Extended Learnings -104 | Indian Culture | Hero Worship was it Integral Part of ours?

spirituality
Author

Arun Koundinya Parasa

Published

January 25, 2021

Continuing from my previous blogs -

Continuing from previous blogs:

We have observed where the Rishi who gets enlightened through self inquiry with a true inherent desire to meet the Showman. Once, he gets the experience of Showman; he shares the similar experience to his few selected disciples and thus ‘the Rishi’ becomes ‘the Guru’. { Person who experiences Showman becomes liberated and he is called as a Jivamukta i.e.; liberated being }

Guru who is liberated remains to be a Guru and never claims to be a God. A well known Jivamukta of my Grandfathers time i.e.; Sri Ramana Maharshi who doesn’t have a temple but stresses on self-inquiry and meditation.

Sri Ramana Maharshi - Jivanmukta

A Person who is capable of performing self-inquiry and has the will to get undisturbed have a chance to meet the Showman. How about the more common people like us who cannot disband the existing life but still want to experience the Showman.

For such people,  Bhakti Yoga {Bhakti Marga} comes handy to realize about the Showman by showcasing our love and devotion. 

As a culture, it was not the “Hero Worship” but the Worship to realize our Hero in an intent to become liberated.

{The Concept of Showman gets difficult to penetrate for most of us unless we internalize the concept; so for most of us the Showman in the form of a deity becomes comprehendible and easy to relate.}

Thus if we observe the temples and its’ pattern it looks almost the same i.e.; having a water pond and then the path way until we reach garbhagriha. Water Pond is a tradition where-in we are intended to reach the Deity why washing away our desires and leaving away our materials comforts outside the temple; walking with one mindset of god until we reach the garbhagriha and experience the god.

This Bhakti Marge became very popularised in India as Bhakti Movement. Every Historian has their own view on this movement; nonetheless it has created an opportunity for even the layman to experience the god in the form of deity on daily basis without disbanding their other attached personal life.

Is it possible to realize the Showman with Intense & Pure Devotion:

Bhagvadgita mentions that the a person who is driven by pure love, knowing and seeking nothing beyond that experience of love Showman can get liberated.

Tallapaka Annamacharya -  whose devotion is unmatched for the love of Lord Venkateshwara which made him to write approximately 32,000 songs dedicated to him and for him.

List of Annamacharyulu Songs - Link

You can imagine the love who has come up with 32000 Original Songs in his life time. Out of which few of them i.e.; even after 500 hundred years are still trending.

Of-course he would be highly liberated in his time by singing for Showman by dedicating to Showman.

A song which got viral - written by Annamacharya Garu { Crux about the Showman }

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Ignorance worship usually leads to Hero Worship i.e.; outward worship rather than inward worship. We adopt (or) resort to outward worship who fulfils our desire which would lead to blind Hero Worship.

Upanashids and Bhagvadgita clearly mentions for not to submission but for the development of inner spirit to gain the freedom. 

Clearly our old texts are trying to explain and realize the experience of the god in a logical manner and not through enforcement.