ajAti vAda

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From L to R: SrI svarUpAnanda sarasvatI (Jyotirmath), SrI abhinava vidyA tIrtha (Sringeri), SrI niranjana deva tIrtha (Puri), SrI abhinava saccidAnanda tIrtha (Dvaraka) - Meeting at Sringeri in 1979. The successor to the title in a maTha is usually nominated by the presiding SankarAcArya of that maTha. It is quite normal to see SankarAcAryas who have become sannyAsIs directly from the student life, without ever having been gRhasthas. This is especially the norm in the Sringeri lineage. Thus, a SankarAcArya can be a very young man, sometimes barely out of his teens, when he takes charge at his maTha. On the other hand, the Puri lineage has seen many heads who have become sannyAsins quite late in their lives, after passing through the gRhastha stage. In cases where a SankarAcArya passes away without nominating a successor, or if there is a dispute about the succession, the head of one of the other maThas is consulted to resolve the issue. Within this century itself, there have been instances where the SankarAcAryas of Sringeri, Dvaraka, and Puri have been called upon to resolve succession issues in one of the other maThas. The Sringeri lineage names thirty-six successors to the SankarAcArya title, while Dvaraka has about seventy. The Puri list of SankarAcAryas has more than 140 names to date. The larger number of names in these two lists is probably because many of the presiding SankarAcAryas have been former gRhasthas, who took charge at a comparatively older age and consequently held charge for shorter periods. The line of the Jyotirmath has many gaps in it, an unfortunate circumstance of history. The position of the SankarAcAryas in modern Hinduism has often (quite wrongly) been compared to that of the Pope in Roman Catholicism. The four SankarAcAryas do not issue catechisms for all Hindus, nor do they claim sole right to decide on doctrinal issues. SrImukham.s issued by the maThas are very different in nature from papal bulls or encyclicals, and unlike the Vatican City, the four maThas do not enjoy sovereign status. Rather, they are governed by the federal and state laws on religious and charitable trusts and endowments in independent India, and are often answerable to governmental bodies. However, this should not be construed to mean that the SankarAcAryas are insignificant or that their importance is overrated. They are held in high respect by almost all sections of Hindus, but they also tend to get blamed by the modern media, somewhat unfairly, for everything that goes wrong in Hindu society! For all that, however, the SankarAcAryas generally lead quiet, secluded lives, as befits monks, and tend to avoid media attention. There are, of course, exceptions to this norm, and recent developments in India, especially the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid issue, have forced all of them to take more active roles in public life. Recent history of the four AmnAya maThas:
• Sringeri: SrI "ugra" narasimha bhAratI (1817 - 1878) was well-known throughout India as a very saintly personality. He travelled far and wide, and had disciples all over India and even in Sri Lanka. He was succeeded by SrI saccidAnanda SivAbhinava narasimha bhAratI (1878 - 1912), who rediscovered kAlaDi, Adi SankarAcArya's birth-place, and instituted Sankara JayantI celebrations all over India. He also arranged for the publication of a comprehensive collection of Sankara's works, and initiated the practice of having the various SankarAcAryas meet for informal discussion and decision making. Following his lead, meetings took place at Kaladi, Hardwar, Prayag etc. His successor, SrI candraSekhara bhAratI (1912 to 1954), was an acclaimed jIvanmukta. He wrote a commentary to Sankara's vivekacUDAmaNi. The first meeting of all four SankarAcAryas (caturAmnAya sammelanam) in the 1200 year old tradition of post-Sankaran advaita, took place at Sringeri, in 1979, under the leadership of SrI abhinava vidyA tIrtha (1954 - 1989). SrI bhAratI tIrtha, the presiding SankarAcArya of Sringeri, succeeded to the title in 1989. The SankarAcAryas of the four AmnAya maThas and the head of the Kanci maTha held another conference at Sringeri in 1993, following the events of December 1992 at ayodhyA, to express their concern at the politicization of religious issues, and resolved to lead a non-political effort to solve the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid issue