All glories Śrī Śrī Guru Gaurāṅga
— Śrī Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākura
An Overview : Sampradāya-praṇālī (system) is not at all a prejudicial conception to maintain biasness in the name of dharma, rather it is more scientific way to keep the flow of the purity of ancient knowledge through proper sāmpradāyika channel but those blind arrogant selfish personalities — they always try to find faults with the sampradāya system to project themselves as an open hearted great personalities. but remember that those wicked personalities— they can never be excused by the Supreme Lord. Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākura Mahāśaya wanted to establish this siddhānta vicāra in this article which was for the first time published in the ‘Sasaṅginī’ — Sajjana Toṣaṇī , Vol. 4, Issue 4,
Some people are there those who become angry immediately after hearing the word ‘sampradāya’? They are saying that divisive attitude of sampradāya conception is creating disharmony and due to that there is every possibility of mutual fighting in the name of religious faith which can ultimately destroy the whole society. They consider themselves as the only paṇḍita group (scholarly group) in the society and the rest as foolish. In fact, many intelligent, thoughtful and scholarly personalities– they all accepting sāmpradāyika-system always go on discussing about their dharma. Those who are against sampradāya conception– they think themselves as non-sampradāyika, with a negative conception (mata) against sampradāya-system. As a result with this conception they themselves create a new sampradāya. If we think very deeply then we can see that those who are against the sampradāya system– they are actually block-headed, such a conclusion can be drawn. We openly can confess this point that those who are following some sampradāya system, they sometimes have to preserve some sectarian conceptions also and due to lack of freedom sometimes it can give a negative result. But if we can stand on a neutral platform to get the actual judgement then we can realise that in the conception of the sampradāya system though there can be some defects, but mostly positive points are in maximity. In which, if maximum positive points are available in that case, if some minor negative points are at all there, still this can become an object of attraction for those paṇḍita groups (in a genuine sense). Is there any such opinion which is flawless? Then, do you think that the presence of those panditas in this world can prove any problem! With the feeling of happiness & piousness, the way material life can be led, can it be proved to be flawless? In the present condition of those jīvas, is there any safe way to pass away with dharma-saṃsāra (to lead life according to dharma)? What is the honest way out to discuss paramārtha topics— please try to think it out. It is very easy to get absorbed in material life. It is really very difficult for most of us to get absorbed in the thoughts of Īśvara (Bhagavān). While staying in this material world, to lead our life in an honest way and worship the Supreme Lord with an exclusive mood— those who are ready with this determination— with this target they usually set up a sampradāya system. Sampradāya-system is also inherent in the natural bhāva of jīvas. Those who are plain-hearted intelligent personalities— they by making sampradāya system, accept that system in front of everyone. Those who are having complicated hearts & narrow conception, naturally they are in favor of arguments; they in fact create a sampradāya but still infront of the public they like to identify themselves as devoid of any sāmpradayika conception. In this way only they are going to deprive themselves to get negative results. If we go through historical evidence, from there we can know that in this sacred Bhārata kṣetra there was never any negative conception against the sampradāya-system. So long as there was the chance of association of those foreign scholars with the residents of Bhārata, from then onwards somehow some people of our country have gone against the sampradāya system. It is true that in the foreign countries, there they are following the system of their lives according to the prevailing system of dharma existing there, but some of them are showing disrespect against that prevailing system of dharma existing there; to get free of the religious bondage, they criticise that particular sampradāya system of dharma. In our country some less intelligent narrow minded people in a group are following the same principle to criticize the sampradāya system. By hearing their speeches and by reading books written by them, so many people from a very young age develop such an evil saṃskāra in their heart that they, only by hearing the word ‘sampradāya’ become angry. They never try to search for the root cause of those evil saṃskāra. Those who are against the sampradaya system like this, we with folded hands request them to think over and again upon this topic by standing on a neutral platform.
We have very carefully deliberated over this point and came to a conclusion that the sampradāya system is absolutely beneficial for all jīvas. Anyone who wants to attain the absolute fruit of Prema by doing the upāsanā of the Supreme Lord, without wasting a fraction of second, enter into an absolutely pure bhajana-sampradāya (a sampradāya where genuine bhajana is available). If one enters such a sampradāya, then one can easily take shelter at the lotus feet of a sādhu, learn about pure dharma, discuss topics of absolute dharma and attain vairāgya in gradual course. As long as a concept of anti sampradāya will exist, till then even by engaging in countless arguments throughout the life, one can not attain ātma-prasāda (absolute satisfaction of heart). It is definitely the duty of those useless people to condemn the sampradāya system simply by seeing some people within the sampradāya (apparently) acting selfishly (in a bad sense) and misbehaving. It is the duty of those genuinely intelligent personalities to try to purify the sampradāya by joining the sampradāya. Good products are not always available in the market and it may be necessary to reform the market seeing many kinds of adulteration going on – but by meaning this, if somebody wants to completely wash out or remove the marketing system then in that case— I can never appreciate the intellect of such a person. The first phase ācāryas of the sampradāyas have created the sampradāyas to arrange maṅgala for the world. If the sampradāya is driven away by the efforts of those modern cowards, then where is the maṅgala? Some foreign personalities who consider themselves as paṇḍitas (scholars) have said that those first phase ācāryas getting driven by material self-interest established the sampradāyas. This is absolutely disrespectful. Did those great previous maharṣis transcribe the roots of sampradāya within their own texts to increase their fame and money? Those who ate only fruits and roots in a secluded kuṭīra (hut) and have transcribed all their sacred siddhāntas for the welfare of the jīvas, how can there be material self-interest within them? Many among them did not even mention their names in the books written by them. Hence it is assured that desire for fame was not there in their heart. Therefore, by (blindly following) the words of those narrow-minded intellectuals of abroad, “We cannot ignore the sampradāya-praṇālī or sampradāya system.” rhetoric (vāk-āḍambara) and pāṇḍitya (erudite scholarship) are separate things (not same). Scholars from abroad do not have as much pāṇḍitya as they have rhetoric. The rhetoric of the authors of Bhārata kṣetra is less, but the essentiality (essence in the writings) is more. Naturally, those youths having a tender age are inclined more towards rhetoric than towards pāṇḍitya. As they get aged, their pre-existing evil saṃskāra no longer want to leave them. For now this much about sampradāya-praṇālī (system). Special discussions could be held on some other day.