Inquiry into Pancasakha

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This is a text I recently sent to a very learned devotee living in Orissa

asking for his help in researching about the Pancasakha:

 

 

> I have an important request of you regarding a serious matter that is

> currently brewing among many immature (and ones who should know better)

> devotees that you could be of great help with because you are in Orissa

> with access to people and literature.

>

> Let me give you a brief outline of the problem:

>

> Several years ago one astrologer in Delhi by name of Sanjaya Rath became

> famous in ISKCON and on the net. He claims that the system of astrology

> that he is teaching is coming in the parampara of Lord Caitanya though his

> intimate disciple Acyutananda one of the Pancasakhas who are famous in

> Orissa. Anyway, many devotees latched onto him thinking that he was in

> connection with Lord Caitanya and this was THE BONA FIDE system of

> astrology.

>

> Of course no one had ever heard of this Acyutatnanda in the Gaudiya

> literature. I had never heard of him in CC and since BSST had written a

> comentary on it and was himself and astrologer from Puri he would have

> commented about this man had he been the intimate associate of Lord

> Caitanya that he claimed to be.

>

> One of the reasons I was in Bhubaneshvara was to find out more about this

> Acyutananda Dasa and his sytem of astrology. I did find out many things

> but need to find out more and thus I will return.

>

> In the mean time I was hoping that you could write a short essay

> explaining more about the Pancasakha and especially about Acyutananda

> Dasa. I saw that you had written a short letter about him in one of your

> Amritabindu publications. That was a good start, but we need something a

> bit more substantial. I will send you a list of references attached to

> this text. Please don't quote the text in the attachement, you can use the

> ideas it contains and the references but the author would prefer not to be

> quoted as per his wishes.

>

> In the bibliography appended in the attachment, those works in boldface

> type will probably be the most helpful for researching the Pancasakhas

> (especially K.C. Mishra). Please quote them instead of the author of the

> text. The others are more generally useful references.

>

> Anyway, back to Sanjaya Rath, he has written several books and as I said

> his main draw to ISKCON devotees was his alleged special connection to

> Lord Caitanya through the Acyutananda lineage. His teachings are full of

> Mayavadi leanings and he teaches others to worship demigods etc.

>

> Recently he has come under fire for it was revealed that his first set of

> students including an ISKCON devotee Dinanatha, were robbed by SR to the

> tune of 50 lakhs and they have put a case on him. Apparently SR is hiding

> in Puri to escape the police in Delhi. He used his position as their

> teacher to get them to invest in a bogus deal and he and his father kept

> the money.

>

> In anycase he is a very charming con man. It is clear that he knows some

> jyotish but he is very crooked in his dealings even in jyotish. For like a

> typical mayavadi he loves to juggle words.

>

> I would therefor greatly appreaciate it if you could do the necessary

> research and write up something (1-2 pages or more) about the real

> position of the Pancasakha and especially of Acyutananda Dasa.

>

> Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada

>

> Shyamasundara Dasa

>

> PS I have included a letter I sent to Braja Hari Prabhu on the same topic

> and his answer. But obviously I need a lot more detail and something very

> authoritative and as conclusive as possible to nail this case shut.

 

 

If one reads the text that Gauranga Dasa sent "atavadi.zip" it contains a

lot (emphasizing the word "lot") of damaging information undermining the

hallowed position of the "panca-sakha. But considering that it is so long

and few would read it I still think that a shorter 1-2 page presentation

would be useful for sincere devotees in ISKCON.

 

>

> PPS please confirm receipt of this letter.

>

>

>

> > Feb 1, 2002

> > Dear Braja Hari Prabhu,

> >

> > Please accept my best wishes. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Bhakta

> > vigna-vinasa Nrsimhadeva ki-jaya!

> >

> > I asked Bhakti Vikasa Swami for your email after I read what you had

> > written in his book on traditional India. It is a wonderful book.

> >

> > My reason for writing you is I need some information that only someone

> > who is very familiar with Oriyya Vaisnava culture can provide. There is

> > one new comer to the astrological scene named Sanjay Rath from Sambalpur

> > Orrissa. He claims to be coming in the jyotish sampradaya from Acyuta

> > Dasa, one the panca sakha, a direct associate of Lord Caitanya. They

> > make it out like Acyuta Dasa was a very intimate associate of Lord

> > Caitanya, direct disciple etc. Sanjay Rath seems to directly play this

> > up with ISKCON devotees and some of the weaker minded ones get confused

> > and think that Acyuta is in the Parampara from LC and that naturally

> > also Sanjay Rath (SR) is also in the param para. Below is a sample from

> > the website of one of SR's disciples, an ISKCON devotee named Gauranga

> > Dasa based in Hungary. You can see that he has completely swallowed the

> > story about Acyuta Dasa as told by SR:

> >

> > ==============

> >

> > I am a Jyotish Guru, given the task of personal guidance in the studies

> > of other aspiring Jyotishas at the SJVC Parampara, which originates from

> > Shri Achyuta Das of Puri, Orissa. Shri Achyuta Das was one of the

> > Pancasakha, the direct associates of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in

> > Jagannatha Puri in the XVI. Century and was empowered by the Lord

> > Himself to reveal the true knowledge of Jyotish in the Kali Yuga, when

> > most of the teachings by the Maharishis have been lost or corrupted.