amicably. Contact Address: Swami Bharati Tirtha, Jagadguru Sankaracharya, (or Sri V. R. Gowrishankar, Adminstrator), Sri Sringeri Math, Sri Sringeri Sarada Peetham, Sringeri, Karnataka 577 139, INDIA. • Dvaraka: SrI trivikrama tIrtha was the head of the Dvaraka maTha till the year 1921. He was succeeded by SrI bhAratI kRshNa tIrtha, who had a very interesting career. Beginning as a student of vedAnta at Sringeri, he became a sannyAsin under SrI trivikrama tIrtha of Dvaraka, and succeeded to the SankarAcArya post at Dvaraka, in 1921. Soon after the first world war, he was prosecuted along with the Ali brothers and other Muslim leaders, by the colonial British government for treason, in connection with his involvement in the Indian Independence movement, and his support of the Khilafat movement. He is also said to have discovered some ancient sUtras of basic arithmetic, which have been published as a book, under the title "Vedic mathematics". He was asked to take over the Puri maTha in 1925, when that seat fell vacant. Accordingly, SrI svarUpAnanda tIrtha and SrI yogeSvarAnanda tIrtha followed at the Dvaraka seat. In the year 1945, SrI abhinava saccidAnanda tIrtha was nominated as the SankarAcArya of Dvaraka, with SrI bhAratI kRshNa tIrtha performing the installation ceremonies. Before taking over at Dvaraka, SrI abhinava saccidAnanda tIrtha was the head of the Mulabagal maTha in Karnataka. This was an old branch of the Dvaraka maTha, established in the 17th century, and with his appointment to the Dvaraka seat, the collateral lineage of Mulabagal maTha was merged with that of Dvaraka. In later years, he was called upon to mediate the succession issues at both Puri and Jyotirmath. He also renovated the samAdhi site of Adi Sankara at Kedarnath with assistance from the government of Uttar
Page 1 and 2: Before you start, please take a loo
Page 3 and 4: NOTES: 1. The pronunciation of vowe
Page 5 and 6: 12. What are the advaita institutio
Page 7 and 8: do other schools of Indian philosop
Page 9 and 10: kRshNa, the jagadguru, and as rAma,
Page 11 and 12: Rameswaram, Sivaganga, Kolhapur, Ka
Page 13 and 14: y Swami Sivananda, now headed by Sw
Page 15 and 16: today. It is typical of advaita tha
Page 17 and 18: thus mentally decided to renounce t
Page 19 and 20: of maThas. His had been a short, bu
Page 21 and 22: 14. Prem Lata, Shankaracharya, Sumi
Page 23 and 24: Rhat Sankaravijaya of citsukha seem
Page 25 and 26: o Vani Vilas Press, Srirangam, 1972
Page 27: names, araNya, ASrama, parvata, van
Page 31 and 32: karapAtrI swAmi (hariharAnanda sara
Page 33 and 34: Literature: 1. Read an article at t
Page 35 and 36: The vishNu purANa is in the form of
Page 37 and 38: svabhAva - "own-nature". gauDapAda
Page 39 and 40: It is SankarAcArya's interpretation
Page 41 and 42: The traditional identification of m
Page 43 and 44: gangA, when he heard Sankara call o
Page 45 and 46: A list of post-Sankaran authors in
Page 47 and 48: sArasvata grammatical tradition, an
Page 49 and 50: SrIkaNTha's brahmasUtrabhAshya. In
Page 51 and 52: teaching their disciples in the tra
Page 53 and 54: The orthodox schools are traditiona
Page 55 and 56: The upanishads are expositions of d
Page 57 and 58: nirvANa nAdabindu 17 sAm.nyAsa upan
Page 59 and 60: as a Saiva upanishad, while skanda
Page 61 and 62: ordinary ones who desire the transi
Page 63 and 64: Introduction - The advaita philosop
Page 65 and 66: described as in the upanishads, as
Page 67 and 68: in infallible Sruti, if there is a
Page 69 and 70: a measure of reality with respect t
Page 71 and 72: premises of any question or definit
Page 73 and 74: All change was then described as th
Page 75 and 76: universe is normally perceived to b
Page 77 and 78: Both the bhAmatI and vivaraNa lines
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specific upanishad bhAshyas or prak
Page 81 and 82:
London, 1995. LC Call No.: B133.S49
Page 83 and 84:
Trevor Leggett, Sankara on the Yoga
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padmapAda - (8th-9th cent.) pancapA
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o Edited with pratyaksvarUpa's naya
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o Translated into English by S. S.
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o Translated into Marathi by Kevala
Page 93 and 94:
o Edited with English translation,
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ajAti vAda

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