Shri Vidya Parampara

sri-vidya-guru-shishya

Shri Vidya Parampara

– Shri Ramesh Namboodri

Sri Vidya upasana is one of the oldest, most secret spiritual

sadhana (procedures) and hence its tenets are mostly based on tradition
(sampradaya). The central mantra is the fifteen syllable Pancadasi Vidya is
also called Srividya.

Vamakeshvara tantra, Nitya sodasikarnava / Nitya

Shodashikarnava enumerates the six different meanings of this mantra. In
the meaning called kaulikartha of this Vidya, Sri Bhaskararaya in his
commentary called setubandha of the aforesaid tantra, has explained that
this meaning has a simile of the fisher man’s net, though having a lot of links,
they all are held in the hand of the fisherman. Like wise there will seem many
lineages and procedures, but in spirit the truth is that all of these lineages
have been initiated by the single guru, who is the Lord Siva / Lord Shiva
himself. He then gives us a picture of the lineage from the top as: The Initial
spanda to create in the Nirguṇa Parabrahma resulted in the subtle sound
energy being manifested in the subtle space. This energy took the form of
Svacchanda bhairava and unfolded the Tantras in a very secret coded form
and revealed them to anasrita siva / anashrita Shiva, who elaborated them to
śāntātītā devi. She revealed them to Sadasiva / Sadashiva, who made them
into the five amnaya (pathway), Ishvara, who is the vidyeśvara, then revealed
them to Srikanthadi / Shrikanthadi devatas. In this line is our preceptor, from
whom these meanings are revealed.

Another way of looking at this lineage: Guru gita explains that a guru is

greater than a touch stone (Touch stone is a mythical object which turns the
base metal into gold by its touch). Though a touch stone cannot create
another touch stone by its contact, the guru creates a true identical self in his
disciple (his reflection) by his contact (called diksha) and hence is greater
than the touch stone.

Another image is that this lineage transfer is liked to lighting of a lamp from
another lamp. This process will create a now light without any deficiency in
the previous one, with more glow to the environment.

Reflecting of the first simile, if we look back, our guru is a replica/ reflection
of his guru- our parama guru, he in turn is a replica of his guru – our
parameṣṭi guru / parameshthi guru, so on and so forth. This idea of reflection
will reveal that the guru is identical with Lord Siva / Lord Shiva – the adi guru.

Another corollary from the above is that all gurus are identical in spirit as they
all are reflections of the primordial guru – Lord Siva / Lord Shiva. Thus the
guru stotra says ‘Vidyāvatāra samsidhhyai svīkṛtāneka vigraha’- for the
descent of this Vidya you take many forms. Thus we also find a tenet in the
tantras as ‘gurum prakāsayet dhīmān mantram yatnena gopayet’- Highlight
your Guru but keep in secret your sadhana modality, Since your guru is Lord
Siva / Lord Shiva himself to praise and glorify him will be the best
sadhana itself.

With the above thought in mind, from my initiation, collecting various lineages
was my prime interest. In Nov 2005, the Mahayaga held at Mumbai gave me
an opportunity to befriend and intermingle with a lot of lineages. This is a
small gratitude to them by highlighting the various lineages known to me.
There are many lineages in Sri Vidya / Shri Vidya upasana in India and abroad
as of now.

One of the most famous parampara is that of Sri Bhaskararaya. He was a

well-traveled illustrious Upasaka, establishing the tattvas along with the
upasana rituals where ever he went. One of his sisya parampara / shishya
parampara is established at Sukanand samsthan / Shukanand samsthan in
Vasmat. Sri Bhaskararaya’s daughter’s family lineage is established in
Narayanapet, Andhrapradesh. Sri Dhiranandanatha (Sri Vittal Dev / Vitthal
Dev) of this family – and also in the sisya / Shishya lineage through
Shukanand samsthan, took a sajīva Samadhi in their home, and is venerated
there. Sri Jagannatha Pandita, another sisya / shishya, wrote the now widely
referred to ritual manual, Nityotsava. Sri Cidambara Dixit / Shri Chidananda
Dikshit, Purna Brahma Avatara, Belgaum district is in another sisya /
Shishya lineage of Sri Bhaskararaya. A recent equally famous and great
Upasaka of parampara from Sukanand samsthan, was
Sri Raghunath Godbole, from Mumbai, who traveled widely all over India,
collected a lot of tantric texts for study, did an in-depth study and executed
that knowledge in action in his parampara. He had many sisyas / shishyas
Sall over India. His sisya / shishya, Sri Nilakantha Joshi, of Rameshvaram
was also famous and a propagator of this sadhana throughout the world.
Another sisya is Sri Vatuknath khiste / Batuknath Khiste, from
Sampurnananda University, Varanasi. One of the main identities of this
parampara is that they have a list of the gurus dating back to the
adinatha himself.

