Sankaracarya of the North

[Bijoy Misra]

I haven't followed this.  But couldn't understand the implication
of this posting.

Is this to understand:

a) the succession of Sankaracharyas is a political affair

b) India judicial system is corrupt

c) some shaven head people have more ego than humility

what is the research?

Bijoy Misra


On Tue, 27 Jan 1998, F. Smith wrote:

> I meant to post this a few days ago but have not had time to look in my
> notes of a trip I made to Joshimath / Jyotir Math in 1991. So what follows
> is from memory.
>
> In 1939 the well known Banaras Swami called Swami Karpatriji ("who uses
> his hand - kara - for a dinner plate pAtrI), who had been initiated into
> the da"snAmI order some years earlier by Brahmananda Sarasvati and given
> the name Svami Hariharananda Sarasvati, held a meeting in Allahabad to
> fill the vacant seat of the northern pI.th. In attendance, it is said,
> were the other Sankaracaryas (Kanchi excepted). The position went to
> Brahmananda Sarasvati himself, no surprise based on Karpatri's respected
> position.
>
> By the year 1953, when Brahmananda Sarasvati died, a rift developed
> between him and Karpatriji, and in his will Brahmananda left a list of his
> preferred successors, all of whom were his disciples, in order of
> preference. The first was Akhandananda Sarasvati, who by then had a big
> mission in Bombay, and turned down the position.. The next on the list was
> named Abhedananda Sarasvati. I didn't learn anything about him, but he
> also declined. The third was shantananda Sarasvati, who accepted. This, so
> the story goes, enraged Karpatriji, who decided to hold another
> convocation with other Shankaracaryas, in order to choose Brahmananda's
> successor. His authority, so it is said, was a passage in some
> Sankaradigvijaya which dictated this procedure. I do not know this
> passage, but maybe it's there. This supposedly "sAstrIya method then came
> into conflict with "tradition," namely a Sankaracarya or Mahant choosing
> his own successor. Karpatri held his meeting and selected someone whose
> name I only half remember" XYZ Ashram (Ashram is one of the da"snAmI"
> orders). I remember his photo from the wall at Jyotir Math: thin, shaved
> head, elderly. Thus began the lawsuits which I believe still are going on
> today. They were at least in 1991, with no end in sight, though they had
> reached the Allahabad High Court by then. XYZ Ashram died in 1972, after
> which Svarupananda Sarasvati, already Shankaracarya of Dvaraka, assumed
> the mantle of Jyotir Math. I believe he is still alive. Shantananda
> Sarasvati resigned his post in 1979(?), I believe, and was succeeded by
> Vishnudavananda Sarasvati. I believe he died a few years ago and another
> successor now occupies the gaddi. I have his name written down somewhere.
> Maybe someday I'll actually find it.
>
> The lawsuit ostensibly presented an interesting case of classical
> authority (the passage from an old Sanskrit text) vs. AcAra, the
> prevailing practice. I thought it might be a nice idea for a piece of
> research. I mentioned it to Richard Lariviere, who told me to forget it
> because (and why wasn't it obvious?) the case was probably moved through
> the courts by the usual mechanism: bribes. Which would have nullified
> most of the value of studying it. I have heard rumors that Svarupananda's
> side had won some of the legal skirmishes. Most of my information was from
> a vakil in Joshimath who had worked on the case in the 1960's. He gave me
> the name of a solicitor in Delhi who worked on it later, but I was not
> able to find him; perhaps he had died. He also gave me the name of a
> solicitor in Calcutta, but I never followed that up.
>
> The premises at Jyotir Math were divided in half, a fence between the
> lower section in the control of Svarupananda (this has a large lecture
> hall and an Ayurvedic dispensary) and the upper part, under the control of
> Shantananda and his successors (this has the major temples, homa ku.n.das,
> and residential space).
>
> If ever I can find my notes, I will tell all, so to speak, if anyone is
> interested.
>
> Fred Smith
> University of Iowa
>