Paramparä and Parivära in Gauòéya Sampradäya …!
Question- MAHÄRÄJA JÉ! One Balräma Däsa is asking, what is the difference between a Parivära and a Paramparä? He said that he heard the name Gauòéya Vaiñëava Paramparä. Then he also heard the names, Nityänanda Parivära and Advaita Parivära. So, he is asking the difference between the two. Kindly please clear his confusion.
MAHÄRÄJA JÉ- It’s a very important question. All Gauòéya Vaiñëavas must know the difference between Parivära and Paramparä in Gauòéya Vaiñëava Sampradäya.
See, you go to any Sampradäya, they just have one tilaka. You go to Rämänuja Sampradäya, you go to Radha Vallabhi Sampradäya, Nimbärki Sampradäya. They just have one tilaka. And everyone puts up that tilaka only. But when you come to Gauòéya Vaiñëava Sampradäya, you will see dozens of different tilakas. The question is- how is it so?
Well, we must understand this esoteric point in Gauòéya Vaiñëava Sampradäya. See, Lord Nityänanda, He puts a specific kind of Eternal Tilaka in the Spiritual World, Navadvépa. Lord Advaitäcärya, He puts a specific Tilaka in Nitya Navadvépa. It is kind of circular on the nose. Narahari Sarakära Öhäkura puts up a different tilaka. Vakreçvara Paëòita puts up a different tilaka. Gadädhara Paëòita puts up a different tilaka. Çréväsa Paëòita, Jéva Gosvämé, Narottama Däsa Öhäkura, Çyämänanda Prabhu- They all wear different types of Tilakas. And all of Them are bonafide. Why? Because They are Lord Gauräìga’s Eternal Pärñadas.
This way, all the Eternal Pärñadas in the Spiritual World, put up different Tilakas. And whosoever is taking initiation.. Let’s say, Lord Nityänanda gave initiation to 50 people. Then, they initiated, let’s say, Räma Däsa, Keçava Däsa. Then Räma Däsa initiated many more and Keçava Däsa initiated many more.
Like this, paramparä started in Nityänanda Parivära. So Parivära is, whosoever is taking initiation in Lord Nityänanda’s lineage, he is in Lord Nityänanda’s family. It is called Nityänanda Parivära. In the Nityänanda family… Nityänanda Parivära, he has got initiation.
And from a specific Räma Däsa or Keçava Däsa, from where he has got initiation, that is called Paramparä. They are all originally from Lord Nityänanda.
Similarly, Lord Advaitäcärya. He initiated 50 people and from them, many others got initiated. So, whosoever is getting initiated, they are all in Advaita Parivära. But Paramparä is different because there are many Saints who give dékñä in Advaita Parivära, so they are in different Paramparä. But all are under the root of Advaita family.
Similarly, Gadädhara Parivära, Vakreçvara Parivära. There are so many Pariväras. And how to know whether we are in a bonafide paramparä or not?
A bonafide Paramparä, first of all, has to be in a Particular Parivära. All our Guru must be in a Particular Parivära. Only then, it’s a Bonafide Paramparä. It is not that we can put one Guru from Vakreçvara Parivära, one Guru from Narahari Sarakära Parivära, one Guru from Advaita Parivära…and make it a Paramparä. No, it is not so! All our Guru-varga must be in the same Parivära. Only then, it can be a bonafide Paramparä, otherwise, it is not bonafide, it is broken!
And the Tilaka here which we get at the time of initiation in Pariväras, is Eternal Tilaka. The tilaka which we are putting on our body right now, this tilaka only we are going to put in Nitya Navadvépa, in the spiritual world Navadvépa. Every day we are going to put on this tilaka. And every day we are going to see this tilaka on the forehead of Lord Nityänanda as well! All our Guru-varga will be putting up this tilaka only. Jagannätha Däsa Bäbäjé also puts this tilaka. He is from Nityänanda Parivära. And Gaura Kiçora Däsa Bäbäjé puts up a circular tilaka. He is from Advaita Parivära. Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura, Jagannätha Däsa Bäbäjé, Gaura Kiçora Däsa Bäbäjé..
For information I can tell you, they can never be in the same Parivära in eternity- past, present or future, they can never be in the same Parivära. I will tell you an example…why?
As has been told earlier as well, that in Çréväsa äìgana, every night Mahäprabhu with all His Pärñadas- Advaita, Nitäi, Gadädhara Paëòita, Svarüpa Damodara- They all perform saìkértana and then, all of Them sleep there after the saìkértana. After the night pastimes, They all get up there.
Similarly, we all, who are initiated in a particular lineage…let’s say we are from Nityänanda family, so we along with our Guru-varga, we stay where Lord Nityänanda stays. We stay nearby Lord Nityänanda’s residence.
Similarly, those who are initiated from Lord Advaita, they all stay near Lord Advaita. And those who got initiated from Vakreçvara Parivära, they all get a place to stay near Vakreçvara Paëòita. It is not that whimsically we live anywhere, we sleep anywhere in the spiritual world. No. We sleep at a particular place given to us by our lineage. Someone got initiated from Gadädhara Paëòita Parivära. So, they get a place to stay where Gadädhara Paëòita stays. They stay around Gadädhara Paëòita.
And in the morning when we get up, we wash our hands etc. Then we wash the hands of our Gurudeva and His lotus feet as well. Then we all do the same service to our entire Guru-varga. Our Guru, then His Guru, then His Guru, then His Guru…, till Lord Nityänanda!
