On 12/3/2014 1:14 PM, Bhairitu wrote:
>
TM'ers are sheltered and don't know even the basics of Indian
tradition especially how one becomes a swami or an acharya. From what
I know of MMY he was never an acharya so it would be considered
inappropriate for him to be in the holy tradition or a "guru dev"
himself. I've never even read if he was ever given a swami title
which can be granted at an earlier stage.
>
In the Indian religious tradition the term /"acharya"/ means a highly
learned man or teacher or founder of a sect. A /"swami"/ is an ascetic
who has been initiated into the religious monastic order founded by a
religious teacher such as the Adi Shankara. A /"yogi"/ is a practitioner
of yoga, specifically used to refer to /"Siddhas"/ and to refer to
practitioners of meditation.
>
It also depends on how the Shankara tradition hands out titles.
>
In the Advaita Vedanta tradition a Swami initiates the student with a
puja ceremony and imparts a /"bija mantra"/ or seed syllable for the
sadhak to meditate on. In the Saraswati tradition of SBS, it is
incumbent on every chela to mediate on the bija mantra of Saraswati
twice daily. It's not complicated.
According to MMY, /"Swamis suffer; yogis enjoy."/