The next most popular lineage is from Sri Cidanandanatha /

Chidanandanatha (Sir N Subramanya iyer) of Chennai; He was a Tamil
teacher, met his guru – Sri Guhanandanatha, in Allahabad, did upasana in
secret for twelve years as per instruction of his guru and then came out to
popularize this upasana. He established the Brahma Vidya Vimarshini sabha
later re-named after his guru as Guhananda Mandali, introduced many liberal
steps in this sadhana, printed the first Sri Vidya Saparya paddhati in a book
form and was ever kind in imparting this Vidya to all who desired. It would not
be an exaggeration to say that one out of two upasakas in south India will
belong to this parampara.
Another parampara is through Sri “Anna” Subramanya Iyer
(Sri Cidanandanatha / Chidanandanatha), who worked as a teacher in
Ramakrishna School and wrote many books for Ramakrishna Mutt, Mylapore
– Chennai. He belongs to the lineage of Upanishat brahmnendra, Kanchi,
incidentally his diksha name is also Cidanandanatha / Chidanandanatha.
Though a low profile is seen among his sisya / shishya, they are quite a
number.

A similar name is Thediyur Sri Subramanya Satrigal, who founded the

Gurukulam at Mylapore, Chennai. He belongs to the Sringeri parampara /
Shringeri parampara and his sisya / shishya are also quite a number.

It is the play of Lalitambika the three Subramanya’s were in Chennai in the

middle of the nineteenth century. All were to propagate this Vidya to the
general public, erasing any negative thoughts that this sadhana path had had
till then.

Never the less, the paramparā of Śrī Isha Mahā Bhattāraka, who founded the
Mahati Mandali is wide spread in the South and West India.  Dr Raghvan
(Yagnesha Bhattāraka), an ayurvedic doctor and Sanskrit scholar from this
paramparā has written a sangeeta saparya (Musical text for the ritual).  Śrī
Pooja Ram Iyer (Amrtesha bhattāraka) of Hamsa Charana satsang and Śrī L
Krishnamoorthy from this paramparā were responsible for the spread of the
Śrī Vidyā particularly in Mumbai and all of West India.

An International Guru in this field, who built the Devipuram, where we find a
replica of the Śrī Mahameru with the deities in life size, a nuclear scientist too,
is Śrī Prahlada sastry (Annapūrṇamba sameta Amrutānandanātha). His
openness and clarity in the Śrī Vidyā School has attracted many from the
Western world. His spiritual son Śrī Wijay Haran (Caitanyānandanātha), has
established Rāja Rajesvari peetam in Rush, New York State, and has affiliated
peetams all around the world.

Gujarat had the privilege of imparting the Pūrṇa dīkṣā to Śrī Bhāskararāya by
Śrī Śivadatta Śukla (ānandānandanātha) , Surat. Apart from this paramparā,
another ancient lineage of the pashupata sampradāya is seen here. Śrī
Ganapatram dhave (Vimarshānandanātha) was a famous guru of this lineage;
his praśiṣya Śrī Śiv guru and Śrīmati Devi Bhā (Kulasundarymaba
Anantānandanātha) have established the Rājarajeśvari peetam and Kadi,
Gujrat. Their śiṣya pramapara is seen all over the world.

Another ancient lineage in South India had Śrī Appayya Dīkṣita in its line and
has given forth to many branches, which are found in TamilNadu and Kerela.
Thiruvaiyaru Venkatesa śāstrigal (Kameshvarānandanātha) a great
Ramayana exponent is from this paramparā. Śrī Madhavji
(Narasimhānandanātha) from Kerala is from this lineage, Śrī Girishkumar,
President Shripuram tantra Vidyā peetam is his śiṣya.

