ABSTRACT
The prime emphasis was upon the stories of Shiva and his consort Durga, as we have seen in the ceremonial and outward part of the Acharya’s mission. It is convenient to depict the pattern and structure of a religious movement by examining its various dimensions – the dimensions of doctrine, myth or sacred narrative, ethics, ritual and practical life, experience and institutional expression. The Acharya had a powerful faith in human nature and believed in the ‘divine heritage of Man’ as propounded in the Upanishads. The point of his own incarnation or avatar-hood is that it funnels energy into the Hindu world. The force whereby God creates is Shakti or Energy, conceived, as we have seen, as feminine and personalised as Durga, Shiva’s consort. The Acharya’s followers saw the modern period as showing promises of revival in such figures as Dayananda Sarasvati, the founder of the Arya Samaj, and Swami Vivekananda.
