Who is a Sampradaya-acharya?
BY: Bhagavat Das
Aug 3, USA (SUN) — In his counter point article "Dealing with the inevitable" Rocana Das uses his concept of sampradaya-acharya as a standard by which to judge the authenticity of the teachings of another member of the sampradaya. Rocana Das is a very sincere devotee and loyal servant of Srila Prabhupada. I admire his devotion. However I have studied his concept of sampradaya-acharya and the teachings of the previous acharya's in the matter. With the permission of Rocana Das and the Sampradaya Sun I would like to present some valuable research information from Srila Prabhupada and the previous acharya's that I am sure will be of great interest to them in their efforts to understand and realize Srila Prabhupada's teachings "AS IT IS".
Rocana das defines a "sampradaya-acharya" in his blog as: one who teaches that the process of becoming Krishna conscious is "an exact science for achieving the perfection of self-realization." Rocana das claims that all of the 32 acharyas in the Brahma Sampradaya starting with Lord Brahma are sampradaya-acharyas. He cites some quotes from Srila Prabhupada to claim support of his sampradaya-acharya theory and then declares that Srila Prabhupada gave us this term.
Since Rocana das accepts Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur as a sampradaya-acharya, let's see what Srila Saraswati Thakur's definition is: "Of the four principal Vaisnava acharyas, Sri Madhvacharya and Sri Nimbaditya are on the path of bhagavata-marga, or bhava-marga, and Sri Ramanujacharya and Sri Visnusvami are Vaisnava acharyas on the path of pancharatrika-archana-marga. Though the respected Sri Madhvacharya and Sri Nimbaditya were bhagavatacharyas, they nevertheless also accepted the path of archana, meant for the kanistha-adhikaris, and Sri Ramanujacharya also accepted the chanting of the holy names as a part of his archana rituals. Sri Visnusvami was the first commentator on the Vedanta-sutras. These four personalities have been accepted as the four sampradaya-acharyas." (Brahmana and Vaisnava: Hari-jana-kanda section)
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur also provided us with many of what we call the jaya om prayers which are called in actuality the prema dhvani prayers. One of the prema dhvani prayers that are chanted at the end of arotik in Gaudiya Matha is "catur sampradaya acarya's ki jaya" meaning glories to the four sampradaya-acharya's.
Srila Prabhupada concurs with this list of four sampradaya-acharyas. In a lecture to the World Health Organization (Geneva, June 6, 1974), which the very sincere Rocana das unfortunately interprets incorrectly to support his conclusion, Srila Prabhupada states: "Our Indian spiritual life is guided by the acaryas, sampradaya acarya, the Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Visnuswami and Nimbarka. There is... Whole Indian spiritual culture is dependent on the guidance of these acarya. And in the Bhagavad-gita also, in the Thirteenth Chapter, it is advised, acarya upasanam: "One should follow the instruction of the acarya." That is our Vedic civilization." Srila Prabhupada Lecture to World Health Org., 06-06-74, Geneva
If we analyze this statement we see that after Srila Prabhupada names Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Visnuswami and Nimbarka as the Sampradaya Acharya's He then says: 'Whole Indian spiritual culture is dependent on the guidance of these acharya.' Which Acharya's? The Sampradaya Acharya's, and who are they? Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Visnuswami and Nimbarka. What does Srila Prabhupada then instruct His audience to do He says: "One should follow the instruction of the acharya." Which Acharya's? He means the four aforementioned Acharya's; Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Visnuswami and Nimbarka. Then in another lecture of Srila Prabhupada's that Rocana Das quotes, but again has misinterpreted, Srila Prabhupada explains how to receive those instructions of the Sampradaya Acarya's as follows: "These is four sampradaya's. So we should hear from the sampradaya-acharya by disciplic succession. As Krsna recommends in this Bhagavad-gita: evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh." Srila Prabhupada Lecture on Bhagavad-gita, 11-30-72, Hyderabad
Srila Prabhupada's statement in the first lecture quoted would not make any sense if in His second lecture the statement hearing from the Sampradaya Acarya 'by disciplic succession' meant that everyone in the disciplic succession is a Sampradaya Acarya. The statement 'by the disciplic succession' could only mean that the instructions of the four Sampradaya Acharya's: Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Visnuswami and Nimbarka's are received through the rest of the disciplic succession who are not Sampradaya Acarya's. When we read these two quotes of Srila Prabhupada in the reverse order from the way they are presented in Rocana Das's paper and following the statement of His Guru Maharaja the true meanings of the statements becomes apparent. To give these two statements any other meaning would put Srila Prabhupada in direct opposition to the instructions of His Guru Maharaja, which could never happen, since Srila Prabhupada is a bona fide Acharya in the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya.
