From the Bhakti List Archives

• July 29, 1999


Our PoorvAchAryas keep telling us that it is the
AchArya who brings together the devotee and God.
we see this happening all the time.But they also
say that it is God who brings together the devotee
and his AchArya in the first place and also throughout
his life.This aspect we rarely think about.

This point was brought home to me forcibly today by
a certain incident: Yesterday there was a function
connected with my AchArya which I did not attend due
to laukika reasons.And the guilt feelings were there
through the night and continued when early this morning
I went for my usual walk.Suddenly on the way I saw
my AchArya sitting in a car waiting for someone -
me perhaps.I rushed to him,he blessed me and my mind
became clear and light again.

This is possible only because essentially there is no
difference between the two.My friend T.P.Mani who is
a great devotee used to say,"Don't you see ? It is the
same person.He puts on a blue cap and says I'm the
AchArya.Then he takes it off,puts on a red cap and
says,See,I'm God."

Sri Krishna does exactly the same to Arjuna.He first
tells him -