His pre-sannyas name was Saraswatichandra. Saraswatichandra was born on
13.1.1913 to Jamnadas Majmudar and Mangalaba, a pious Kayastha couple of
Dabhoi town (the ancient Darbhavati) near the City of Vadodara. Jamnadas
had a Government job as well as some agricultural land but his income
was insufficient to support a large family of nine offspring. This and
his propensity towards charities soon brought him to indigence. Jamnadas
passed away when Saraswatichandra was only seven years of age and the
entire burden of supporting the family fell on Mangalaba. With
difficulty she managed to have him educated up to the seventh class but
eventually poverty compelled the boy’s withdrawal from school in 1927 at
the age of fourteen. He found occasional work in Dabhoi thereafter but,
more importantly, found time to study music and the scriptures till
eventually, in 1930, he made his way to Bombay in search of employment.
This eluded him; instead, there he found his spiritual master and Guru.
On the day following his eighteenth birthday, broken by disappointment, Saraswatichandra stood in worship during the evening prayers at his
favorite temple near the pigeon house of Bhuleshwar. It was the festival
of utarayan. All other devotees departed on completion of the evening
arti. Saraswatichandra lingered there. An unknown saint in ochre robes
approached him and asked him to come to his ashram the next day. The boy
did as he was told and thus, on 15th January 1931, placed himself within
the folds of the disciplic tradition of Lord Lakulish, of which he would
in future become the third kulguru.
Once Saraswatichandra had settled
down at the ashram, his mentor (who, it was later revealed, was none
other than Lord Lakulish himself), began teaching him the yogic texts in
two daily one hour sessions in the morning and evening. He also taught
various yoga techniques and gave him guidance about spiritual matters.
Later, he made arrangements for him to receive instructions in Ayurved,
hygiene, anatomy, physiology and psychology.
After 8 months, in
August/September 1931, Bhagwan put Saraswatichandra through a strict
regimen of diet and secluded meditation and mantra recitation for a
period of 41 days. On the final day, which fell on Mahashivratri of 1932
Bhagwan gave him shaktipat diksha. He blessed his new disciple thus: “My
son, with this ancient and holy initiation, I ordain you a Yogacharya.
You will be the world’s most outstanding Yogacharya. In the future,
after even the tiny worldly desires that remain are cleansed, find some
wise old detached cow worshipping saint. He will give you sannyas
initiation with saffron robes.”
1932. In April 1932 after Saraswatichandra had been at Bhagwan’s ashram for 15 months, the latter
took him on a pilgrimage to Mathura and Vraj. The yatra lasted for 7
days. In the course of the yatra, Bhagwan revealed to Saraswatichandra
the most secret mysteries of yoga and gave him a detailed explanation of
each of its aspects. On the last day of the yatra which was in Delhi,
Bhagwan disappeared in the night, while Saraswatichandra slept.
Saraswatichandra waited for him for 2 days. After another 2 days in
Delhi, he returned to Bombay and after disbanding the ashram there,
came back to his home town Dabhoi.
1932-40. He spent the period 1932-35
in association with local theatre companies. In 1935 he came to Ahmedabad, and worked first as an oilman in a textile company and then
as a teacher and music instructor in a school called Saraswati Mandir in
Maninagar. He spent the next 5 years in this manner in Ahmedabad.
1941.
In 1941 the idea of getting Saraswatichandra married caused some
turbulence in the family and he went away to Bombay. After 4-5 months
there, he left Bombay on a spiritual quest and took to wandering in the
villages on the banks of the holy Narmada River. In the course of these
wanderings, he came to village Indore-Vasana, near Rajpipla and went to
Udasin Swami Shantanandji’s Anand Kutir Ashram and expressed his desire
for renunciation. Shantanandji was a brilliant Sanskrit scholar with a
deep knowledge of the scriptures and had chosen this inaccessible place
to pursue his sadhana undisturbed by the hoards that were lured to him
by his great name and fame.
