*The Fighting Ascetics of India* [image: Inline image 1]
View looking north to Barsana from Radiance - Friday Mt on right Apparently, the Swami Prakashanand Saraswati gave Robert Kropinsky a 'letter of introduction' in order to get an audience with the Swami Swaroopanand at Guru Dev's birthday celebration in Vrindaban. In the Kropinsky interview Swami Swaroopanand does not deny the validity of Guru Dev's will. In fact, "...none of the civil suits in this dispute seems to have been framed in terms of contesting the legal standing of Brahmananda's will" according to Mr. Sundaresan. So, lets sum up what we know: The Swaroopanand is opposed to the VHP. However it should be noted that both Swaroopanand and Prakashanand have gone over to other saints. Swaroopanand favors the Congress Party and is opposed to plans to turn India into a religious, fundamentalist Hindutva state. It is a fact that the Swami Swaroopanand and the Swami Prakashanand are no longer in the disciplic line of SBS, having gone over to adopt the teachings of other Saints, babas, and gurus. Swami Vasudevananda Saraswati is currently the *sole representative Guru Dev's lineage*, according to Vidyasankar Sundaresan. Vasudevananda was present at the appointment of a Mahamandaleswara of the Mahanirvani Akhada in 1995, according to Hinduism Today. There are probably only a few disciples of SBS still alive today, but what is important is what the *current* disciples in the SBS lineage have to say. There is some very distressing facts related to the Swami Prakashanand, a desciple of SBS. He is currently a fugitive from justice in the U.S. and has gone into hiding. According to Mr. Sundaresan, "...although he was initiated into Sannyasa by Brahmananda Saraswati, his personal religious philosophy is Acintya Bhedabheda, associated with Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Gaudiya Vaishnavas. This leads me to seriously suspect his claim of having been offered the Sankaracharya post." It is a fact that the Kashi Vidvat Parishad has attempted to place a political puppet on the Jyotirmath seat on at least two separate occasions after seating SBS - Swami Krishnabodha and Swami Swaroopanand. Mr. Sundaresan notes "...the Kashi Vidvat Parishad and the Akhila Bharatiya Dharmasangha have tried to exercise a right over Jyotirmath for the third time." There is another undisputed fact - neither Swaroopanand nor Prakashanand's name was listed in the will of SBS. In the case of the Shankaracharya it is the usual custom to follow the disciple succession. According to Mr. Sundaresan, "...once Swami Brahmananda Saraswati was accepted as the Jyotirmath Sankaracharya, and there were no serious disputes about it at the time, further activities of these other institutions with respect to succession issues could be construed as unnecessary interference." The Bharata Dharma Mahamandala, Kashi Vidvat Parishad, and the Akhila Bharatiya Dharmasangha were all present at the installation of SBS's successor, Swami Shantanand Saraswati. Shantanand was present at a number of TMO activities, the least not being the Saints Course at Ram Nagar, the ground-breaking of Shankaracharya Nagar at Rishikesh, and at the Maharishi Guru Poornima at Noida held in 1990. Work cited: "The Jyotirmath Sankaracharya Lineage in the 20th Century" by Vidyasankar Sundaresan - at the Indology Web Site: http://indology.info/papers/sundaresan/ On Wed, Jan 1, 2014 at 1:47 PM, Richard Williams <pundits...@gmail.com>wrote: > *An attack by some naked Naga sadhus in Haridwar!* > > The last Kumbh festival of this century is over, but not the war between > the Shankaracharyas of Jyotipeeth here. There are three of them claiming > that seat, established by Adi Shankaracharya who, in the eighth century, > walked all the way from his village Kalari, in Kerala, to the Himalayas to > meditate under a mulberry tree here to obtain enlightenment, bring to an > end through discourse the influence and control of Buddhism on the life of > the Indian people and revive Hinduism. According to what I've read, India > is just teeming with fighting ascetics. Go figure. > > "During the Kumbh of 2002, on the big bathing day of March 28, > Shankaracharya Swami Madhavashram was badly injured in an attack by some > naked Naga sadhus in Haridwar. One of his followers reported the attack to > the police and complained that it was provoked by a rival Shankaracharya, > Swami Vasudevanand. A few days later Swami Vasudevanand applied for and > obtained an anticipatory bail from the Allahabad High Court until the next > month. Swami Madhavashram, whose body is in plaster and bandages, told > Press persons