> >

> > Pandit Sri Sanjay Rath is my Jyotish Guru, and the present-day

> > representative of Sri Achyuta's Jyotish Parampara. I have also been

> > designated as the Jyotish Guru at SJVC and Varahamihira Class.

> >

> > 8. How will I find out the best remedy for me?

> >

> > If you would like to find out more from your chart, where the strong and

> > weak points then I suggest you go through the information on this web

> > page and study Pandit Sanjay Rath's Vedic Remedies in Astrology. You are

> > also advised to go through the other books listed by me in section 7.

> >

> > If you don't feel qualified enough to find out the problems and the

> > solutions on your own, then please go to the Jyotish Services section on

> > our web page and submit your request for chart reading. We will be happy

> > to help you and also provide you the necessary remedial measures. If you

> > want to know about the remedial measures, then go the section about

> > remedial measures.

> >

> > Gauranga Das Vedic Astrologer

> >

> > ==========================

> >

> > End quote

> >

> > It becomes very clear that this Sanjay Rath is a typical Hindu with many

> > concocted ideas. He has written several books which this devotee and

> > others (including one GBC) promote. These books glorify the likes of

> > Vivekananda, and "Vedic Remedies in Astrology" extols demigod worship

> > etc.--- all things against the teaching of Lord Caitanya.

> >

> > I asked Bhaktarupa Prabhu about Achyuta Dasa and he gave me some info

> > saying he was not accepted by the Gaudiya Sampradaya because he was a

> > jnana-misra Bhakta (seriously tainted with Mayavada). I was hoping that

> > as a native you could fill in the details about Sri Achyuta Dasa, the

> > panca-sakha and why they are rejected by the Gaudiyas. Are they accepted

> > by any staunch Vaisnavas? Why Achyuta Dasa is not found in the Caitanya

> > caritamrita, or Gaura-ganodesha-dipika? Any suggestions on how to

> > defeat this cheating?

> >

> > On a related note: Gaudiya refers to Bengal, what is the Oriya

> > equivalent? Is there an Oriya tradition of staunch Vaisnavas that is

> > exactly in the tradition of the Gaudiya Sampradaya or perhaps it is the

> > same? I beg to remain.

> >

> > Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada

> >

> > Shyamasundara Dasa

> Dear Shyamasundar Prabhu,

> Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupad.

>

> I will try to answer your concern about Acyuta Das. Achyta Das who is

> known as Acyutananda Das in Orissa is one of the Panchasakha who created a

> Bhakti revolution in Orissa some 400-500 years before. I donot know

> whether they are contemporary of Lord Chaitany. Srila Prabhupada never

> accepted them. One of the Panchasakha who wrote Srimada Bhagavatam in

> Orissa is very famous in Orissa. His name is Jagarnath Das. What they

> preach is Bhakti but there is tinge of Mayabadi philoshopy in those

> literature.

 

I found that the Oriya Bhagavatam has 13 cantos, one extra added by

Jagannatha Dasa )-: No wonder he was called "ativadi" by Lord Caitanya.

 

 

>

> Once Srila Prabhupad was invited by some scholar to relase the Bhagavatam

> of Jagarnatha Das in Puri in Oriya language. He accpted the invitation but

> he did kirtan and spoke but he was not showing much intrest to release the

> book. When the organiser insist him to do so, with great reluctant he cut

> the ribbon. We Goudiya Vaishnava donot accept them. I can strong tell

> that there is no link between Lord Caitany and Panchasakha.

>

 

This is a true incident and can be found on the VedaBase

 

 

> Goudiya referes to Bengali Vaishnav, similarly Oriya Vaishanv is call

> Odiya Vaishnava.

>

> In Orissa many different sampradaya claims to Vaishnava but actually many

> are sahajiyas. They sings nice bhajan and kirtan and they smoke ganja and

> no princples. Those people who follows the Goudiya Vaishnav in Orissa are

> actually good

> Thanking you

> Yours servant

> Brajhari Das.