Dada Bhagwan
Dada Bhagwan
Dada Bhagwan
Quotation "May the world attain the Happiness that I have attained"
Dada Bhagwan (November 7, 1908 – January 2, 1988), born Ambalal Muljibhai Patel was a spiritual leader and the founder of the Akram Vignan movement.
Life -
Ambalal Muljibhai (A.M.) Patel was born in Tarsali, Gujarat, India, and raised in the Gujarati village of Bhadran by Vaishnav parents Muljibhai and Javerba Patel. A.M. Patel credited his mother for instilling within him an early appreciation of the values of nonviolence, empathy, self-less generosity, and spiritual penance.He was also influenced by the writings of Shrimad Rajchandra. He married a local village girl named Hiraba and was a contractor by profession. He claimed to have attained Self-realisation in June, 1958 at Surat railway station while sitting on a bench at platform number 3.
After A.M. Patel's Self-realization experience, a close relative began to address him by the spiritual name of Dada (a Gujarati term for "Revered Grandfather) Bhagwan (Lord). This became his spiritual name.
Dada Bhagwan formed a movement which he termed Akram Vignan. Unlike the step-by-step purification according to Jain principles, Akram Vignan promises instant salvation through the grace of Lord Simandhar Swami, for whom Dada Bhagwan serves as a medium. Flügel regards the movement to be a form of Jain-Vaishnava syncretism, a development analogous to the Mahayana in Buddhism.
He lived in Baroda for about fifty years and later traveled to the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Kenya and spread a doctrine known as Akram Vignan. He died at the age of eighty in the year 1988.
Dada Bhagwan is recognized as a spiritual leader within Gujarat, India. He was portrayed in a 2011 independent film titled "Desperate Endeavors". Also He was honored as Spiritual Scientist/Master of the 20th and 21st century in the Spiritual Science Museum.
Akram Vignan Movement -
After the death of Dada Bhagwan, the Akram Vignan movement divided into two groups. The larger group, called Dada Bhagwan Foundation was led by Dr. Niruben Amin until her death in March 19th, 2006. Thereafter, and until the present, Dada Bhagwan Foundation is led by Deepakbhai Desai, Dr. Niruben Amin's spiritual contemporary and successor.
To date, Dada Bhagwan Foundation has built nine "Trimandirs" (tri-temples) which feature idols of Simandhar Swami, Vishnu and Shiva.
About Gnani Purush (Enlightened Being):
Childhood
Life before Gnan:
Param Pujya Dadashri was born on November 7, 1908 in the town of Tarsadi, Gujarat, India. As a child, he exhibited special qualities. His thinking was mature and wise beyond his age. His unique traits were partly due to his own personality and partly due to his mother's noble nurturing.
Childhood:
Zaverba, his virtuous mother, had instilled in her little 'gallo' values of non-violence, empathy and nobility in his early childhood. One day after school he got into a fight and beat up a boy, she taught him the lesson of 'be beaten, but do not beat anyone!' As she nursed his wounds, she told him, 'Just think how much that poor boy must be suffering from his wounds, and how hurt his mother would feel!'
Once when he complained about the bed bugs biting him, she told him, 'My dear, they bite me too but these poor bugs don't come with containers to carry away extra food with them. They eat their share and go away'.
From one of his maths assignment, he discovered God. "Our maths exercise was to find the lowest common number in all the give numbers (Lowest Common Multiple). It was from this exercise that I immediately discovered God. These (living beings) are all 'numbers'! God is also indivisible and is present in them all. He exists as the common indivisible factor. God is in every living being, whether visible or invisible."
His kanthi (sacred thread wore around neck) broke when he was twelve years old. Refusing to go with his mother to their current guru for a new one, he told her, "Guru means someone who gives you the light. I do not want to wear the kanthi of someone who cannot directly give me the light."
He had an obliging nature; he always put others before himself and he was ever ready to help. Instead of playing with his friends, he would go to a nearby ashram and give service to the ascetics who lived there. Pleased with his service, one ascetic said to him, "Son, God will take you to Moksha (final liberation)!" Immediately, Ambalal exclaimed, "If God is going to give me moksha, then I don't want it, because that would make him my superior. If God gives me liberation, then he can also take it back! Liberation means there is no one above or beneath you." He was thirteen at the time.
