The Mahasabha of 1989
On December 24, 1989 the Mahasabha(Grand gathering/meeting) of the Sāraswats took place at Mumbai where Swamiji made His position regarding becoming the mathādhipati very clear to the community. He wanted the community to be one and the divisions to be mended. Swamiji had received several letters asking him to go back to become the head of the community. This was so that the Guru parampara could be continued if He accepted a shishya(disciple). He stated that some people still considered Him as an excommunicated guru and any disciple of His too would be considered as excommunicated.
Later the Mahasabha reached the conclusion that the guru parampara would be continued by that person whom Swamiji had accepted as a shishya(disciple) and that any other person anointed as the head of the community would not be part of the original Guru Parampara that started in 1708.
Given below are parts of the āshirvachan(spiritual discourse) Swamiji gave to the Mahasabha. The statements in parentheses are not part of the original lecture but added to give more information to the reader.
| “ | Regarding Mathadhipatya, We have been receiving hundreds and thousands of letters praying that We should resume Mathadhipatya. On the other hand, We have also been receiving a few letters(108) damning Us as Brishta Sanyasi(Excommunicated sanyasi) and that they would take every step to prevent Us from becoming a Mathadhipati of Shri Chitrapur Math. Lord Shiva is as fond of Sahasranāmavali(Sahasranama-Set of 1000 or more names of a God ) as of Ashtōttara(Collection of 8 names of a God). This Mahasabha should decide whether Swamiji should act as per the Sahasranāmavali or the Ashtōttara.
To our mind, if you want the Parampara founded by Adi Parijnanashram to continue, then we should come back as Mathadhipati. Even if we are to be Chitrapur Math Mathadhipati, we would not interfere with the administration. It is only when we as Mathadhipati initiate a Shishya that the present Guruparampara founded by Adi Parijnanashram Swamiji will continue. Or else any Shishya initiated by any other Mathadhipati will be starting a new parampara and the old one will end with Us. This parampara has lasted for over 200 years. Now if a Shishya initiated by any other Mathadhipati is accepted, you will be breaking the parampara founded by Adi Parijnanashram Swamiji and in any case it will not be the original Bhanap parampara. Even if we want to be the Mathadhipati, we have no desire to stay in Shirali. So the only purpose of our agreeing to come back as Mathadhipati is to enable the continuation of our present Guruparampara. If we were to initiate a boy as it is into sanyās, the same persons might call him as Brishta and prevent him from being Mathadhipati and hence Our wish to resume Mathadhipatya; otherwise We have no desire to be the Mathadhipati. Unfortunately some people have misinterpreted this in their own way. Let the Mahasabha decide on this question. We shall abide by its decision. |
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The Mahasabha then recorded a resolution :
RESOLVED that the only way to continue the present parampara founded by Adi Parijnanashram Swamiji is to install H.H.Parijnanashram Swamiji III as the Mathadhipati and accept a Shishya initiated by Him. Further RESOLVED that as per tradition, custom and usage, Chitrapur Saraswat community has accepted only that Shishya who has been initiated by our own Guru and in view of this tradition, it is our resolve that no other Shishya who is initiated by any other Sanyasi will be acceptable to the community.
Despite these decisions, the Kshamāyāchana(Letter of forgiveness) by members of the Karla Math(People who were strong supporters of Swamiji) to the present head of the Chitrapur Math, Swami Sadyojāt Shankarāshram in 2005, led to the mending of relations between the two sections of the community. Moreover, Swami Sadyojāt Shankarāshram accepted Swami Parijnānāshram III as his guru.(See Mending of relationships)
Read more about this topic: Parijnanashram III