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Vaishnava Philosophy
Guru-parampara
The disciplic succession


A spiritual master must be in an authorized disciplic succession to be bona fide. It is not possible for someone to be a bona fide spiritual master in a line of spiritual authority that does not come from Krishna. Sometimes pseudo spiritual masters create a line of philosophy. They have a "vision" or dream in which they imagine that they have become empowered by God, or that they are God, and they should start teaching others. But this is never accepted by the true followers of the Vaishnava tradition.

There are four Vaishnava sampradayas, or bona-fide disciplic successions, in this universe. The first is the Brahma Sampradaya, or school coming in the succession from Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe; the second is the Rudra Sampradaya, coming from Lord Shiva, the destroyer of the universe; the third is the Sri Sampradaya, coming from Laksmi, the goddess of fortune and constant associate of Lord Vishnu, the maintainer of the universe; and the fourth is the Kumara Sampradaya, coming from the four Kumaras, who are incarnations of devotional knowledge. Knowledge received from these four sampradayas is eternally correct and will bring you back to Godhead, whereas knowledge received outside these sampradayas is temporary and will not bring you to the highest destination.

ISKCON is part of the Brahma Sampradaya. The disciplic succession from Lord Brahma to the present is listed herein:

  1. Krishna
  2. Brahma
  3. Narada
  4. Vyasa
  5. Madhva
  6. Padmanabha
  7. Narahari
  8. Madhava
  9. Aksobhya
10. Jaya Tirtha
11. Gyanasindhu
12. Dayanidhi
13. Vidyanidhi
14. Rajendra
15. Jayadharma
16. Purusottama
17. Brahmanya Tirtha 		18. Vyasa Tirtha
19. Laksmipati
20. Madhavendra Puri
21. Isvara Puri (Nityananda/Advaita)
22. Lord Caitanya
23. Rupa (Svarupa/Sanatana)
24. Raghunatha, Jiva
25. Krishnadasa
26. Narottama
27. Visvanatha
28. Baladeva
29. Jagannatha
30. Bhaktivinoda
31. Gaurakisora
32. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati
33. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada


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