Young Adult
He had a keen desire to be independent and loathed the idea of having an authoritative figure over him. To him, any form of employment meant that he would have a boss who could fire him at whim. One day he overheard his father and elder brother talking about their plans to make him a collector like one of their relatives. That meant working under a commissioner. "We attain this human life with great difficulty so what would be the point if I were to acquire a superior. When I did not want any material things, why would I put up with someone who could boss me around? It may be acceptable to those who desire a materialistic lifestyle, but that was not for me. I would rather own a small paan (beetle leaf) shop than be censured under any circumstances. So I decided to fail my matriculation exams so that my brother and father would stop entertaining the idea of me becoming a collector!"
Always in pursuit of spiritual bliss, he never found happiness in what people found happiness in. He was never dictated by social norms, and he did things contrary to what others did. He was never enticed by money or wealth, and he ran his civil contracting business with integrity and ethics. When asked about other contractors using inferior quality raw materials, he used to say, "We may starve, but we will never compromise on the quality of cement and steel in building construction. Cement and steel in a building are like what blood and bones are to the body!"
Married Life
At age fifteen, he married Hiraba. Soon after, Hiraba lost one of her eyes due to an infection. Several years passed and people would goad Ambalal into remarrying since Hiraba had a defect, and also because they did not have any children. Ambalal was very categorical in his response: " No! I have vowed to take care of her in the presence of the sacred fire! I will keep that promise until my last breath. I would care for her even if she lost both her eyes!"
He was a remarkable husband to Hiraba and never once did they quarrel or have a dispute in all their years together.
He lived a very simple life. Despite running a successful business, he took home an amount equivalent only to a salary of a non-matriculate person ! He left the profits untouched and told his business partner that he was free to take the profit to pay towards expenses of his daughter's marriage and his other needs. He would also take people on pilgrims at his own expense; he never took a single penny from anyone for his personal use.
His awareness about his practice of ahimsa was so profound that whenever he came home late at night, he would remove his shoes and walk bare feet so as not to startle and wake the sleeping dogs in the alley.
He viewed the worldly life in a very different light. "From a very young age, I could see the world's horrible nature. Danger lies in every moment, and there are problems and miseries every moment. That is why I do not become overly zealous or interested in anything. You never know when you will die, do you?". He was constantly preoccupied with virtuous contemplation and spiritual higher thinking. In his search for eternal truth and Self-realization, he read extensively scriptures of all the worldly religions. He was very impressed by all the writings of the Gnani Purush Shrimad Rajchandra. He said that had he would have made Shrimad his guru, had he met him in person.
In search of the Self, he endured much penance:
"I used to let even the bed bugs bite me. I would tell the bug, ' Now that you are here, eat a full meal. Do not leave hungry'. This body of mine is a hotel; It is such that all must feel comfortable and none be hurt through it. This was the business of my 'hotel'. Thus, I have even fed bed bugs. Would anyone fine me if I did not? No! My sole intent was to attain the Self. I constantly observed the rules of not eating after dark, not eating root crops and drank boiled water. I had left no stone unturned in my spiritual efforts and therefore Akram Vignan came forth, a science that will purify the whole world. "
Spontaneous Enlightenment
He had no other desire but to seek the Ultimate Truth, and his search of infinite lives came to a glorious end as the science of Akram Vignan naturally unfolded within him one June evening in 1958. The phenomenon that occurred that evening transformed a searching man into a fully enlightened Gnani Purush. His Soul became completely unveiled as the Omniscient Lord Dada Bhagwan began to manifest within Him. Within an hour, he attained cosmic Knowledge and Vision. Answers to questions such as, Who am I? Who is God? Who runs the world? What is karma? What is liberation?, etc., were revealed to him.
"Remarkable powers (siddhis) were instilled within me as a result of not desiring anything the world had to offer."
- Param Pujya Dadashri
Life after Enlightenment
Life after Gnan (Enlightenment)
"I do not live in sansar (worldly life) at all, not even for a moment. To live the worldly life means to live in the state of the non-Self. I remain in the Self. I live constantly in the state of the Self (Moksh), constantly maintaining spiritual awareness."