1942. On the 5th day of his stay at Anand Kutir, Shantanandji ordained Saraswatichandra on the auspicious day of
Ramnavmi in 1942 and gave him the name Swami Kripalvanand. Swami
Kripalvanand left the ashram on the very next day and resumed his life
of wandering. After around 3 months of this, he tired of it and thought
of taking Sanskrit lessons and studying the scriptures. He thus returned
to Anand Kutir Ashram to see his Guru who arranged for Swami
Kripalvanand to stay at Munimandal Ashram at Hardwar-Kankhal. This
ashram is considered the principle center of the Udasin sect in India.
It was founded by Swami Keshavanand who was guru of Shantanandji’s guru.
The sect itself is very ancient and is said to have been founded by the
Sanat Kumars and Narad Muni.
1942-48. Swami Kripalvanand spent about 8
months at the Munimandal Ashram and learned Sanskrit and the scriptures.
Then, well-versed in both, he returned to Gujarat and resumed his
travels in the villages along the Narmada. He spent the Chaturmas of
1942 at Sisodara village where he began teaching Sanskrit. With the
growth of interest in this activity in the area, he decided to teach the
language through the text of the Bhagvad Gita and thus decided to write
a colloquial version of the holy classic. He went back to Rishikesh to
find the right atmosphere for this work and finished it in the 6-7
months that he was there. Returning to Gujarat he resumed Sanskrit
teaching and in addition began giving discourses on the Bhagvad Gita.
Within three years, he had become very famous in the villages of the
Narmada banks and was being invited often for discourses of the Gita.
1949. In late 1948, this activity was briefly interrupted when he learnt
that his Guru Shantanandji was ill. He went to his guru’s ashram and
served him diligently. Shantanandji passed away on 23rd January, 1949.
Stricken by grief Swami Kripalvanand sought the solitude of the
Himalayas and took up living in a simple hut in a secluded place in
Rishikesh.
On the day of Mahashivratri in 1949, Lord Lakulish gave
darshan to Swami Kripalvanand at Rishikesh. Guru and disciple spoke of
many spiritual things relating to body and soul and Bhagwan also spoke
of his great resolve which certain selected souls in his lineage would
be required to enhance over a period of time.
This is what Bhagwan said:
“I have a great resolve that cannot be realized in just a few years. The
lineage of my disciples, beginning with Pranavanand, will have to
advance this mission little by little over a period of many years. In
this lineage certain selected souls will take birth turn by turn and
enhance the mission further. They will be required to develop high
spiritual powers in order to carry out this mission. In this manner not
only will the mission be fulfilled, but those disciples will accomplish
their own spiritual development as well”.
1950. After this incident
Swami Kripalvanand returned to Gujarat and resumed his activities as
before. Thus, time passed. He was in Rajpipla in 1950 for Gurupurnima.
Bhagwan gave him darshan again for a very brief time and disappeared
after saying, “The time is now ripe for you to start practicing yoga”.
1950-1955. Swami Kripalvanand began yoga practice from the very next day
and his practice made very rapid progress. In 1955 he moved to Mota
Fofalia and began to meditate for 10 hours a day. In December that year,
the village of Kayavarohan invited him to come and deliver a discourse.
Swami Kripalvanand knew nothing about the village, nor was he aware of
the fact that this was a very important Teertha of very ancient origin.
He agreed to a three day series of discourses on the Bhagvad Gita. On
the third day he was taken on a round of the temples of the village and
came to the Brahmeshwar temple. There he saw the ancient Jyotirling with
an idol carved on its front and recognized this to be the exact form of
the divine personage with whom he had spent 15 months in Bombay and had
performed a Yatra to Mathura and Vraj. The true identity of his guru was
thus finally revealed to him. It is written in the record of the
parampara that ‘it was an event arranged in advance by Divine Will.
Kayavarohan was destined to be the primary focus of Swami Kripalvanand’s
future activities’.
That night Swami Kripalvanand succeeded in mastering
a difficult stage of yoga for which he had been striving. In deep
meditation he had a vision of Kayavarohan in the days of the great Sage
Vishvamitra when it was called Medhavati, and also the new and sparkling
beauty that it was in the time of Lord Lakulish.
In this blissful
meditation, Lord Lakulish and Maharshi Vishvamitra gave him this divine
command: “My son, we have chosen you to lead the revival of Kayavarohan
as a holy pilgrimage center and also the revival of spiritual culture”.
