3 editions

110 volumes of Bhagavati Katha one can well understand that the writing hand
was simply in the zone dancing with the divine.
Installed on : 24 January 1990
https://gkamesh.wordpress.com/

Prabhudutt Brahmachari was born in 1885 to a poor Brahmin family in a village in

Aligarh district. He took a deep interest in Sanskrit studies early in his life, and also
made a lifelong vow of celibacy. He left home to study in various Gurukula including
Mathura and Vrindavan, finally ending up in Varanasi where Swami Karpatri Maharaj
was one of his co-students.
He was also drawn by the fire of freedom struggle and became a follower of
Mahatma Gandhi. He became an activist and jumped into the fight for
independence, going through the ritual of being jailed by the British. One of his
prison-mates was Jawaharlal Nehru himself. The irony is that he would later stand
against Jawaharlal Nehru, in the first elections held in independent India. Golwalkar
RSS Hindu Mahasabha, Karpatriji
Prabhudatt Ji was deeply spiritual, and undertook tremendous tapasya, right from
his early years. He became a wanderer, and met many sages, including the great
sages <a href= https://www.scribd.com/doc/36512460/Life-and-Teachings-of-UdiyaBaba >Oriya Baba</a> and Hari Baba. He was deeply inspired by these two saints,
and took every opportunity to take their guidance. Fired with dispassion, he decided
to go away to Himalayas and not return until he attained the supreme state of
spiritual realization. Oriya Babaji, recognizing this fire in him, encouraged him by
showing him a picture he had of the Buddha. In that picture, Buddha was seen in
almost skeletal state his body completely wasted by the intensity of Tapasya.
Showing him that picture, Baba told him a related shloka
<i><center>ihsane uyatu me arra
tvag-asthi-msa vilaya tu yntu
aprpya bodha bahu-kla-durlabha
ihsann naiva samuccaliye</i></center>
In this seat, (where I do tapasya), well may my body dry up, my flesh and bones
decay; But without attaining Self-Knowledge, which is extremely difficult to obtain
even after eons, I shall not stir from this seat, whatever it takes.

Taking this guidance, Prabhudatt ji left for the Himalaya. But after serious tapasya
he became very ill and could no longer continue. Breaking his resolve, he returned
to the plains, and going to Udiya Baba, he conveyed his state. Baba was a jnani who
could gaze into one's heart and see such things as eyes of flesh do not see. He was
kindness itself, and said, No problem. In failure, the seeds of success lie hidden.
You have a predilection for reading and writing. Go and write books.
And so began the writing life of Prabhudutt Ji. And what a library he has written!
Starting with the life story about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (<i>Sri Sri Chaitanya
Charitavali</i>), he went on to write on a whole range of subjects. His magnum
opus is <i>Bhagavati Katha</i>. This is a series of 118 parts, each of which is 200
to 250 pages long. The first 68 parts are a rendering of Srimad Bhagavatam in
traditional Hindi (Vraja bhasha), including translations and commentaries on key
verses of Bhagavatam. Parts 69-74 of the series contain a commentary on
Bhagavad Gita. Parts 74 to 106 contains commentaries on 191 upanishads. Imagine
this 191 Upanishads!! This is incredible! Perhaps no one else in history has done
commentaries on as many Upanishads. Parts 107 to 118 contain explanations of
different schools of Indian philosophy and a commentary on Brahma Sutra.
For writing this magnum opus, he opted for complete solitude. Delegating all his
secular work to others, he acquired a houseboat which he anchored in the middle of
Ganga river. And there he worked undisturbed, focused fully on his writing work.
What a tapasya!
The Bhagavati Katha is respected as a great spiritual classic. The Braja language
verses are sung with devotion even today at Prabhudatt Ji's temple of Hanuman in
Vasant Gaon, New Delhi.
Swami Prabhudatt Brahmacharis main Asram is in Jhusi, near Allahabad, where he
is said to have done terrific tapasya of Gayatri Mantra, standing in a state of
samadhi in the waters of Ganga . In this ashram, he held vibrant Nama Samkirtan
festivals that were attended by some of the greatest contemporary sages of North
India.
The great sage (Maharajshri) Swami Akhandananda Saraswati has written in his
book Paavan Prasang, that he considers Swami Prabhudatt Brahmachari to be the
one who was instrumental in making him into a public narrator of spiritual Katha.
And those in the path know that it is to Maharajshri that we owe, in a very large
part, the traditions of Bhagavata Katha in the form that we see now, all over India.
Brahmachari ji used to hold year-long naama-samkeertan festival in his ashram in
Prayag (Jhusi). He invited Maharajshree to give discourses on Srimad Bhagavatam.
It is here that Maharajshree met the great sage Udiya Baba too. (One gets an idea
of the great confluence of sages in Brahmacharijis Jhusi Ashram.)
Maharajshree narrates an incident about Prabhudatt Brahmachari that happened in
Ayodhya. After the stay at Jhusi Ashram, Udiya Baba and many of his followers left

