SAC’s paper on Sri Advaita Acarya’s Deity
Listed below are evidences for both sides of the issue, our analysis and conclusion.
Pro-Beard Evidence (mainly from Srila Prabhupada’s letters, lectures and conversations)
1) “The Panca-tattva can all be golden. The Deity of Lord Caitanya is very nicely done so there is no need to change the color. Yes, Srivas Pandit has sikha. Vaisnava must have sikha. Advaita Prabhu has a full white beard. He was an old man. He was practically older than the father of Lord Caitanya. He was an elder gentleman in the town of Navadvipa, elder of the brahmana community.” (Letter to Govinda Dasi / 20 November 1971)
2) “According to Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s sampradaya, they keep themselves clean-shaven. And only single instance is there, Advaita Prabhu. He had his beard. And Caitanya Mahaprabhu never asked Him to cleanse. Because one reason is that Advaita Prabhu was just contemporary to His father, so He did not like to dictate. But otherwise, all His disciples, they were clean-shaved. (Lecture / Cc Madhya 20.66-96 / 21 November1966)
3) “You see this picture, five learned brahmanas. In the center there is one picture who is Lord Caitanya. He started this movement when He was only seventeen years old, a boy. A boy only—a schoolboy. He was student, but He introduced this movement five hundred years ago, and some of the elderly men, as you see, one elderly man with beard, He also helped Him, and the others…Actually this movement was originally started by young boys. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu, and Advaita Prabhu, They started. (Brandeis University Lecture / April 29, 1969)
4) “As far as wearing beards one class of men like Advaita Prabhu never wore clean shaven appearance but always had a beard.” (Letter to Murlidhara [BBT artist] / 7 March 1974 LA)
5) “You can also arrange for costumes and wig; one boy may be dressed as Lord Caitanya, another as Nityananda, as well as Gadadhara, Advaita with white beard and Srivasa with shaven head.” (Letter to Hamsaduta / 3 March, 1968 LA)
6) “Yes, the Panca-tattva picture is standard, no need of changing.” (Letter to Jadurani / 8 April 1968)
7) “Thank you for the nice photos. I saw one photo there of Bharadraja’s doll studio along with the others. You can tell him that we want many Panca-tattva Deities made out of cement or plaster paris. They can be made the same size as the L.A. Gaura-Nitai Deities.” (Letter to Kalacanda / 31 May 1975 Honolulu)
[NOTE: Here Srila Prabhupada does not say he wanted the Deities to be different than the instructions he had given for Deities and paintings of Advaita Prabhu. This may be taken as evidence that the instruction to Govinda Dasi did not refer to only one set of Deities.]
8 ) “As you have suggested I am instructing Bharadraja to immediately make a new set of Panca-tattva Deities for our Hawaii temple.” (Letter to Gurukrpa / 6 April 1977 Bombay)
[NOTE: In 1977 new Panca-tattva Deities were made for the Hawaii temple, according to the same standard as the first set, with Advaita Prabhu having a beard.]
9) “I have enclosed herewith some photos from the deity installation of Panca-tattva in Honolulu. I remember that you have good ability to do propaganda work, so I am entrusting that you will try for printing these photos in the big newspapers in Bombay. You can write that they are taken at the deity installation in our Honolulu ISKCON center on May 7, 1972.” (Letter to Cyavana / 23 May, 1972 LA)
[NOTE: Prabhupada wanted the pictures of Advaita Prabhu with a beard printed in the newspapers in Bombay, India.]
10)
Bhavananda: These are the remnants of old dioramas that we had.
Prabhupada: That means you have broken them?
Bhavananda: They were broken.
Prabhupada: Huh? Broken by?
Jayapataka: Time. They were clay. They started just falling…. No doll maker is here. After one year they started to fall apart.
Tamala Krsna: Is this last years’ exhibit?
Bhavananda: From three years ago.
Tamala Krsna: Three years ago. Last years’ are still good?
Prabhupada: No, they break.
Bhavananda: Some. The Panca-tattva and…
Jayapataka: They should have been put in the Ganges.
Prabhupada: No, how it breaks? They keep it for years, and you broke them?
How you…? How you broke? Automatically?
(Morning Walk / January 16, 1976, Mayapur)
[NOTE: This conversation indicates that there were Panca-tattva dioramas in Mayapur that Srila Prabhupada knew about. We assume that Advaita Prabhu in this Panca-tattva diorama was shown with a beard, as always in ISKCON. This diorama was obviously for display in Mayapur, and would have been seen by the local people, and not just ISKCON members. This could be investigated further. It is meager evidence, but it does offer some indication.]
