Hinduism 101

Lesson 6: Important Sects and Revered Personages.

This lesson introducces the great religious figures in Hinduism from the ancient times to the current one. Not all such personages have been included but a fair number has been treated. Also has been treated the various major sects within Hinduism. The lesson ends with one test.

The Ancient Sages & Acharyas.

The Ancient Sages:

Innumerable Munis (Sages) and Rishis (Seers) of ancient India have, through the ages, compiled the scriptures that are today the binding force within Hinduism. Unfortunately, most of the lives of these great men are clouded by the mists of time and very little is known of them and their times. There are a few legends and myths that are based on the lives of a few of these great men but I have chosen not to include them here. Instead, I have only included the lives of those great religious figures that have definite historical records. In this section on Sages I have only included the name of one sage - Ved Vyasa who , though legendary, must be mentioned because of his paramount importance.

Ved Vyasa

Vyasa Dev is a legendary figure in Hinduism. He is the great sage who has written down the Vedas as they were revealed to him by the Gods. Thus, he is the initiator of the sruti literature on which all of Hinduism is based. In fact, Hindu scholars hold, that which is derived from the Vedas - The Vaidika - is what constitutes True Hinduism. Whatever else that has some other source is Avaidika and not Hinduism.

Vyasa is popularly known as Ved Vyasa as he has written down the Vedas. He is also credited with composition of the Mahabharata. Some scholars even go to the length of asserting that it is he who has written down the Puranas and many other ancient texts.

The main legend says that Vyasa Dev is born at the beginning of every Yuga to write down what is revealed by the Gods for the religion of the people of that Yuga. In this present Kaliyuga Vyasa Dev was born as Krishna Dvaipayana.

The Five Great Acharyas:

Shankaracharya is the first of the five great acharyas who reformed Hinduism by delivering the essence of the sacred texts to the common people. It should be noted that “Acharya” means “Great Teacher”. Before Shankaracharya the Vedic texts, the srutis, were orally studied and transmitted by and within a particular class of people, especially the Brahmins. They were written in a very esoteric language which was quite beyond the scope of the common people. The true catholicity of Hinduism was interpreted and revealed by Shankaracharya (Circa 788-820 A.D.), Ramanujacharya (11th century A.D.), Nimbarkacharya (11th century A.D.), Madhvacharya (13th century A.D.) and Vallabhacharya (1479-1531 A.D.) and it is to their credit that Hinduism is still such a respected religion in the world with numerous adherents. Present-day Hindu thought and philosophy, being studied the world over today, owes much to these five great men.

All these five great saints are believed to be Avatars sent down to earth to perform a definite mission – to deliver Humankind from the clutches of evil., a task they all performed impeccably well.

The Hindu scriptures list four types of avatars:

Purna (Full) – Lord Krishna, Lord Rama, etc.
Kala (Not full) – Matsya, Varaha, etc.
Amsa (Part) – Nara Narayan, etc.
Amsamsa (Part of the Part) – Sri Sankara, Sri Ramanuja, Sri Nimbarka, etc.

They all preached different forms of the same basic philosophy and it is discouraged to treat one as being greater than the other. That they propounded different schools of philosophy is not thought to be a disadvantage within Hinduism. Instead they established different paths to the same goal – the Godhead. People from different levels of spiritual development can find succor and be benefited. Thus, their diversity serves diverse peoples. They all gave rise to different schools of Vaishnavism. The Schools of Philosophy they founded are:

Shankaracharya – Kevala Advaita (Absolute Monism) .
Ramanujacharya – Vishishtadvaita (Qualified Nondualism).
Madhvacharya – Dvaita (Dualism).
Nimbarkacharya – Dvaitadvaita (Dualistic Dualism) .
Vallabhacharya – Suddhadvaita (Pure Monism).

Basically, the Hinduism of the Great Acharyas prescribes two main broad streams of philosophy -:

Advaita - This philosophy implies that God, The Nirguna Brahman - The One Without Attributes, and the individual souls are the same. The Brahman manifests Himself in the material world created by Him as The Saguna Brahman - The One with Attributes, and takes all forms for the better understanding of the Jivas. The Jivas, living beings, go through cycles of birth and death till they can attain salvation through complete purification and are liberated from the material world to unite with the Brahman. Gaudapada first propounded this philosophy in the 8th century A.D. and his disciple Govinda taught it to Sankaracharya who popularized it.
Dvaita - This philosophy implies that God and the individual souls are separate entities. Jivas escape from the cycle of briths and deaths through purification and liberation to reach their God’s Abode to live there in eternal bliss. The greatest proponent of this philosophy was Madhvacharya in the 13th century A.D.

