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RELIGIONS
Eternal India
encyclopedia
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-
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.
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