Fw: Thiruvaheendhrapuram AchArya (MahA Mantapa Kaimkaryam) /Sri Kainkarya Sabha 's commendable efforts.

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear AaasthikAs :

 

I am glad to share with you a note from

Sri Murlaidhar Rangaswamy on

the Vaibhavam of our AchAryAs

and Sath SampradhAyam .

I am sure you will enjoy his posting

as much as I did .

 

V.Sadagopan

-

" Rangaswamy Muralidhar Civ AFRL/SNHE "

<Muralidhar.Rangaswamy

" 'sgopan' " <sgopan

Friday, July 29, 2005 7:15 AM

RE: Thiruvaheendhrapuram AchArya (MahA Mantapa Kaimkaryam) /Sri

Kainkarya Sabha 's commendable efforts.

 

Sri:

 

SrimatE Gopaladesika MahadesikAya Namaha,

 

Dear Sriman Sadagopan Swamin,

 

Thanks a lot for your beautiful note highlighting the glory of Acharyas

replete with veda PramaNams.

Please permit adiyen to submit the following.

 

The Taittriya Upanishad glorifies Acharyas as " Acharya dhEvO Bhava " (One's

Acharya must be revered like God-Sriman Narayana). The Prashna Upanishad

salutes the glory of Acharyas through 6 disciples paying homage to Pippalada

" thvam hi na: pithA yOasmAkam avidhyAyA: param param thArayasi " (You are our

father who makes us cross the ocean of avidhya).

 

The ChandOgya Upanishad highlights the glory of Acharyas in 3 places: First

through the declaration of Satyakama Jabala to his Guru Gautama AcharyA :

Ddhaiva vidhyA vidhithA sAdhiShtam prApath " (Knowledge gained from an

Acharya alone will lead one to the ultimate good). The next instance is

through the injunction to Upakosala, who had mastered the nuances of Agni

upasanam. The three sacred fires (gArhapathyam, AhavanIyam, and

dhakshiNAgni) offer the instruction " AchAryasthu thE gatim vaktha " (Be

instructed in ArchirAdhi margam through an Acharya). Finally, the ChandOgya

Upanishad highlights the compassionate role of an Acharya in redeeming

baddha jivans through the anecdote of the plight of a Gandharapurusha lost

in a forest and relieved of his belongings by robbers: " thasya yaThA

aBhinahanam pramuchya prabhUyAth yEthAm dhisham ganDhArA yEthAm dhisham

vrajEthi sa grAmAth grAmam prucChan paNdithO mEDhAvI ganDhArAnEva

upasamadhyEtha yEvamEva iha AcharyavAn puruShO vEdha " (Just as someone would

free his blind folding bondage and tell him The Gandhara country is in this

direction. Follow this path and reach there, and then just as this person

being clever and wise reaches the Gandhara country by enquiring from village

to village, a person who begets an Acharya realizes Brahman-Lord Narayana.

He attains Brahman as soon as he is released from the body. The delay is

only as long as he does not get freed from the body. This salutation is

perhaps the most compelling Upanishadic endorsement of the doctrine of

SharaNagati, fundamental to Bhagavad Ramanuja Darshanam as practised by

Swami Nigamantha Mahadesikan. The plight of the blind folded Gandhara

Purusha lost in the forest and relieved of his belongings by robbers

eloquently mirrors the plight of a baddha jivan inextricably bound to

Samsara by the rope of karma as result of which the baddha jivan is caught

in a seemingly interminable cycle of births and deaths with no hope of

redemption whatsoever. Upon acquiring Acharya Sambandham and receiving

upadesham from a compassionate Acharya about Artha Panchakam (jivatma

swaroopam, paramatma swaroopam, upAyam-SharaNagati, Phala swaroopam, and

Phala virODhi swaroopam), the baddha jivan performs SharaNagati at the Feet

of the Acharyan, as a result of which the jivan becomes a Muktha and is

assured of attaining permanent residence in Sri Vaikuntam at the end of its

bodily existence.

 

Thanks again for your wonderful note which caused the additional

reflections.

 

Namo Narayana,

 

SriMuralidhara Dasan