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In Hinduism, the Brahma Sampradaya (IAST: Brahmā-sampradāya) is the disciplic succession (sampradaya) of gurus starting with Brahma.[1] The term is most often used to refer to the beliefs and teachings of Madhvacharya,[2] his Dvaita Vedanta philosophy, and Sadh Vaishnavism, a tradition of Vaishnavism founded by Madhvacharya.
The longer-term Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya (Brahmā-Madhva-Gauḍīya-sampradāya), or simply Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya, is used to refer to the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his Gaudiya Vaishnava theology.[3]
Followers of this tradition believe that Vedic knowledge descends from Brahma. In the Vedic conception, these sampradayas began at the creation of the universe and endure to the present moment due to the consistency of the transmission of knowledge, all the previous gurus are present in the teachings of the present spiritual master. The Vedic process assures that the transmission remains pure by assuring the qualifications of the transmitter.[4]
- ^ Hinduism and Buddhism: An Historical Sketch - Page 239 Charles Eliot, 1998
- ^ The Sadhus and Indian Civilisation - Page 57 Vijay Prakash Sharma - Sadhus - 1998 - 209 pages
- ^ Female Ascetics in Hinduism Lynn Teskey Denton, 2004 - 224 pages
- ^ Goswami, S.D. (1976), Readings in Vedic Literature: The Tradition Speaks for Itself, [S.l.]: Assoc Publishing Group, pp. 240 pages, ISBN 0912776889