________________
such a teacher, the aspirant should totally surrender to him and obey his commands most sincerely. Śrīmad also says that if one desires to study the scriptures, one must do it only under the able guidance of such a teacher, otherwise one is likely to misunderstand and misinterpret the scriptures and to be proud about his knowledge and thus be misguided. Even in Jain darśana, we do not find much stress and importance given to a pious teacher. In short, Śrīmad says that no spiritual progress is possible without the satsanga of such teacher, though one may have to take recourse to scriptures because a pious teacher is not always available or is very very rare. Mahāvīra has said, "There have been unlimited persons, who have attained liberation by whole-hearted surrender to the pious teacher." Therefore the Agamas have repeatedly said, "anãe dhammo, anae tavo ", meaning: "Following and obeying the commands (of a pious teacher) is itself religion and penance or sadhanā.”
;.
The reasoning of Śrīmad for the importance of such a teacher is as follows: One cannot be free from misery unless one is free from passions and ignorance; and one cannot be free from passions and ignorance unless one acquires Atma-jñāna and to acquire Atma-jñāna one must surrender to and obey a pious teacher. This is so
284
