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Q. WHAT IS SHANKARA SAMPRADAYA ?‏

Bhaṭṭācārya was the professor of many sannyāsīs in the order of the Śaṅkarācārya-sampradāya, and he himself also belonged to that cult. As such, the Bhaṭṭācārya desired that the young sannyāsī Lord Caitanya also hear from him about the teachings of Vedānta.
Those who are followers of the Śaṅkara cult are generally known as Vedāntists. This does not, however, mean that Vedānta is a monopoly study of the Śaṅkara-sampradāya. Vedānta is studied by all the bona fide sampradāyas, but they have their own interpretations. But those in the Śaṅkara-sampradāya are generally known to be ignorant of the knowledge of the Vedāntist Vaiṣṇavas. For this reason the Bhaktivedanta title was first offered to the author by the Vaiṣṇavas.

(SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM------INTRODUCTION).

The Lord posed Himself before the Bhaṭṭācārya as a foolish student and pretended that He heard the Vedānta from him because the Bhaṭṭācārya felt that this was the duty of a sannyāsī. But the Lord did not agree with his lectures. By this the Lord indicated that the so-called Vedāntists amongst the Śaṅkara-sampradāya, or any other sampradāya who do not follow the instructions of Śrīla Vyāsadeva, are mechanical students of the Vedānta. They are not fully aware of that great knowledge. The explanation of the Vedānta-sūtra is given by the author himself in the text of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. One who has no knowledge of the Bhāgavatam will hardly be able to know what the Vedānta says.

(SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM------INTRODUCTION).

"Śrī Vyāsadeva very kindly compiled the Vedic knowledge in his Vedānta-sūtra, but if one hears the commentation of the Māyāvāda school (as represented by the Śaṅkara-sampradāya) certainly he will be misled on the path of spiritual realization.

(SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM------INTRODUCTION).

In the Śaṅkara-sampradāya there are ten different names awarded to sannyāsīs: (1) Tīrtha, (2) Āśrama, (3) Vana, (4) Araṇya, (5) Giri, (6) Parvata, (7) Sāgara, (8) Sarasvatī, (9) Bhāratī and (10) Purī. Before one enters sannyāsa, he has one of the various names for a brahmacārī, the assistant to a sannyāsī. Sannyāsīs with the titles Tīrtha and Āśrama generally stay at Dvārakā, and their brahmacārī name is Svarūpa. Those known by the names Vana and Araṇya stay at Puruṣottama, or Jagannātha Purī, and their brahmacārī name is Prakāśa. Those with the names Giri, Parvata and Sāgara generally stay at Badarikāśrama, and their brahmacārī name is Ānanda. Those with the titles Sarasvatī, Bhāratī and Purī usually live at Śṛṅgerī in South India, and their brahmacārī name is Caitanya.

(SRI CAITANYA CARITAMRTA------1:3:34--------PURPORT).

The great authorities in the disciplic succession had not offered to explain why Lord Caitanya refused to take the name Bhāratī after He took sannyāsa from a Bhāratī, until Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja volunteered the explanation that because a sannyāsī in the Śaṅkara-sampradāya thinks that he has become the Supreme, Lord Caitanya, wanting to avoid such a misconception, kept the name Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, placing Himself as an eternal servitor. A brahmacārī is supposed to serve the spiritual master; therefore He did not negate that relationship of servitude to His spiritual master. Accepting such a position is favorable for the relationship between the disciple and the spiritual master.

(SRI CAITANYA CARITAMRTA------1:3:34--------PURPORT).

Among the sannyāsīs of the Śaṅkara-sampradāya there are different names for brahmacārīs. Each sannyāsī has some assistants, known as brahmacārīs, who are called by different names according to the names of the sannyāsī. Among such brahmacārīs there are four names: Svarūpa, Ānanda, Prakāśa and Caitanya. Nityānanda Prabhu maintained Himself as a brahmacārī; He never took sannyāsa. As a brahmacārī His name was Nityānanda Svarūpa, and therefore the sannyāsī under whom He was living must have been from the tīrthas or āśramas of the Śaṅkara-sampradāya, because one of the names for the assistant brahmacārī of such a sannyāsī is Svarūpa.

(SRI CAITANYA CARITAMRTA------1:5:149--------PURPORT).

Māyāvādī sannyāsīs are always very puffed up because of their knowledge of Sanskrit and because they belong to the Śaṅkara-sampradāya. They are always under the impression that unless one is a brāhmaṇa and a very good Sanskrit scholar, especially in grammar, one cannot accept the renounced order of life or become a preacher. Māyāvādī sannyāsīs always misinterpret all the śāstras with their word jugglery and grammatical compositions, yet Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya himself condemned such jugglery of words in the verse prāpte sannihite kāle na hi na hi rakṣati ḍukṛñ karaṇe. Ḍukṛñ refers to suffixes and prefixes in Sanskrit grammar. Śaṅkarācārya warned his disciples that if they concerned themselves only with the principles of grammar, not worshiping Govinda, they were fools who would never be saved. Yet in spite of Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya's instructions, foolish Māyāvādī sannyāsīs are always busy juggling words on the basis of strict Sanskrit grammar.

(SRI CAITANYA CARITAMRTA------1:7:64--------PURPORT).

According to the Vedic injunctions, only a brāhmaṇa may be offered sannyāsa. The Śaṅkara-sampradāya (ekadaṇḍa-sannyāsa-sampradāya) awards the sannyāsa order only to caste brāhmaṇas, or born brāhmaṇas, but in the Vaiṣṇava system even one not born in a brāhmaṇa family may be made a brāhmaṇa according to the direction of the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa (tathā dīkṣā-vidhānena dvijatvaṁ jāyate nṛṇām). Any person from any part of the world may be made a brāhmaṇa by the regular process of initiation, and when he follows brahminical behavior, observing the principle of abstaining from intoxication, illicit sex, meat-eating and gambling, he may be offered sannyāsa. All the sannyāsīs in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, who are preaching all over the world, are regular brāhmaṇa-sannyāsīs. Thus the so-called caste brāhmaṇas should not object to offering them respectful obeisances.

(SRI CAITANYA CARITAMRTA------1:17:266--------PURPORT).

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