On 1/10/2014 6:22 PM, Michael Jackson wrote: > if the will wasn't contested, where the hell do you > think the other contenders came from? > The SBS will wasn't contested in a court of law. Swami Vasudevananda Saraswati is currently the *sole representative Guru Dev's lineage*, according to Sundaresan. In the case of the Shakaracharya it is the usual custom to follow the disciplic succession: "...once Swami Brahmananda Saraswati was accepted as the Jyotirmath Sankaracharya, and there were no serious disputes about it at the time, further activities of these other institutions with respect to succession issues could be construed as unnecessary interference."
Work cited: Jyotirmath Sankaracharya Lineage in the 20th Century by Vidyasankar Sundaresan http://indology.info/papers/sundaresan/ PASSED ON: Senior, retired, Shankaracharya of Jyotir Peeth, Swami Shantanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj, age ninety, on December 7, 1997, in Allahabad, India. Senior leaders of the VHP participated in final rites. Swami became Shankaracharya in 1953 after the death of his guru, Brahmanand Saraswati. Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati is his successor... Hinduism Today March 1998