In his Srimad Bhagavatam commentary, Srila Prabhupada also refers to Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Goddess Laksmi, and the Four Kumaras as sampradaya-acharyas: "The four Kumaras are parampara spiritual masters of the Vaisnava sampradaya. Out of the four sampradayas, namely Brahma-sampradaya, Sri-sampradaya, Kumara-sampradaya and Rudra-sampradaya, the disciplic succession of spiritual master to disciple known as the Kumara-sampradaya is coming down from the four Kumaras. So Prthu Maharaja was very respectful to the sampradaya-acharyas." (Bhag. 4.22.4)
This definition of Srila Prabhupada's would not contradict his guru maharaja's definition, because it is not exclusive of the other definition but inclusive of it: these four Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Goddess Laksmi, and the Four Kumaras are the founder-sampradaya acharya's who first defined the teachings of their respective sampradaya's. Srila Madhvacharya, Srila Ramanujacharya, Sri Visnuswami and Sri Nimbarka have elucidated the original teachings without changing them, only making them more comprehensible, and hence re-founding and redefining the sampradayas for Kali-yuga.
This point is verified in the 16th chapter of the Navadvipa Mahatmya when Nimabarkacarya or Nimbaditya meets the four Kumara's and gets directly initiated by them. "The all-merciful Supreme Lord, knowing that Kali-yuga would be very troublesome, decided to propagate devotional service. He empowered four men with devotional service and sent them into the world to preach. Ramanuja, Madhva, and Visnusvami are three of these men. You are the fourth of these great devotees. Sri, Laksmi, accepted Ramanuja, Brahma accepted Madhvacarya, Rudra accepted Visnusvami, and we, meeting you today, have the good fortune to teach you."
After this it explains in the Navadvipa Mahatmya how Nimbarka got initiated by the four Kumara's: "The four brothers gave him the Radha-Krsna mantra and instructed him how to worship Radha and Krsna filled with sentiments of great love, called bhava-marga." This statement coincides with the statement I quoted by Srila Saraswati Thakur concerning Nimbaditya teaching Bhava Marga.
Based on the teachings of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, it appears that the definition of a sampradaya-acharya would not be the one given by Rocana das in his paper in the Krsna blog. Srila Prabhupada and Srila Saraswati Thakur indicate that the title refers either to those fully self-realized persons who founded a sampradaya -- such as Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Goddess Laksmi, and the Four Kumaras -- and whose teachings are most prominent in that line, or to those fully self-realized persons who elucidate those teachings via Vedanta-Sutra commentaries -- such as Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya, Visnuswami and Nimbarka.
The teachings of the sampradaya-acharya's are explained to us by or through the disciplic succession as indicated to us by Srila Prabhupada in His lecture. To suggest that all members of the disciplic succession are sampradaya-acharyas is, unfortunately, a misinterpretation of the teachings of the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya-Sampradaya by the bona fide acharya's in that line.
Therefore using the concept of sampradaya-acharya as a standard by which to judge the authenticity of the other members of the sampradaya is not sanctioned anywhere in the teachings of the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya-Sampradaya. Rocana Das who is a very sincere disciple of Srila Prabhupada should try to judge the character of a possible representative of the Sampradaya based on the teachings of his guru, the teachings of previous sadhus in the sampradaya, and the teachings of shastra. Guru, shastra, and sadhu this is the standard not some sincerely misunderstood concept which has no support from guru, shastra, and sadhu.
I am writing a separate article to further explain what Srila Prabhupada said about diksha and initiation and what the different levels of diksha or initiation are and how they reference to Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaja's article.