With this enlightenment, came the bliss of the Self and he became completely detached from the physical body of Ambalal Patel. The ego of Ambalal, which was a constant source of torment for him, vanished completely. With the new divine vision , he saw all living beings as pure Souls. Nothing changed on the outside, but his speech began to emanate pure knowledge and had a profound impact on those around him. It did not take long for those close to him to notice that he had been uniquely transformed in some special way and began seeking his company. They endearingly began to address him as 'Dadashri' & 'Dada Bhagwan'
He could not bear to see people's suffering and knew that the Vision he had acquired would release all from suffering and liberate them. It was his ardent desire that the world too attain the knowledge and bliss that he was experiencing. He began to give satsang and grace people with Self-realization. His spiritual magnitude was instantly recognized by a 23 year old medical student, Niruben Amin, after she met him for the first time in 1968. She immediately decided to relinquish her medical career and devote her life to taking care of him. It was evident that Param Pujya Dadashri gave no consideration to his frail health or comfort when it came to doing satsang. Together they travelled throughout India and abroad at their own expense, to make available this precious knowledge to all.
His satsangs were always in a question-answer format. His answers, tailored to the specific needs of the questioner, unfailingly gave closure to the seekers and lifted them higher. Akram Vignan gave him the ability to extract the essence of all scriptures and give to the seekers, fresh, succinct and easily applicable guidelines to live not only a spiritual but also their worldly life.
Param Pujya Dadashri left his mortal body in January 1988, leaving behind the mission of the world's salvation in the very capable hands of Pujya Niruma (Dr. Niruben Amin) and her spiritual contemporary Pujya Deepakbhai. Dadashri groomed both of them. Dadashri graced Niruma with his divine energies to conduct Gnanvidhi(process of Self realization) and satsangs. Pujya Deepakbhai was graced to conduct satsangs. In 2003, Pujya Niruma graced Pujya Deepakbhai to conduct Gnanvidhi(process of Self realization).
Places of Interest:
Museum at Simandhar City
Baroda Mama ni pol
Biography of Spiritual Master Dada Bhagwan
It was around six, one evening in June 1958, a well dressed gentleman with a black topi (hat) was sitting on a bench on platform number three of Surat railway station in Gujarat. The platform was bustling with people and trains on other lines. He had just finished supper before sunset and was waiting for another train to take him to Vadodara. His name was Ambalal Muljibhai Patel. His assistant stepped away to clean the tiffin. This is when nature unfolded a phenomenal spiritual world within Ambalal. At the end of this spontaneous internal enlightenment, which took about forty-eight minutes, Ambalal came to be known to the world as Gnani Purush Dadashri. Dada Bhagwan the fully enlightened Self had manifested within him.
This Lord 'Dada Bhagwan' expressed naturally within the temple of Ambalal Muljibhai by a natural event. This was the culmination of his spiritual seeking and efforts of many previous lives.
His words became the foundation for the new, direct, and step-less path to Self-realization called Akram Vignan. Through his divine original scientific experiment (The Gnan Vidhi), he imparted this knowledge to others within two hours. Thousands have received his grace through this process and thousands continue to do so even now.
Nature chose the one in whom this Akram Vignan was to be expressed and manifest. What were the reasons for this choice? These will become evident as one reads the autobiography and life of Ambalal Patel and later his state as the Gnani Purush. The events themselves tell the full story of both his spiritual attainment before the enlightenment and his supreme vision after enlightenment.
Dada Bhagwan
Dada Bhagwan
Born in Ambalal Muljibhai (A.M.) Patel
On 7 November 1908
In Tarsali, Gujarat, India
Died on 2 January 1988
Philosophy Akram Vignan
On 7 November 1908
In Tarsali, Gujarat, India
Died on 2 January 1988
Philosophy Akram Vignan
Quotation "May the world attain the Happiness that I have attained"
Dada Bhagwan (November 7, 1908 – January 2, 1988), born Ambalal Muljibhai Patel was a spiritual leader and the founder of the Akram Vignan movement.