Shankaracharya (Circa 788-820 A.D.):

Shankaracharya was born of poor but pious Nambudiri Brahmin parents in what is the state of Kerala today. From an early age he was inclined towards the ways of God. His father died when he was still a very young boy. He was an only child and, when he decided to renounce the worldly life in favor of a holy one, his mother resisted piteously. He somehow persuaded her to allow him the life of an ascetic though she managed to extract a promise from him to visit her death-bed and see to her funeral. A pious Hindu cannot die and go to heaven unless his or her son performs the funeral rites.

At that very early age Shankaracharya set out to find a teacher and found an ideal one in Govinda Bhagavadpada, a disciple of another great guru Gaudapadacharya who had advocated monism or Advaita. The philosophy taught him by his guru suited Shankaracharya perfectly. He was a very intelligent man. At that time Hinduism had degenerated into a mess of dogmas and rituals which all seemed meaningless to the common people but were perpetrated by the Brahmins, the priestly class, in whose interest it was to control the reigns of society by dictating the will of the Gods. There was such diversity of complex and expensive rituals that it seemed beyond the means of common people to achieve the grace of the Gods. In this bleak scenario more tolerant religions like Buddhism and Jainism, which themselves were reformist reactions against the evils of Hinduism, and which advocated simple personal devotion as a means of gaining salvation had gained much popularity to the detriment of Hinduism. Sankaracharya understood the common people’s problems in adhering to Hinduism in its complex state and set out to reform the religion onto a much more personal level.

Shankaracharya was a brilliant and convincing orator. In those days in India dialectics, logic and semantics were considered the only signs of great scholarship and the only way to win over others to one’s point of view was to argue at scholarly debates and win the arguments. Shankaracharya studied the succinct aphorisms of Badarayana in his Brahma Sutras and wrote a brilliant commentary on them which was accepted all over India. He also wrote commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads and other religious philosophical works. In his work Shankaracharya declared that the essence of the Vedas was that there was One God, who was without attributes, whose manifestation all else was. To make his doctrine available to everyone in India he traveled all over India with missionary zeal. He established four maths (monasteries) – at Kashmir in the North, Dwarka in the West, Puri in the East and Shringeri in the South. These institutions are still thriving today and millions of devotees flock to them to acquire knowledge of this great man and his way to God. This had been Shankaracharya’s main aim and he achieved it in a very short time. He lived for only 32 years but within that period he managed to place Hinduism on a sound footing not only in India but also in other neighboring countries. In the present age he is much appreciated all over the world and his Absolute Monism - Kevala Advaita, though very difficult to adhere to, is still a great source of inspiration not only to Hindus all over the world but also to theologians in general.

It must be said in conclusion to this great sage’s short biography that, in the end, he did not fail to keep his promise to his own mother. When it was time for her to die he was there by her side and, when she subsequently died, he, though an ascetic who had given up all contact with the outside world, arranged for her funeral.

Ramanujacharya:

In the year 1017 A.D. Ramanuja was born in the village of Perumbudur, in the state of Tamil Nadu. His father was Keshava Somaji and his mother was Kantimathi, a very pious and virtuous lady. Ramanuja’s Tamil name was Ilaya Perumal. At a very early age he lost his father. He persuaded his mother to let him set out of their village so that he could travel to one of the religious centers nearby and study under a Guru. He subsequently set out for Kanchipuram and started studying Advaita philosophy. His guru’s interpretation of the Vedas was not quite to his liking and, after a rather colorful round of argument and insults, he left his guru for a better one in Kanchipurna, a Sudra who was much revered in the Vishishtadvaita community of Tamil Nadu.

