acharyas etc.

[Guest guest]

To some extent I am sceptic about many of our

Vaishanvite sampradayams. Of course, what I

have been taught or used to is becasuse of

my upbringing in Triplicane around the

parthasarathy Koil.

One of them is selcetion of an Acarya.

Our family P.B. called themselves swamacharyas.

There are quite a number of clans or groups

of swamacharyas. What it meant was that

samaschryanam was performed by the eldest

member of the joint family. My uncle who

spent his retired life as a member of the

Vedhaghosti, did it for the qualifying

mebers. Of course hewas not an expert in

any of the philosophies. So we were not

brought up with any special regards or respects

to Jeers. My question is how do the

swatamacahryas fit in, among those that

regard the wise Jeers and mata-dhipathis.

Krish

[Guest guest]

Some information that I have heard about svayam-acharya families:

 

It just means that those families that consider themselves

svayam-acharya do not strictly follow any particular Mutt,

because the svayam-acharya family has had a long history

of scholarship in Sri Vaishnavism and has had no need for

any connection to a Mutt.

 

Normally, samaaSrayaNam (formal initiation as a Sri Vaishnava)

is done by an elder in the svayam-acharya family, as Krish

pointed out. However, since these days many elders are not

aware of the details of the initiation ritual, they go outside

the family to some respected swami, either a sannyasi or

grhastha.

 

Even if they go outside, there is no requirement that they go

to a sannyasi of a Mutt. My family is svayam-acharya, and my father

underwent samaaSrayaNam with Sri Ranga Ramanuja Mahadesikan,

a sannyasi not associated with any Mutt, either formally or

through his own samaaSrayaNam.

 

Respect is always paid to Mutt jeeyars because of their

learning and status as sannyasis. However, generally,

there is no formal connection between any Mutt and a

svayam-acharya family. (Mutts as formal institutions

developed much later than the Sri Vaishnava sampradaaya).

 

Mani