1958. In 1958 Swami Kripalvanand’s life of wandering came to an end. The
villagers of Malav village invited him to take up residence in their
village and built an ashram for him which came to be known as Kripalu
Ashram.
1959-1968. The next year Swami Kripalvanand took a vow of total
silence which was to last for 12 years. In 1965 he began preliminary
work for re-establishing Kayavarohan. He set up the Kayavarohan Teertha
Seva Samaj to manage the work. After 3 years consumed in preparatory
work, the foundation stone for the new temple of Lord Brahmeshwar was
laid on 29th November 1968.
1968. That night Bhagwan gave him darshan
again and expressed his desire that Swami Kripalvanand should move to
Kayavarohan to supervise the work so that it could be completed in 5
years. Swami Kripalvanand expressed some difficulty about moving there.
To resolve this difficulty Bhagwan told him, “After some time, a yoga
aspirant will come to you from the lap of Mount Girnar. Accept him as
your disciple. He will lighten the burden of your responsibilities”.
1969. The new disciple whose coming Bhagwan had foretold came on 8th
March 1969. His name was Yashwant Sinh Jadeja who was to become Swami
Rajarshi Muni, the fourth Kulguru of the parampara. He asked to be
accepted as a disciple and was so accepted. Swami Kripalvanand promised
to call him at an appropriate time to impart guidance.
That call came by
way of a letter summoning him to Malav on 26th June. On that day Swami
Kripalvanand gave Mantra diksha to his new disciple and instructed him
on the performance of certain pranayams and asked him also to do mantra
japa for 15 months. 1970. In due time the new disciple decided to
renounce the world and visited Malav in November
1970. On Divali day,
2-11-70, Swami Kripalvanand asked the new disciple to renounce the world
and gave him Shaktipat diksha in a group seminar held between 26th and
28th November 1970 which was attended by nearly 100 people.
1974. On 3rd
May 1974, the Shiv ling and idol of Lord Lakulish were ritually
installed in the now completed new temple of Lord Brahmeshwar at
Kayavarohan. Bhagwan Lakulish gave direct darshan to Swami
Kripalvanandji when he went alone into the temple to pray and invoked
the Lord. The Lord responded and appeared suspended one and three
quarters feet above the floor and apart from giving guidance about the
height at which the idol was to be installed reminded Kripalvanandji of
the unfinished task of cultural revival. And he yet once more confirmed
for the benefit of all men of faith what the sashtras had already
previously resoundingly and repeatedly averred: “This holy place is mine
and I shall always remain here. My divine energy shall enter the idol in
a very special subtle form after it has been ritually installed”.
1976. Kripalvanandji now turned towards the second task commanded to
him by Bhagwan, that of revival of Indian culture and its cultural and
moral values. He decided that a systematic program of yoga education
would be the main activity of the parampara’s effort towards cultural
revival. He entrusted the task to Swami Rajarshi Muni who drew up the
detailed plans for a yoga institute with training and research wings,
designed the syllabi and curriculum and evaluation standards and methods
and within months of being entrusted the task, trained the first three
teachers. On 13th November 1976 Kripalvanandji lit a lamp before the
idol of Lord Lakulish at Kayavarohan and inaugurated the Lakulish Yoga
Vidyalay, the Lakulish Institute of Yoga. Its first yoga training class
was held the same day immediately after and Bhagwan’s plan for cultural
revival was thus set in motion. Kripalvanandji said on the occasion of
the inauguration, “Today’s inauguration is only a ceremonial. The subtle
and true inauguration of this Institute occurred nearly six years ago
when I gave yoga initiation to Rajarshi Muni. I hope that this yoga
institute will nurture true yogis and some day become a university of
yoga”.
1977. On 18th May 1977 Kripalvanandji departed for the United
States, to return in a very sick state on 1st October 1981. He passed
away on 29th December, 1981. With Swami Kripalvanand’s passing the
mantle of kulguru fell on the shoulders of Swami Rajarshi Muni. (For
more, read
Swami Rajarshi Muni).
