Biography of Dadi Nirmal Shanta

From BKWSU plans new film about early days of Om Mandli;

I wonder if they are going to deal with the whole Narain Shewakram/Golden Circle/wrong age of Dada Lekhraj issue and all the anomalies etc.

I am reading these days Dadi Nirmal Shanta's autobiography (see: Downloads). At the date of this first edition in English, 2007, translated from Hindi and Bengali versions into a very strange English, Pardadi ,who was called by Dada Lekh Raj with love Palu (a sweet Mango), she was 90 years old. The publisher Atam Prakash is pointing out in the "Acknowledgements" that the composition of this book has been possible with the help and co-operation of several spiritual Brothers and Sister.

What I don't understand and want to ask is, why is the leadership of BKWSU waiting to publish the biographies of the most important witnesses of Om Mandli days like Dada Vishwa Ratan, Dada Chandrahas and Dadi Nirmal Shanta until they are 90 years old and senile? Is one of the reasons, that at that age they don't understand or can not oppose the changes made in their biography?

Pardadi was even ten years ago a sweet senile lady dancing on the stage with intoxication. As I saw her last, she was singing on the stage.

Despite of the many hands of censorship, very interesting memories are still there. She tells that she had no interest in studies but because of Baba's reputation, the teachers liked her. Dada Lekh Raj let her wear a lot of jewels, he said that his girls are goddesses and was letting them wear new ornaments as a model for their customers. I am quoting exactly as it is written in the book:

page 32

I was able to answer simple questions, but found it difficult to solve the complicated ones as they gave me too much stress. Then when examinations came, I used to play a trick to pass. As Baba gave me a variety of jewellery to wear, I gifted a ring or something to my teacher before the examination. Thus by presenting gifts, I always obtained pass marks, which made not only me, but also my family members happy. Actually as I was so weak in my studies, I only studied up to third or fourth standard, but then the spiritual knowledge of Baba turned me amazingly knowledgeable. Now I am respected in India and abroad as a great teacher.

page 36

When customers including some foreigners used to visit the shop, Baba would show them the samples and catalogue. After seeing all the samples, they often used to say, 'Lakhiraj Babu, make us the same jewellery as is worn by your daughter'. Baba's partner once asked, "You give new ornaments to your children to wear and then sell the same to customers. Why do you do so?" "See Sevak Ram", Baba replied."These girls are goddesses. A single girl, a Virgins (Kanya) is better than a hundred Brahmins, so the ornaments worn by them fetch higher prices. Undoubtedly Sevak Ram was Baba's partner, but he could not pay much attention to the detail of business as did Baba.

She says that according to her horoscope her life span was prophesied to be 25-30 years.

page 55-56-57

In the early years of Yagya, no doctor was called if anybody fell ill. Treatments were administered with domestic medicines or a trance messenger would ask for the correct medicine from Shiv Baba. Once I fell very ill. I was a chronic patient of asthma and remained awake the whole night. Baba and Mama saw my plight and asked the trance messenger to go to Almighty Baba to inquire the appropriate medicine. She returned with the message that the remedy for my asthmatic problem was to bathe in icy water.

Baba at first remained silent because I had never even touched ice, yet I was to bathe in icy water. Eventually he told me that Shiv Baba had sent a message that I would have to bath in icy water. At once I said,"Baba, Meera was asked to drink the bowl of poison and it turned into nectar. If Shiv Baba advises me to bathe in icy water, I will." Ice was bought from the market and it was put into a bucket. I sat in the bathroom to obey the order of Supreme Baba. I had determination and firm faith in Baba. However, again, Baba sent another trance-messenger to confirm the message from Shiv Baba.

Almighty Baba said that the message was the same and the medicine for my asthma was also the same even though Brahma Baba assessed that there would be hardly any chance of my survival after this. Nevertheless, he had no option but to follow the message from the Almighty. One Sister was ready to pour the icy water on me. Baba left us immediately and went and sat in the office. As the Sister was about to pick up the bucket of water to pour, she was suddenly pulled into trance. Almighty Baba has stopped her from pouring the bucket of water and said to her that the child had undergone the ordeal in order to substantiate her faith in Baba and she had succeeded. Then the messenger led me to Brahma Baba and told him that it was the Almighty's advice that the child should eat an apple a day then her asthma would be cured.

The Sister then told me the larger secret behind it: Shiv Baba had given me the test because according to my horoscope my lifespan was short. Baba said that at the same time an old woman was suffering from pain in a temple. She was praying to God to free her from her old body because she was in deep grief. Baba transferred the remaining part of that old woman's life to me and she was liberated from the old cage of her body but the symbol of that old woman's grey hair was also given to me and my hair became grey at the age of thirty. Now I am 90 years old.

