Uttaramnaya Sri Jyotir Pith Badarikashrama (Jyotir Math), is located in district Chamoli, Uttarakhand, on the tirtha Alakananda river. The deities worshipped at the pith are Narayana and Shakti – Purnagiri.
Traditionally, the Badarinatha mandira comes under the kshetra of the Uttaramnaya Sri Jyotir Pith. The Narasimha mandira in Jyotirmath is the winter abode of Bhagavan Badarinatha.
The pith is dedicated to Atharvaveda and propagation of the Mahavakya –
अयम् आत्मा ब्रह्म
Ayamatma brahma
The first Shankaracharya, direct student of Sri Adi Shankaracharya was Sri Totakacharya.
Current Shankaracharya –
The position of the Shankaracharya of Uttaramnaya Sri Jyotir Pith Badarikashrama lies disputed as of now.
The seat remained vacant for a period of 165 years, till 1941. In order to resolve this situation, the Bharat Dharma Mahamandala consulted the existing three Shankaracharyas at that time and unanimously agreed to invite the guru of the current Shankaracharya of Puri, Dharma Samrar Svami Sri Karpatriji Maharaj to take the position of the Shankaracharyaof Jyotirmath. However, due to his commitment to establish a government for Bharat based on sanatana dharma, and the limitations of the position of Shankaracharya, he requested the Bharat Dharma Mahamandala to offer this seat to his guru Svami Brahmananda Sarasvati. The three Shankaracharyas accepted this request and hence with the Bharat Dharma Mahamandala, they anointed him as Jagadguru Shankaracharya Svami Brahmananda Sarasvati Sarasvatiji Maharaj (Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math from 1941 to 1953).
After Jagadguru Shankaracharya Svami Brahmananda Sarasvati Sarasvatiji Maharaj there was no clear successor and several disputes.
Svami Krishnabodha Ashrama was the Shankaracharya for a short period after which Svami Swaroopananda Sarasvatiji Maharaj (image below) was made the caretaker of the pith in 1973 (while the disputes continued). Later, he became the Shankaracharya of Passhmamnaya Sri Sharada Dvaraka Pith.
In the ruling of Allahabad High Court, the opinion of the remaining three Shankaracharyas was made secondary to the Bharat Dharma Mahamandala. Due to the strategies devised by the British to destroy Vyasapith, and Indian governments that are tiptoeing on the similar lines, the position of the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math has remained vacant. The result of this is the destruction of people’s faith in the Shankaracharyas and the sprouting of several fake Shankaracharyas which no political party has the will or strength to arrest. This has been explained in a video by the Shankaracharya of Puri.
After Shankaracharya Svami Swaroopananda Sarasvatjiji Maharaj attained sadgati in 2022, Svami Avimukteshwaranand Sarasvatī (image below) claimed to be the successor Shankaracharya of the Pith. However, there was an objection raised to his anointment by the Shankaracharya of Puri.
The anointment of Svami Avimukteshwaranand Sarasvatī (done by the Shankaracharya of Sringeri) was stopped after objection was raised by the Shankaracharya of Puri.
In an official post by @govardhanmath, it was shared that in his lifetime, Jagadguru Shankaracharya Svami Swaroopananda Sarasvatiji Maharaj did not declare anyone his representative or successor and in-fact accused the person for declaring himself as His representative.
If Jagadguru Shankaracharya Svami Swaroopananda Sarasvatiji Maharaj had made anyone the successor of Jyotir Math or Dvaraka, he would have announced it publicly. In such a situation, misleading propaganda in his name is a sign of greed, fear, emotionality and indiscretion.
Notification about the anointment of a person or the announcement of the name of a person by the representative of Puri Pith to the post of Acharya of Dvaraka and Jyotir Math is unreliable.
Read below –
Truth alone triumphs.