Life Story of Shri Maharaji in His own words
Published: Apr 19, 2020
The first spiritual conference I organized was in Chitrakoot. No conference of the kind had ever been organized before, and it lasted 16 days. Many arguments took place during it. Eventually I had to speak on the stage. There was a speaker by the name Pathik Ji Maharaj; he challenged me. I had posed four questions before the scholars and requested them to address these questions. 72 speakers had been invited from all over India. There was a wealthy man by the name Jaipuria. He was a billionaire from Kanpur, and he was the one funding the entire conference.
None of the speakers answered any of the questions. Four days of the conference had passed. Pathik ji Maharaj said, “Kripalu Ji Maharaj is trying to embarrass us by asking these questions. I suggest that he should be asked to answer them.” I was not supposed to speak; I was in charge of welcoming the scholars. But when I was challenged, I had to speak. I agreed to speak. Then I spoke for three hours everyday for 12 days and answered those questions.
Listening to my lectures, the scholars of Kashi formed two separate opinions. One party said, “He is a divine being. How is it that he knows the Vedas and Shastras at such a young age?” And my satsangis – at that time there would have been 250-300 – heard my lectures on Vedas and Vedic scriptures for the first time. Before this time, I never gave lectures. I used to only do keertan. Sahchari and others were from that time. So, Kashi Vidvat Parishad was divided into two parties. One party wanted to invite me to Kashi. But how? They were making plans. In the meantime, I organized another grand conference in Kanpur the following year. The president of Kashi Vidvat Parishad, Shri Rajnarayan Shastri came there without invitation. He wasn’t looking happy, and there were about a dozen scholars with him. He came and sat on the stage. People told me that he is a great debater, who has thorough knowledge of the six systems of philosophy. He was decorated with a lot of titles. I invited him to give a discourse. But he had heard that if someone speaks before Kripalu Ji does, he will refute it. So, he wanted me to speak first. I was not Jagadguru then. I agreed to speak first, and spoke for 1 ½ hour. He sat in the front, with hand resting on his cheek. He had a notebook and pencil with him. But he didn’t write anything. He kept sitting with hand resting on cheek. After I spoke, I said to the public, “A great scholar from Kashi has come without invitation, and he will speak now.” Then I too sat in the front with paper and pen in hand. I had made up my mind to refute whatever he was going to say. If he had said that God exists, I would have said the opposite. He had come to argue with me; coming from so far with his pundits.
As soon as he took his seat on the stage, he said, “We, scholars of Kashi, challenge even Brihaspati. We don’t bow our head before anyone, but today I bow my head before Kripalu Ji’s discourse.” He said this much, and I left. I thought he was going to oppose me, but he started singing my praises. He spoke for some time, praised me and then came down from the stage. Then he returned to Kashi and spoke highly of me before Kashi Vidvat Sabha, an organization of 500 scholars. They all decided that they had no choice but to invite me to Kashi. They said, “We want to see what he is all about. You say that he is only about 32 years of age, and yet you praise him so highly. Invite him to Kashi.”
This is how the whole drama of me becoming Jagadguru started.