The Biography Of Śri Canda Siddhanta Sāgara

In the vast expanse of the great nature, the intense flow of the stream of time was coursing with unflagging resolve. That witness-star twinkling in the sky, was sometimes watching the learned master of yogic knowledge, yogi Śiva, immersed in meditation at the peak of Mount Kailaśa, and then at times, the lord of the night, the moon, who too was appearing before that star in the form of Śiva only. Having taken a vow to remain digambara, this supreme eternal light alike Brahman Śiva had again this moment, half opened his eyes. This contemplative seer who ponders over the Vedas had smiled in such manner, as though the thought of spreading all branches of Vedic teachings and of illuminating each and every one with his brilliance had descended
The compilation of his holy work is known by the name of Śri Canda Siddhanta Sāgara. There were four disciples of Śri Canda Ācārya namely, Almastā Sāhib (also known as Alīmatta), Phūla Sāhib, Govinda Sāhib and Bālu Hasnā Sāhib (Bāla Hāsa). They began the tradition of chāra dhūne - the four dhūnīs or four holy places where a fire has been lit since many years, and also became designated as the four Maṇḍalādhīśa of the Udāsīna sect. Since then the sādhus who were rewarded with designations by the blessings of Śrī Śri Canda came to be called as the sādhus of bakhśīśa (reward). In this manner six bakhśiśas and under those six another ten upa-bakhśīśas were constituted. All the Udāsīna saints who have come out of these bakhśīśas and upa-bakhśīśas are either associated with the tradition of one of the four dhūnes or the tradition of bakhśīśas. A splendid and expansive tradition of the Udāsīna mahatmas lays spread across the country. The tradition of discipleship of the Udāsīna mahatmas belonging to the above mentioned four dhūnes, six bakhśīśas, and the ten upa- bakhśīśas, became extremely widespread not only throughout Northern India but also Bengāl and Assam, and Nāndeḍ and Hyderābād in the South. These mahatmas, while performing several public-beneficial works, set ablaze such a fulgent flame of religious and ethical life in the
His tenure is believed to be from 1771 to 1831. He was born in a Sārasawata Brāhmaṇa family at Amrāvatī in Central India on the Āṣāḍha Śukla Pūrṇimā, the full moon day of the waxing fortnight of Āṣāḍha (June /July), in 1720 and was named Karmacanda at birth. In 1734 upon renouncing all worldly pleasures he had left from his home and had happened to meet with a mahatma by the name of Baba Sangatadās, with whom he had later reached Punjāb after having journeyed to Madhya Pradesh, Mahārāshtra, Gujarāt, Rājasthān and Uttar Pradesh. After reaching Punjāb and having seen the marred state of affairs there, Baba Sangatadās is said to have returned to his home town of Kholāpur Amrāvatī along with Karmacanda. And then in 1739 Śrī Nirvāṇa Priyatamadās set forth on a tour of the whole country. On his travel he met with the supremely accomplished ascetic of the Dhūnī forest of Nepal, Baba Vanakhanḍī. It is said that the elephants of the forest come and add wood to Baba’s dhūne (dhūnī) on their own, so that the sacred fire keeps alight continually. Meeting Baba Vanakhanḍī transformed him completely. Baba Vanakhandī Mahārāja himself tied the dreadlocks of Śrī Priyatamadās and placed them over his head like a crown, and also made a ball of ash from his sacred dhūne and gave it to Śri