Hare Krishna,
Has Rudra Sampradaya, one of the 4 authenticated sampradaya disappeared from earth ?
If not disappeared then where are their followers?
I heard some people claim to be in Rudra sampradaya but on analysing their philosophy we see it is Mayavada contrary to original Rudra sampradaya philosophy .
Please let us know if anyone has any information.
Your Servant.
Replies
Actually Vallabhacarya is a diksa disciple of Sri Gadadhara Pandit, so technically He is part of our Gaudiya line.
Hare Krishna David,
Exactly, so this again proves repeatedly on a factual scale and on a philosophical scale that our Sampradaya is the summum bonum of all the Sampradayas. Because our Sampradaya was established by the Lord himself as his incarnation as Shri Krishna Chaitanya. Ah how sweet that name sounds doesn't it. The nectar is in the name itself .
Your Servant
Hare Krishna NityaKrishnaDas,
Actually the Rudra Sampradaya exists pretty flourish even today. David's answer is not factually correct. The Rudra Sampradays started from Lord Shiva who is the greatest Vaishnava for he is always meditating on the Lotus Feet of Lord Krishna. And the followers of Rudra Sampradayas are the disciple of Lord Shiva who is the spiritual master of the whole universe, because Lord Shiva can teach a person how to become a perfect devotees of Lord Krishna. Fundamentally there is absolutely no difference between them and our Gaudiya Sampradayas. Cause we are all the devotees of the Lord. Our Gaudiya Sampradays was started by the Lord himself in his incarnation as Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu , and Rudra Sampradaya was started by Lord Shiva who is the greatest devotee of the Lord, and Shri Sampradaya was started by Shri Ramanuja Acaraya who is also one of the most ardent devotee of the Lord and a most brilliant philosopher. And we all go to Vaikuntha or Goloka.
Here in Bengal most of the Vaisnava are the followers of Gaudiya Sampradayas, i think Shri Sampradaya is most prevalent in South India whereas Rudra Sampradaya is prevalent in Northern parts of India.
Your Servant
Our Lord Caitanya took 8 total teachings from the 4 sampradayas and established Acintya Abhedabheda philosophy.
Actually all of the acaryas of all the sampradayas joined this Gaudiya sampradaya. For example Advaita Acarya is Lord Sadasiva/Mahavisnu. Sri Nityananda Prabhuji is Sri Lakshman (Ramanuja). Srila Haridas Thakur is Lord Brahma/Prahlada. Srivas Acarya is Narada Rsi. In this way all of the great devotees of the Lord are here in this sampradaya.
This is not to discredit others. They were needed to make the ground fertile so that Mahaprabhuji could plant the seed of pure bhakti.
Hare Krishna David,
Very well said and totally correct. The other sampradayas paved the way for the advent of pure nectar of infinite love and devotion to the Supreme Lord which the Lord himself has given to the world as the highest gift.
Your Servant
Hare Krishna
Dandavats Prabhuji
First off, my unlimited Obeisances to Sri Sri Nitai Gauracandraji and to my Spiritual Master Srila Sankarsan Das Adhikari Maharaj.
The Rudra Sampradaya is still going on somewhere. I do not think they continue initiation. I have friends who are from Rudra Sampradaya and they are not at all in any way shape or form Mayavad. They follow like we do, but they believe that Lord Visnu is God(svyam Bhagavan) and that Lord Krishna is simply an avatar.
This is not our conclusion because that is not the conclusion of the acaryas.
There is no reason to go outside of this sampradaya because Lord Caitanya Himself appeared in this Sampradaya. Why would we want to belong to any other sampradaya??
I have also heard that the Rudra Sampradaya follows a Ritvik philosophy. They initiate through the name of Sri Visnu Swami or Sri Vallabhacarya. In fact, they even call Sri Vallabhacarya by the name of Mahaprabhu to directly go against Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhuji. Their mantra is not Hare Krishna Maha Mantra, it is Sri Krishna Saranam Mama (Lord Krishna is my refuge).
Srila Vallabhacarya met Lord Caitanya and was chastised because he thought that he had a better purport to Srimad Bhagavatam than Srila Sridhar Maharaj. Lord Caitanya said something like the wife who does not follow her swami(husband) is a prostitute. So we must remember these things.
Regarding Rudra Sampradaya, they follow Shuddadvaita (Purely Non Dual), which can be confused easily as Mayavad. We are different as Lord Caitanya preached. We are Achinta bheda abheda. Simultaneously the same but different. We are sparks, God is Fire. We are only fire when connected with the fire, otherwise we are sparks that may go out at any moment. We are dependent souls. Do not become fooled by these things. We are similar to God in quality but not quantity. Shuddadvaita is touching that aspect of same quality but it should not be mistaken to mean that we are God (that is Mayavadism).
Your servant,
Bhakta David