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Gaudapadacharya Math

Matha in Goa, India

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  • 9 chapters

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History

Śrī Sansthāna Gauḍapadācārya Maṭha was founded in 499 BCE at Kushasthali near Keloshi (Quelshim) in Goa by Shri Vivaranananda Saraswati, who along with Adi Shankara was a disciple of Govinda Bhagavatpada, who in turn was Gaudapada's disciple. There is also belief among people that the matha was established by Gaudapada.

During the Portuguese rule in Goa in 15th and 16th century, Hindus were forcibly converted to Christianity, and many Hindu temples and mathas were destroyed. In 1564, the Gaudapadacharya matha at Keloshi was destroyed by the Portuguese. Challenged by the Portuguese atrocities, to safeguard the tradition, legacy of the matha and the Sanatan Dharma, 57th guru Shrimat Purnananda Saraswati Swami Gowdapadacharya had to leave Goa and find shelter at the Golvan matha ashram. 58th Guru Shrimat Sahajananda Saraswati Swami Gauḍapādāchārya and 59th Guru Shrimat Vidyananda Saraswati Swami Gauḍapādāchārya also stayed at the Golvan matha. 60th Guru Shrimat Ramananda Saraswati Swami Gauḍapādāchārya stayed in Chinder matha. 61st Guru Shrimat Sadananda Saraswati Swami Gauḍapādāchārya left for Varanasi along with his disciple the 62nd Guru Shrimat Bhavananda Saraswati Swami Gauḍapādāchārya, as the hostile situation in Goa did not improve for Hindus.

Later as the peace returned to Goa, Shri Vittal Shyama Sharma Shenavi Ranganekar of Kaundinya Gotra from Kushasthali along with a group of Saraswats went to Varanasi to persuade the 62nd Guru to return to Goa from Varanasi. During those times, it used to take 6 months or more to reach Varanasi and return to Goa. The guru listened to the plea's to return to Goa, but politely refused to oblige due to his old age and his desire to spend his remaining life in sacred place of Varanasi, abode of god Shiva. This forced the group of people to return to Goa; however, Ranganekar decided to remain with the guru and serve him in order to get some more time to persuade him to return to Goa. Unrelenting, Ranganekar later one day threatened to go on fast-unto-death if the guru would not return to Goa. When several requests of the guru to Ranganekar to reverse his decision did not yield any results, in presence of several important Hindu religious leaders and Sants and Sadhus of Varanasi, performed the religious rituals and gave Sanyasa deeksha to Ranganekar and made him his disciple and renamed him Shrimat Sachidananda Saraswati Swami Gauḍapādāchārya.

After giving diksha, Shri Bhavananda Saraswati ordered Shri Sachidananda Saraswati to return to Goa and perform the duties of dharma guru of Saraswats according to the Śrī Sansthāna Gauḍapadācārya Maṭha's tradition. In his journey, on the way to Goa Shri Sachidananda Saraswati Swamiji was felicitated and assisted to make his journey comfortable by the kings and general public. Mean time news of Ranganekar taking sannyasa diksha spread among Saraswat Brahmins in Goa, but some people refused to believe that as truth which led to division of Saraswat Brahmins into 2 groups.

There was couple of reasons why people refused to believe because as per the tradition, only a brahmacharin can take sannyasa diksha and Ranganekar was a Grihastha and the sannyasa diksa was not performed in presence of the disciples from Goa. So some people believed that Ranganekar is trying to enjoy the special status and power of being Peetadipathi and thereby own the property of the matha. Moreover, Shrimat Sachidananda Saraswati Swami Gauḍapādāchārya was not carrying any documents signed by Shri Bhavananda Saraswati authenticating his new status.

All these developments forced Shrimat Sachidananda Saraswati swami Gauḍapādāchārya to return to Varanasi in mid-way and appraised Shrimat Bhavananda Saraswati Swami Gauḍapādāchārya about the situation. Then Shrimat Bhavananda Saraswati Swami Gauḍapādāchārya invited the religious leaders of Varanasi to a gathering at Mukthi Mantap to discuss the matter and wrote a letter stating that Shri Sachidananda Saraswati swamij Gauḍapādāchārya was indeed his disciple and Uttaradhikari of Shri Saunstan Gauḍapādāchārya matha in Goa and he would be the spiritual guru of Saraswat Brahmins of Gomantak region and which was signed along with other religious leaders gathered there and handed over to Shrimat Sachidananda Saraswati Swami Gauḍapādāchārya.

Shrimat Sachidananda Saraswati Swami Gauḍapādāchārya then decided to stay few more days with his guru Shrimat Bhavananda Saraswati Swami Gauḍapādāchārya in Varanasi and later returns to Goa where a grand welcome awaited him and he stayed in Sonavade Matha in Ratnagiri.

As peace prevailed in Goa region, in 1630 new Matha building was built in Kavale, Ponda, Goa, which in those days was a part of Sonde Kingdom, under Hindu rule. The land for this matha was gifted by then ruler Shri Basavalinga Soundha. After the Math building was built, Shrimat Satchidananda Saraswati Swami Gauḍapādāchārya who was staying in Sonavade matha moved to this new matha and became the first Peetadhipathi to stay in this matha and it was made the headquarters of the Shri Saunstan Gauḍapādāchārya Matha.

Other Saraswat mathas

Smartha Saraswats who flourished on the banks of the River Saraswati in the Himalayan region, north of Kurukshetra were forced to migrate southward initially because of the drying up of the sacred river and subsequently due to the repeated assaults made by Muslim invaders. The elders of this group of Smartha Saraswats offered penance at the banks of the Kotiteerth in Gokarna and were blessed with a Guru - Pujya Parijnanashram I and founded the Shri Chitrapur Math in 1708.

Since the matha was established, all Dakshinatya or southern Saraswat Brahmins were the disciples of this matha and all Saraswat Brahmins were followers of Smartism. In the 12th century A.D. Madhvacharya propagated the Dvaita philosophy and promoted Bhakti movement centred around god Krishna which gave fillip to Vaishnava sect and a large section of Saraswat Brahmins converted to Vaishnavism. Later in 1476 A.D. Gokarna Math and in 1542 A.D. Kashi Math was founded under Vaishnava sampradaya and those Saraswat Brahmin converts to Vaishnavism started following these new mathas.

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