Hare Krishna devotees!
I have a query regarding our disciplic succession.
My Query:
From Krishna to A.C. Bhakti vedanta Swami Prabhupada, there have been overall 32 Gurus.
The Adi Guru is Lord Krishna Himself, who appeared on this earth more than 5000 years ago. This means that, in these 5000 years there have been only 32 Gurus.
When we divide 5000 years by no. 32, we derive a number of 156 years (approx).
This means that each Guru was in the position of a Guru for 156 years! Obviously, this figure excludes the average life span of a Guru. Can any devotee take efforts to explain me the apparent anomaly?
Thanking you in advance.
Your servant!
Veeral Gandhi
OUR DISCIPLIC SUCCESSION :
1. Kåñëa 17. Brahmaëya Tértha
2. Brahmä 1 8. Vyäsa Tértha
3. Närada 1 9. Lakñmépati
4. Vyäsa 20. Mädhavendra Puré
5. Madhva 2 1. Éçvara Puré, (Nityänanda, Advaita)
6. Padmanäbha 22. Lord Caitanya
7. Nåhari 23. Rüpa, (Svarüpa, Sanätana)
8. Mädhava 2 4. Raghunätha, Jéva
9. Akñobhya 25. Kåñëadäsa
10. Jaya Tértha 26. Narottama
11. Jïänasindhu 27. Viçvanätha
12. Dayänidhi 2 8. (Baladeva) Jagannätha
13. Vidyänidhi 29. Bhaktivinoda
14. Räjendra 30. Gaurakiçora
15. Jayadharma 3 1. Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté
16. Puruñottama 32. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupäda
Replies
Hare Krsna prabhu ji!
Jai Srila A.C. BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI PRABHUPADA
First of all, yes life span was greater in earlier yugas and this disciplic succession is more than millions years old. Brahma ji, Narada ji, Vyasaa deva ji are still living. Till Vyasadeva ji, three yugas are already covered. In Kaliyuga, there was great gap. Madhvacharya ji went to Vyasadeva ji to get Shiksha. So, you can understand now. There are about more than 25 Acharyas in last 900 years.
Prabhu ji! It seems you are taking Acharyas as ordinary humans. This is an offense.
In the Agni Purana, in his lament for his dead son, King Dasaratha says:
74-75 "Did I think Lord Hari's Deity form was made of stone? In My heart did I fail to offer respect when I saw on the road a Vaishnava decorated with the signs of the Lord? Is that why, as a result of my misdeeds, I now suffer for the loss of my son?"
76 This is also described in the Padma Purana:
"One who thinks the Deity form of Lord Vishnu is made of stone, the spiritual masters are ordinary men, a Vaishnava belongs to a particular caste by birth, the water that has washed the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu or the Vaishnavas and that destroys the sins of Kali-yuga is ordinary water, the mantra of Lord Vishnu's holy name, which destroys all sins, is an ordinary sound, and Lord Vishnu is another demigod like the others, already lives in hell."
Jai Srila Prabhupada
Hare Krishna Prabhuji!
Dandavat Pranam!
Prabhuji, it seems you misunderstood me. I was just seeing an anomaly and trying to satisfy my innocent curiousity. I never considered these great Vaishnavacharyas as ordinary human beings. Please forgive me for any offence committed knowingly or unknowingly. I got the point. Please tell me an incident regarding when and how did Madhvacharya received spiritual knowledge from Srila Vyas deva?
Your servant,
Veeral Gandhi
DANDVAT PRANAM,
PR ,IT IS FULL AND CORRECT LIST GIVEN BY PRABHUPAD
BUT PRABHU U HAD DONE ONE MISTAKE,THAT HAVE EQUAL DEVISION OF TIME SPAN. BUT U FORGET THAT VYAS DEVA WAS IN DWAPAR YUGA,THE LIFE SPAN IN DWAPAR YUGA WAS MAX 1000 YEARS
LORD KRISHNA GIVES BHAGVAT GYAN FIRST TO BRAMHA IN HIS HEART ,U KNOW THAT THE LIFE SPAN OF BRAMHA,THEN HE GIVES TO NARADA WHO HAS ETERNAL BODY,HE GIVES TO VYASA DEVA IN DWAPAR YUGA
Agreed...But, Srila Vyasa deva was also present in the Kaliyuga (please refer the Mahabharatam) and divided the Vedas into 4 parts and wrote Mahabharata and 18 Puranas atleast 5000 years ago for the spiritual progress of people of Kali-Yuga.
