doubts regarding sannyasa system in gaudiya vaishnavism.

[sambya]

well, this has been a question that has been lingering on in my mind for long without any satisfactory answers .

here's the doubt----

sri chaitanya mahaprabhu took initiation into the puri sampradaya of dasanami monkhood as started by sripada sankaracharaya . consequently he had to do away with his shikha and sutra in the fires of viraja homa as an essential prerequisite to enter into sannyasa .

modern gaudiya leneage as reformed by sri bhaktisiddhanta saraswati and bhaktivinoda thakur allows sannyasis with thread(sutra) and shikha intact . this , i have learned , is called tridandi sannyas . i dont know whether this method of keeping shikha and sutra was also prevelent with the goswamis of advaita and nityananda vamsa before BSST and BVT .

modern pictures of post sannyasa mahaprabhu , commissioned by iskcon wrongly show him with a shikha and sutra .

at the same time the gaudiya lineage of sannyasa is claimed to have been flowing in from chaitanya mahaprabhu . how is this possible ?!!!

[Krsna Das]

well, this has been a question that has been lingering on in my mind for long without any satisfactory answers .

here's the doubt----

sri chaitanya mahaprabhu took initiation into the puri sampradaya of dasanami monkhood as started by sripada sankaracharaya . consequently he had to do away with his shikha and sutra in the fires of viraja homa as an essential prerequisite to enter into sannyasa .

modern gaudiya leneage as reformed by sri bhaktisiddhanta saraswati and bhaktivinoda thakur allows sannyasis with thread(sutra) and shikha intact . this , i have learned , is called tridandi sannyas . i dont know whether this method of keeping shikha and sutra was also prevelent with the goswamis of advaita and nityananda vamsa before BSST and BVT .

modern pictures of post sannyasa mahaprabhu , commissioned by iskcon wrongly show him with a shikha and sutra .

at the same time the gaudiya lineage of sannyasa is claimed to have been flowing in from chaitanya mahaprabhu . how is this possible ?!!!

Dandavat Pranamas Sambya Ji,

Please read this : [ http://vedabase.net/cc/madhya/3/6/en ]

This is a verse spoken by Mahaprabhu after his sanyasa-cerimony. This verse exists in SB.

You can read the purport by Srila Prabhupada and he mentions that although Mahaprabhu accepted sanyasa from a Mayavadi sanyasi, Mahaprabhu quoted this verse to explain that he was infact a tridandi-sanyasi. However later, Nityananda Prabhu had his danda broken into pieces (I hope you know this pasttime) in order to give the message that he is Supreme Person himself and does not really require sanyas.

Mahaprabhu took sanyas because people, on seeing him, out of their ignorance, did not offer dandavats to him (because they did not know that he was Krsna himself). In this way they, unknowlingly committed apradha. So he accepted sanyas, because it is a norm to offer respect immediatley on seeing a sanyasi.

Hari Bol.

[sambya]

dandavats krishna dasa .

thanks for attempting to solve my doubt . however the question remains unanswered as ever . i shall explain why .

to begin with let me clarify that im not a gaudiya vaishnava follower although mahaprabhu and many parts of GV philisophy is respected by me .

to every religious character in world history there are two parts--their religious identity and the historical identity . i feel that both are innacurate to some extent . the historians restrict themselves to gross history that has to be attested by a dozen contemporary written proofs in order to believe it . and a devotee of that particular person runs the risk of exxagerating his masters pastimes coming under influence of guru bhakti . so i think a correct and well thought synthesis of both their opinions is needed to unravel the real man hindden within annals of scriptures .

when i started this thread , however , i was more concerned with the historical perspective on this .

sannyasa system before the time of sankaracharya is lost today without any trace . although guru shishya relations were always there in india , most historians feel that organised order of sannyasa and mutt-system was not there in those times . an aspirant for sannyasa had to renounce alone and live alone(sometimes in small groups) . sankaracharya brought together the crumbling hindu social structure and started the ten-named snnayasa system with four mutts all over india . since then this form of sannyasa prevailed .

mahaprabu did cut off his shikha and hairs while accepting sannyasa . but why does modern pictures of iskcon show him with a shikha ?! he might have been a tridandi sannyasa at his heart but that was not how he looked externally .

the explanation given in the link is not satisfactory beacuse such sayings are very common to bridge up the missing link ! im curious to know the historical explanation .

firstly where did this tridandi sannyasa originate ? in other words where did prabhodananda saraswati get his tridandi sannyasa ?

im not saying that mahaprabhu was a hidden advaitin . i can understand his love for krishna and his teachings that sannyasa without complete surrendur to god is no sannyasa at all . but mahaprabhu did away with shikha sutra while his later devotees does not . where is the missing link ? where is this tridandi sannyasa originating from ? the sloka of rupa goswami in the link also does not give any direct or indirect reference to tridandi sannyasa . the whole things becomes vague and unclear !!:dunno: