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An article from The Hindu

God's Grace Alone Can Liberate Man

Date: 29-01-1996

Cl: Religion

MADRAS, Jan. 29.

God is the sanctuary worthy devotees travelling wearily the path of worldly existence. God's chief aim is to fulfil the aspirations of those who beckon to Him for help. Under such comforting and confidence-inspiring circumstances, the devotees need not despair of their stay in the material world. Their path is safe under the protective arms of the Divine as they will ultimately lead them to the resplendent above through the Lord's redemptive grace. Such is the hope generated by the sentiments in one of the verses of `Dvadasa Stotra' of Sri Madhwacharya, the propounder of Dualistic philosophy (Dwaita).

The Acharya makes a very touching appeal to the Lord who is full of compassion and who is the bestower of boons on His devotees. The stirring submission implies that however much one may be learned in scriptures, their true import will dawn upon him only when the Lord showers His benign grace. Sri Madhwa refers to three categorical imperatives, namely, discharging of one's duty with unfailing regularity, experiencing the inescapable results of one's actions and thoughts always that Lord Hari is supreme.

The Acharya's call to them is touching. Even devotion has its own reward not to speak of total submission. He asserts with refreshing conviction that the world of sentient entities cannot but be under the control of an intelligent being and its reality is not at all empirical but absolute, and that the entire gamut of creation is regulated by an unalterable settled hierarchy. The visible world is a manifestation of divine thought that is not comprehensible to man's sense and intellect. The world is no illusion.

In a discourse on Madhwa Navami day, Sri S. R. Raghothamachar said, the Acharya had not only given the goal of life but also showed the way to reach it. Scriptures represent Anjaneya, Bhima and Madhwa as the three manifestations of the Wind-god (Vayu). The Acharya was born in 1238 A.D. and in his life he acted only like a human being on earth because according to his own words, that was the rule governing the conduct of celestials delegated to carry out God's mission.

As Anjaneya, he was present on the flag of Arjuna in the Kurukshetra battlefield and listened to the Lord's sermon, the Gita, the contents of which have found place in his own works. His doctrines have been compressed in one famous stanza: Lord Hari is the Supreme Reality; the universe is absolutely real; the groups of souls are His servants; they graded as high and low in nature and capacity; Moksha is liberation from rebirths and the enjoyment of inherent bliss; pure devotion is the means to secure this salvation and the Lord can be known only through scriptures. Sri Madwacharya installed the idol of Krishna obtained from the captains of a ship, at udupi and established eight Maths there.

The above was retrieved from an article that appeared in The Hindu on Indiaserver on January 29, 1996. It appears here thanks to permission given by The Hindu and The India Information Inc., the copyright holders, to have it appear on the Dvaita Home Page. It may not be reposted or published elsewhere without their permission. Any queries for reposting or reusing part or all of the above should be addressed to The Hindu.

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