The authentic Hindu religious tradition prescribed a much more austere anointing procedure. The Sanskrit scripture Mathamnaya Upanishad clearly lays down the shankaracharyas’ selection process and in Mahanushashan Upanishad are listed the rules
for eligibility. It is a foolproof process. The tradition is that shankaracharyas anoint their successors during their lifetime; following which the anointed person is granted recognition by the Kashi Vidvat Parishad. This is a 150-year-old organisation with 35 living members -- most of them eminent Sankrit scholars. So how come things have gone so horribly wrong? For, barring minor disputes over posts and perks, there seems nothing much wrong with the KVP’s activities. The rot that has set in is entirely due to various vested interests, which have raised at least three similar sounding committees like the Varanasi Vidvat Parisgad, the Varanaseya Vidvat Parishad and the Akhil Bhartiya Vidvat Parishad. And bodies like these have been covertly selling degrees and posts – with the result that dozens of self-styled shankaracharyas have sprung up in different parts of the country.
The life sketches of the likes of Sudhakar Dwivedi show how these nondescript people, who somehow found the money to buy their grandiloquent titles, came to sully and ultimately criminalise the faith. Dwivedi, the son of a police sub-inspector (who retired early this month) quit his job in 1993 to become Swami Amritanand. And then, along with his friend Rajesh Pachauri, he set up the Sharda Sarvagyapeeth in 1999. In 2003 he moved to
Kashmir where he declared himself a shankaracharya.
The septuagenarian Shastri vividly remembers the 2003 developments. “KVP vice- president Ram Yatna Shukla and its spokesman Shivji Upadhyaya came to me with Pachauri to say they had convened a meeting of the KVP executive to anoint Amritanand as shankaracharya of Jammu. And they claimed to have the support of other KVP members like Adya Pradas Mishra, Rammurthy Chaturvedi, Rajeshwar Upadhyay, Vashishtha Tripathi and Paras Nath Tripathi. I objected on two counts. One, Jammu isn’t a peeth. The northern seat of Shankaracharya is in Badrinath. And two, I came to know that Dwivedi had two wives and that the matter was in court.”...Continue
for eligibility. It is a foolproof process. The tradition is that shankaracharyas anoint their successors during their lifetime; following which the anointed person is granted recognition by the Kashi Vidvat Parishad. This is a 150-year-old organisation with 35 living members -- most of them eminent Sankrit scholars. So how come things have gone so horribly wrong? For, barring minor disputes over posts and perks, there seems nothing much wrong with the KVP’s activities. The rot that has set in is entirely due to various vested interests, which have raised at least three similar sounding committees like the Varanasi Vidvat Parisgad, the Varanaseya Vidvat Parishad and the Akhil Bhartiya Vidvat Parishad. And bodies like these have been covertly selling degrees and posts – with the result that dozens of self-styled shankaracharyas have sprung up in different parts of the country.The life sketches of the likes of Sudhakar Dwivedi show how these nondescript people, who somehow found the money to buy their grandiloquent titles, came to sully and ultimately criminalise the faith. Dwivedi, the son of a police sub-inspector (who retired early this month) quit his job in 1993 to become Swami Amritanand. And then, along with his friend Rajesh Pachauri, he set up the Sharda Sarvagyapeeth in 1999. In 2003 he moved to
Kashmir where he declared himself a shankaracharya.The septuagenarian Shastri vividly remembers the 2003 developments. “KVP vice- president Ram Yatna Shukla and its spokesman Shivji Upadhyaya came to me with Pachauri to say they had convened a meeting of the KVP executive to anoint Amritanand as shankaracharya of Jammu. And they claimed to have the support of other KVP members like Adya Pradas Mishra, Rammurthy Chaturvedi, Rajeshwar Upadhyay, Vashishtha Tripathi and Paras Nath Tripathi. I objected on two counts. One, Jammu isn’t a peeth. The northern seat of Shankaracharya is in Badrinath. And two, I came to know that Dwivedi had two wives and that the matter was in court.”...Continue
