The Nimbarka Sampradaya has been on the planet since the time of Sri Nimbarkacharya. According to the Bhavishya Purana, Nimbarka Bhagavan was born 5104 years ago in Vaidurya Pattanam in Maharashtra, India. Modern scholastic investigation shows that Sri Nimbarka was en vogue 50 years before Shankaracharyas time.

Before the Sampradaya was known as the Nimbarka Sampradaya, it was known as the Hamsa Sampradaya, the Sanakadi Sampradaya (or Kumara Sampradaya) and the Devarshi Sampradaya. This is because the first Acharya was Sri Hamsa Bhagavan, the Swan incarnation of Shri Radha Krsna as explained in the 11th Skandha of the Shrimad Bhagavatam.

His disciples were the four sons of Brahma – Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana and Sanat Kumara. They wrote a treatise on Ashtayama Lila, and Gopi Bhava Upasana based on what Shri Hamsa Bhagavan taught. This is widely known as the Shri Sanatkumara Samhita.
They initiated their younger brother Narada Muni. Narada Muni is famous throughout all Puranic literature as the mind of the Lord. He is the foremost expert on Devotion, and his Narada Bhakti Sutras are the manual on devotion. He based this on the teachings he recieved from his Gurus.

Narada Muni then initiated Sri Nimbarka into the teachings that Sri Hamsa had propounded. Nimbarka, also known as Aruni because of being the son of Aruna Rishi, is mentioned in the Narada Bhakti Sutra as an excellent authority on Devotion, on a par to Hanuman and Vibheeshana, currently, the Parashurama Dvara is established in Nimbarka Teertha (Salemabad), Rajasthan. Here, the 48th Jagadguru Nimbarkacharya Swami Shri Radhasarveshvara Sharana Devacharya is the present presiding Acharya over the whole Sampradaya. The worship and care of the most Holy Sri Sarveshvara Bhagavan (the Shalagram handed down originally from Hansa Bhagavan to Sanakadi Rishis, and then to Narada, Nimbarka etc etc) is performed by him daily. He is known as ‘Sriji Maharaja’ to the faithful followers.

1. Sri Sri Sarveshvara Bhagavan – the Shalagrama originally handed from Sri Hamsa Bhagavan to the Sanakadi Rsis, subsequently passed to each successive leader Jagadguru of our Sampradaya. He is faithfully served exclusively by the Jagadguru, and still gives Darshana wherever Shri Shriji Maharaja is staying

2. shri shriji maharaj - present acharya of nimbarak sampradaya.
 
 

kindly sent in by Vamsidhari gopianath dasa . jps
New Delhi & Vrindavan
 

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