Article sent from The Hindu on indiaserver.com

[Guest guest]

=============================================================

This article is emailed to you by Ram Chandran ( rchandran )

=============================================================

Source: The Hindu (http://www.the-hindu.com)

 

Madhwacharya's recipe for worldly ills

 

CHENNAI, FEB. 3. An aspirant, keen to pursue the spiritual path,

is likely to be confronted by similar seekers that all routes are

the same and that there is no need to cling to one particular

school of thought in the attempt to acquire divine knowledge.

They may argue that any method like doing service can be

followed, because adopting a particular system can be dubbed as

the function of a closed mind or of a limited vision.

Superficially, these statements may appear correct. A sincere

devotee may find that all steps may lead to the goal but they may

not necessarily be helpful in his quest of the Ultimate Reality,

the Supreme Being. It is the firm belief of some of our religious

torchbearers that a deep and analytical study of the ``Brahma

Sutras'' (aphorisms), the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita will

place before a devotee the Truth as the divine revelations and

utterances are unbiased and are based on observations of the

past, present and the future.

 

But such a deep attachment to the study of these texts which

present the Vedic commands may be ridiculed by some. Even years

ago, a learned king questioned Sri Madhwacharya that the

statement in the Rig Veda guaranteeing the sprouting, blossoming

and bearing fruits, ``then and there,'' by its chanting went in

vain and he declared that God's words are false. Sri Madhwa took

some seeds, uttered the Vedic Mantra, and demonstrated that they

would certainly yield the result and showed him the ``instant''

fruits. By invoking God's grace anything can be achieved, he

proved. The Acharya did not object to the acquisition of

knowledge by all sections and thereby digest the contents of the

Vedas but chanting them needs certain qualifications.

 

On the occasion of ``Madhwa Navami'' Sri B. R. Nagaraja Rao, in a

discourse, said during the Acharya's time, Vedas became an open

book. He had contributed a brilliant commentary on the crisp

sentences therein analysing each syllable. Sri Madhwacharya has

directed men to the simple way to attain liberation, exhorting

them to enrol themselves as ``servants'' of God, though the

latter does not need anyone to work for Him as such. But by doing

so, men can avoid the pitfalls in this material realm.

 

He was not daunted by accusations by some (in his days during the

13th century) that Godmen acted as mere magicians to impress upon

people and proved that by spelling out certain portions from the

Upanishad he could cure him of the complaint of persistent

headache. When he dematerialised himself in 1317 A.D. he was

explaining the glory of ``Aithareya Upanishad'' in the Udupi

Temple.

 

Copyrights: 2000 The Hindu & Tribeca Internet Initiatives Inc.

 

Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly

prohibited without the consent of The Hindu & Tribeca Internet Initiatives Inc.