Exalting Elucidations

A NOTE TO THE READERS ABOUT THE DIALOGUES

Background:

The dialogues published here largely consist of the clarifications graced by Acharyal to the disciple who compiled them. The said disciple had the good fortune of witnessing almost all the other dialogues and of hearing the remaining few questions and answers from the persons who have spoken with Acharyal. He first made public a portion of what he has included here in 1977, in the first volume of ‘Jagadguru of Sringeri’ and then presented almost all of the present material in 1981 in the Tamil book, ‘Jagadguru Bathilalikkirar.’ An English version of the Tamil book was included by him in 1984, in Volume II of ‘Crest Jewel of Yogis’. In this book, the disciple has added more of Acharyal’s replies and rectified a number of errors that had crept into the previous publication. Since the portions relating to the dialogues were prepared, computer-typed and also proof-corrected by him, the responsibility for any deficiencies here are just his. He had no role to play in the rest of the material included in this book.

Some points:

  1. The dialogues have been grouped under 41 heads. Some of the chapters comprise the questions posed on different days and by different questioners. On the other hand, some, such as the one titled ‘Māyā’ contain the record of what Acharyal taught a disciple in a single session.
  1. At times, a portion of an answer in one chapter is similar to that found in another chapter. However, at no time, has any elucidation given by Acharyal been repeated. What appears similar pertains to Acharyal’s words on different occasions or to different persons. Notwithstanding the similarity, the contextual significances are different. Because of this and because the grouping of questions and answers is such that each chapter can be read independently, the slight overlap is quite in order.
  1. Rarely, in a single chapter, there appear answers with some overlap. This is because of the difference in the questioners and because what is brought out by Acharyal is not identical. For instance, in the chapter titled ‘Jñānin’, there are three references to an enlightened sage’s happiness and sorrow. However, in the first instance, Acharyal speaks of how they cannot lead to rebirth. In the second answer, He presents the reason for their presence. In the third, He talks of how the sage is not swayed by them. Thus, all the three are important.

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