for Ayodhya, walking. Maharajshree and Brahmachari ji too went with him. In
Ayodhya, they found another great scholar-sage, Shri Anjaninandan Sharan, coming
to offer traditional welcome to Udiya Baba. (A word about Anjaninandan Sharan ji.
He was a high-court lawyer, who later renounced worldly life and retired to Ayodhya,
where he compiled the magnum-opus book Manasi Piyush. It is a masterly
commentary of commentaries on Ramacharita Maanas, and has since been
brought out as a massive seven-volume set by Gita Press, Gorakhpur. ) Seeing
Anjaninandan ji coming, Brahmachariji offered his respects to him by falling on the
ground and prostrating to him. Seeing Brahmachariji in front of him, Shri
Anjaninandan Sharan too fell on the ground, in prostration to Brahmachariji. Seeing
these two sages prostrating, their followers on both sides, threw themselves
forthwith on the ground, in prostration. It was an amazing sight. All were on the
ground. Only Udiya Baba was standing, and was laughing in merriment.
Just imagine the depth of Bhaava of Brahmachariji, as indeed of Anjaninandanji!
In another context, Swami Venkatesananda, disciple of Swami Sivananda, writes
.Prabhudatta Brahmachari, who had quite a number of ashrams in North India.
He wanted to do some writing, and felt that he needed complete isolation,
undisturbed seclusion; so, he bought himself a houseboat, and anchored it in the
middle of the river Ganges. He went on doing his work undisturbed. In the
meantime, the ashrams were being run by somebody else.
One day, one of his lieutenants went to see him, and said, You know, So-and-so
who is running the ashram in such and such a place is stealing, cheating, doing this
and that! This holy man heard all that, smiled, and didnt respond. The man asked
him, What are you going to do about it? He said, Nothing. God has not appointed
me a magistrate. That is not my job, that is his job.
Based on the above, one would well think that Brahmachariji would be the last
person to include political activism in his job profile and one would think wrong!
Even as a youth, he participated in freedom struggle, and was imprisoned several
times by the British (once, along with Nehru). Indeed, he was one of those who felt
the need to be engaged with political apparatus for causes that he felt right.
In the first elections of free India, he contested as an independent candidate against
the great leader, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru! And his election symbol? A boat.
Nehru was aiming to bring sweeping legislative changes in Hindu code, and
Brahmachariji took it upon himself to stand against it. And in this stand, he was
offered support by Swami Karpatri Maharajs party (Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya
Parishad) and other Hindu political groups. But all said and done, it was never a real
contest, with Nehru having a superstar status in the political stage, and
Brahmachariji being a Sadhu who knew little of realpolitik. You cant observe Mouna
and do a political campaign, can you! Brahmachari had as much chance as Nehru

