Why Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati is opposing Sanatan Dharm, Hindus & India? ||

 

Why Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati is opposing Sanatan Dharm, Hindus & India? ||

 

Nowadays a Hindu Monk Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati is in the news. He calls himself the Shankaracharya (Shankaracharya is considered one of the most influential philosophers in Hinduism) of Jyotishpeeth. The general public also considers him as Shankaracharya, and the media has already established him as Shankaracharya. He took a dig at Modi for the incident in Pahalgam and said that first of all the Chowkidar should be caught for what he was doing and in this way he  held Modi responsible for the incident. He also mocked the proposed action against Pakistan and said that Modi keeps on saying that he will do this and that and fools the public. The water of the Indus river cannot be stopped because India does not have any such system, but the Prime Minister is lying and the media is also spreading sensation that he will make Pakistan yearn for every drop of water.

 

Even before this, he raised the slogan of anti-Hinduism in many other matters. He called the Murshidabad incident in West Bengal, where Hindu Genocide was done Muslim orthodox, a matter of law and order and said that it should not be seen as a Hindu Muslim issue. After the stampede incident in Maha Kumbh 2025 held at Tirtharaj Prayagraj, he had fiercely attacked Yogi Adityanath and called him a liar Chief minister. He demanded his resignation and termed Maha Kumbh as a government Kumbh, exaggerated all the irregularities and criticized the Yogi government. Dandi Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati does not let go of any opportunity to corner the BJP and on many occasions, it seems that his behavior is purely political and he has become a pawn of some political party.

His behavior seems as if he is a disgruntled person and is quite angry with the BJP. Research on the reason for his anger reveals that Avimukteshwaranand feels that the BJP government at the Center tried to stop him from becoming the Shankaracharya of Jyotishpeeth and because of BJP Govt. the Supreme Court has banned his Pattabhishek, a ceremony after which identified saint become Shankarcharya Officially.

Avimukteshwaranand is a disciple of Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati of Dwarka-Sharda Peetha of Gujarat and Jyotish Peetha of Uttarakhand. Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati died on 11 September 2022. There after, on the basis of his will, his personal secretary declared Avimukteshwarananda as the new Shankaracharya of Jyotish Peeth. This was a very unusual incident because the appointment of any Shankaracharya cannot be based on a will. In fact, there is a process for the selection of Shankaracharya which was not followed. Due to this, the Sanyasi Akhara refused to accept Avimukteshwar as the new Shankaracharya of Jyotish Peeth. Niranjani Akhara and All India Akhara Parishad also protested and said that the prescribed procedure for the appointment of Shankaracharya has not been followed. The matter reached the Supreme Court where Avimukteshwarananda lied in his support and said that his appointment has also been supported by Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati of Govardhan Peeth Puri. But an affidavit was filed on behalf of the Shankaracharya of Govardhan Peeth Puri in SC stating that he has not supported the appointment of Avimukteshwarananda as Shankaracharya. The Solicitor General of the Government of India also confirmed this, after which the Supreme Court put a stay on Avimukteshwarananda's coronation ceremony till further orders, which is still in place. The coronation ceremony is one in which the selected Shankaracharya is duly appointed as the Shankaracharya. Therefore, Avimukteshwarananda is not the Shankaracharya of Jyotishpeeth as of now.

 

The irony of Jyotishpeeth is that Avimukteshwarananda's guru Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati was also surrounded by controversies throughout his tenure and he could never be appointed as Shankaracharya. In 1973, when the post of Shankaracharya in Jyotishpeeth fell vacant, Kashi Vidvat Parishad and Bharat Dharma Mahamandal gave the responsibility of Shankaracharya to Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, but another sanyasi Swami Vasudevanand presented his claim to the post of Shankaracharya and the matter reached the Prayagraj High Court. After 44 years, the High Court in its decision in 2017 rejected Vasudevanand's claim and also declared the appointment of Swaroopanand Saraswati illegal. The High Court directed the Kashi Vidvat Parishad to select a a suitable Shankaracharya in consultation with the heads of the other three monasteries. The court also said that until this process is completed, Swaroopanand Saraswati can act as the caretaker Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath. He continued to act as caretaker Shankaracharya till his last breath. The matter of appointment of Avimukteshwarananda, who presented his claim on the basis of the will of this caretaker Shankaracharya, reached the Supreme Court and his consecration was stayed.

He holds the Modi government at the Centre responsible for his not being appointed as Shankaracharya and therefore he is politically very vocal and opposes Modi and BJP in every possible way. Congress had helped him in the Supreme Court through its lawyers, so he is in favour of Congress and being a supporter of Congress, he is also in favour of the entire opposition alliance. Congress has established him as Shankaracharya through its media department and is using him for political purpose to settle the score with BJP. Avimukteshwarananda's guru Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati too was accused of being a Congress Shankaracharya throughout his life because he was deeply involved in congress matters. He also used to promote Congress in the elections and openly took up the fight against BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

 

Avimukteshwaranand, a resident of Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh, is named Umashankar Upadhyaya, who, after taking Shastri and Acharya degrees from Dr. Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, also tried his luck in politics and took part in student politics. When Akhilesh Yadav was the Chief Minister of UP, he, as the representative of Shankaracharya, had organized a demonstration of saints and sages against the government's decision to ban Ganesh idol immersion in the context of Muslim festivals and was beaten up badly by the police on the instructions of the government. During Maha Kumbh, Akhilesh Yadav met him and expressed regret for the previous incident, then he forgot the pain of the past and along with Akhilesh Yadav, fiercely cornered the Central and Uttar Pradesh government in the name of Maha Kumbh.

 

Sources reveal that he had also expressed his desire to contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 on the BJP's election symbol, which the BJP did not accept due to his Congress ties. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Avimukteshwarananda tried to field a candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi, which could not succeed, but in 2024, he did field a candidate under the banner of Gau Alliance. Avimukteshwarananda also participated actively in the political sit-in demonstration organized by Congress leader Ajay Rai against Modi in Varanasi.

 

To oppose the BJP, today he is taking an anti-Hindu and anti-national line, lowering the dignity of a Sanyasi (Monk), which  him completely unfit for the post of Shankaracharya. Such religious Gurus, Sadhus, Sanyasis and Shankaracharyas who are involved in their personal interests cannot protect Sanatan Dharma and Sanatan culture.

~~~~~~~~~~~~Shiv Mishra~~~~~~~~~~~~~~