JAGADGURU SHRI KRIPALUJI MAHARAJ  

Jagadguru Shri Kripaluji Maharaj

Jagadguru Sri Kripaluji Maharaj is the sole fifth Jagadguru of this age. He is a Jagadguru not by any right of inheritance to a monastic seat but by the virtue of his transcendental, spiritual merit and profound and prodigious authority over Holy Scriptures like the Vedas, the Upanishadas, the Puranas, the Gita, the Ramayan and the Ram Charit Manas. In this introductory brief, he would henceforth be referred to as ‘Shri Maharajji’, an epithet by which he is lovingly and popularly known.

It was on the 14^th January 1957 that the KASHI VIDVAT PARISHAD – an august and formidable body of five hundred scriptural scholars and each an expert of his own branch of study- decided to crown him with the hallowed title of ‘Jagadguroottam’, the best ever Jagadguru, after having heard him extensively for nine days on end.

The scholars of Kashi Vidvat Parishat, conferring the title of Jagadguru. 1957

Just to put the record straight, it had so happened that some of the members of the KASHI VIDVAT PARISHAD along with their Vice-President Mahamahopadhyaya Pt. Shri Giridhar Sharma Chaturvedi got an opportunity to hear Shri Maharajji’s enlightening, exhaustive and all-inclusive discourses rendered in indefectible classical Sanskrit earlier on in the “All India Conference of Bhakti Yoga philosophers’ at Chitrakoot organized between 16 October 1955 and 31 October 1955. The conference was a learned gathering of philosophers, scholars, saints and spiritual aspirants from all over the country. Overwhelmed and deeply impressed like everybody, the members of the KASHI VIDVAT PARISHAD went back to Varanasi and narrated their astounding experience to the other

 members in lavish and exuberant terms of praise for Shri Maharajji. But being an  august body of scholars and philosophers par-excellence themselves, they did not, initially, take their word for what they had said about hri Maharajji and resolved to hold a further scrutiny on him in the conference held at S Kanpur between 5 October 1956 and 19 October 1956. This time they commissioned their General Secretary, Shatshastri Pt. Shri Raj Narayan Shukla to do the job. And to the shock of their surprise, he too reported back in the same tenor of unrestricted praise. So they thought of inviting Shri Maharajji to the forum of the KASHI VIDVAT PARISHAD at Varanasi, where they obviously intended to take a complete measure of his knowledge and authority.

Whenever the invitation was made out, Shri Maharajji gladly condescended to oblige them. The KASHI VIDVAT PARISHAD heard Shri Maharajji’s in-depth, duly illustrated and prolifically substantiated discourses on various scriptural issues to their heart’s content and were fully convinced of his unusual perspicacity, scriptural insight, authority and transcending spiritual experiences. However hard they must have tried, they had not been able to find any room to contravene or contradict him on any doctrinal point. Eventually, they judged and regarded him ‘the best ever Jagadguru’ because he had deftly and with authority elucidated and thrown light upon the underlying unity and abiding harmony between the seemingly contradictory tenets found in different doctrines of Indian Philosophy. This was an unprecedented act of imparting a new perception and insight into the Holy Scriptures which had enthralled the KASHI VIDVAT PARISHAD and had filled them with awe of a kind. This made them unanimously agree to conferring yet another reverential title of ‘Nikhil Darshan Samanyacharya’ on him. It might be staggering to note that Shri Maharajji at that time was not even thirty five years of age and that he had never ever formally studied the scriptures nor philosophy. It is also worth the mention that during his sessions with the KAAHI VIDVAT PARISHAD, Shri Maharajji continued to draw out the knowledge stored within him stage by stage and the KASHI VIDVAT PARISHAD, as if in a bid to redeem themselves and compensate for the initial hesitation, continued to honor and designate him with title after title. They proclaimed him ‘Ved  Marg Pratishthapan Acharya,’ ‘Bhakti-Yoga Rasavatar,’ ‘Sanatan Vedic Dharma Sat Sampradaya Paramacharya’ in addition to the titles already stated. The titles - ‘Pad Vakya Praman Paravarin’ and ‘Anant Shri Vibhushit’ were also conferred on him.

In this way Shri Maharajji stands in the distinguished and celebrated primal line of Jagadgurus like  Shri Shri Madhvacharya (14^th Century A.D.), Shri Shri Nimbarkacharya (8^th Century A.D.), Shri Shri Ramanujacharya (12^th Century A.D.) and Adi Shankaracharya (2500 yrs ago).