would have had, had Nehru challenged Brahmachari to a debate on Brahma Sutra
or Upanishads!
But the contest was not without its moments!
Here are some excerpts from an article, Cymbals and Symbols a report that was
published in Time magazine (issue of Jan 28th, 1952).
By plane, ship, train, automobile and bullock cart, Indias Prime Minister Jawaharlal
Nehru had been campaigning all over the country, stirring up votes for Indias fourmonth-long first general election. He had traveled 23,000 miles, made as many as
ten speeches a day, addressed 5 million people. In fact, he had been just about
everywhere but in his own constituency in Allahabad. There was no need to canvass
Allahabad, he said rather airily.
Last week he got distressing news. His only opponent in Allahabad, 52-year-old
Prabhudatt Brahmachari, who wears a luxuriant grey beard, orange-and red-rimmed
spectacles, a saffron robe and a long white loincloth, had been quietly building up
the vote. Quietly was the word for it: he had done it without uttering a single sound,
except an occasional loud laugh.
One Plank. Back in 1921, Brahmachari, like Nehru, came under the spell of Mahatma
Gandhi, but Brahmachari became a Sadhu, or holy man. He took vows of silence
and celibacy, was jailed several times by the British (once along with Nehru), set up
a camp on the banks of River Ganges to study the Hindu epics, and wrote the first
60 volumes of a 180-volume biography of Hindu god Krishna! One day last October
he cried out : Hey nath Narayan! (meaning, Oh, Lord God, the holy mans only
departure from silence). And an attendant brought him his Shaeffer fountain pen
and paper. He wrote: If today I participate in an election, its because my inner
voice bids me to do so.
Nehru, he said, is a black Englishman [who] studied in the West
Holy Man Brahmachari toured Nehrus constituency in a 1931 Dodge sedan
accompanied by a troupe of Hindu singers. To the chanting of Hindu psalms, he
danced on the platform, rhythmically tapping a pair of small brass cymbals. A
disciple read from a pamphlet he had written
Hearing that Brahmacharis pamphlet had sold 76,000 copies, Nehru came rushing
back to Allahabad last week
The article adds This week, as Allahabad voters went to the polls, Nehru seemed
to have his constituency under control again. The whole country was pretty much
his, too.
In that election, Nehru got 233571 votes, while Prabhudatt Brahmachari got 56718
votes ( click here for election results site )

Here is a picture of Brahmachari, that was carried in the Time article referred above.
He lost the election all right, but never lost his sense of political purpose.
One of the most important causes that seized his heart was the protection of cows.
(Indeed, the deep regard for cows in Indian consciousness can be understood from
the fact that the election symbol of the mighty Congress party was a pair of bullocks
carrying a yoke. In 1967, the Congress party had a split. While the original party
continued with the old symbol, the new faction led by Indira Gandhi chose the
symbol of a cow with suckling calf).
Brahmachari was one of the leaders of the movement against cow-slaughter in
India. This became a life-long battle for him with the powers that be. He toured the
length and breadth of the country for his campaign. In 1966, he formed SGMS
(Sarvadaliya Gorakshana Maha-abhyaan Samiti ) which included people from all
sides, even some Congressmen. He announced that a huge Satyagraha would be
held on 7th November 1966, followed by a hunger strike. It is estimated that lakhs
of people came to Delhi for this Satyagraha. Sadly, the situation turned out of
control, there were reports of vandalism, police resorted to firing, resulting in six or
seven sadhus dying, and many were imprisoned. The Home Minister, Gulzari Lal
Nanda, had to resign his post.
In 1967 he went on an indefinite fast on the issue of Cow-slaughter. He broke the
fast after 80 days after Government intervened and gave some assurances.
It is said that Prabhudatt Brahmachari had four deep desires

To build a temple of Hanuman in Delhi, with a 40 foot tall Hanuman idol

To build a temple of Vishnu (60 foot tall idol) in Indraprastha (Delhi perhaps
the Purna kila region)

To put an end to cow slaughter

Release of Ram Janma bhoomi

Of these, there is but one that he could see happen.

The Hanuman in Delhi The Kotwal of the Capital.
All said and being done, one may agree or not with his political positions. But one
cannot deny that he was a great ascetic who sought to bring his voice to bear on
the political landscape. And he did that using Gandhian method of non-violent
Satyagraha.

