Ram Temple not yet complete so pran pratishtha against shastras, says Jyotir Mutt shankaracharya

In a video, Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati of Jyotir Mutt says 4 shankaracharyas will skip Ayodhya event. Consecration when temple still incomplete is ‘an act of ignorance’, he adds.

Jyotir Math shankarcharya Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati | Photo credit: X/@jyotirmathah

Lucknow: Days after the pontiff of Puri’s Govardhan Mutt declined to attend the consecration of the idol at Ayodhya’s Ram temple on 22 January, his counterpart from Uttarakhand’s Jyotir Mutt, Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, has announced that none of the country’s four prominent shankarcharyas, or religious heads, will attend the event. 

This is because the ceremony is being held “against the shastras” — or sacred Hindu scriptures — especially since the temple construction is incomplete, he said in a video posted Tuesday on his official handle on X, formerly Twitter.

A shankaracharya is the pontiff of one of four mutts, or monastic orders, that are part of Hinduism’s Advaita Vedanta tradition established by the 8th century Hindu saint, Adi Shankara. The two other mutts apart from Jyotir Math (Joshimath) and Govardhan Math are Sringeri Sharada Peetham (Sringeri, Karnataka), and Dwarka Sharada Peetham (Dwarka, Gujarat). 

Significantly, Adi Shankara and his school of thought are believed to have been influenced by Shaivism — the worship of the Hindu god Shiva — and Shaktism, the worship of the Hindu goddess Shakti, although it’s also believed to have incorporated notions of Vaishavism, or the worship of Hindu god Vishnu and his various avatars, including Ram. 

In his video, Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, the 46th Shankaracharya of the Jyotir Mutt, said the decision of the four shankaracharyas should not be construed as being “anti-Modi” but was taken because they didn’t want to be “anti-shastras”. 

22 जनवरी के प्रतिष्ठा के पूर्व रामानन्द सम्प्रदाय को मन्दिर सौंपे रामजन्मभूमि तीर्थ क्षेत्र ट्रस्ट –

रामजन्मभूमि तीर्थ क्षेत्र ट्रस्ट के महासचिव चंपतराय जी के इस बयान पर पूज्यपाद ज्योतिष्पीठाधीश्वर जगद्गुरु शंकराचार्य स्वामिश्रीः अविमुक्तेश्वरानंदः सरस्वती '१००८' की प्रतिक्रिया… pic.twitter.com/h0IqLN8wFe

— 1008.Guru (@jyotirmathah) January 9, 2024

“What is the reason for not going? Not because of any aversion or hatred, but because it’s shankaracharyas’ duty to follow shastra-vidhi (rituals of the shastras) and ensure that they are followed. And here, shastra-vidhi is being ignored. The biggest problem is that the pran pratishtha (consecration) is being done when the temple is still incomplete,” he said. “And if we say this, we are called ‘anti-Modi’. What is anti-Modi here?”

These remarks come days after Puri’s Govardhan Mutt head Nischalananda Saraswati announced he would skip the ceremony because he was “conscious of the dignity of his position”.  

“What will I do there? While Modiji inaugurates and touches the idol, will I stand there and clap? I don’t want a position. I already have the biggest one. I don’t need credit. But what will shankaracharyas do there (at the consecration)?” he asked in an undated video tweeted by the Nagaland Congress.

Although he accused Modi of “interfering in religious affairs”, he also clarified he had “no aversion” to Ayodhya.

Modi Ji will inaugurate, touch the idol, and I will applaud there with a resounding victory chant…

– The supreme spiritual leader of Hinduism, the head of Govardhan Math Puri, 'Shankaracharya' Swami Shri Nishchalanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj pic.twitter.com/61HPm0HzCM

— Nagaland Youth Congress (@IYCNagaland) January 3, 2024

“This is not arrogance. But I’m conscious of the dignity of my position, which is why I am not going. I have received the invitation which says I can bring along one person. Why do I need to bring along one person?” he asked. 

The Jyotir Mutt head’s remarks also came two days after Champat Rai, international vice-president of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and general secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra — a trust set up for the construction and management of the Ayodhya temple — claimed in an interview to Amar Ujala that the Ram temple belongs to Ramananda Sampradaya, a Vaishnavite sect, and “not to sanyasis or to the Shaiva or Shakti sects”.

“The temple belongs to the Ramananda sampradaya (sect)…Ramananda…not to the sannyasis…not to Shaiva or Shakti (sects)…Ramananda,” he said.

‘Incomplete temple’

According to Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, there’s “no need to immediately rush into” the consecration and the government could have waited until the temple was “fully complete”. This, he said, was “the biggest act of ignorance” when it comes to the shastras.

“We would want to act according to the dharma shastras and want our public to do likewise. Because that’s how we know of punya-paap (good deeds and misdeeds). Who told us that Ram exists? Our dharma shastras.”  

He also appeared to take offence to Champat Rai’s words that the temple belonged to the Ramananda sect of Vaishanavism. 

“Now that this (our decision) has become public, Champat Rai is saying shankaracharyas are not required here because this place belongs to the Ramananda sampradaya. The question is, if this temple belongs to the Ramananda sect, why is Champat Rai there? Why is Nripendra Mishra (the chairman of the temple construction committee) there? Why is Raja sahab (Bimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra, erstwhile Ayodhya royal and a temple trustee) there?” he asked, adding that these people should “resign and hand over the temple to Ramananda sampradaya before the pran pratishtha”.

According to Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, the consecration was politicised, with religious figures being deliberately sidelined. 

“Why did they not declare that the temple belongs to Ramananda sampradaya when they were taking donations?” he asked. “At that time, you took donations from sanatan dharmis across the country. You took donations from us, too. When the temple doesn’t belong to shankaracharyas, why did you accept donations from us?”

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the term Sanatana Dharma denotes the ‘eternal’, or absolute set of duties, or religiously ordained practices incumbent upon all Hindus, regardless of class, caste, or sect. 

The temple trust, he claimed, had stopped the Nirmohi Akhara from conducting prayers at the site. Nirmohi Akhara is a religious denomination of the Ramananda order and one of the petitioners in the Ayodhya title dispute. 

In 2019, the Supreme Court settled the dispute by allocating the entire land on which 16th-century Babri Masjid formerly stood at the temple site. The mosque was razed down by karsevaks at the height of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement on 6 December, 1992.

“Earlier too, Nirmohi Akhara had been doing puja (prayers) there. It should be given that responsibility again. Why are you hiring more pujaris (priests)?” the pontiff said. “You hand over the puja to Nirmohi Akhara and the temple arrangement to Ramananda sampradaya, and we will accept. I believe all the four shankaracharyas will be happy (with this).”

(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)