Question: There are four Vaishnava sampradayas namely Brahma, Rudra, Sri and Kumara. The disciplic succession of Brahma sampradaya has come up to His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and his disciples. What about the disciplic successions from Rudra (from Lord Shiva), Sri (from Goddess Lakshmi) and Kumara (from four Kumaras)? Who are the current followers of these sampradayas? Will they be liberated like the followers of Brahma sampradaya?
Answer by Romapada Swami:
The most prominent acharyas of these sampradayas in the recent past are as follows: Sri sampradaya – Ramanujacarya; Kumara sampradaya – Nimbarkacarya; Rudra sampradaya – Vishnu Swami. Vallabhacharya, after whom the Vallabha-sampradaya is named, is a follower of Vishnu Swami; his descendents worship the famous Deity of SriNathji in Nathdwara. The Sri Vaishnavas, followers of Ramanujacarya were very influential for several generations and are especially widespread and predominant in South India. Likewise, to this day we can find the descendents of Madhvacarya (of Brahma Sampradaya) in Udipi, worshiping the Deity of Krishna installed by Madhvacarya. Sankaracharya had driven out Buddhism and established his philosophy of impersonalism, but it was by the efforts of Madhvacarya and Ramanujacarya that the stronghold of monism was broken and Vaishnavism was again powerfully reestablished.
When Lord Caitanya appeared, He took initiation in the Brahma-Madhva-sampradaya, and propagated the yuga-dharma of congregational chanting of the Holy Names. And by His empowerment and the grace of Srila Prabhupada, the Krishna consciousness movement is now spreading all over the world. By the Lord’s sweet will, different sampradayas become powerful and more prominent than others at different times. However, all of these four are bona fide sampradayas. Anyone who takes proper shelter of a bona fide spiritual master in any of these four lines is eligible to go back to Godhead.