So, this increases the figure further to 172 years (5000/29).
Further, there is a gap of approximately 1200 years between disappearance of Srila Vyasa deva and appearance of Srila Madhvacharya.
Thanks dear, I felt no offence : )
Yesterday, I saw this link but it is not much useful for my current query as it is mainly concerning Acharyas from other bonafide vaishnava sampradayas excluding Gaudiya sampradaya.
Anyway, thanks for your support : )
Hare Krishna!
Thank you very much Rohit Prabhuji for directing my attention towards such a wonderful link...It's indeed beautiful and interesting. PAMHO!
However, it enlists contemporaries and successors of Lord Chaitanya. It has no mention of previous Acharyas.
What I am talking about is a list of all the Acharyas of Brahma Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampraday starting form Lord Krishna, arranged in a chronological order. Srila Prabhupada has laid down this list in the Bhagvad Gita as it is.
The word 'Sampraday' means, 'Guru parampara'. And in order to establish the bonafideness of a Sampraday, it is essential to reveal the full list, other wise the philosophy my lose its credibility.
I believe that long and exhasustive list is not a valid reason to not reveal the complete Guru Parampara. If we assume that each Guru was in his position for at least 25 years then there should have been at least 200 Acharyas in these 5000 years and this list can be contained within 3-4 pages. That is not a big problem. If you have this list and show it to me, then you would be doing a great service.
Hare Krishna!
Veeral Gandhi
Hare Krsna Mataji,
PAMHO.
What I know is that the disciplic succession mentioned above is giving only the prominent acharyas of their time. It would not b possible to list out each for a period of 5000 years. Another point is that it has the shiksha parampara, not diksha parampara. Eg: HH Bhaktivinode Thakura is the father and shiksha guru of HH Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj, not diksha guru.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Rashmi
Thank you Mataji for taking the efforts in explaining me the point. PAMHO!
I invite further opinion by devotees.
Your servant,
Hare Krishna!
P.S. As regards your reply, you have referred me as 'Mataji'! which is not the case : ) : )
Hare Krishna Veeral Gandhi Prabhu,
One question i have is,
if you see the Parampara chart of Sri Shankaracharya then you find Narayana giving knowledge to Brahma,
then to other..but teaching of every sampradaya originating from Narayana is different ,how can this be..
Advita Guru Parampara :
Nārāyaṇa
Padmabhuva (Brahmā)
Vaśiṣṭha
Śakti
Parāśara
Vyāsa
Śuka
Gauḍapāda
Govinda bhagavatpāda
Śankara bhagavatpāda
Padmapāda, Hastāmalaka, Toṭaka,
Dear Ashwani Prabhuji,
Your answer lies in the letter written by Srila Prabhupada.
Srila Prabhupada in a Letter to Damodar, dated 11-12-70 wrote as follows :
".... Sankaracarya's belief is personal. Actually he is a covered personalist. He became impersonalist just to drive away Buddhism. All of India was Buddhist voidism. So, although a personalist, he had to keep pace with voidism by expounding impersonalism. There is very little difference between impersonalism and voidism, but because he had to bring Buddhists back to the Vedic cultural form, he adopted impersonalism. From the Padma Purana, it is learned that Sankaracarya is Lord Siva, and who can be a greater devotee than Lord Siva? Lord Siva is considered to be the foremost Vaisnava."
Isliye, adi gnan in sabhi ka sach hai parantu samay parivartan ke karan, in Acharyo ke gnan me fark aa gaya. Par unke jaane ke baad unke shishya vahi gnan baat te gaye. Is tarah se unke Sampraday me adi gnan naash ho gaya : )
Aapka sevak aur shubh chintak,
Veeral Gandhi