Qualified Acharya and Need for Spiritual Knowledge?

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sri:

 

Dear Sadagopan: Your questions are valid,

Please find an old transcript from Vedics archives,

in case you have any questions please feel free to ask,

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan.

 

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Need for Spiritual Knowledge and Acharya

Q&A with students at University Of Illinois at Chicago – Summer 2000

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Question 1: What is Spiritual Knowledge, and what is the need for it?

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Answer:

 

These are very good and important questions.

 

There has to be a greater purpose than eating, sleeping and reproducing. This

leads us to think further and we ask more questions. This is the first step:

Being inquisitive about the self.. Am I more than this flesh and blood, am I

"jeevatma"? (Spiritual Being).

Any developed, civilized society seeks to find out the purpose of life,

Why am I here? Who am I? Who created this universe?

 

These questions will lead us to seek out the Truth.

 

The very important question of "who am I and what is my purpose", makes us seek

"True Knowledge" (Spiritual Knowledge)

 

This spiritual knowledge is gained through the study of spiritual science. This

deals with

1. Chit - Jivathmas (Soul) :- has Knowledge

2. Achit - Time, Matter etc.

3. Ishwara - Paramathma (Supreme soul) :- God, Sriman Narayana

 

In order to gain a proper understanding of this knowledge such that it can be to

our benefit, as well as of benefit to the world, we need to seek an Acharya

(Spiritual Teacher) who has this type of knowledge, and is willing to share it

readily with those who sincerely desire to learn it.

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Question 2: How do we know the Acharya is True? How do we find THE Acharya?

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Answer: God out of his Kripa (mercy), reveals the true knowledge to us, via a

Acharya parampara (lineage of Spiritual Teachers). Lord, Sriman Narayana (a.k.a,

Vishnu, Sri Hari) is the first Acharya.

He revealed this true knowledge to:

"Sri" (Maha Lakshmi, the Divine Mother). The Divine Mother revealed the true

knowledge to Vishvaksena (Commander in Cheif in Vaikhunta),

who in turn taught it to Satakopa Muni (Nammazhwar).

The lineage of teachers continued on through Nathamuni, Pundarikaksha,

Ramamisra, Yamunucharya, Goshti Purna, to Sri Ramanuja, the foremost and most

magnanimous of all of the Spiritual Teachers.

 

Sri Ramanuja (time on Earth: 1017 to 1137 CE), due to his unparalleled wisdom

and compassion, is regarded to be the foremost example of what it means to be a

Spiritual Teacher.Thus all other teachers after him, have had their teachings

validated because of their connection to Sri Ramanuja.

 

Consequently, all Acharyas following in this lineage of Acharyas after his time

are named with suffixes/prefixes of Ramanuja), they represent Ramanuja and his

teachings AS they are.

 

All these Acharyas passed down the knowledge as it is, without any adulteration

to the original as Given by Lord Narayana to MahaLakshmi. You may approach any

of the Acharyas in this lineage.

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Question 3: Is this Acharya lineage based on Birth. Are there any caste

restrictions in this lineage?

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No this lineage is NOT based on birth. We have Acharyas from all walks of life

and all castes.

Swami Satagopa Muni(Nammazhwar) the first Acharya in Earth was Born in 4th Caste

He is the most important acharya who brought the teachings to all the

SriVaishnavas.

 

There is a lot of misconceptions regarding Caste System, let us discuss that in

another session.

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Question 4: Is the Spiritual knowledge we get today is same as was given by

LORD?

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In Sri Sampradaya, this knowledge is being handed down from Teacher to Student

(who then takes over the role of teacher for the next generation) Such a lineage

can be regarded to be like” a clean pipe”, with all the Acharyas being regarded

as smaller clean pipes connecting through a main“junction box”, Bhagavad Sri

Ramanuja. Since the water coming in is pure, and all the pipes are clean and

untainted by false ego or false knowledge, the water coming at the end of the

pipe is exactly the same as it at was at its source (Sriman Naryana) .

 

Spiritual Knowledge revealed by the Lord, is given to us by our Acharya, as

taught through the Lineage of Acharyas. This knowledge is thus flawless and true

spiritual Knowledge.

 

So any one interested in learning the True knowledge will approach an Acharya of

this lineage known as RamanujaAcharyas or RamanujaJeeyars as they are represent

Ramanuja Acharya and will pass the message AS IS to their devotees.

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Question 5: How do we approach the Acharya and get accepted?

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Answer: Due to, Lord SrimanNarayana's grace and benevolence we get accepted by

our Acharya, the Acharya accepts us (it is never the other way around). We

should be extremely grateful and fortunate to be accepted by a qualified

RamanujaAcharya of this lineage.

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Question 6: What do we need to get accepted by such an Acharya?

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Answer: Genuine Interest is all that you need to have.

 

If you are a true devotee seeking the Truth and are willing to understand and

follow it respectfully, RamanujAcharyas will never turn you down.

 

It is our great fortune that Acharyas accept us and impart the True knowledge to

us in appropriate doses based on our individual capacity. In Sastras, Acharya is

Described as Equivalent to GOD, If needed we can explain reasons later.

 

So, true devotees treat their Acharya as GOD himself.

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Question 7: Like GOD, is that not stroking some Ego? Is this needed?

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True devotees treat their Acharya as GOD himself, but the True Acharya NEVER

says "I am God" never behaves with EGO or anger, Never entertains any caste,

community, regional or language barriers.

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Question 8: How to know the True Acharyas from Fake Sadhus?

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There are so many new found gurus and others claiming to be the Perfect Acharya

and that they are GOD. If you see such people go ask them if they are the

SUPREME GOD

(The Creator of this universe). Nobody is greater than or equal to the SUPREME

GOD.

 

Ask such people if they can even create a grain of rice without the help of

Lord, SrimanNarayana. Ask if anyone can create or bring life to an otherwise

life-less object. No, No-one can create anything, only GOD can. Still we find

fake ones claiming to be GOD etc.

 

True Acharya NEVER says "I am God"

 

You can be assured that an Acharya representing Bhagavad Ramanuja and his

message is passing on the message as revealed by LORD and is a Bonafide True

Acharya, capable of

delivering us to GOD.

 

In some sense it depends on what you are seeking, if you are seeking true

spiritual knowledge, GOD will allow you to come under the guidance of an Acharya

of the Lineage Started by HIM, with the LORD as the First Acharya.

 

HIS grace is always upon all of us. Let us pray for all of us, to fall in love

with

HIM and be in his service more and more.

 

 

Next discussion on : Acharya's Unique Role

Further questions send mail to ramanuja

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