De Lineage van de Navnath Sampradaya

Randolph: "Mijn leermeesters Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj en Alexander Smit maakten deel uit van een eeuwenoude traditie die de Navnath Sampradaya werd genoemd. Meestal spreekt men over de lineage van 9 leermeesters, maar in werkelijkheid waren dat er veel meer. Navnath betekend Oorsprong, onstaan, het eerste begin, initiatie, het in gang zetten...
Sampradaya betekent traditie, doorgave, lineage...

                                         
                     
                    Nisargadatta Maharaj           Alexander Smit

Ik laat even Wikipedia aan het woord over het begrip Sampradaya.

Wikipedia: In the East Sampradaya can be translated as ‘tradition’ although the word commands much more respect and power in the Indian context than its translations in English does. It relates to a succession serving as a spiritual channel and providing a delicate network of relationships In the contrast with it a particular Satguru lineages are called parampara. Parampara literally means an uninterrupted series or succession and by receiving an initiation (diksha) into a parampara of a living satguru, one belongs to its proper sampradaya, the lineage of spiritual masters who are both carries and transmitters of the tradition. Initiation, diksha, is a means by which one can become a member of a sampradaya.

Ik zal een stukje weergeven waarin Nisargadatta over zijn lineage spreekt (I Am That, Pagina 271 Deel II, hoofdstuk 97):

Question: I see here picture of several saints and I am told that they are your spiritual ancestors. Who are they and how did it all begin?

Maharaj: We are called collectively the “Nine Masters”. The legend says that our first teacher was the Rishi Dattatreya, the great incarnation of the trinity of Brahman, Vishnu and Shiva. Even the ‘Nine Masters” are mythological.

Question: What is the peculiarity of their teaching?

Maharaj: Its simplicity, both in theory and in practice..

Question: How does one become a Navnath? By initiation or by succession?

Maharaj: Neither. the Nine Masters’ tradition (Navnath Parampara) is like a river—it flows into the ocean of reality and whoever enters it is carried along.

Question: Does it imply acceptance by a living master belonging to the same tradition?

Maharaj: Those who practice the sadhana of focusing their minds on “I am” may feel related to others who have followed the same sadhana and succeeded. they may decided to verbalize their sense of kinship by calling themselves Navnaths, It gives them the pleasure of belonging to an established lineage.

Question: Do they in anyway benefit by joining?

Maharaj: The circle of satsang, the company of saints expands as time passes.

Question: Do they get hold thereby a source of power and grace from which they would have been barred otherwise?

Maharaj: Power and Grace are for all and for the asking. Giving oneself a particular name does not help. Call yourself by any name—as long as you are intensely mindful of yourself, the accumulated obstacles to self-knowledge are bound to be swept away.

Question: If I like your teaching and accept your guidance, can I call myself a Navnath?

Maharaj: Please your word-addicted mind ! The name will not change you. At least it may remind you to behave. There is a succession of gurus and their disciples, who in turn train more disciples and thus the line is maintained. But the continuity of tradition is informal and voluntary. It is like a family name, but here the family is spiritual.

Question: Do you have to realize to join the Sampradaya?

Maharaj: The Navnath Sampradaya is only a tradition, a way of teaching an practice. It does not denote a level of consciousness. If you accept a Navnath Sampradaya teacher as your guru, you join his Sampradaya. Usually you receive a token of his grace—a look, a touch or a word, sometimes a vivid dream or a strong remembrance. Sometimes the only sign of grace is a significant and rapid change in character and behaviour.











Question: I know you now for some years and I meet you regularly. The thought of you is never far from my mind. Does it make me belong to your Sampradaya?

Maharaj: Your belonging is a matter of your own feeling and conviction. After all, it is all verbal and formal. In reality there is neither guru nor disciple, neither theory nor practice, neither ignorance nor realization, It all depends on what you take yourself to be. Know your self correctly, There is no substitute to self- knowledge.