HIS DIVINE GRACE KAKAJI
&
HIS DIVINITY PAPPAJI
A brief note on their life & work
His Divine Grace KAKAJI and His Divinity PAPPAJI are Divine duo brothers, who dedicated their life in the service of their Master and existed merely as His instrument.
Inculcating family based love-intimacy in the Divine fellowship they inspired innumerable aspirants, brought about transformation in their life and guided them to liberate themselves from the clutches of vices and crude nature.
Both were supremely realized souls, original thinkers, the real Spiritual Masters and devout disciples of His Divinity Yogiji Maharaj, who dedicated all their possessions and their entire life to fulfill their Master’s will.
Childhood & Education
His Divinity Pappaji, elder of the two brothers, was born on 1st September 1916 at Borsad and named Babubhai. His Divine Grace Kakaji Maharaj was born on 12th June 1918 at Nadiad and was named Dadubhai. Their family roots were from Karamsad, a small town in Gujarat, which is well known, being native place of Sardar Patel. Both brothers studied at Nadiad. At a tender age of nine & seven, the brothers duo made a vow to bring heaven on this earth, devoid of any discrimination and conflicts.
While the elder brother Babubhai migrated to Mombasa, Kenya to take on formal vocation of a School teacher, the younger Dadubhai studied in Nairobi, Colombo and completed His graduation from the prestigious London School of Economics. After a brief stint of service, He emerged as a very successful entrepreneur, handling large businesses.
Spiritual Ascension
Right from the childhood, Kakaji’s core belief was in Supremacy of Lord Swaminarayan, as realized through the Divine manifestation of Gurudev Shastriji Maharaj and Gurudev Yogiji Maharaj.
He rendered selfless services to Shri Gulzari Lal Nanda (who was Home Minister in the cabinet of Sh. Jawaharlal Nehru and twice officiating Prime Minister) and a number of fellow Satsangis to please His Master Yogiji Maharaj, who blessed Him in the form of 72 hours of ‘Samadhi’- Supreme Enlightenment on 3rd Feb. 1952 at Gondal Temple in Saurashtra, Gujarat.
In April 1952, elder brother Babubhai returned from Mombasa and met H.D. Yogiji Maharaj, whom the younger one had hailed as the Living embodiment of Lord Swaminarayan. Soon, Babubhai also became the torch bearer in the form of this radiance with unconditional surrender to Yogiji Maharaj relinquishing personal, emotional and any human desires.
Thereafter, both of them spent their whole life devoted to God, Living Master Yogiji Maharaj and Satsangis at large. One of the spiritual heirs of His Divinity Yogiji Maharaj, they were Masters of the AksharPurushottam doctrine. Without blindly following outdated rituals and dogmatic traditions, they remained continuously absorbed with Swaminarayan Mantra and became a living embodiment of the Mantra and its deity – the Supreme Lord; existing merely as an instrument of the God.
Activities & Achievements
As per the wishes of His Master, H.D. Yogiji Maharaj, HDG KAKAJI got deeply involved in several spiritual activities:
- Guidance to Youth: He channelized the energies of young aspirants in Vidyanagar (Gujarat), by constructing a hostel building;
- Developing Spiritual Technicians: His selfless love, untiring efforts and single-minded devotion motivated many educated youths to walk on the spiritual path and many of them were initiated by H.D. Yogiji Maharaj;
- First to propagate Swaminarayan Faith outside India: He spread the message of Akshar Purushottam doctrine outside India to Africa, Europe and America;
- First to introduce Swaminarayan Faith in North India: He initiated development of Swaminarayan Satsang in New Delhi, the Capital and North Indian States like Punjab, Haryana, U.P., M.P., Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan etc.
Literary Work
HDG Kakaji wrote several articles and books on Spirituality and Tantra based on His own experiences and explained that spirituality had nothing to do with metaphysical powers and true aspirant should disregard them completely. His published work includes ‘Lord Swaminarayan and Applied Brahm Gnan’, ‘The Divine Grace’, ‘Panch Yagna’, ‘The Real Essence of Tantra’ and numerous articles in different spiritual magazines like Swaminarayan Prakash, Akshardham, Bhagwad Kripa, Shri Aksharpurushottam Satsang Patrika, which enlightened the society towards a revolutionary spiritual path.
Likewise, HD Pappaji authored spiritual scriptures viz. Anoopam Part 1 to 8; Parabhakti Saurabh, Sanjivni Mantra – 10 commandments; Acharsahinta – Code of conduct in Society etc.