Life -
Ambalal Muljibhai (A.M.) Patel was born in Tarsali, Gujarat, India, and raised in the Gujarati village of Bhadran by Vaishnav parents Muljibhai and Javerba Patel. A.M. Patel credited his mother for instilling within him an early appreciation of the values of nonviolence, empathy, self-less generosity, and spiritual penance.He was also influenced by the writings of Shrimad Rajchandra. He married a local village girl named Hiraba and was a contractor by profession. He claimed to have attained Self-realisation in June, 1958 at Surat railway station while sitting on a bench at platform number 3.
After A.M. Patel's Self-realization experience, a close relative began to address him by the spiritual name of Dada (a Gujarati term for "Revered Grandfather) Bhagwan (Lord). This became his spiritual name.
Dada Bhagwan formed a movement which he termed Akram Vignan. Unlike the step-by-step purification according to Jain principles, Akram Vignan promises instant salvation through the grace of Lord Simandhar Swami, for whom Dada Bhagwan serves as a medium. Flügel regards the movement to be a form of Jain-Vaishnava syncretism, a development analogous to the Mahayana in Buddhism.
He lived in Baroda for about fifty years and later traveled to the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Kenya and spread a doctrine known as Akram Vignan. He died at the age of eighty in the year 1988.
Dada Bhagwan is recognized as a spiritual leader within Gujarat, India. He was portrayed in a 2011 independent film titled "Desperate Endeavors". Also He was honored as Spiritual Scientist/Master of the 20th and 21st century in the Spiritual Science Museum.
Akram Vignan Movement -
After the death of Dada Bhagwan, the Akram Vignan movement divided into two groups. The larger group, called Dada Bhagwan Foundation was led by Dr. Niruben Amin until her death in March 19th, 2006. Thereafter, and until the present, Dada Bhagwan Foundation is led by Deepakbhai Desai, Dr. Niruben Amin's spiritual contemporary and successor.
To date, Dada Bhagwan Foundation has built nine "Trimandirs" (tri-temples) which feature idols of Simandhar Swami, Vishnu and Shiva.
About Gnani Purush (Enlightened Being):
It is said that a Gnani Purush (Enlightened Being) does not exist in the current time cycle. This is not so. Those who are well versed in scriptures are not Gnani's. A Gnani Purush is not only Self-Realized, but has spiritual power to enlighten others. Only a Gnani Purush who is liberated from all worldly attachments, has the power to liberate others. Self realization or liberation cannot be acquired through reading scriptures, even if the scriptures themselves were the words of a Gnani. can only be acquired through direct contact with the living Gnani. Such a being, a Gnani Purush, not too long ago, existed amongst us. His name was Param Pujya Ambalal Muljibhai Patel (lovingly also known as "Dadashri" or "Dada Bhagwan").
Param Pujya Dadashri used to say that there is a big difference between a Gnani Purush and a Guru! A Guru is the one who has not yet realized his soul, but is engaged in merit karmas and is on his way to liberation. He is helpful to people seeking better worldly life. However, for liberation, one would need only a Gnani Purush, a self-realized being !
Following are some of the qualites of Gnani Purush. You are bound to observe them in Param Pujya Dadashri, Pujya Niruma and Pujya Deepakbhai.Their speech, action and humility are full of compassion and they will win you over.Their serene smile makes one forget one's miseries.The Gnani Purush does not have even the slightest ego.The Gnani Purush does not have a drop of intellect (buddhi -the light of knowledge which comes through the medium of the ego).
A Gnani Purush knows the qualities of the Self and the non-Self and so he can separate the two.
Childhood
Life before Gnan:
Param Pujya Dadashri was born on November 7, 1908 in the town of Tarsadi, Gujarat, India. As a child, he exhibited special qualities. His thinking was mature and wise beyond his age. His unique traits were partly due to his own personality and partly due to his mother's noble nurturing.
Childhood:
Zaverba, his virtuous mother, had instilled in her little 'gallo' values of non-violence, empathy and nobility in his early childhood. One day after school he got into a fight and beat up a boy, she taught him the lesson of 'be beaten, but do not beat anyone!' As she nursed his wounds, she told him, 'Just think how much that poor boy must be suffering from his wounds, and how hurt his mother would feel!'Once when he complained about the bed bugs biting him, she told him, 'My dear, they bite me too but these poor bugs don't come with containers to carry away extra food with them. They eat their share and go away'.
