Guru Parampara – Left or Right? ISKCON altars the photos of the guru-parampara are placed from left to right

[krsna 3]

A devotee from another forum posted this good question:

 

__________-

On ISKCON altars the photos of the guru-parampara are placed from left to right. The current guru is on the left hand side and the previous acaryas are seen on the right hand side. That is Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, Gaurakisora Dasa Babaji, Bhaktivinoda Thakura ……

 

In the Bible it is also said that Jesus ascends into heaven and sits at the right hand of God. So placing the pictures from left to right also agrees with this because the disciple will always be at the right hand side of their guru, ultimately going back to Brahma being positioned on the right hand of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna.

 

However, some devotees say that the guru is seated on the disciple's right hand side at the time of initiation and remains there eternally. This means that the current guru is on the right and the previous acaryas are on the left hand side. That is …… Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Gaurakisora Dasa Babaji, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

 

I have observed that in the Gaudiya Matha the guru parampara are placed from right to left with Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja being on the farthest right. This is opposite to what is seen in ISKCON where the guru parampara are placed from left to right with Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada being on the farthest left.

 

So which is right? Left to right or right to left?!!!

[raga 0]

Traditionally you'll always want to keep the senior person on your right side (looking from your own perspective, of course when you're standing opposite to them it's the right side). Hence, Radha is on Krishna's left side, Gaura is on Nitai's left side, Krishna is on Balaram's left side and so forth. Therefore the gurus also take a successive position on the left side of their own gurus.

 

According to Bhakti-sandarbha (286), the vyasti-guru (the empowered individual guru) is on the left side of the samasti-guru (aggregate guru). Hence the principle of staying on the left side of the senior exists even in the archetypal guru-features.

[raga 0]

Was the reply satisfactory, or do you need something more on this?

[Guest guest]

"I have observed that in the Gaudiya Matha the guru parampara are placed from right to left with Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja being on the farthest right."

 

gaudya matha is not only srila narayana maharaja, that i apprecaite very much,.. but in many gaudya mathas' altars i have seen the "iskcon" way