Initiating Sadhvis In Swaminarayan Faith–Women’s Emancipation
Traditionally, Swaminarayan faith did not involve women as direct initiates for spiritual activities. Initially, listening to preaching of HDG Kakaji, many lady aspirants wished to seek salvation by dedicating their whole life towards service of the Lord and His Supremely Realized Saints. HDG Kakaji advised His elder brother- P.P.Babubhai, later on fondly known as H.D. Pappaji, to discuss the issue with His Divinity Yogiji Maharaj, who ordained that what is wrong if women aspirants chose a career path of spirituality.
Hence, as per the wishes of His Master, HDG Kakaji & Pappaji facilitated initiation of lady aspirants to sainthood for the first time in Swaminarayan faith.
Duo-brothers worked very hard to let women also become part of mainstream Swaminarayan faith and get ultimate redemption. They valiantly faced ostracization from the fellowship for this worthy cause of Women’s emancipation but truth can never be hindered and always prevails… and today there are more than 600 Divine sisters working together following the path of Lord Swaminarayan as per Verse 26 of Last Chapter of Vachnamrit.
Founder of Philanthropic Spiritual Institutions
HDG Kakaji founded Yogi Divine Society, with its mission to awaken divine consciousness and train real aspirants as a ‘Tantric Group’ of spiritual technicians by means of Swaroop Ashtanga Yoga which is the synthesis of AksharPurushottam Yoga, enabling all to attain the supreme understanding, perfection and spiritual realization in this life, here and now. He advocated not blind faith but spirituality based on investigation, analysis and synthesis. His basic tenet was that of ‘Suhradbhav’ – Spiritual Brotherhood and Friendliness.
The institutions founded by Him are based at Sokhada, Sankarda, Mogri, Mumbai, Delhi in India, Chicago in USA and Paris in France & are doing exemplary work for benefit of the masses without any distinction of caste, creed or color.
HD Pappaji also established spiritual centres at Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Surat, Nadiad, Manavadar, Rajkot, USA, & London, England.
Both of them considered the entire satsang as a Divine family, a concept demonstrated by Lord Swaminarayan during His life. In short, they are the very embodiment of love, friendliness and selfless service.
H.D. Kakaji left for His abode in Akshardham on March 7, 1986. However, the torch lit by Him continues to light the path of true aspirants through His successors – P.P. Guruji in Delhi, P.P. Dinkarbhai in Chicago, USA and P.P Bharatbhai, P.P. Vashibhai, P.P. Mahendra Bapu in Mumbai.
Accolades & Commemoration
Municipal Corporation of Delhi named the Road from Ashok Vihar Water Tank to Sarai Rohilla as Swaminarayan Marg and the lane behind Laxmibai College, two ends of which merge into this road has been named as KAKAJI LANE, in Divine memory of HDG KAKAJI.
In memory of the historic date of His Supreme Realization – 3rd February 1952, the park on this KAKAJI LANE, adopted and developed by Yogi Divine Society for the benefit of community, has been named TEEN FARVARI PARK by State Names Authority, Govt. of NCT Delhi.
Acknowledging His unparalleled service to all persons without any distinction of caste, creed or color for their social and spiritual progress and instilling values of Spiritual Brotherhood for living with harmony, Govt. of India released a commemorative stamp in 2003 on the 50th anniversary of His Supreme Realization Day
HD Pappaji, a paragon of virtue did his final farewell from this earth to the heavenly abode of Akshardham on Sunday the 28th May 2006. A special cover was released on 29th November 2006 at Anand, Gujarat to commemorate His contributions. Under Divine guidance of H.D. Pappaji, numerous Sadhvis have attained spiritual ascension and hence the road besides their Institution ‘Gunatit Jyot’ has been named ‘PAPPAJI MARG’ by the Municipal Corporation to immortalize His Divine memory and honour His bountiful contributions.
On the occasion of the Centenary Celebrations of Duo Brothers, Govt. of India released a Commemorative Stamp on the Divine Duo Brothers to recognize their unparalleled contributions to the field of Spirituality by fostering and developing a divine fellowship, which discarding all negativity focuses on Positive thinking, imbibing virtues and rendering selfless service to the Society with Spiritual Brotherhood and Friendliness.
SWAMINARAYAN CHOWK & KAKAJI MARG, Powai (Mumbai)
Recently, Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation named the crossing adjacent to ‘Akshardham Mandir’ (Yogi Divine Society), Powai, Mumbai as SWAMINARAYAN CHOWK and the road from it to Gopal Sharma Chowk as KAKAJI MARG in recognition, reverence and Divine memory of KAKAJI.
