Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

RELIGIONS

Rajneesh left Oregon in 1985 and returned to his Pune ashram when he was arrested and jailed in the U.S. following a break with his secretary, Maa Sheela, who began working against him. On January 1,1989 he assumed a new name Osho Rajneesh. Osho means "the whole man". On September 15, 1989 he dropped Rajneesh and became just Osho. He passed away in January 1990. MAHARISHIMAHESH YOGI Born in Jabalpur as Mahesh Srivastava, he lived and worked with the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, Badrikasharam in the Himalayas, from whom he learnt the technique of Transcendental Meditation which could be easily practised by people. The perspective behind Transcendental Meditation, based on Vedanta philosophy, is called the Science of Creative Intelligence. In 1958 he began teaching it in India and in 1960 went to the USA where he popularised Transcendental Meditation as a technique of meditation through which mental tensions could be relieved without drugs like marijuana and LSD. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi achieved an international reputation when the famous British singing group, the Beatles, and Hollywood film star Mia Farrow followed him to India and stayed at his Rishikesh Ashram. Physiologists and psychologists have recognised the positive ef- fects of Transcendental Meditation on the body and mind. The Maharishi claims that TM uncovers the hidden genius of man. He says: "Every individual has an infinite potential for activity. But this store- house is not fully enlivened by the current system of education. The genius of man is hidden in the silence of his awareness — in that subtle state of his mind from where every thought emerges. All the discover- ies that have been made have come from this hidden level and it is the secret resource of successful individuals. It is the ocean to which all streams of knowledge rush and everything has emerged from that most tender level of awareness." Maharishi has set up three international capitals of his world empire which has more than 4000 centres in 150 countries - Seeliberg in Swit- zerland, South Fallsberg in New York and Rishikesh in India. SRI BHAKTIYEDANTA SWAMI (1896 - 1977) Bhaktivedanta Swami, the founder of the Krishna Consciousness Movement, was born as Abhaya Charan Dev in Calcutta on September 1, 1896. His father and mother were devout Vaishnavites who wor- shipped Lord Krishna. An astrologer who prepared his horoscope pre- dicted that at the age of 70 Abhaya would go abroad, spread the Krishna cult and establish 108 Krishna temples in different countries. Abhaya studied in a Calcutta col-

One day his master appeared in a dream and asked him to become a sanyasi. Abhaya received the name Abhaya Charanaravinda Bhaktive- danta Swami and shifted to Delhi where he took up residence at the Radha Krishna temple near Chandni Chowk. In 1965 he left for America where he established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. On September 9, 1966, a year after his arrival in America he performed his first initiation ceremony and initiated 11 disciples. The movement gathered momentum. In the middle of 1967 he visited India with his Western disciples in a garb which was to become their trademark — shaved heads, Sanskrit names, ochre robes and beads round their necks. He returned to America and continued to spread Krishna Consciousness. He passed away on November 14, 1977 at the Krishna Balarama Mandir at Brindavan at the age of 81. SANT BOOTA SINGH (1943) Sant Boota Singh was the first Guru of the Nirankaris. He lived in north-western India, now in Pakistan. The Nirankaris are believers in the concept of Nirankara Brahman (or formless Supreme Conscious- ness) who hold that God is Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient and pervades all the sentient and non-sentient beings of the universe. He resides in the sinner and the saint. It is therefore a sin to commit violence against any living being. The tenth Guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh, had decreed that after him no human being should be treated as a Guru by the Sikhs. He installed the sacred book, Guru Granth Sahib, a collection of the writings of Guru Nanak and other saints and sages of India, as the 11th and last Guru of Sikhism. The Nirankaris follow the Hindu tradition and believe that for the attainment of godhead or self-realisation a living Guru is essential. After Baba Boota Singh passed away in 1943, Baba Avtar Singh was installed as his successor and the second Guru by the Nirankari congregation at Rawalpindi. After Partition in 1947 Baba Avtar Singh moved to Delhi and set up the Nirankari colony there. He also founded the Nirankari Mission. The Akali Sikhs did not accept Baba Avtar Singh as a Guru because according to their religious tenet there could not be a Sikh Guru other than the Guru Granth Sahib. The Akalis said that if the Nirankaris are Sikhs they cannot have a living Guru and if they are not Sikhs they could not interpret the Guru Granth Sahib. In 1952 Baba Avtar Singh declared that the Nirankaris could no longer claim to be Sikhs and he decided that the Guru Granth Sahib's recitation and interpretation at Nirankari congregations should be discontinued. In 1962 Baba Avtar Singh appointed his son, Gurbachan Singh, as the third Nirankari Guru. On April 24, 1980 Baba Gurbachan Singh was assassinated in front of his residence within the Nirankari Bhavan campus in New Delhi. As he lay dying someone from amongst his devotees cried out, "O Lord, what shall we do now". Baba Gurbachan Singh consoled the devotee, "Do not worry my child. Bhola shall lead you after my going." Baba Hardev Singh, his only son, was appointed as the fourth Guru on April 27, 1980. DADALEKHRAJ (1880-1969) Dada Lekhraj, founding father of the Brahma Kumari Movement, was born in a village near Hyderabad, Sindh, (now in Pakistan) in 1880. He was regarded by his followers as Praja Pita or Brahma Baba. His

lege where he obtained his degree. After graduating he worked in a labo- ratory in Calcutta. In 1922 he met his spiritual Master Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati who called upon him to spread the message of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the Krishna Cult but Abhaya felt that

unless India became independent nobody would listen to her voice. But Sri Bhaktisiddhanta convinced him that Krishna consciousness did not have to wait for a change in Indian politics. In 1932 he took initia- tion and accepted Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati as his Master. In 1936 Sri Bhaktisidhanta passed away.