Paramarthika Pantha
later known as
Sarayu Parampara
The Living Stream of the Tradition
The Paramarthika Pantha
Before the lineage came to be known as Sarayu Parampara, it was known as the Paramarthika Pantha.
Paramarthika means that which belongs to the highest truth, the ultimate reality revealed by Vedanta.
Pantha means path or way. The name itself reveals the direction of the lineage: a life turned toward Brahman, Atman, dharma, sadhana, and liberation. The teachers of the Paramarthika Pantha upheld the same Advaita vision honored in the Guru Parampara and nourished by the great Acharyas of the shastra stream.
An original lineage photograph of Sadhu Subban Lal from 1878, the grandfather of Acharya Shanti Prakash, renowned in the lineage as Sadhu Anbhavananda. A devotee of the Goddess and a follower of Vedanta, he had also served in the Mughal court in Delhi to fulfill his householder goals, while teaching Vedanta at home. The attire reflects the blended Hindu and Indo-Islamic courtly culture of nineteenth-century North India.
A rare original lineage photograph of Sadhu Sammal Lal, the son of Anubhavananda and father of Acharya Shanti Prakash, from 1920. He was known in the lineage as Sadhu Sadananda. He accepted part-time work in the courts of the Ayodhya-Faizabad region to support his family. Alongside these responsibilities, he studied and taught Vedanta and the Vedas. His home became a small gurukulam, where a handful of students gathered for sustained study evry day.
An artistically restored archival image of an impromptu satsang led by Acharya Shanti Prakash on the banks of the River Sarayu. The original photograph itself preserves the river that would later give the lineage its renewed name, Sarayu Parampara.
From Paramarthika Pantha to Sarayu Parampara
The name of the lineage changed during the life of Paramatma Shanti Prakash, lovingly remembered as Bade Baba.
Following a profound spiritual experience connected with the sacred River Sarayu, he gave the lineage the name Sarayu Parampara. The teaching current remained continuous. The new name honored the river, the soil of Ayodhya, and the living source from which the lineage had drawn its strength across generations
The Lineage Across the Centuries
Sarayu Parampara has been rooted in Ayodhya across generations, carried through householders who lived spiritual knowledge within family life, public responsibility, service, and teaching. At different moments, members of the lineage also served and taught beyond Ayodhya, including in nineteenth-century Delhi, but they returned again to the sacred soil of the Sarayu, where the Vidya continued to be preserved and transmitted.
Over time, the lineage moved from intimate household transmission into wider public service. Sadhu Anubhavananda and Acharya Sadananda preserved Vedanta through family teaching and the home gurukulam. Paramatma Shanti Prakash brought it into social and national life. Baba Ayodhya Nath widened access to women and entrusted the lineage to his granddaughter. Acharya Shunya now carries this current into a global and digitally connected century without relinquishing its roots in Ayodhya.
Read: The Living River: Five Generations of Sarayu Parampara