She tells about their family's move with Dada Lekh Raj from Calcutta to Karachi :

page 26-

We spent fourteen years in Karachi and served the Yagya. Although our family had remained close by, there had been a complete change in Baba's attitude. He might suddenly break his conversation with, "Child, who is before you? With whom are you talking?" It seemed strange and uncommon that our Father, who nourished and looked after us, was talking in such an unusual way, but Baba had increasingly hinted towards a great change.

She tells about the beggary part in Brij Kothi which continued few years after they moved on the 5th May 1950 from Karachi to Mount Abu. She describes also that 'Baba' managed to elevate her Father's mental level. She tells:

page 68-

As an indication of the lofty position he held, he would some times seem to forget my name when I would go to bid him farewell. He used to ask,"Child, where have you come from? What is your name? In front of whom are you standing?" It seemed to me that Baba was in some other world while only physically present in this one.We often witnessed such scenes of his soul-consciousness.

From these memories of Dada Lekh Raj's very beloved daughter Palu a different picture of Brahma Baba than the official one is emerging in front of me:

In this picture Dada Lekh Raj is a clever business man who knows how to use his very small daughters as models for his jewelry business; a pragmatist who does not care that his little daughter passes the exams by bribing the teacher with jewels and he is happy with the result. A blindly obsessed man by the spirits, ghosts or Shiva from Karachi times onwards, he is channelling and asks through trance messengers, so that he obeys even the orders of the spirits to bath his very sick daughter with icy water although he is well aware that this action would kill her. Afterwards he accepts the message from the spirit that his daughters life span is exchanged with a poor woman's life. Since Karachi times, a senile man seeing hallucinations asking his daughter with whom she was talking, who was in front of her. And in Mount Abu, i.e. after 1950's, asking his daughter who she is, where she comes from, what her name is.

Which Dada Lakh Raj is the new movie maker BKWSU planing to show to the public?

Tom

I see now, from my very long post, the first paragraph about Sewak Ram is missing. Dadi Nirmal Shanta who was born in 1917, tells in her autobiography, on the first page ( see: Downloads): I am quoting exactly as it is printed:

Lakhi Raj-Sewak Ram & Sons

In the days of British rule, when Kolkata was the capital of India, my Father went to establish a business there. This was not only because Kolkata was the main centre of attraction where the British carried out most of their business, but also several of Baba's kith and kin were living in the city. One of them was Sewak Ram, a most sincere person who was Baba's regular confidant.

Baba and he formed a partnership and opened a jewellery shop named Lakhi Raj-Sewak Ram & Sons. Dealing in pearls and diamonds, it was situated on the first floor of a seven-storey building at 7-A, Lindsay Street, Surana Mansion, opposite Charles Hogg Market, more commonly called New Market, a renowned business centre in Kolkata. We resided on the second storey of the building and the family of Sewak Ram resided on the third storey.

It is almost impossible that after such a trustful partnership, even living in the same apartment, Sewak Ram and his family vanished into air from the lives of Lekh Raj Kriplani family without any trace.

Tom

It was the Mangharam Family that Lekhraj Kirpalani's daughter Palu (who is still up in Abu) married into ... and then left disgracing her husband and causing the whole ruckus to kick off.

Yes, Dadi Nirmal Shanta aka Palu tells in her autobiography (see: downloads):

page 41-

When I was 15 years old, I was married to the son of the Mukhia (Head) of Sindh with great pomp and show. My husband's name was Moti Ram Mukhi. I had never done any tedious work such as cooking, washing or cleaning, etc. Nevertheless, it is customary to do some work in the house of one's in-laws, so my mother-in-law used to teach me some light and easy work ...

page 42-

...I frequently used to come to my fathers house even after my marriage and would have dinner with him. Baba used to send a car for me and after dinner he himself would drop me off at my in-laws house.

page 47

It was my habit when I visited Baba's home to attend satsang and after that have dinner returning home after 10 p.m.

page 45-

The mothers, listening to the holy sermons insisted upon leading a life of celibacy which caused skirmishes in their homes.My in-laws also came to know about the matter.My father-in-law said to me,"We have no objection for you to visit your Father's home but you should abstain from satsang there." I replied,"Why should I not sit and listen to the holy versions? I will surely do so." Baba used to send a car daily to pick me up and take me back home.

One day her father-in-law sends the driver back that she would not come that day. She insists, her father-in-law says;

"We do not object to your going there; I shall send you by car myself but you must return by 6 p.m. and you do not have to attend the satsang". She insists saying "I have to listen to the Katha" and leaves her husband's home determined to walk the distance between two homes which would take one and half hours by foot. But she gets tired on the way.

page 47-

I wondered how I was going to reach there. I could not request a lift in someone's car because I was laden with jewellery. In the meantime, a cart slowed, but the cart-puller became afraid to give a lift to a women wearing so much jewellery, but I climbed up anyway ... I asked him to proceed and not to be afraid

page 48-

"So how did you get here?" my mother asked again. At this Baba smiled and asked,"Have you come on foot? You don't have the power to walk on foot, so how did you manage it?" I said,"I came by cart." Baba started laughing and exclaimed,"You came in a cart?"...Then I told Baba all about the quarrel with the in-laws.Then Baba commented,"Yes child,the play of Kans and Krishna is going on." I agreed as I had seen and now understood very well that Baba himself was Krishna. Baba asked," Child,couldn't you stay there even for one night?" I replied,"Baba, you advise us to taste the nectar of Godly knowledge and let others also do so then how can I remain for a day without it?

