New Delhi: Amid the row over the Shankaracharyas reportedly divided over the consecration ceremony at the Ayodhya Ram Temple on January 22, Puri Shankaracharya Nischalananda Saraswati ruled out any such difference and said the claims are “false”. “There are no differences between the four Shankaracharyas over Ram Temple, it's false,” the spiritual leader was heard saying in a video shared by news agency ANI.
According to reports, differences had cropped up between the four Shankaracharyas over the consecration of the Ram Lalla idol, with two of them criticising the organisers, saying the event goes against the tenets of Hinduism.
The four Shankaracharyas lead the main mutts in Dwarka (Gujarat), Joshimath (Uttarakhand), Puri (Odisha), and Sringeri (Karnataka), established by the eighth-century seer Adi Shankara.
While the Puri and Joshimath Shankaracharyas reportedly argued that installing the Ram idol in an “incomplete temple” was against the Hindu scriptures, the other two spiritual leaders extended full support and said the consecration event was a matter of joy and was being done in accordance with the ‘Sanatan Dharma’.
“None of the four pontiffs would be in Ayodhya on January 22 because the temple is being consecrated before construction is completed. It is the duty of Shankaracharya to ensure that religious scriptures are properly followed. The scriptures are being undermined by carrying out consecration before the construction of the temple is complete. There is no reason for this rush,” Joshimath Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati said earlier this week.
Clearing the air over “differences” within them, Puri Shankaracharya said, “It is important that the idol consecration happens in accordance with the rituals, keeping in mind the Hindu scriptures. And there is no difference of opinion between the four Shankaracharyas over this.”