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never a member of a monastic order
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Revision as of 12:38, 14 May 2010

Lekhraj Khubchand Kripalani
TitleFounder of BKWSU
Personal
SectBrahma Kumaris
Other namesDada Lekhraj, Brahma Baba

Lekhraj Khubchand Kripalani (also transliterated as Kirpalani), (1884-January 18, 1969)[1], also known as Bhai or Dada Lekhraj, was the founder of and medium to the Brahma Kumaris movement. He is also revered as Brahma Baba among his followers.

Biography

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 to royal families. [2]

In his fifties, Kripalani reportedly had visions, which he interpreted as instructions from a Supreme being [3] and in 1932, Lekhraj retired from his business in Calcutta, returned to Hyderabad in Sindh and turned to spirituality. 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 mostly of wealthy women from his community.

The BKWSU claim that a relative reported that a spirit entity entered in his body and spoke through him [7], although there is no evidence in early documentation to support this. Since 1950, the BKWSU again claims that this being is, in fact, God and called Shiva; that it continued to be channeled via Kripalani and others acting as mediums until his death in 1969 by heart attack, at which point both it and the soul of the now perfected deceased founder started to be channeled by the current medium, Hirday Mohini at the organization's Indian headquarters. [8]

Om Mandali

Main article: BKWSU

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 .[9] The members of the Om Mandali believed that Lekhraj Kripalani was Prajapati Lord Brahma and sermonized the Bhagavad Gita.[10]

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".[11] The main complaint was that Om Mandli was preaching celibacy to unmarried girls and married women.[12][2]

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.[10]

To avoid persecution, legal actions and opposition from family members of his followers, Dada Lekhraj moved his followers, they moved from Hyderabad to Karachi. According to the Om Mandli it was an instruction form the Supreme Being GOD Shiva, because as per Gita GOD descends on Indian Soil[13]. So they moved from Hyderabad to Karachi, where they settled in a highly structured ashram. The Bhaibund Anti-Om Mandli Committee that had opposed the group in Hyderabad followed them.[14] 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.[9] Under further pressure from the Hindu leaders in the Assembly, the Government also ordered the Om Mandali to close and vacate its premises.[15] The Om Mandali successfully appealed against the Government order in the court.

Mount Abu

After the partition of India, the Brahma Kumaris moved to Mount Abu in India in April, 1950.[16] After his death in 1969, his followers expanded the movement to other countries.[1]

Further reading

  • 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

  1. ^ a b c Hunt, Stephen J. (2003). Alternative Religions: A Sociological Introduction. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 120. ISBN 0754634108.
  2. ^ a b c Hodgkinson, Liz (2002). Peace and Purity: The Story of the Brahma Kumaris a Spiritual Revolution. HCI. pp. 2–29. ISBN 1558749624.
  3. ^ a b c Abbott, Elizabeth (2001). A History of Celibacy. James Clarke & Co. pp. 172–174. ISBN 0718830067.
  4. ^ The Brahma Kumaris as a 'reflexive Tradition': Responding to late modernity by Dr John Walliss, 2002, ISBN 0754609510
  5. ^ The Sindh Story, by K. R. Malkani. Karachi, Allied Publishers Private Limited, 1984.
  6. ^ Adi Dev, by Jagdish Chander Hassija, Third Edition, Brahma Kumaris Information Services, 2003.
  7. ^ Walliss, John (1999). "From World Rejection to Ambivalence: the Development of Millenarian-ism in the Brahma Kumaris". Journal of Contemporary Religion. 14 (3): 375–85. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  8. ^ "The Divine Descent of God". Prajapita rahma Kumaris Ishawariya Vishwa Vidyalaya. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
  9. ^ a b Hardy, Hardayal (1984). Struggles and Sorrows: The Personal Testimony of a Chief Justice. Vikas Publishing House. pp. 37–39. ISBN 0706925637.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ Chryssides, George D. (2001). Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements. Scarecrow Press. pp. 35–36.
  12. ^ Barrett, David V (2001). The New Believers: A Survey of Sects, Cults and Alternative Religions. Cassell & Co. ISBN 978-0304355921. '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.
  13. ^ Gita-Ch.4-V.7
  14. ^ Howell, Julia Day (2005). Peter Clarke (ed.). Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. Routledge. pp. 63–64. ISBN 978-0415267076. 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.
  15. ^ Coupland, Reginald (1944). The Indian Problem: Report on the Constitutional Problem in India. Oxford University Press.
  16. ^ Chander, B. K Jagdish (1981). Adi Dev: The first man. B.K. Raja Yoga Center for the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University.
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