| Lekhraj Khubchand Kripalani | |
|---|---|
| Sect | Brahma Kumaris |
| Other name(s) | Dada Lekhraj, Om Baba, Prajapita Brahma, Brahma Baba |
| Personal | |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Born | 15 December 1884 Sind |
| Died | 18 January 1969 Mount Abu, Rajasthan |
| Senior posting | |
| Title | Medium BKWSU |
| Religious career | |
| Reincarnation | Krishna, Narayan |
Lekhraj Khubchand Kripalani (also transliterated as Kirpalani), (15 December 1884 – 18 January 1969),[1] also known as Bhai or Dada Lekhraj was the founder and medium to the Brahma Kumaris movement. He is also revered as Brahma Baba among his followers who are called twice-born or mouth-born brahmins.
Contents |
Biography [link]
Originally from Hyderabad, Sindh, Lekhraj Kripalani became wealthy through dealing in diamonds.[1] His business was based in Calcutta, and centered around supplying diamonds and jewels.[2] In his fifties, Kripalani reportedly had visions, which he interpreted as instructions from a Supreme being.[3] Lekhraj retired from his business in Calcutta, returned to Hyderabad in Sindh and turned to spirituality. In 1932, Lekhraj established the spiritual organisation Om Mandali. A follower of the Vaishnavite Vallabhacharya sect[4] and member of the exogamous Bhaiband community,[5] he is said to have had 12 gurus[6] and started preaching or conducted satsangs, which, by 1936, had attracted around 300 people consisting many of them wealthy people from his community. A relative reported that a spiritual being (Shiva) entered in his body and spoke through him.[7] Adherents of the BKWSU have come to believe that this being is God and that it continued to be channeled via Kripalani and others acting as medium until his death in 1969 by heart attack,[8] at which point both it and the soul of the deceased founder started to be channeled by the current medium, Hirday Mohini at the organization's Indian headquarters.[9]
The Adhyatmik Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya (also known as the "Advance Party"), an organization predominantly made up of disaffected ex-members of the BKWSU, claim the original medium was Lekhraj's business partner Sevak Ram, who was also a co-founder of the movement. According to this theory, the supreme being (Shiva) manifested himself through Sevak Ram, and not Lekhraj.[10] Sevak Ram left the organization on 2 February 1942, and the two lady members appointed by him to manage the organization expired soon after. Lekhraj gained complete control of the organization only in 1945.
Om Mandali [link]
In 1937, Kripalani named some of his followers as a managing committee, and reportedly transferred his fortune to the committee. This committee, known as Om Mandali (or Om Mandli), was the nucleus of the Brahma Kumaris.[3] Several women joined Om Mandali, and contributed their wealth to the association. Dada Lekhraj preached Bhagavad Gita to his followers .[11] The members of the Om Mandali believed that Lekhraj Kripalani was the God Brahma (titled Prajapati) and sermonized the Bhagavad Gita.[12]
The Sindhi community reacted unfavorably to Kripalani's movement, as many young Sindhi women attended his ashram, and the movement involved a vow of celibacy. Kripalani had described sex as "poison", "criminal assault", and "the gateway to hell".[13] The main complaint was that Om Mandli was preaching celibacy to unmarried girls and married women.[2][14]
Organizations like the Indian National Congress and Arya Samaj denounced Om Mandali as disturber of family peace. Some of the Brahma Kumari wives were mistreated by their families, and Dada Lekhraj was accused of sorcery and lechery.[3] He was also accused of forming a cult and controlling his community through the art of hypnotism; children were removed from his school.[12]
To avoid persecution, legal actions and opposition from family members of his followers, Dada Lekhraj moved his followers, they moved from Hyderabad to Karachi, where they settled in a highly structured ashram. According to the Om Mandali it was an instruction form the supreme being Shiva. The Bhaibund anti-Om Mandli Committee that had opposed the group in Hyderabad followed them.[15] On January 18, 1939, the mothers of two girls aged 12 and 13 filed an application against Om Mandali, in the Court of the Additional Magistrate in Karachi. The women, from Hyderabad, stated that their daughters were wrongfully being detained at the Om Mandali in Karachi.[2] The court ordered the girls to be sent to their mothers. Om Radhe of the Om Mandali appealed against the decision in the High Court, where the decision was upheld. Later, Hari's parents were persuaded to let their daughter stay at the Om Mandali.