One more ancient lineage based at tanjore, with a majority of the Vedic
Brahmins, is centered on Śrī Pudukkottai Krishnamurthy śāstrigal
(Hasitānandanātha). The lineage branches out widely in Tamil Nadu and
Andhra Pradesh from him.

Another lineage from Tanjore district is that of Śrī ‘Mantramoorthy’ – Śrī

Krishnamoorthy śāstrigal (Bhuvanānandanātha) from suddamalli, Śrī
Anantarama śāstrigal (madanānandanātha -Mohan guruji) is from this
lineage.

In Deep South TamilNadu, at the outskirts of Tirunelveli town, in Suttamalli

village is the Lalitāmbāl Madom established by Śrī Poundareeka
Subrahmanya Bahu somayaji (Kameshvarānandanātha -Kovillappa) and is
around one hundred and fifty odd old. He was a wide traveled sadhaka and
had many śiṣyas. Their lineage is now all over India. Śrī Bhāskaraprakāsa
mandali established by Śrī Rengaswamy dīkṣitar (Vimarshānandanātha) in
Chennai is a famous branch in this paramparā.

Another Lalitāmbāl Madom established by Śrī Rāmaswamy Bhāgavatar

(Rāmānandanātha), śiṣya of the famous Venkata makhi (Śrīvidyānandanātha-
introducer of 72 melakarta ragas), in Cintamani village, south of Madurai, is a
treasure house of palm leaf manuscripts. The paramparā has also the Lalitā
kameshvara vivāha in the traditional Bhajana style composed by Śrī
Bhāgavatar. .

Let me introduce my lineage from Tirunelveli outskirts, Melappavur. The

lineage has in its branch the famous Veena exponents: The Karaikkudi
Brothers, Śrī Subbarāma Iyer (Sundarānandanātha) and Śrī Sāmbhaśiva Iyer
(Gītānandanātha). My Guru Śrī Viśvanātha śāstrigal (yajanānandanātha) was
from Thediyur, and His guru, Śrī Krishanmurthy śāstrigal  (natanānandanātha)
was from Śrīvanchiyam, both on the outskirts of Kumbakonam, my
parameshti guru, Śrī ādishesha śāstrigal (śivānandanātha) was from
Vallanadu, near Tirunelveli and his guru, Śrī Krishna śāstrigal
(śankarānandanātha) was from a nearby place, Melappavur.

Interestingly, while collecting the paramparas, we found some rare paduka’s

with two saktis.

1. �ीसा�व�ी सर�व�यंबा स�हत पूणा�न�दनाथः

Śrī SāvitrI Sarasvatyambā sahita Pūrṇānadanātha – (Pūrṇabrahma
avatara, Śrī Cidambara Dixit, Belgaum)

1. �ीनारायणी जान�युभया�बा स�हत नर�स�हान�दनाथः

Śrī NārāyaNI Jānakyubhayāmbā sahita Narasimhānandanātha.

1. �ीसव�म�ला ल��युभया�बा स�हत योगान�दनाथः

Śrī Sarvamangalā lakshmyubhayāmba sahita Śrī Yogānandanātha

Other than those mentioned above we will find practicing upasakas, in secret
and with an in depth, intricate knowledge of this Sādhanā, all over India.

After the mahayaga in 2005 at Mumbai, With a view to integrate all Guru
mandalams on the earlier said idea that they are one in spirit, philosophy and
tenets, varied only in procedures and places of residence, Shri Vidya Guru
Manadala Parsihad was formed, including all participated and invited guru
mandalams from all over India, to create a common platform to discuss and
exchange views on the practical and philosophical aspects.

Publishing rare, manuscripts and re-printing books, which are out of print, but
valuable in content are some of the prime objectives of this assembly.

Let us all participate in this assembly and benefit from the shared knowledge
to experience the inherent bliss of Divine, called by us as Lalitāmbikā.
 सदान�दपूण� �वा�मैव परदे वता ल�लता
‘Sadānanda Pūrṇa svātmaiva paradevatā Lalitā’

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