Dada Bhagwan

Dada Bhagwan (7 November 1908 – 2 January 1988), also known as Dadashri, born Ambalal Muljibhai Patel, was an Indian spiritual leader from Gujarat who founded the Akram Vignan Movement. He was spiritually inclined from an early age. He worked as a contractor for a company maintaining dry docks in Bombay before attaining "self-realization" in 1958. He withdrew from day-to-day operations of his business and focused on his spiritual goals. The movement around his teaching grew into the Akram Vignan movement gaining followers in western India and abroad. Ahimsa (non-violence) and vegetarianism are an important part of Dada's teachings.

Biography Early life Ambalal Muljibhai Patel (A. M. Patel) was born on 7 November 1908 in Tarsali, a village near Baroda (now in Gujarat, India). His parents, Muljibhai and Jhaverba, were Vaishnava Patidars. He grew up in Bhadran, Kheda district in central Gujarat. A. M. Patel credited his mother for instilling an early appreciation of the values of nonviolence, empathy, selfless generosity, and spiritual penance within him. It is said that he was blessed by a saint when he was thirteen who told him that he would attain liberation. He married a local village girl named Hiraba in 1924. Their children (born in 1928 and 1931) died a few months after birth so they had no surviving children. During this period, he was also influenced by the writings of Shrimad Rajchandra, a Jain philosopher who was also the spiritual guru of Mahatma Gandhi, and householder and religious teacher whose teaching inspired a new religious movement later. He began practising temporary celibacy and later vowed lifelong celibacy. He was a contractor by profession. He moved to Bombay where he worked successfully as a contractor for Patel & Co. in Mumbai. The company used to maintain and construct dry docks in the Bombay harbour.

Dada Bhagwan He claimed to have attained self-realisation in June 1958 at Surat railway station while sitting on a bench at platform number 3. It was about 6 pm and it lasted 48 minutes. This was not initially revealed by him.

Vegetarianism

As part of advocating Ahimsa (non-violence), a strict lacto-vegetarian diet based on Sattvic principles was important to Bhagwan. Bhagwan stated that "you should never eat meat or eggs. You should not eat potatoes, onions, and garlic, even when you have no choice. This is because onions and garlic are considered items that instigate violence; they induce anger in a person, and when one gets angry, it hurts the other person. You can eat any other vegetables you wish to eat."

Bhagwan opposed the consumption of eggs but stated that dairy products can be consumed freely as long as the cows are well nourished and their calves are not starved.

Succession

Soon after the death of Dada Bhagwan, the movement split into two factions. One led by Kanubhai Patel and backed by Jay Sachchidannad Sangh and other led by Niruben Amin. Niruben stated that she was instructed and trained in Gnanvidhi by Dada Bhagwan. Niruben formed her own organisations; Dada Bhagwan Foundation Trust and Simandhar Swami Aradhana Trust in Ahmedabad and Mahavideh Foundation in Mumbai. She became a popular leader of the movement and was addressed as Niruma by her followers from 1999.

In Films Dada Bhagwan was portrayed by Gulshan Grover in a 2012 independent film Desperate Endeavors directed by French-Algerian director Salim Khassa.

Selected publications

Dada Bhagwan authored the following books now translated in English:

Who Am I ?; Generation Gap; Harmony In Marriage; Life Without Conflict; Anger; Worries; The Science Of Karma; Life Without Conflict;