From one of his maths assignment, he discovered God. "Our maths exercise was to find the lowest common number in all the give numbers (Lowest Common Multiple). It was from this exercise that I immediately discovered God. These (living beings) are all 'numbers'! God is also indivisible and is present in them all. He exists as the common indivisible factor. God is in every living being, whether visible or invisible."His kanthi (sacred thread wore around neck) broke when he was twelve years old. Refusing to go with his mother to their current guru for a new one, he told her, "Guru means someone who gives you the light. I do not want to wear the kanthi of someone who cannot directly give me the light."
He had an obliging nature; he always put others before himself and he was ever ready to help. Instead of playing with his friends, he would go to a nearby ashram and give service to the ascetics who lived there. Pleased with his service, one ascetic said to him, "Son, God will take you to Moksha (final liberation)!" Immediately, Ambalal exclaimed, "If God is going to give me moksha, then I don't want it, because that would make him my superior. If God gives me liberation, then he can also take it back! Liberation means there is no one above or beneath you." He was thirteen at the time.Young Adult
He had a keen desire to be independent and loathed the idea of having an authoritative figure over him. To him, any form of employment meant that he would have a boss who could fire him at whim. One day he overheard his father and elder brother talking about their plans to make him a collector like one of their relatives. That meant working under a commissioner. "We attain this human life with great difficulty so what would be the point if I were to acquire a superior. When I did not want any material things, why would I put up with someone who could boss me around? It may be acceptable to those who desire a materialistic lifestyle, but that was not for me. I would rather own a small paan (beetle leaf) shop than be censured under any circumstances. So I decided to fail my matriculation exams so that my brother and father would stop entertaining the idea of me becoming a collector!"Always in pursuit of spiritual bliss, he never found happiness in what people found happiness in. He was never dictated by social norms, and he did things contrary to what others did. He was never enticed by money or wealth, and he ran his civil contracting business with integrity and ethics. When asked about other contractors using inferior quality raw materials, he used to say, "We may starve, but we will never compromise on the quality of cement and steel in building construction. Cement and steel in a building are like what blood and bones are to the body!"Married Life
At age fifteen, he married Hiraba. Soon after, Hiraba lost one of her eyes due to an infection. Several years passed and people would goad Ambalal into remarrying since Hiraba had a defect, and also because they did not have any children. Ambalal was very categorical in his response: " No! I have vowed to take care of her in the presence of the sacred fire! I will keep that promise until my last breath. I would care for her even if she lost both her eyes!"He was a remarkable husband to Hiraba and never once did they quarrel or have a dispute in all their years together.
He lived a very simple life. Despite running a successful business, he took home an amount equivalent only to a salary of a non-matriculate person ! He left the profits untouched and told his business partner that he was free to take the profit to pay towards expenses of his daughter's marriage and his other needs. He would also take people on pilgrims at his own expense; he never took a single penny from anyone for his personal use.His awareness about his practice of ahimsa was so profound that whenever he came home late at night, he would remove his shoes and walk bare feet so as not to startle and wake the sleeping dogs in the alley.
He viewed the worldly life in a very different light. "From a very young age, I could see the world's horrible nature. Danger lies in every moment, and there are problems and miseries every moment. That is why I do not become overly zealous or interested in anything. You never know when you will die, do you?". He was constantly preoccupied with virtuous contemplation and spiritual higher thinking. In his search for eternal truth and Self-realization, he read extensively scriptures of all the worldly religions. He was very impressed by all the writings of the Gnani Purush Shrimad Rajchandra. He said that had he would have made Shrimad his guru, had he met him in person.In search of the Self, he endured much penance:"I used to let even the bed bugs bite me. I would tell the bug, ' Now that you are here, eat a full meal. Do not leave hungry'. This body of mine is a hotel; It is such that all must feel comfortable and none be hurt through it. This was the business of my 'hotel'. Thus, I have even fed bed bugs. Would anyone fine me if I did not? No! My sole intent was to attain the Self. I constantly observed the rules of not eating after dark, not eating root crops and drank boiled water. I had left no stone unturned in my spiritual efforts and therefore Akram Vignan came forth, a science that will purify the whole world. "
Spontaneous Enlightenment
He had no other desire but to seek the Ultimate Truth, and his search of infinite lives came to a glorious end as the science of Akram Vignan naturally unfolded within him one June evening in 1958. The phenomenon that occurred that evening transformed a searching man into a fully enlightened Gnani Purush. His Soul became completely unveiled as the Omniscient Lord Dada Bhagwan began to manifest within Him. Within an hour, he attained cosmic Knowledge and Vision. Answers to questions such as, Who am I? Who is God? Who runs the world? What is karma? What is liberation?, etc., were revealed to him.
