Let’s examine the routine of Krushna and Cattle on a given day in Nandagokulam, and see how that relates to God and Aacharya. We can then see how an aacharya acts like a mirror to help us see ourselves and how Krushna declares in Bhagavad Githa that aacharya is the ONLY way to get initiated into the path of realising God.

Krushna played his flute so melodiously that all the cattle forgot to even feed themselves throughout the day. When he took a small break between the songs, they began to open their mouths to feed on grass, but as soon as they heard the sound of the flute the next minute, they kept their mouths wide-open and remained action-less in body. They spent their whole day this way just listening to his pleasant play of the flute. And when they were taken back to their homes in the evenings, Krushna gently touched each of them from head to toe, their bodies plumped up with all the nutrition necessary to produce milk to the cowherds for next morning. They released milk in such a high quantity and quality that the cowherds had to hurry in arranging pots to fill the milk. So, it is not the grass or the water from river Yamuna that helped them produce milk, but it is the divine music from Krushna’s flute and his touch that produced the nutritious milk. Nandagopa, Krushna’s father is the main leader of all the people in nandagokulam. All the cattle therefore belonged to Nandagopa. Krushna is always loyal to his father, Nandagopa.  So, Krushna always obeyed Nandagopa, the owner of all the cattle which gave nutritious milk by listening to the divine play of the flute and the touch of Krushna.

Krushna               →           God

Nandagopa         →           Lead Aacharya

Cattle                    →           Followers of lead Acharya (other acharya:s, gna:ni:s, devotees)

Milk                       →           Divine qualities of God

Pots                       →           Our hearts

It is up to us to put our hearts and listen to the divine words of wisdom from Aacharya.  Only then we can perceive and get closer to realizing God. Sri Krushna in Bahgava Githa said,

Thadviddhi pranipa:the:na pariprashne:na se:vaya:

Upade:kshyanthi the: gna:nam gna:nina sthathvadarsinaha

We should approach guru, surrender to him, wait for the right time and ask for what is worth asking him (the true wisdom about God), wait till he answers, until then serve him. This is the protocol that is established. It is ONLY through aacharya that we can rightly receive the wonderful grace of uninterrupted true joy of realising God.

That is why our Swami says, you have your eyes and the face belongs to you – but you still need a mirror to show your face to you. But, how do you know who an Acharya is? There are four identifiers that our Goda Devi through her 21^st song in Thiruppavai revealed. While she sang a sweet song, our acharya’s understood her heart, filled with love for God and therefore were able to receive the four identifiers that she sugar coated through her song. They are:

• God is loyal to them, i.e. they hold him in their hearts with deep devotion
• They are capable of leading lakhs of people through love and words of wisdom; they are capable of crafting/shaping large group of gurus
• They can single-handedly defeat the inner enemies such as ego, and arrogance of true seekers
• They are absolute generous givers of wisdom who cannot wait to share what is right for the seekers

Our duty is only keep our hearts and minds open to listen to these great aacharya:s (to whom God will remain loyal to). Aacharya:s take us closer to God, initiate us. God’s grace will then let our hearts realise him in true spirit and enjoy the ultimate bliss of togetherness with him in his abode.