The Supreme
Jagadguru
It was 1955 when, at the age of
33, Kripaluji Maharj organized his first religious
conference in Chitakroot, which was attended by prominent
spiritual leaders from across India.
Among the many
attendees was Mahamahopadhyay Giridar Sharma, president of
the Kashi Vidvat Parishad, who was greatly impressed with
the Shri Maharajji’s learning and knowledge of scripture.
In 1956,
Kripalu
Maharaj organized another spiritual
convention, this one in Kanpur, which was equally
well-attended by major spiritual figures from across
India, including Shri Raj Narain, Shat Shastree, the
Chief Secretary of the Kashi Vidvat Parishad, one of the
great and revered figures of the holy city of Varanasi.
He was so taken with Shri Maharajji’s speaking and his
unequalled grasp of scriptural wisdom that he invited
Shri Maharajji to speak to the spiritual scholars of
Kashi.
The next year,
1957, Kripalu Maharaj journeyed to Kashi to give the
discourse. The group to which he spoke at Kashi was
attended by all major religious figures from Varanasi, and
also others from all corners of India.
In Kashi, his
speeches to the scholars of Varanasi lasted for seven days.
In these talks, he displayed a mastery of the Vedas,
the Upanishads,
Sutras, Upvedas, Darshan Shastras, Puranas Itias, the
philosophies of the Jagadgurus, and the writings of the
rasik saints, while at the same time radiating the humility
and kindness of one wholly absorbed in Radha Bhao.
It was at the close
of these discourses that the esteemed scholars of the Kashi
Vidvat Parishad took the opportunity to shower praise and
offerings of flowers upon Shri Maharajji, and to offer
thanks for having the opportunity to learn from his
presence.
In this way, he came to be recognized as the fifth original
Jagadguru in the last 5,000 years. Only four other
Jagadgurus had come before him: Jagadguru Nimbarkacharya
(<600 BC); Jagadguru Shankarcharya (509-477 BC);
Jagadguru Ramanujacharya (1017-1137 AD); Jagadguru
Madhvacharya (13th century).
Shri Maharjji has
not created a new and seperate philosophy to express his
views, but rather accepts the Shat Sandarbh of Jeev
Goswami, and holds the Bhagwatan to be the complete and
final scriptural authority. He has made a large
contribution by working to reconcile differences between
the Darsham Sutras and the philosophies expressed by prior
Jagadgurus, and thus helped to eliminate any scritpural
conflicts that might have lingered for hundreds of years.
For Kripalu
Maharaj, the soul’s desired aim is
to receive the selfless and divine love of Radha
Krishna.
Another
contribution he has made is to adapt Hindi as his chosen
language of scholarly expression. Up until about 500 years
ago, Sanskrit was the common language of scholars and also
available to more people. Today very few people are
familiar with Sanskrit, and so Shri Maharjji has done a
great service by using the common language in his writings
and making his insights much more widely available.
His writings are: Prem Ras Siddhant (the philosophy of
Divine love), Prem Ras Madira (the 1008 leela songs of
Radha Krishna), Bhakti Shatak (the concise philosophy of
the Upanishads, Gita, Brahm Sutra and the Bhagwanatam),
Braj RasMadhuri (the chanting book), Radha Govind Geet
(eleven thousand one hundred couplets of Radha Krishna
leelas and the devotional philosophy), Yugal Shatak, Yugal
Ras, Shri Krishna Dwadashi; and Shri Radha Traodashi.