Hindu Article-Acharya plays crucial role

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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.

 

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