12) In the book Gauradesa: A Devotional Guide to Navadvipa Dhama, by Manjari Devi Dasi, there is on page 157 a photo of a painting of Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityananda, and Advaita Acarya speaking about the confidential pastimes of Lord Krsna. The painting shows Advaita Prabhu with a beard. The painting is in a small shrine at the house of Advaita Acarya in Santipura.
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Anti-Beard Evidence (from various sources)
1) Srila Sarasvati Thakura’s Panca-tattva Deities at the Yogapitha in Mayapur: No beard
2) Srila Sarasvati Thakura’s Deities at Srivas Angam in Mayapur: No beard
3) Sri Advaita Acarya Deity at Santipura: No beard
4) Gosvami-parivaras insist that He did not have one. (In their paintings they portray Him in a youthful form.) [Gosvami-parivara means a lineage of Gaudiya Vaisnavas, generally caste brahmanas]
5) Advaitastakam verse: eka-anga tridha murti kaisoradi sada varam
(“All three of Them are one personality in three forms. Their forms are eternally youthful”.)
6) Caitanya Bhagavata purport by Srila Sarasvati Thakura [the verse itself could be taken as evidence for pro-beard, but see the commentary]
Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 16.99
tarjje garjje acarya dadite diya hata
bhrukuti kariya nace santipura-natha
“The Acarya threatened and roared, placing his hand on his beard. That Lord of Santipura furled his eyebrows and began to dance.” (translated by Gopiparanadhana Prabhu)
Original Bengali commentary by Srila Sarasvati Thakura:
sri-advaita-prabhu sastracara-sampanna gumpha-smasru-kesadi-mundita chilena. dadi va cibuke ye unnata kesa (smasru) deya yaya; uhake sadharana bhasaya ‘dadi’ bale. taj-janya keha keha anabhijnata-vase ajna bauliyara vesa smasru-kesadir niyoga karena. kintu prakrta prastave tini mundita-kesa chilena. tanhake ‘nada’-sabde abhihita karaya mundita-keseri nirdesa bujha yaya.
Translation of Commentary
[NOTE: Srila Sarasvati Thakura seems to cross over the information in the verse to make his point. He is clearly concerned that no one accepts Sri Advaita Prabhu a Baul.]
Opinions from two ISKCON leaders:
7) H.H. Jayapataka Swami: “In this detail of iconography which Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura specifically said wasn’t bona fide, I can’t imagine that Srila Prabhupada would have maintained it if he was aware of these instructions.”
my comment to this is:
Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 16.99
tarjje garjje acarya dadite diya hata
bhrukuti kariya nace santipura-natha
“The Acarya threatened and roared, placing his hand on his chin (not His beard as translated by Gopiprana das). That Lord of Santipura furled his eyebrows and began to dance.”
And this is the only place in all of the books of the Acaryas and Goswamis such a thing has been misunderstood and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada is very specific:
Also for years we where taught that in the ISKCON songbook , the first vers of Ye anilo prema dhana refers to Srinivasa Thakura this is a mistake. It is Advaita Acarya.
Now Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada stated that Advaita Acarya is clean shaven :“Sri Advaita Prabhu was perfectly fixed in proper behavior according to scripture, and was clean shaven, without whiskers, beard and hair on his head. A ‘beard’ or long-grown hair (smasru) found on the chin is called in the vernacular dadi. Therefore some people, swayed by their ignorance, try to ascribe to Him the dress of a foolish Baul and a Baul’s beard, hairy head and so on. But actually He had all His hair shaven. This is indicated by the word Nada, which refers to one who is clean-shaven.”
But we see in the Yoga pitha that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada had Advaita Acarya depicted with long hair, it appears in the Bhauma lila of Advaita Acarya there is no beard and no hair , sikha is not mentioned.....but in the Nitya lila there is long hair (of transcendental nature) this is the expert opinion I have recived from Navadvipa basis, so I stick to that understanding as it makes the most sense. As for Srila Prabhupadas mistake in this , Srila Prabhupada did not live in a Gaudiya math temple and was not given such training.Also Srila Prabhupada translated the Gunja berries of Lord Caitanyas Govardhana sila as small conschells , that is a mistake.Srila Prabhupada was not trained in arcana he was a preacher of sastra so these mistakes does not deminish his preaching ,
Srila Prabhupada also once stated that the Dvaraka sila can be used as a paper weight this is also a mistake due to his lack of training in Arcana seva.Sastra has glorified the Dvaraka sila :
The Brahma Purana states that wherever shalagrama-shila and Dvaraka-shila sit together, there certainly mukti also resides. In the conversation between Brahma and Narada in the Skanda Purana Brahma says, "O Munishvara! Wherever dvaraka-shila sits in front of the shalagrama-shila every class of opulence goes on increasing unlimitedly." In another place it says that one who daily worships dvaraka-shila along with twelve shalagrama-shila will be honored even in Vaikuntha-dhama.
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