Our Tradition

There are two types of traditions in India:

1

Pantha

The word pantha means ‘a path’. This refers to a path which has its origin in some charismatic personality. Perhaps such a personality has some skills or abilities that are not ordinary – which are quite unique. Perhaps they have some yoga-siddhis, some mystic power obtained by doing yoga-sadhana (practice), or from undergoing tapasya (austerity). They can perform some kind of magic, read minds or such things. This is very interesting and attractive for the common people, so then a big movement grows around that charismatic personality, and they prescribe various practices for their followers. Thus, a tradition begins which may go on for a hundred years or a thousand years. This is called a pantha. Some charismatic person creates a big impression on many people and a tradition begins.
2

Sampradaya

A sampradaya is not initiated by any human being. To understand this tradition, we need to understand more about the Vedic perspective. In Vedic culture, there is not one creation, but a cycle, exactly like the four seasons. When winter arrives, all the leaves on the trees die and fall off, but when spring comes, everything manifests again. Similarly, according to the Vedas, there is not one creation; rather, the creation is like the spring time of the universe. The universe is manifest and goes through its cycle of seasons (yugas) and then it is dissolved again. This constant cycle of creation and annihilation has no beginning and no end. It is the play of God’s material energy.

When, at the beginning of the creation, the first conscious being Brahma appears, he wonders, “Who am I? Where am I?” He does not know anything. After meditating for a long time, the vibration Om (AUM) appears in his heart by the mercy of God. This vibration is the seed (bij) of the Vedas. From this bij syllable manifests the first mantra, the Brahma Gayatri, which begins with om bhur bhuvah svah.

This mantra is called veda-mata, the mother of the Vedas, placed into the consciousness of the first living being at the dawn of creation. And the same happened in the previous spring and the previous spring, and it will continue in the past and in the future. That is why the vibration of the Vedic mantra is called apauruseya. This means it does not come from any purusa, any human being. After Brahma has taught the message of the Vedas to his disciple Narada, then Narada teaches it to his disciple Vyasa and so on. In this way a tradition comes down which was not started by any charismatic personality, but comes from the source of existence. Therefore, a line of gurus, a line of teachers which traces back thousands and thousands of years to the source of existence is called sampradaya. And each teacher in that sampradaya does not create his own idea, path or teaching; instead, he acts as a channel, a conduit for the transcendental vibration to pass through him to the next generation. All of this is explained in the Bhagavad-gita, which is like the Bible of India.

evam parampara-praptam

imam rajarsayo viduh

sa kaleneha mahata

yogo nastaha paran-tapa

“The transcendental knowledge of yoga descends from guru to disciple, beginning from the source of existence, and if that chain of succession is broken, then the knowledge is lost” (4.2).

However, there is not only one chain. In the Padma Purana, it is said:

ampradaya-vihinaa ye mantraas te nissphala matah

atah kalau bhavisyanti catvarah sampradayinah

sri-brahma-rudra-sanaka vaisnavah ksiti-pavanah

catvaras te kalau bhavya hy utkale purusottamat

ramanujam sri svicakre madhvacaryam caturmukhah

sri visnusvaminam rudro nimbadityam catuhsanah

It means, in this particular astrological period of time, called Kali-yuga (according to astrology, it began just over 5,000 years ago and it will continue for another 427,000 years), there are four sampradayas that remain intact:

The Brahma Sampradaya

From Lord Brahma
The Rudra Sampradaya

from Lord Siva
Sri Sampradaya

from Laksmi Devi
The Catuhsana Sampradaya

from the four Kumaras

When you come into the market place of philosophical discussion, first try to establish: What am I going to be dealing with? Am I dealing with a panth or with a sampradaya? Our particular tradition is the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya. It is the sampradaya coming from Brahma through the great saints, from the medieval saint Madhvacarya, to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and gradually down to the present day.

The knowledge which comes in a sampradaya is completely reliable. You can trust it and you can test it. And by testing it, you will not need to trust it because your test will turn into a direct experience.