[Advaita-l] Sureshvaracharya

[Sunil Bhattacharjya]

Michaelji,

Your question needs detailed reply but I shall try to make it as brief as possible. In Hinduism, in general,  the dead body of a child younger than two years and that of a sanyashi are not cremated.

When a person takes to sanyasha he has to  perfform his own shraddha, which is called   "Atmashraaddha. This means he has to burn an effigy of himself as a symbol of cremating his own dead body and then he has to perform his own last rites. The he has to start  wearing red or ochre robes, which resembles fire, such that it would remind him that he had already been through his own cremation and that he had already left the material world. Therefore he does not need to be cremated again when heactually dies. After death, but before the "rigour Mortis" sets in, the dead body of the sanyashi is put in a yogic positiuon, if he is not already in the Yogic position when he died. The sanyashis generally die in their yogic position as they come to know when their end is near. There is another reason too. The sanyashis do not have any special parental relation with their biological children and all  men (women included) are considered to be their children.
 Further the sanyashis are not supposed to stay in any one place for long time (probably not more than one week) except in the Chaturmaas, which was originally for four months but some sanyashis observe it only for four fortnights. Thus a sanyashi may die in any place. It then becomes the duty of the grihasthis, who find the sanyashi dead, to  bury the latter's dead body  but without any obligation to perform any any funeral rites. If any knowledgeable member has any more information on this he may please let us know.

The Maths established by Adi Sankaracharya had all along only sanyashi Mathadhipatis. Most of them were Sanyashi from their childhood except in one math, where a grihasthi-turned-sanyashi could also become Mathadhipati. The mathadhipatis always travel wth their  disciples and other followers. So their disciples had known when and where the mathadhipatis died. Sometime back I read that the Sringeri math has the record of the samadhis of the past Mathadhipatis. Being a yajurvedi I do have ancestral link with the Sringeri math and I  do respect the Swamiji of the Sringeri math. I had been to the Sringeri math once in the late eighties but unfortunately at that time the Swamiji was away from Sringeri. 

Sunil


 

--- On Sun, 8/30/09, Michael Shepherd <michael at shepherd87.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:

From: Michael Shepherd <michael at shepherd87.fsnet.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Sureshvaracharya
To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Date: Sunday, August 30, 2009, 3:23 AM

Sunilji

It does raise a question for me : has there been a strict tradition of
burial rather than burning for acarya after mahasamadhi -- and of what rank?

I may be speaking out of turn here : but there may be mixed feelings when a
math becomes a popular shrine ?

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
[mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org]On Behalf Of Sunil
Bhattacharjya
Sent: 30 August 2009 00:29
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Sureshvaracharya



Mihaelji,
 
Yes, Prakashananda Saraswatiji says in page 491 of that book, as follows:
 
Quote
 
Shankaracharya, after establishing the main four maths and spreading the
greatness of Sanatana Dharm, came back to South india and for the last four
to six years of his life he lived in Kanchi Kamakoti. Thus, Kanchi Kamakoti
is also called the fifth math.
 
Unquote
 
This is my perception too. Adi Sankaracharya reportedly called
Sureshwaracharya to take care of  and guide the young initiate, who was put
in charge of the Kanchi Kamakoti math just before his death. This also
suggests that initially Kanchi Kamakoti math was more like a branch of the
Sringeri math, till they had to sever the tie when the political
relationship of the two zones of location of the two maths deteriorated.
Then the Kanchi kamakoti math had to declare independence and subsequently
due to some political troublte the math had to be shifted to Kumbhakonam for
quite a long time, till it returned to Kanchi Kamakoti. Thus it may be a
fact that  the Samadhi (ie. the burial place) of Shri Sureshvaracharya is in
Kanchi Kamakoti. But has this been corroborated by the record of the
Sringeri math or does the Sringeri math have any alternative location for
the Samadhi-sthal of Shri Sureshvaracharya?
 
Secondly everybody agrees that Shri suraeshvaracharya was appointed as the
pontiff of the Sringeri math. Why then the Kudali-Sringeri claims that it is
the real Sringeri and that Swami Vidyasankara was also the Mathadhipati of
that math? When a Muslim general attacked the region then Vidyasankara
swami had to leave Kudali Sringeri and there is a monument (not samadhi)
there in memory of him. The Sringeri math too has a monument in memory of
Vidyasankara Swami  but not his samadhi-sthal. The big question is where is
the Samadhi-sthal of Vidyasankara Swami located? 
 
The Sringeri record regarding the Samadhi-sthals of Shri Sureshvaracharya
and Vidyasankara swami will unravel these mysteries.
 
Regards,
 
Sunil K. Bhattacharjya
 


--- On Sat, 8/29/09, Michael Shepherd <michael at shepherd87.fsnet.co.uk>
wrote:


From: Michael Shepherd <michael at shepherd87.fsnet.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Sureshvaracharya
To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta"
<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Date: Saturday, August 29, 2009, 3:42 AM


Sunil ji,

Prakashanand Saraswati has done his best to assemble the evidence or lack of
it in his 2001 book 'The true history and the religion of India'. Some of
the relevant section can be googled onscreen...

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
[mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org]On Behalf Of Sunil
Bhattacharjya
Sent: 29 August 2009 00:49
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Sureshvaracharya



Dear friends,
 
Apart from the rival claims of two places for having the burial place of Adi
Sankaracharya there seems to be some confusion regarding the affiliated
Mutts of the two later great Advaita Acharyas.  Hope this will be of
interest to you all the members of the list.
 
Firstly it is about Shri Sureshvaracharya. He was the first pontiff of the
Sringeri Mutt, apointed by Adi Sankaracharya himself. I also understand the
the Sringeri Mutt has the details of the burial-places of all the past
Mathadhipatis. Then the Kudali Mutt (also called the Kudali-Sringeri
Mutt) claims to have had him with that Mutt. The Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt even
went further to claim that they have the burial place of Shri
Sureshvaracharya in Kanchi and the place is still preserved. Has any of the
learned members thought about this confusion as to where exactly is the real
burial place of Shri Sureshvaracharya?
 
Similarly both the Sringeri and the Kudali Mutts claim to have had
Vidyasankara Swami with them and there are monuments dedicated to him in
both the places.How can that happen? Is any learned member aware of any 
research done on this?
 
Regards,
 
Sunil K. Bhattacharya
 
 



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