"Remarkable powers (siddhis) were instilled within me as a result of not desiring anything the world had to offer."
- Param Pujya Dadashri
Life after Enlightenment
Life after Gnan (Enlightenment)
"I do not live in sansar (worldly life) at all, not even for a moment. To live the worldly life means to live in the state of the non-Self. I remain in the Self. I live constantly in the state of the Self (Moksh), constantly maintaining spiritual awareness."
With this enlightenment, came the bliss of the Self and he became completely detached from the physical body of Ambalal Patel. The ego of Ambalal, which was a constant source of torment for him, vanished completely. With the new divine vision , he saw all living beings as pure Souls. Nothing changed on the outside, but his speech began to emanate pure knowledge and had a profound impact on those around him. It did not take long for those close to him to notice that he had been uniquely transformed in some special way and began seeking his company. They endearingly began to address him as 'Dadashri' & 'Dada Bhagwan'He could not bear to see people's suffering and knew that the Vision he had acquired would release all from suffering and liberate them. It was his ardent desire that the world too attain the knowledge and bliss that he was experiencing. He began to give satsang and grace people with Self-realization. His spiritual magnitude was instantly recognized by a 23 year old medical student, Niruben Amin, after she met him for the first time in 1968. She immediately decided to relinquish her medical career and devote her life to taking care of him. It was evident that Param Pujya Dadashri gave no consideration to his frail health or comfort when it came to doing satsang. Together they travelled throughout India and abroad at their own expense, to make available this precious knowledge to all.His satsangs were always in a question-answer format. His answers, tailored to the specific needs of the questioner, unfailingly gave closure to the seekers and lifted them higher. Akram Vignan gave him the ability to extract the essence of all scriptures and give to the seekers, fresh, succinct and easily applicable guidelines to live not only a spiritual but also their worldly life.Param Pujya Dadashri left his mortal body in January 1988, leaving behind the mission of the world's salvation in the very capable hands of Pujya Niruma (Dr. Niruben Amin) and her spiritual contemporary Pujya Deepakbhai. Dadashri groomed both of them. Dadashri graced Niruma with his divine energies to conduct Gnanvidhi(process of Self realization) and satsangs. Pujya Deepakbhai was graced to conduct satsangs. In 2003, Pujya Niruma graced Pujya Deepakbhai to conduct Gnanvidhi(process of Self realization).Places of Interest:
Museum at Simandhar City
Baroda Mama ni pol
Biography of Spiritual Master Dada Bhagwan
It was around six, one evening in June 1958, a well dressed gentleman with a black topi (hat) was sitting on a bench on platform number three of Surat railway station in Gujarat. The platform was bustling with people and trains on other lines. He had just finished supper before sunset and was waiting for another train to take him to Vadodara. His name was Ambalal Muljibhai Patel. His assistant stepped away to clean the tiffin. This is when nature unfolded a phenomenal spiritual world within Ambalal. At the end of this spontaneous internal enlightenment, which took about forty-eight minutes, Ambalal came to be known to the world as Gnani Purush Dadashri. Dada Bhagwan the fully enlightened Self had manifested within him.
This Lord 'Dada Bhagwan' expressed naturally within the temple of Ambalal Muljibhai by a natural event. This was the culmination of his spiritual seeking and efforts of many previous lives.
His words became the foundation for the new, direct, and step-less path to Self-realization called Akram Vignan. Through his divine original scientific experiment (The Gnan Vidhi), he imparted this knowledge to others within two hours. Thousands have received his grace through this process and thousands continue to do so even now.
Nature chose the one in whom this Akram Vignan was to be expressed and manifest. What were the reasons for this choice? These will become evident as one reads the autobiography and life of Ambalal Patel and later his state as the Gnani Purush. The events themselves tell the full story of both his spiritual attainment before the enlightenment and his supreme vision after enlightenment.
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