So, when we have washed our hands, we have freshened up, then we altogether…all…let’s say, we are from Nityänanda Parivära, all of us together, we all approach Lord Nityänanda. Then all of us go together and meet Lord Gauräìga and we serve Him. Similarly, all the devotees who are in Advaita Paramparä, they all serve their respective Gurus and their further entire Guru lineage. They together meet Lord Advaitäcärya and then together they come and greet Lord Gauräìga and they serve Him.
Similarly, it happens in all the bonafide lineages in the entire Gauòéya Vaiñëava Sampradäya. Whether it is Gadädhara Paëòita, or whether it is Vakreçvara Paëòita, or whether it is Narahari Sarakära Öhäkura. There is no inter-mingling of different saints from different Pariväras. They stay with their separate Parivära, perfectly content. It is not that “O! I wish I was in Parivära, Sampradäya of Gaura Kiçora Däsa Bäbäjé.” “O! I wish I was with Jagannätha Däsa Bäbäjé.” It is not like that. You don’t crave for anything. You only got Lord Gauräìga and your Guru-varga. You are absolutely fine with it.
Çréla Gaura Kiçora Däsa Bäbäjé never mixes in his service with Jagannätha Däsa Bäbäjé or Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura because He is from Advaita Parivära and they are from Nityänanda Parivära. They cannot be put in the same altar. Guru-varga of the same Parivära are put in the same altar. If one is initiated in Advaita Parivära, only then Gaura Kiçora Däsa Bäbäjé will be there in their altar.
So those who put all three of them in the same altar…Gaura Kiçora Däsa Bäbäjé, Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura and Jagannätha Däsa Bäbäjé. Please understand that this is not a proper paramparä, since it is not coming from a proper Parivära. Only a paramparä which is coming in a Parivära, that is called a bonafide paramparä. All Gurus have to be in the same lineage.
And no one in the Spiritual World wears saffron cloth. No one wears saffron cloth in the Spiritual World. We all wear white clothes. We all, Guru, everyone’s Guru. They all wear white clothes. Even Gadädhara Paëòita and Çréväsa Paëòita wear white cloth. Lord Gauräìga and Lord Nityänanda, They only wear colourful clothes. Otherwise, everyone is in complete white, top to bottom. No one is in saffron.
How to know if we are in a proper paramparä or not? If we wish to know whether we are in a proper paramparä or not, we must go from top to bottom. Who is our Guru? Who is His Guru? Who is His Guru? Up To our original Parivära.
In our case, we must go upto Lord Nityänanda. The entire paramparä, we must know our Gurudeva- Çréla Ananta Däsa Bäbäjé, His Gurudeva- Çréla Kuïja Bihäré Däsa Bäbäjé Mahäräja…, like this…, till Lord Nityänanda, we must know. It is not that we have 3-4 Gurus in our paramparä and after that, we don’t know who our Guru-varga is? We all know our entire Guru-varga. Like we even have Guru-varga of Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura. We have given our Guru-varga also in our Granthas. So, it is around 17 Gurus or 16 Gurus. We all must know from the start till Lord Nityänanda, if we are in Lord Nityänanda’s lineage.
And whosoever is in Vakreçvara Paëòita lineage, they all must know all the Gurus till Vakreçvara Paëòita. Then only it can be called Guru-varga. And then only, you can be sure that you are in proper paramparä, unbroken paramparä, bonafide paramparä.
If you don’t even know your Guru-varga, be very clear that you are being cheated, you are being robbed off what you can really get. And we must know and understand that paramparä is not created. You cannot create a paramparä. Just as you make a vegetable, you cannot make a paramparä. It is not something which you can do.
Paramparä is something which eternally exists, for all time to come, for eternity. Eternally paramparä exists. No one can make any paramparä. O! I have put Gaura Kiçora Däsa Bäbäjé because I like him. Someone likes someone else, so they can put their other Guru. No, it is not a paramparä. No one can create a paramparä. Either it is or it is not.
Gaura Kiçora Däsa Bäbäjé is in Advaita Parivära. He is not in Nityänanda paramparä at all! Please understand this thing. Those who put these three together- Gaura Kiçora Däsa Bäbäjé, Jagannätha Däsa Bäbäjé and Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura, they are all doing wrong. They don’t know what Parivära is, they don’t know what paramparä is? And if you don’t even know what Parivära you are in, how are you going to enter the spiritual world of Navadvépa?
Answer yourself!
Because everyone serves under a particular Parivära. Getting initiation in an unbroken paramparä in a Parivära, is an absolute necessity if you want to enter the spiritual world. How will you serve Lord Gauräìga, you just tell me a simple thing? How at all will you serve Lord Gauräìga? Everyone serves under a Parivära. You have to be in either under Lord Nityänanda or Advaita or Gadädhara Paëòita or Vakreçvara Paëòita. That may be your choice. But you have to be in a particular Parivära. You must have your eternal tilaka here in the time of sädhanä, at the time of Dékñä. How will you do mänasa sevä when you don’t know who your Guru is?
When we meditate, we get up, we make our Guru wash his hands, rinse his mouth. So, we know who our Guru is, what his name is? We make him do that. How will you do mänasa sevä, you don’t know who your Guru is? Who is your entire Guru-varga?
Sometimes you get a fortune to wash the feet of your entire Guru-varga. But when you don’t even know who your Guru-varga is, how are you going to serve them, even mentally?? Forget practically!! Forget eternally…how are you going to serve them? You don’t even know their names! Just imagine your unfortunate state! You don’t even know the names? You don’t even know what Parivära is? What paramparä is?
All Gauòéya Vaiñëavas foremost duty is to understand what paramparä is and what a parivära is and what is the difference between a Paramparä and a Parivära? Paramparä comes in Parivära.