The Vishishtadvaita philosophy is Qualified Nondualism. Ramanuja quickly found the philosophy to his liking and soon adopted it for his own. According to interpretations of works left by him his Brahman is Sa-Visesha Brahman or Brahman with attributes. According to Ramanuja’s preachings Lord Narayana is Bhagwan or Supreme Being. The individual soul is Chit and all matter is Achit. The attributes are real and permanent but subject to the control of the Brahman. The attributes are called Prakaras or modes. Lord Narayana is the Ruler and Lord of the universe. All living things - Jivas are His servants and must worship Him and surrender to His will completely. The attributes are also called Shaktis and they are the manifest part of the Lord. He called his path of worship Bhakti. His followers are a particular sect among the main sect of the Vaishnavites.

Ramanuja, after thoroughly immersing himself in formulating his philosophy of God and the Causes of Creation set out of Kanchipuram to visit all the Vaishnavite Shrines in South India. He went about spreading his words and was widely accepted and revered wherever he went. Finally he reached Srirangam and settled there permanently He lived a long and colorful life of 120 years full of holiness and religious zeal. He had several maths built and temples to his Lord established there. He formulated rules of worship and religious etiquette. He strove for the rest of his life to rid society of the evils that had crept into it subsequent to the degradation of Hinduism. He converted thousands of common people to his faith, including many of the outcastes of the time whom he lovingly welcomed to his community. He demolished barriers of caste and creed and welcomed all wholeheartedly. His religious precepts were easy to follow and keep. He advocated personal worship or Bhakti through which anyone could attain God. This was the principle attractions of the branch of Hinduism he founded and thousands of people hungry for pointers to the right direction flocked to his maths to be converted. In this salient quiet and singularly orderly manner he set about reforming Hinduism into a much more acceptable set of tenets that have stood the ups and downs of the many years that have passed since.

Ramanuja was an excellent controversialist and wrote commentaries on many ancient texts. His commentary on Badarayana’s Brahma Sutras is known as Sri Bhashya. The Vishishtadvaita system was a very old one even at that time and Ramanuja followed the way of Bodhyana in this. Bodhyana had expounded this unique philosophy in his book Vritti written in 400 B.C. Ramanuja followed Bodhyana in his commentary on the Brahma Sutras. Ramanuja also wrote three other books - Vedanta Sara (Essence of the Vedanta), Vedanta Sangraha (Resume of the Vedanta) and Vedanta Deepa (Light of the Vedanta).

Ramanujacharya’s particular sect of Vaishnavites is called Sri Sampradaya and it still has an immense following today, especially in South India, the birthland of this great sage.

Madhvacharya:

Madhvacharya was born in around 1199 A.D. at a small village called Velali near Udipi in South Kanara district in South India. He was of Tula Brahmin birth born to Madhya Geha and Vedavati, a virtuous woman. His father named him Vasudeva.

Madhvacharya had an excellent physique and he could wrestle, run, jump and swim. People used to call him Bhima after the second Pandava brother in the Mahabharata. Madhva took up the study of the Vedas and the Vedangas early in his life and soon became well-versed in them. In his 25th year he took up Sanyash (Monkhood) and renounced the world. Achutaprakashacharya, a great guru at that time in Udipi, initiated him and thereafter he began to be known as Purna Prajna.

Achutaprakashacharya was so impressed by Madhva’s command over the scriptures, especially of the components of the Vedanta, that he soon made him head of his Math. Madhva now received the name Ananda Tirtha. He set out on a tour of Southern and Northern India. He preached to all and made many converts to his faith. He visited Badrinath, the Northern Dham, and, thereafter, returned to Udipi. Reinforced by both his studies and his travel experience he started to write his commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita and the Vedanta. He built several temples in Udipi to his Lord and acquired innumerable disciples. Udipi is still the center of the Madhva Sect and most orthodox Madhvas strive to visit Udipi at least once in a lifetime.

Madhva preached Advaita Philosophy. His sect is known as Sad Vaishnavism to distinguish it from the Sri Vaishnavism of Ramanujacharya. Madhva held that Vishnu or Narayana was the Supreme Being. This is the same as the doctrines of Ramanuja but Madhva’s philosophy has certain distinctions.

Madhva stipulated that all his followers heed the Pancha Bheda - five real and eternal distinctions -

The distinctions between the Supreme Being and the individual soul.
Between what is spiritual and material.
Between Jiva (living beings) and matter.
Between one Jiva and another.
Between one piece of matter and another.

Madhva preached that the worship of Vishnu consists in the following observances:

Ankana, marking the body with His symbols.
Namakarana, giving the names of the Lord to children.
Bhajana, singing of His glories.

Madhva laid much stress on Smarana - remembering the Lord at all times. He said – “Form a strong habit of remembering God. Then only will it be easy for you to remember Him at the moment of death.”

Madhva’s dualistic school of philosophy advocated that -

Renunciation, devotion and direct cognition of the Lord through meditation lead to salvation.
Those wanting salvation should study the Vedas, control the senses, have complete dispassion and practice perfect self-surrender to gain a vision of the Lord.

Madhva performed many miracles before he died. He is still remembered for the gentle faith he preached to all. His emphasis on personal devotion, as of the other great teachers, drew in many to Hinduism while it made it easy for those who were already Hindus to understand their religion better.

Nimbarkacharya:

In the 11th century A.D., at Vaiduryapattam on the banks of the River Godavari, in the state of Andhra Pradesh in Southern India, there was born a boy-child to a great ascetic Aruna Muni and his pious wife Jayanti Devi. The learned Brahmins around named him Niyamanandacharya. He also became known as Aruna Rishi and Haripriyacharya.

Niyamananda was sent to Rishikul to study the Vedas, Vedangas, Darshanas and other holy books. He mastered the scriptures in a short time. He was in his teens then and people were astonished at his knowledge and came to see and listen to him from miles around.

It is said that Niyamananda was visited by Brahma himself in the guise of a sanyasin and, pleased with his hospitality, given him the name Nimbarka - “Nim” – from the “Neem” tree, and “Arka” from the “Sun” or “Surya”. From then his disciples and others began calling him Nimbarkacharya.

Sri Nimbarkacharya is believed to be an avatar of Vishnu’s Chakra Sudarshan or discus.

Sri Nimbarkacharya was a person of great erudition and he composed a number of very important books:

Vedanta Parijat Saurabh – A commentary on the Brahma Sutras.
Sadachar Prakash – A commentary on the Bhagavad Gita.
Prata Smarana Stotram – A treatise on Seeking Refuge with the Supreme.
Savisesh Nirvisesh Sri Krishna Stavam – Hymns on Lord Krishna.

Besides these he also composed some more hymns and explanations to certain important mantras.

Sri Nimbarkacharya was an exponent of the Dvaitadvaita School of Philosophy. His followers worship Lord Krishna and His cowgirl lover Radha. To them the Bhagavad Gita is the most important scripture.

Sri Nimbarkacharya held that Jiva, living being, and the material world are both separate from yet identical to the Supreme Being, Brahman.

The sect he founded thrives prosperously at Mathura and Brindavan, principal centers of Radha-Krishna worship.

Vallabhacharya:

Vallabhacharya was born to Lakshmana Bhatta and Illama, pious Telugu Brahmins, at Champaranya in the present-day state of Madhya Pradesh in 1479 A.D. He lost his father when he was only 11 years old but, the very next year, he completed his studies of the Vedas, the 6 Darshanas and the 18 Puranas at Varanasi, where he had been sent to study. He started for Brindavan and from there he set out on a Parikrama (Tour) of holy places in India.

He returned to Varanasi and married Mahalakshmi and had two sons by her.

Vallabhacharya composed many works in both Sanskrit and Brij Bhasha, a local vernacular. His Sanskrit compositions are:

Vyasa Sutra Bhashya.
Jamini Sutra Bhashya.
Bhagavata Tika Subhodhini.
Pushti Pravala Maryada.
Siddhanta Rahasya.

Sri Vallabhacharya is said to be an avatar of Agni, the God of Fire.

This great saint was an exponent of Pure Monism or Suddhadvaita. Lord Krishna is the Highest Brahman. He is called Purushottama, The Supreme Male. His body is Satchidananda.

Sri Vallabhacharya’s sect is still thriving in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. His followers worship Bala Krishna, Lord Krishna as a boy. Vallabhacharya laid great stress on Pushti, divine grace, and Bhakti, devotion. Those who can achieve Maha Pushti, the highest grace, or Anuraga, attain the Godhead. All things are emanated from the Satchidananda or Akshara like sparks from fire.

Sri Vallabhacharya died in 1531 A.D. at Varanasi. He was a contemporary of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.