Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math 2 [Correction]

[Dominik Wujastyk]

My colleague adds the following:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 12:27:27 -0500
Subject: Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math 2


Ooops, sorry when I wrote my previous email it was very late last night
and I made a mistake. The current Shankaracharya recognized by Maharishi's
movement is Vasudevanand. He's presiding at the Kumbha Mela that is
happening now in Haridwar.

It was Shantanand who just passed away this last February. Vishnudevanand
passed away some time ago. Vasudevanand was a disciple of Shantanand.

To my knowledge there was never any ill-will between Shantanand and
Vishnudevanand and they often appeared together at our movement yagyas.
One of my Indian friends was just initiated into Brahmacharya by
Vasudevanand a few weeks ago. By the way, although Shantanand may have
been a simple man and may not have been as flashy as some people may like,
my friends that have seen him said that his darshan was extremely
powerful. He was obviously a highly enlightened yogi.

One interesting thing came up [recently].  Several people mentioned that
in 1986 there was a decision by the U.P. High Court that decided the
controversy about Jyotir Math in favor of Vishnudevanand and as part of
the decision offered Dwaraka Peeth to Swarupanand so that everyone would
be happy. I guess he took Dwaraka and decided to hold on to Jyotir Math
also. Anyway, its all a big mess [...] :-)


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-- DW