that he had been receiving threatening phone calls from > followers of the other two claimants to the seat. The callers had > threatened to kill him soon, he added. > > Meanwhile, the people of Joshimath, where the high religious seat is > located, have decided that the issue must not been resolved through > attacks, but by a contest in religious discourse between them before men of > highest religious learning, who would then pronounce their verdict. The one > who is finally adjudged to be possessing greater knowledge would then be > made the Shankaracharya of Jyotispeeth. In Varanasi (Kashi), the city of > religious learning, the Vidwat Parishad, or the Council of the Enlightened, > met some days ago and, according to its spokesperson Shivji Upadhyaya, > passed a resolution condemning the attack on Swami Madhavashram, whom it > called the Jyotipeeth Shankaracharya. He said the Council did not accept > the claim of Swami Swaroopanand who had declared himself as the > Shankaracharya of both Jyotipeeth and Dwarkapeeth. > > According to the instructions left by the first Shankaracharya contained > in documented Shankar-Digvijaya, one person cannot be the Shankaracharya of > two "peeths" (seats). In that order, a religious leader who has traveled > abroad and taken un-sanctified food there, can also not occupy any > Shankaracharya seat. Swami Vasudevanand has travelled to China, Russia and > several African and European countries. In a separate statement, president > of the Parishad, Ram Prasad Tripathi called for the immediate arrest of > those involved in the attack on Swami Madhavashram. > > The conflict over the Jyotipeeth is almost 25-year-old. But physical > fights between the followers of the Shankaracharyas had stopped some five > years ago until the Haridwar attack. The Jyotipeeth seat had remained > vacant for 165 years, until late 1940s, because of the difficulty for a > Shankaracharya to walk all the way up to Joshimath. Then, with the help of > the Parishad, > > Swami Brahmanand, a revered North Indian sadhu was consecrated as the > Shankaracharya of Jyotispeeth. He passed away in 1953, after which a > struggle broke out for the seat. His disciple Swami Shantanand claimed that > his predecessor had left a written will nominating him, and subsequently > his followers declared him the Shankaracharya at a ceremony in Varanasi on > June 8, 1953. > > But two other sadhus, also mentioned in the will, refused to accept him. > So, on June 26, 1953, Swami Krishna Bodhashram was anointed as the > Shankaracharya of Jyotipeeth by learned men in Varanasi. He did not survive > long, and in 1972, Swami Swaroopanand succeeded him. Meanwhile, Swami > Shantanand had gone and taken over the property donated by the people of > Joshimath to the Shankaracharya. Swami Swaroopanand, on being consecrated, > proceeded to Joshimath and with his lathi-wielding followers tried to take > over the property, which included a large building called Math and a fruit > garden around it. Fights broke out with guns and lathis, in which Swami > Shantanand and his men won and he remained in control. Swami Swaroopanand > bought some land a little below the original seat area and built a larger > Math of his own on it. > > In early 1980s Swami Swaroopanand became the Shankaracharya of the > Dwarakapeeth also. Soon afterwards, the Parishad and others asked him to > choose to remain the Shankaracharya of only one of the peeths and give up > the other. He did not do so, and in 1993, the Council of Learned Men in > Varanasi made Swami Madhavashram the Shankaracharya of Jyotipeeth. In the > 1,200 year history of the Shankaracharya order, he is the first person from > the hills to be placed on that seat. As a result, there is great sympathy > and support for him in the region. > > Swami Shantanand, meanwhile, abdicated and placed his disciple Swami > Vishnudevanand on the seat. He lasted only a few years and willed that > Swami Vasudevanand be his successor. Now both Swami Swaroopanand and Swami > Vasudevanand though bitterly opposing each other, are one in saying that > Swami Madhavashram cannot call himself a Shankaracharya. Swami > Madhavashram, however, agrees that the issue should be settled by a debate > between the three which would demonstrate the level of their knowledge and > ability in the presence of the country's religious leaders." > > Works cited: > > "Hindustan Times" > The Fighting Ascetics of India > By Harish Chandola > JOSHIMATH, April 25, 2003 > > 'The Fighting Ascetics of India' > by J.N. Farquhar > University press, 1925 > > Fortified Temple of Fighting Ascetics: > http://tinyurl.com/2v82ze >
