Snippets from an interview with His Holiness śrī vidyādhīsha tīrtha
- Interviewer : Vidwan Shrisha Bhat Mudarangadi
- Translation : Lakshmi
Interviewer: You have completed all the projects you had planned for at the time of ascending the paryāya peeta (palimāru maṭha’s biennial term). All your resolutions have been accomplished. Have all these brought satisfaction to you?
His Holiness: Absolutely not. Real satisfaction is achieved only upon seeing the Lord through the eyes. All these are just supportive of that. I am still anticipating that satisfaction.
You mentioned “you have completed” and “your resolutions”. Think about it. Is it a simple task to build a golden tower, given that I did not have even a single piece of gold with me? All I did was to make my resolution with complete faith in the Lord. Only because even He had made this resolution already, it came to fruition. By prompting everybody’s inner sense, He gathered the gold necessary for His tower, and so the golden tower was made. I am not the maker of this tower. It was made by Krishna and by Krishna’s devotees. This credit is not mine.
This is the statement given by His Holiness after having accomplished a task by the grace of śrī kriṣna and mukhyaprāṇa, which would not have been easy for others.
Even when reciting the verse “nāhaṁ kartā hariḥ kartā…”, the thought that “I am reciting” exists in the minds of insignificant people like us. On the other hand, in spite of having accomplished this monumental task, His Holiness says that śrī kriṣna is the cause for this success and passes on the credits to śrī kriṣna‘s devotees. This is an important lesson for us all.
Every accomplishment (and performance) of a spiritual seeker is not for the sole purpose of achieving something (or for being dutiful). It is performed only to please the Almighty and to get a glimpse of Him. This is the conclusion of karmakāṇḍa (part of the vēda that discusses rituals) given by śrī madhwāchārya as “sarvē vidhi niṣēdhāsyuḥ ētayōrēva kiṅkarāḥ”. His Holiness is illustrative of this.
“Do not be satisfied by any ritualistic practices in life. Find satisfaction only when such practices show the Lord. If not, continue to accomplish and achieve more…” Can there be a better message than this!
Our prayer to the Lord for having given us an opportunity to associate ourselves with and learn from such noble people is only this — whenever we arrive in this world, keep us in the company of such holy and virtuous people and, through this, purify our inner selves.
ānandatīrthabhagavadvadanēndubimbaṁ
vidyāsudhāvitatakānti sukāntikāntam|
yaiḥ praikṣyatātra bhavatāpaśamāya bhaktaiḥ
taddāsadāsyamapi kiṁ na dadāti punsaḥ|| (śrīmadhwavijaya)
Those who had the fortune to see the divine face of śrī ānandatīrtha, gleaming with the radiance of knowledge, have overcome the miseries of this world. Even by being devoted to such devotees of śrī madhwāchārya, man can achieve and accomplish anything.
