There is a Hindu Unity movement raging in the social media for some time now. But I feel that unless you consolidate the organisational aspects of Sanatan Dharma, neither can you get united nor can you reap its fruits.

My agony is with respect to dispositioning of present day Sankaracharyas who are supposed to be leading the Sanatan Dharma philosophy. Adi Sankaracharya had established four monasteries in north, east, south, west each to preserve and propagate Dharma and his ablest Shishya were made heads of these maths as Sankaracharya. Are the present day Sankaracharyas anywhere near the roles envisaged for them by Adi Sankaracharya?

In the 8th century, the forces that opposed Vedic religion was greater and in more numbers than they are today. Greece, Turkey, and other Middle Eastern countries were invading India. Great Hindu kings like Asoka and Harsha were attracted to Buddhism and Jainism rather than Sanatana Dharma.

There was chaos in the matter of religion and philosophy because Sanatana Dharma was starting to get corrupted, preachers who were not complete followers of Vedas started to preach their own religious methods and their own ways of rituals, since many did not know Sanskrit people were ignorant about the religion, Vedas were difficult for even the intellectuals of those times to understand because of the complexity of the language, Vamachara of Tantric started to gain popularity, and it led to cruel practices such as Nara Bali. Buddhist and Jain religion launched right then were based on spoken language, so most of the people could understand it. Religions and sects such as Charvakas, Lokayathikas, Kapalikas, Shaktas, Sankhyas, Buddhas and Madhyamikas were competing.

During such heavy threats, philosopher – saint Adi Shankara single-handedly restored the Vedic Dharma and Advaita Vedanta to its pristine form in India, and established Shankaracharya peethas, also called mathas, in four corners of India to keep up with his spiritual teachings. The four Chaturamnaya cardinal peethams are Purvamnaya Govardhana Peetham in Jagannath, Puri, Dakshinamnaya Sarada Peetham at Sringeri, Pascimamnaya and Uttaramnaya Jyoti Peetham, Badarikashrama.

What is the ground reality today? There is currently a succession dispute at the Jyotirmath Sankaracharya seat, the origin of which dates back to 1953. Till recently, the two major rivals were Swami Swarupananda Saraswati (who is also the Sankaracharya of Dwarka) and Swami Vasudevananda Saraswati. Since 1993-94, another Sanyasin named Madhava Asrama has been a third claimant to the Jyotirmath title.

The history of Jyotirmath is extremely complicated. According to official accounts, after the period of one Swami Ramakrishna Tirtha in the 18th century, the matha was extinct for about 165 years, before it was revived in 1941, under Swami Brahmananda Saraswati.

The appointment of Swami Brahmananda Saraswati in 1941 was made by a group of monks and pundits based in Varanasi (the Bharata Dharma Mahamandala, Kashi Vidvat Parishad, and the Akhila Bharatiya Dharmasangha), with the blessings of Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha, the then Sankaracharya of Puri. Swami Chandrasekhara Bharati of Sringeri also endorsed Brahmananda's appointment.

Swami Brahmananda Saraswati passed away in 1953, but he had not clearly indicated his successor. This immediately caused a problem, as he had initiated a number of disciples into Sannyasa. A few weeks after he passed away, a will was found, according to the terms of which, a disciple called Swami Santananda Saraswati was named as the first choice for succeeding to the Jyotirmath title. However, many followers of Brahmananda Saraswati were satisfied neither with the credentials of Santananda, nor with the validity/authenticity of the will.

Because of the controversy over Brahmananda's will and Santananda's succession, the organizations involved in reviving Jyotirmath in 1941 considered other nominations for the Sankaracharya post. These efforts were blessed by Swami Abhinava Sacchidananda Tirtha, the then Sankaracharya of Dwaraka. In 1953 itself, one Swami Krishnabodha Asrama was appointed as the new Jyotirmath Sankaracharya, contesting Santananda's claim.

Krishnabodha Asrama was not a direct disciple of Brahmananda Saraswati, but given the nature of Jyotirmath's revival in 1941, this was not necessarily a disqualification. After the nomination of Krishnabodha Asrama, the Puri and Dwaraka mathas do not seem to have been involved in Jyotirmath affairs to any significant extent. When Krishnabodha Asrama passed away in 1973, he nominated Swami Swarupananda Saraswati to the title. Swarupananda is a direct disciple of Brahmananda Saraswati, but he has also studied under both Krishnabodha Asrama and Abhinava Sacchidananda Tirtha of Dwaraka. Meanwhile, Santananda had not relinquished the Sankaracharya seat, so that by this time, the two major claimants of the title were Swarupananda and Santananda.

In the year 1980, Santananda stepped down from the title, in favor of Swami Vishnudevananda Saraswati, another disciple of Brahmananda. However, Vishnudevananda Saraswati passed away in 1989/90, while Santananda Saraswati was still alive. Following this, one Swami Vasudevananda Saraswati was named as the successor. Santananda passed away in late 1997, and Vasudevananda Saraswati is currently the sole representative of this lineage.

A further complication was introduced in 1982, when Abhinava Sacchidananda Tirtha, the Sankaracharya of Dwaraka, passed away, leaving a will with a few names as possible choices for his successor. Among these was Swarupananda Saraswati of Jyotirmath. The others either declined or were eliminated from consideration for one reason or the other. Swarupananda was then coronated at Dwaraka, in a ceremony presided over by Swami Abhinava Vidya Tirtha of Sringeri. Swarupananda Saraswati's Dwaraka title is undisputed, and he is routinely described in press reports as the Sankaracharya of Dwaraka.

However, it should be noted that while his status as the head of two principal mathas is somewhat unusual, and also confusing for the lay public, it had not been insisted that he relinquish his position at Jyotirmath, before taking charge at Dwaraka.

It must be noted that Puri matha also had a few succession problems of its own a decade later.

After protracted legal cases in different courts, the Allahabad High Court was approached in appeal against the decree of Trial court dated 5.5.2015 and the High Court case was decided by judgement on 22.9.2017 whereby "the Appellant Acharya Vasudevanand Saraswati was restrained from claiming himself Jagat Guru Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath/Jyotishpeeth and he was also restrained from holding Dand, Chhatra, Chanwar and Singhasan of the office of Shankaracharya and from performing any function as Shankaracharya. We further make it clear that this injunction shall not be construed so as to authorize plaintiff to function as Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath and Jyotishpeeth since he was never validly installed in the said position/status. Learned Pandits, scholars and Shankaracharyas of other three Peethas are directed to proceed and follow the same procedure as was adopted in 1941, to select a suitable, eligible and qualified person for installation as Shankaracharya in Jyotirmath/Jyotishpeeth and complete this process within three months."

If we cannot manage affairs of our ultimate religious seat, what difference can we make to the society?