Blessed indeed and exceedingly worthy of adoration is the family in which a Blessed, godly and liberated soul takes birth. One such family was the devout and pious family of Shriyut Pundit Lalita Prasad Tripathi and Srimati Bhagwati Devi at Mangarh village of Pratapgarh district in Uttar Pradesh, India, to whom Shri Maharajji was born as their third son on the auspicious night of Aashwin Sharat Purnima, Vikram Samvat 1979, corresponding to the night of Thursday the 05 October 1922. Shri Ram Naresh Tripathi and Shri Ram Narayan Tripathi were his elder brothers with Shrimati Rajbati Devi as their younger sister. Shri Ram Kripalu Tripathi was the name that was given to Shri Kripaluji Maharaj - our beloved Shri Maharajji. His birthday has an auspicious historical significance in the fact that the Supreme Godhead, Lord Shri Krishna had consummated His Divine Maharaas on the same Sharat Purnima night about five thousand years ago.

Shri Maharajji’s formal education in Sanskrit literature and grammar came to an abrupt end at the age of 16 owing to a divine ecstasy, a mystic mood that had already started taking over him. With ardent love for Shri Krishna welling up within, he was getting more and more impassioned of God. Under that spell of surging divine discontent, he left home and ventured into the then teeming forests of Chitrakoot and Sharbhang. Exactly how long he lived there and what ordeals and austerities he went through is shrouded in mystery. But when he came out of his seclusion, he was seen moving around in a transcendental state of blissful abandon; staying aloof and abstracted in his bearing and totally unmindful of all outside help. His food, his drink, his clothes and covering were all uncertain. People began to call him ‘Paramhansji’, the Supreme Spiritual Swan.

He lived in this ‘Parmahansa’ state for about two years and in the July-August of 1940 came to Vrindavana having controlled his divine ecstasy to an extent of workable normalcy. Drawn by his tall, fair-complexioned, powerfully-built, beatific personality with a noble and handsome face glowing with an indwelling light, people, in hundreds, had already started gathering about him. And finally, at their insistence, he started holding ‘Sankirtan’- sessions (sessions of chanting of God’s name) and started administering devotional discourses for the spiritual edification of all and sundry. And henceforward started a spiritually eventful life with Shri Krishna, in His varied Forms and Sporting moods, always within his vision.

Away from the glare of publicity in those days, Shri Maharajji pursued the even purport of his life, enkindling in the hearts of thousands who came to him, the light of faith, devotion and complete surrender to God, along with inculcating in them the love for God and compassion for all living beings. This sequence of dispensing discourses and holding Sadhana camps is still on bounteously and tirelessly.

Listening to his discourses is an experience very similar to taking a course in ‘Scriptures-Made-Easy-Lessons’ in facile and simple language larded with his own brand of scintillating, subtle humor.  His words hold the listeners enthralled by the wealth of his scriptural insight, his unparalleled power of observation and a ceaseless flow of spiritual wisdom.

His discourses are his ceaseless efforts to impress upon the listeners the supreme significance of the three cardinal modes of devotion, Bhakti: incessant remembrance of God and godly persons (Smaran), listening to the delightful and divine saga of God and His saints (Shrawan) and constant chanting of God’s glorious name (sankirtan).

In keeping with the poetic tradition of saint-poets like Surdas, Tulsidas, Meerabai and others of the kind, Shri Maharajji has expressed the diverse enrapturing sports (Leelas) of Shri RadhaKrishna in thousands of devotional and tuneful verses which when sung in ‘Sankirtans’, transport the devotees to an elevated mood of devotion and also enable them to do the ‘Roop Dhyan’ without much effort. These verses are compiled in book forms under the titles-‘PREM RAS MADIRA’, ‘BRAJ RAS MADHURI,’ ‘PREM RAS MADHURI,’ YUGAL – SHATAK, ‘BHAKTI SHATAK,’ ‘YUGAL MADHURI’ and the like. Also, his books – ‘PREM RAS SIDDHANTA,’ ‘SEVAK SEVYA SIDDHANTA’ and ‘PRAVACHAN MADHURI’ are the very core and crux of Vedic philosophy.

In these verses, the reader comes abreast of Shri Maharajji’s divine and kaleidoscopic vision presenting the heart-captivating sports of Lord Krishna in an endless variety and succession.

It is not easy to recount the sublime and glorious life of a Master like Shri Maharajji in its entirety. He is too deep to fathom and too lofty to estimate. One can only bow down to him in complete submission and wish for his everflowing bounteous grace.

May his grace and glory reign over our hearts and lead our pilgrim souls on to our journey to eternal Bliss.