So I came here. I will not go back there at all." Baba kept silent. He did not utter a single word. A few days later, Baba left Hyderabad and went to Karachi and I accompanied him while my daughter remained with my in-laws. My mother-in law nurtured her. She had recognized that Baba is a divine person even before I had recognized him. She used to say," Baba is great.Your Baba is God, but nobody recognizes him." She respected him so much. When I was leaving the in-laws home, she said,"You cannot handle the child, give her to me.I shall look after her. Go and stay with your Father." Imminently thereafter in 1947, came the partition of India and Pakistan. It was time of great turmoil. We did not leave at that time but stayed with Baba.

I can not imagine even in our modern world a marriage in which the young bride goes every night to her parent's home with the car her Father sends, sits in the satsang, has dinner with her parents and returns after 10 p.m. Evening time is the only time which she could spent with her husband who after work comes home. What a patience her husband and in-laws have been showing until the issue of celibacy comes out. Her Father, whom she worships and adores that he is her beloved Father and God, does not say anything to save her marriage.Not to mention her mother Yashoda who was an obedient servant of Dada Lekh Raj. Palu remembers her mother:

page 27-

My mother Yashoda better known as Palamaa (the mother of Palu), was a living figure of chastity and virtue. In the early days of their marriage, when Baba came out of the bathroom after bathing, she used to drink the ambrosia of his feet; the water received after washing his holy feet was considered to be nectar. She also used to anoint him with sandalwood as part of the deification of the husband as per our holy scriptures. Such was my mother's piety. She positively obeyed Baba and there was no duality in their thoughts.

Here is Dada Lekh Raj's response when his devoted wife Yashoda - who's name is forgotten in Yagya's official history - who sacrificed her comfortable life and marriage following her husbands beliefs- becomes one day terminally ill and then dies. Palu tells:

page 69-

In 1961, when I was still in Mumbai, mother Yashoda's health was failing. Baba asked me to look after her in hospital. I looked after her as well as taking care of the centre. One day, a wonderful incident happened. Mother Yashoda asked me to read the Murli. While I was reading it, she put her head in my lap and left her mortal coil. I sent news to Baba in Madhuban and he telegraphed,"Child, don't worry about anything. She was your mother and my wife. Eat pudding even if your mother dies or if one's wife passes away."

I don't have the words describing this much apathy, which epidemically infected all Seniors of BKWSU who are grown up in Dada Lekh Raj's lap.

Tom

Great work and fair comments Tom.

Did anyone notice the reference to Mrs Kripalani drinking the water used to wash the feet of her husband for breakfast? The feminists are going to love that womanly virtue.

Kripalani's daughter Palu, who frankly sounds a little soft, was married and then taken back from the family that then became the "leader" of the so-called "Anti-Party" the Mukhi Mangharam? It is not true to say - as the book does - that he was the "Head of Sind" (that was a Englishman at the time). He was one leader of the local panchyats, or communities (e.g Karachi Sindhi Panchaya).

If she was born in 1917, she was married in 1932, that according to "Is This Justice?" by Om Radhe was when Lekhraj Kripalani retired and established Om Mandli. They were next door neighbours of the Mangharam Father who had sold Kripalani the house first used for Om Mandli meetings.

The problems started 1936/37, 4 to 5 years later when Lekhraj Kripalani took her back. When Palu Kripalani left her daughter, her daughter must have been only 3 or so years old ... and Lekhraj condoned this? So much for the Brahma Kumaris NOT breaking up families! I wonder if the move away from Hyderabad had anything to do with this and must look at the dates.

I haven't worked out which of the Mangharams she married but it is worth noting, by comparison, that the three daughters of Mukhi Mangharam were amongst the first Bhaibund girls to receive higher education. There is a bit of a family history of the Mangharams, here.

I note a trend you picked up on Tom before ... of the invisible and silent Mrs Kripalani, mother to the children and devotee to the Father. We have asked before how she must have felt being usurp by the teenage Om Radhe as the eternal first wife of Lekhraj and World Mother ... and here we find her again demoted to "Palumaa"; the mother of Palu. I do not mean this indecently but Kripalani obviously had a thing for young virgins.

I find the whole story pretty disgusting really. All this stuff about the dripping jewelry, scattering diamonds, royalty this and royalty that and how, "daddy gave us new dresses every day and we learned charity by giving the old ones to the poor people" stuff.

Lastly for just now, how could there have been talk of Shiva when there was no mention of Shiva until after 1950s? The whole thing is again a re-write, 'ghost written' in the name of a senile old lady ... who writes these?