never as a human being. Madhurakavi sang eleven hymns in praise of Nammazhwar explaining the ten kinds of relationships with one's Acharya that parallels the ten kinds of relationships between the Jivatma and the Paramatma.

Vedic truths remain elusive to one's comprehension partly because they are esoteric in nature and partly because they lie scattered and hidden in the maze of scriptures. But the Divya Prabandhams of the Azhwars in Tamil contain the quintessence of the scriptures rendered in a less formidable and more comprehensible manner. Steeped in Bhakti rasa, the Azhwars sang these sacred hymns when moved by the direct experience of the Supreme Being and His countless auspicious attributes.

The greatest truth about God and all living beings, sentient and insentient, and the unbreakable, indissoluble and indelible relationship that exists between them — expressed in the hymns — coexists with the devotional fervour that made it possible for them to own the Lord and make Him subservient to their devotion.

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