He became close to Golwalker, the founder of the RSS, in early 1950. Golwalker
persuaded him to stand against Nehru on the cow protection platform and against
the <a href= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_code_bills>Hindu Code Bill</a>.
So in the first elections held in the Indian Republic in 1951, he openly challenged
Jawaharlal Nehrus election to the 1st Lok Sabha from the Allahabad constituency.
This he did even though he had taken a vow of silence earlier that year.
He contested as an independent supported by ultra conservative Hindu groups like
Swami Karpatri's <a href=
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhil_Bharatiya_Ram_Rajya_Parishad>Akhil Bharatiya
Ram Rajya Parishad</a> and the <a href=
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhil_Bharatiya_Hindu_Mahasabha>All India Hindu
Mahasabha</a>. They had joined hands on one common platform: all were
virulently opposed to Nehru's Hindu Code Bill which sought to make sweeping
reforms in inheritance, property and marriage laws for Hindus.
It was an amazing campaign, recorded in great detail by the January 28, 1952 issue
of Time magazine. Describing the Swami as one "who wears a luxuriant grey beard,
orange-and-red-rimmed spectacles, a saffron robe and a long white loincloth," the
article states, "Holy Man Brahmachari toured Nehru's constituency in a 1931 Dodge
sedan accompanied by a troupe of Hindu singers. To the chanting of Hindu psalms,
he danced on the platform, rhythmically tapping a pair of small brass cymbals. A
disciple read from a pamphlet he had written."
The article quotes from one such pamphlet: "The Hindu Code Bill will ruin religion,
confuse castes, split every family, pit brothers against sisters and profit only
lawyers."
Needless to say, Nehru trounced him by a huge margin. The swami , who had taken
a vow of silence and therefore resorted to writing what he wanted to say, justified
his decision to jump into the electoral fray. "If today I participate in an election, it's
only because my innermost voice bids me to do so," he wrote Time magazine
noted cynically "with his Sheaffer fountain pen."
In 1966, he became active in the cow protection movement. He formed the
Sarvadaliya Goraksha Maha Abhiyan Samiti ("All Party Cow Protection Movement").
In Sept 25 1966 founded huge satyagraha of 100 thousand people followed by mass
hunger strike.
Near the end of his life Sri Brahmachariji established a Hanuman temple in the
Basant Gaon Sanskrit school premises. He uses to state that Sri Hanuman is the
'kotwal' (guardian) of India's capital city. He had conceived a huge statue of
Hanuman for this. He had it carved in Karkala, a place near Udipi by and had it
brought from Karkala to Delhi by special railway wagon. This story is quite an epic,
and you can read about it on <a href=https://gkamesh.wordpress.com/>Kamesh's
Athato blog.</a>

After the Magh mela in 1990, Brahmachariji came away to Sunrakh village, near
Vrindavan, where he had renovated the ashram of <a href=
http://m.dandavats.com/?p=7319>Saubhari Rishi</a>, in whose lineage he had
been born. A mela had been organized there, and Brahmachariji, even though in
failing health, attended it.
After that, he came away to his ashram in Vrindavan, and his health was fast
deteriorating. It was the second week of March, 1990. <a href=
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devraha_Baba>Devraha Baba</a> would send one of
his disciples to enquire about Brahmacharijis health every hour, or even several
times an hour so critical was Brahmacharijis condition. Baba would send medicine
for him, but Brahmachariji would not take any. He had but one strong desire left, to
go to his Hanuman in Delhi. Bowing to his will, his devotees brought him to Delhi.
He arrived at the Basant Gaon Ashram in the evening.
Seated in front of Hanuman, he gazed at the Lord, his eyes streaming non-stop.
Then he asked to be taken on a parikrama (circling) of the idol, even as he sat on
his chair and entered the samadhi state. The next morning, at dawn, he merged into
Golok Dham. The date was 11th March 1990.