Four Vaishnava sampradayas and features of Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy

Explore the core philosophies of the four traditional Vaishnava sampradayas and discover the unique theological contributions of Gaudiya Vaishnavism—possibly the fifth Vaishnava sampradaya,

The importance of philosophy in the religious traditions of Hinduism

Historically, it was philosophy that became the main motivator of religious transformation in India. Philosophical currents were inseparable from religious practices, as each school set itself the goal of ensuring the salvation of man from the circle of rebirth, samsara. A strong impetus for the development of Hinduism was the emergence of Buddhism, and in response to criticism of the Vedas by Buddhists, Hindus created local philosophical schools, which immediately began to argue with each other. Thus arose the six most powerful currents of the orthodox (astika) direction — nyaya, mimansa, vaisheshika, sankhya, yoga and vedanta. The latter one gave rise to the currents through which we know modern Hinduism: Advaita, Dvaita and other philosophical schools, which were adopted by Shivaite and Vaishnava religious groups.

Sampradayas and their significance in Vaishnavism

Sampradaya (Sanskrit: सम्प्रदाय, sampradāya) is a school of philosophical thought in Hinduism, as well as a line of disciplic succession of ideas and practices of such a school. Succession is realized itself through shiksha (शिक्षा, śikṣā) — instructions, and diksha (दीक्षा, dīkṣā) — five-syllable initiation, including the transmission of the mantra.

According to the classical Padma-purana text, only four sampradayas are true: Rudra, Brahma, Kumara and Lakshmi-sampradaya, which are named after the gods who are considered to be their founders. However, all four have medieval primary teachers: Ramanuja, Nimbarka, Vishnuswami and Madhva. Each of them promotes a distinct philosophy that explains the ontology of Brahman, the individual soul, the universe, and ascribes the path of salvation. Despite philosophical differences, all four sampradayas proclaim the priority of bhakti over other paths to liberation (karma, jnana, yoga).

The emergence of Gaudiya Vaishnavism

The emergence of Gaudiya, that is, Bengali Vaishnavism, can be considered the beginning of the preaching of Sri Chaitanya (1486-1534), who after receiving initiation from his guru began to preach devotion to God, bhakti, as the only way to save the soul. He accepted sannyasa and began to travel and proclaim his teachings, urging all sections of the population, regardless of caste, to chant the names of Vishnu and thus honor him by developing love and devotion. Chaitanya formed the backbone of his learned disciples, whom he commissioned to develop the philosophy of his movement and to determine the fundamental points of spiritual practice. A group of disciples became known as the six goswamis of Vrindavan. They wrote numerous treatises, which laid the philosophical and theological foundation of sampradaya. Their followers later wrote commentaries on key texts of the Hindu canon, and in the early twentieth century this legacy was first introduced to the English-speaking reader. In the middle of the last century, the Gaudiya-Vaishnava missionary Swami Prabhupada founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in the United States of America.

Philosophical Directions of Vaishnava Thought

All four Vaishnava sampradayas developed their philosophical views in a sharp controversy with the Advaita Vedanta, which considered the personal form of God, the creation and individual souls to be the result of illusion, maya (माया, māyā) which impacts on the impersonal and nondual Brahman. The founder of Rudra-sampradaya Vishnuswami spoke of the ontological identity of the world, souls and Brahman (shuddha-advaita), but unlike Shankara’s Advaita, he considered Brahman to be a personal God and rejected the role of illusion in creating categories of the universe and manifestation of the Supreme Personality. His doctrine was later updated and expanded by a contemporary of Chaitanya — Vallabha, so the school is also called Vallabha-sampradaya. The founder of Lakshmi-sampradaya Ramanuja developed a philosophy of conditional identity of the soul and the Supreme and differentiation in nonduality (vishishta-advaita). Nimbarka of Kumara-sampradaya taught about the existence of duality in nonduality (dvaita-advaita). At the opposite pole from Shankara and Vishnuswami was the founder of the Brahma-sampradaya Madhva. He proclaimed a clear dualism and a categorical, eternal and irresistible difference between creation, soul and God (dvaita). Chaitanya synthesizes the tenets of several philosophies and his school is known as the inconceivable difference in indistinguishability (acintya bheda-abheda). According to the views on the relationship between individual souls, material creation and the Supreme God, Chaitanya is closer to Nimbarka. However, formally the Chaitanites claim themselves to belong to the Madhva school.

Peculiarities of Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy

Gaudiyas proclaim individual souls as the boundary energy of Brahman. And as energy, they are both different from him and one with him. Accordingly, creation is a manifestation of the external energy of the Supreme. Creation is an act of the free will of the Creator and is radically different from him, although imbued with the ubiquitous Paramatman. The Brahman–Paramatman–Bhagavan triad is proclaimed hierarchical manifestations of the Supreme Truth, where the personal Bhagavan is the source of all other manifestations. Among the incarnations of Bhagavan, Krishna is considered the highest, and Vishnu is his avatar, who possesses a slightly lower dignity.

Formation of Bengali Vaishnavism as the Fifth Sampradaya

Despite the fact that the Gaudiya Vaishnavas persistently declare their affiliation with the Brahma Sampradaya, there is every reason to consider them a separate, fifth Vaishnava Sampradaya. First, because their philosophy is categorically different from the philosophy of Brahma-sampradaya. Secondly, they have their own comments on the three main classical texts of the Vedanta philosophy (Vedanta-sutra, Bhagavad-gita and Upanishads) — a feature that is necessary for a school to be recognized and independent among others. Third, they are still in the days of Chaitanya separated themselves from Madhva-sampradaya and Chaitanya himself criticized madhvaite opponents, addressing them as representatives of another school (Chaitanya-charitamrta, Madhya 9.276-277). Finally, the Gaudiyas did not receive or retain any mantras that Brahma-sampradaya transmites, but instead introduced their own mantras of initiation, the key of which is the Gopala mantra, which is the Kumara-sampradaya mantra. Representatives of the Brahma-sampradaya also do not consider the Gaudiya Vaishnavas to be members of their succession, although there are some exceptions to this position. Perhaps the motivation for this attitude of the Bengals is the desire to comply with the list of four sampradayas, which are cited by the Padma Purana. Personally, I do not see any problem if Gaudiya Vaishnavism would openly declare itself as the fifth direction of personalistic Vedanta. This would not separate them from the main currents of Hinduism, but on the contrary, would make an interesting example of a creative synthesis of the main statements of their competitors. 

References

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Presentation abstracts for the XXIX meeting of the Seminar of Oriental Philosophers. Kyiv, February 23, 2021.