Traits of an Acharya: The Great lengths crossed

Some historic instances of Guru Sishya Bandhan (Student-Teacher-Bond) 

1) An Acharya(teacher) often goes to meet worthy sishyas(students) to impart jnana(knowledge) to them. When young Ramanuja went to Tirupati, Tirumalai Nambi(a scholar) welcomed him and taught him the meaning of the Ramayana eighteen times. Tiurmalai Nambi had duties in the Tirumala temple. He had to fetch water from the Akasa Ganga. Every day, he would finish this duty and then come down the hill to teach Ramanuja. Later, Ramanuja becomes one of the greatest minds of all time.

2) Parasara Bhattar(another scholar) used to give discourses in the Srirangam temple. One day, a man who had regularly attended his discourses did not turn up. Bhattar noticed his absence and went to the man’s house and knocked on his door. The man finding Bhattar there said that he had no intention of attending discourses anymore. His interest in listening to discourses had faded. But Bhattar said that the man might give up Bhattar, but he (Bhattar) would never give up his sishya.

Thus a good Acharya does not give up even on a disinterested sishya, but continues to teach him. An Acharya is like a mother, who will not let a fussy child go hungry, but will coax it to eat.

An Acharya has a keen eye and can always detect who is likely to be a good recipient of spiritual knowledge. And when an Acharya spots such a person, he gladly teaches him. 

3) When Alavandar saw young Ramanuja in the Kanchi temple, he knew Ramanuja would carry forward the Visishtadvaita(qualified non-dualism)  tradition. When Alavandar saw Ramanuja in the temple, he remarked: “Aam, mudalvan” (he is a born leader).

4) When Ramanuja was old he wanted a scholar called Vedanti to become his disciple. Since Ramanuja was too old to travel to Karnataka to fetch Vedanti, Parasara Bhattar undertook that task.


Thus Acharyas go to great lengths to find dedicated sishyas and teach them what is contained in spiritual texts.

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