Several Hindus continued their protests against Om Mandali. Some Hindu members of the Sindh Assembly threatened to resign unless the Om Mandali was finally outlawed. Finally, the Sindh Government used the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1908 to declare the Om Mandali as an unlawful association.[11] Under further pressure from the Hindu leaders in the Assembly, the Government also ordered the Om Mandali to close and vacate its premises.[16] The Om Mandali successfully appealed against the Government order in the court.
Mount Abu [link]
After the partition of India, the Brahma Kumaris moved to Mount Abu (Rajasthan) in India in April, 1950.[17] After his death in 1969, his followers expanded the movement to other countries.[1]
Further reading [link]
- Chander, B. K. Jagdish (1984). A Brief Biography of Brahma Baba. Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University.
- Radhe, Om (1937). Is this Justice?. Pharmacy Press, ltd.
References [link]
- ^ a b c Hunt, Stephen J. (2003). Alternative Religions: A Sociological Introduction. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. pp. 120. ISBN 0-7546-3410-8.
- ^ a b c Hodgkinson, Liz (2002). Peace and Purity: The Story of the Brahma Kumaris a Spiritual Revolution. HCI. pp. 2–29. ISBN 1-55874-962-4.
- ^ a b c Abbott, Elizabeth (2001). A History of Celibacy. James Clarke & Co.. pp. 172–174. ISBN 0-7188-3006-7.
- ^ The Brahma Kumaris as a 'reflexive Tradition': Responding to late modernity by Dr John Walliss, 2002, ISBN 0-7546-0951-0
- ^ The Sindh Story, by K. R. Malkani. Karachi, Allied Publishers Private Limited, 1984.
- ^ Adi Dev, by Jagdish Chander Hassija, Third Edition, Brahma Kumaris Information Services, 2003.
- ^ Walliss, John (October 1999). "From World Rejection to Ambivalence: the Development of Millenarianism in the Brahma Kumaris". Journal of Contemporary Religion 14 (3): 375–385. DOI:10.1080/13537909908580876.
- ^ Peace & purity: the story of the Brahma Kumaris : a spiritual revolution By Liz Hodgkinson. Page 58
- ^ "The Divine Descent of God". Prajapita rahma Kumaris Ishawariya Vishwa Vidyalaya. Archived from the original on 2007-07-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20070702230705/https://www.brahmakumaris.com/aboutus/descentofgod.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
- ^ John Walliss (2002). The Brahma Kumaris as a 'reflexive tradition'. Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-0951-3.
- ^ a b Hardy, Hardayal (1984). Struggles and Sorrows: The Personal Testimony of a Chief Justice. Vikas Publishing House. pp. 37–39. ISBN 0-7069-2563-7.
- ^ a b Radhe, Brahma-Kumari (1939). Is this justice?: Being an account of the founding of the Om Mandli & the Om Nivas and their suppression, by application of the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1908. Pharmacy Printing Press. pp. 35–36.
- ^ Chryssides, George D. (2001). Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements. Scarecrow Press. pp. 35–36.
- ^ Barrett, David V (2001). The New Believers: A Survey of Sects, Cults and Alternative Religions. Cassell & Co.. ISBN 978-0-304-35592-1. "'sex is an extreme expression of 'body-consciousness' and also leads to the other vices', probably stems in part from the origins of the movement in the social conditions of the 1930s India when women had to submit to their husbands."
- ^ Howell, Julia Day (2005). Peter Clarke. ed. Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. Routledge. pp. 63–64. ISBN 978-0-415-26707-6. "The call for women brahmins (i.e. kumaris or 'daughters') to remain celibate or chaste in marriage inverted prevailing social expectations that such renunciation was proper only for men and that the disposal of women's sexuality should remain with their fathers and husbands. The 'Anti-Om Mandali Committee' formed by outraged male family members violently persecuted Brahma Baba's group, prompting their flight to Karachi and withdrawal from society. Intense world rejection gradually eased after partition in 1947, when the BKs moved from Pakistan to Mt. Abu."
- ^ Coupland, Reginald (1944). The Indian Problem: Report on the Constitutional Problem in India. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Chander, B. K Jagdish (1981). Adi Dev: The first man. B.K. Raja Yoga Center for the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University.
