Thus Spake the Divine - Guru Parampara

Thus Spake the Divine

Guru Parampara

When I say “Advaita Acharya”, what comes to your minds is our own Acharya, Sri Shankara Bhagavadpada, isn’t it? Of course, it was Shankara Bhagavadpada, the incarnation of Lord Parameshvara, who expounded Advaita Vedanta and strengthened its foundations. However, this does not mean that He was the one who invented the doctrine of Advaita. There are mentions of Advaita much before him, even in the Veda, the very fi rst text (Grantham). Rather, it is even not correct to call Veda as the fi rst Grantham, as Veda was existent even before the creation of this Universe. Brahma created the entire Universe keeping Veda as the blueprint. All Upanishads, known as Veda Shiras (Heads of Veda), have a mention of Advaita philosophy. Lord Krishna, in His Bhagavad Gita, proclaims “Advaita” as the ultimate goal of an individual.

(While Gita is popularly associated only with Bhagavad Gita, there are also other Gitas, such as Devi Gita, Shiva Gita etc., which contain the great Puranas of the respective Gods or Goddesses. Even in such Gitas, only Advaita Philosophy stands as the ultimate pillar). Then followed the many Preceptors of Advaita, including our Acharya, Shankara Bhagavadpada.

Let us have a look at the list of Advaita Parampara (lineage of Advaita Acharyas). It is customary to fi rst extend Namaskaram to Dakshinamurti, the fi rst and foremost Guru, followed by Dattatreya, Narayana and Brahma as predecessors of the Advaita Parampara. After these God-cum-Acharyas, there emerged the class of Rishis, who propagated Advaita Philosophy as in fatherto-son lineage. These were Vashishtha, Shakti, Parashara and Vyasa.

At this juncture, I would like to dwell on the point that Rishis should not be treated on par with mortals, the human beings. Rishis belong to a unique class. They are endowed with extraordinary supernatural psychic powers. They can comprehend, hear, see or do what cannot be comprehended, heard, seen or done by human beings.

They are endowed with extraordinary mystic powers of experiencing the breaths of Paramatma permeating through the ether in the form of sounds and vibrations and deciphering them into powerful Mantras. Rishis are thus not to be equated with normal human beings.

Let us see the substantiating factors to zero in on Rishis as a separate class. For this, we will have to deviate a little and understand the basic classifi cations in this Cosmos.

The consecration (installation) of God’s idols in temples is classifi ed into fi ve types. They are:

1. Svayam Vyakta (Self-manifestation): This is when a Devata emerges on its own in the form of an idol or Linga. It is known as Swayambhu in Sanskrit, which means self-manifested or created of its own accord. We see Svayambhu Lingas in many Shiva temples, which are the Jyotir Linga Kshetras. Similarly, Vaishnavites have the following eight Kshetras, which are Svayam Vyakta Kshetras. They are: Srirangam, Tirupati, Badrinath, Srimushnam, Naimisharanyam, Pushkaram, Shalagramam and Nanguneri.

2. Daivika (Divine): This is when Devas consecrate the idols. In Kanchipuram, Ambal Herself moulded the mud into a Linga. In Tiruveezhimizhalai, Maha Vishnu Himself consecrated the Linga. There are stories that in many temples, Indra himself consecrated Shiva and Vishnu idols and performed Puja to them to eradicate his sins accumulated because of his erstwhile actions.

3. Asura: This is exactly opposite to Daivikam. Here, Asuras consecrate the idols. The temples Tiruchirapalli (Trichy) and Onakantan in Kanchipuram are places where Asuras consecrated the idols of Gods.

4. Manusha: Manusham means “Human” and you will easily understand that these are idols and statues consecrated by Kings and other devotees.

5. Arsha: These are consecrated by Rishis. In Kutralam, Agastya Maharishi consecrated the idol, while Vashishtha did the same in Sikkal, Durvasa in Tirukalar, and Jambu Maharishi in Tiruvanaikka. I am pondering on these points only to underline that Rishis cannot be treated on par with mortals. While, generally, we say

Deva-jati, Asura-jati and Manusha-jati, there is also yet another class of Rishis, which should be treated as a separate entity from human mortals.

Significantly, when we perform “Tarpanam” (an offering to dead ancestors), we have classifi cations, such as Deva Tarpanam, Pitru Tarpanam and Rishi Tarpanam.

Now, let us come back to the Guru Parampara of Advaita Acharyas. We have already seen the spiritual lineage of Advaita. After Vyasa, the lineage did not continue as from father to son, but from Guru to disciple. Shuka, the son of Vyasa (known as Shuka Brahmam), was a celibate. Hence, after him, the Advaita lineage spread through disciples.

After Shuka came Saint Gaudapada. Gaudapada was a Sanyasi and he was followed by his disciple Govinda Bhagavadpada as Preceptor of Advaita. Our Acharya, Sri Shankara Bhagavadpada was the disciple of Govinda Bhagavadpada. The saints who emerged as Acharyas after Shuka, are known as Parivrajaka. Please note that all Rishis are not Sanyasis, who have completely renounced the worldly life. There are some Rishis who had lived with their wives. Arundhati was the wife of Vashishtha Maharishi and Anasuya the spouse of Atri Maharishi. Rishis have to follow rituals, such as Yajnya and Yajnyopaveetam (wearing sacred thread). Sanyasis are not bound by these kinds of rituals. Even though being the incarnation of Lord Parameshvara, our Acharya lived the life of a human being and accomplished his mission. His eminence can be seen in resurrection of the Advaita philosophy as well as Vedic Dharma expounded by Him.

Govinda Bhagavadpada, being the immediate Guru of Shankara Bhagavadpada, gets a remarkable place in the Advaita Guru Parampara. Even our own Acharya, in His eternal composition Bhaja Govindam, directs people to chant the name of Govinda three times (Bhaja Govindam, Bhaja Govindam, Bhaja Govindam). While doing so, I think, along with Lord Krishna, he also recalls his own Guru Govinda Bhagavadpada! Even though there are innumerable names for addressing Vishnu, our Acharya selected the name “Govinda” only because it was the name of His own Guru!

Advaita Guru Parampara is also called Brahma Vidya Sampradaya Karta. (Here is elaboration of the shloka, which contains the entire lineage of Advaita.)

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.