Sri Bharatamata

  Ashtottaram 19

 

 

 

 

19) OṀ ĀCHĀRYA BHŨMYAINAMAH:

           OṀ (AUM) - AA - CHĀ- RYA - BHOO- MYAI- NA--MA- HA

 

               (Āchārya: means 'preceptor')

 

In ancient India, education, the panacea for all maladies and problems of life, was imparted more by personal contact than by lectures and discourses. The student learnt more by observing the teacher's life than by hearing his teachings. Hence the teacher had to 'be' that, which he wanted to 'make' of his student. First 'be' and then 'make'. It is this philosophy of education that is reflected in this word 'āchārya.' It is only he who successfully gathers (āċinoti) the essentials of dharma and wisdom from all sources and practices them (āċarati) in his own life that deserves the appellation 'āchārya.' The word is also frequently used as an honorific to men of great erudition and learning. The term is also applied to an adviser or preceptor guiding sacrificial rites. As you can see, there are many meanings to the word 'āchārya.' The wife of an  'āchārya' is called 'āchāryaṇi.'  From this, we can infer the existence of women preceptors also.

 

In strict sense, the title ' āchārya' applies to the one, who follows the vaidic scriptures, traditions and values in his life and becomes an ideal to the fellow beings and the society who follow his ideals. Now adays this title is given to anyone who has political and financial influence. But in olden days during the times of oppression by the foreign invaders and proselytizers, teachers like Sri Śankarāchārya, Sri Ramanujāchārya, Sri Madhvāchārya, Sri Vidyaraṇya swami, Sri Dayānanda Saraswati and many more āchāryās reformed the society and brought fame and glory to the word 'āchārya.' They have participated in debates with the opponents of vedic religion like Ćarvāka schools (materialism that denied the existence of all non-temporal objects) and cults which propagated unethical and abominable practices in the name of reliogion- everyone of these was trying to shake the foundation of Hinduism. With their vast spiritual knowledge these āchāryās have re-established sanātana dharma. Even now, there are many 'ācharyās try to accomplish the task of restoring the balance of vedic values facing the stiff opposition from several quarters like Christianity, Islām, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism to name a few.

 

The āchāryās are constantly protecting the Vedic values from the cruel hands of opponents who wants to ruin and crush our values and spread their religion and ideology in our land. If it isn't for these āchāryās, our sanātana dharma had been wiped out from the face of the Earth as it happened to many other cultures like Māyan, Inca, Aztec, Roman, Greek and many more.

 

 

The land on which the āchāryās and āchāryaṇis walk is our land-- 'āchārya bhūmi.'