aacharya (was:Mani Varadarajan's comments)

[Guest guest]

[Mani writes]

> I would like to clarify the purpose of this mailing list.

> It is not merely for repeating the statements of previous

> teachers or simply extolling the virtues of one saint or

> another. Rather, I have always planned that this mailing

> list will help in the process of religious and philosophical

> inquiry, particularly when it comes to personal devotions.

>

Thanks to mani for clarifying his intentions in formulating this discussion

group. Perhaps as the group membership has grown there are people with

differing expectations from the discussions. For some, this could be a forum for

intimate exchanges on the nuances of practising prapatti. For them, no doubt

the central faith is taken for granted, so also the devotion and loyalty to

the acharyas of the sampradhaya.

 

OTOH, there may be other participants who would agree on the central faith

and may even delight in the path of the Azhwars and derive inspiration from

the life and teachings of acharyas like Sri Ramanujacharya and others but may

prefer to practise their sadhana of prapatti guided by a different living

teacher or may even be guided presently by nothing more than a sincere

aspiration.

 

There are, as becoming apparent, a third set of participants, who are genuinely

curious about prapatti and its practise, but may not share the same conviction

are may even have an indifference or aversion to believing everything that

is said. Nevertheless, so long as the intentions are not to disturb the

faith of others but only to confirm and clarify their faith or lack of it,

I would welcome any postings from this section too.

 

As to the loyalty and fidelity to acharyas, there is no doubt as to its

value and validity as can be infered from scriptures and anectdotes of

illustrious predecessors. However, I feel that this is only applicable to

a disciple who has accepted an acharya for his guidance. For a person who

has another acharya (within or without the same sampradhaya) or to one

who has none, there is no binding that he has to accept without questioning

the words of every acharya- needless to add that one does not degrade them

either.

 

I think that having implicit faith in the words of an acharya that one has

accepted has many practical advantages - one comes across many situations

in life where no amount of reasoning can give us satisfactory guidance. In such

situations, it is a great (and effective) aid to have faith in the words

of someone we respect or trust or even better, one to whom we have

surrendered.

 

Faith is NOT the same as believing irrationally - when we are not deceiving

ourselves by believing what we wish to be true, we can perceive that

faith is some form of hidden knowledge, deep in us that prompts us

strongly to accept. No amount of arguing either way is going to change it.

 

Excuse the length of this post. As mani mentioned, it is a topic worthy of

discussion, for, it is indeed healthier to discuss our differences than to

assume or pretend unanimity.

 

Thanks

Raghu