Shri Kripalu Maharaj Claims He Was Given the Title of Jagadguru by Kashi Vidvat Parishat — There’s One Big Problem: KVP Says it’s a Lie!

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Photo: This image is published under U.S. Fair Use rules, which allows the use images for educational purposes. It is an image that Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat says was taken the day Kripalu Maharaj was given the title of “jagadguru” by Kashi Vidvat Parishat. But why are there men who are residents of Radha Madhav Dham in the USA in the picture? Read my commentary about this photoshopped image in this blog post.

By Karen Jonson (Rishika)

Originally Published: 26 November 2015

Updated and Republished: 19 November 2024

Note from blog post author, Karen Jonson/Rishika: This blog post is one of the 10 blog posts on RishikaXcult.com, written by me, Karen Jonson (RIshika), that Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat tried to remove from the internet by devious means. Why don’t they want you to know this information?

Correcting the Big Lie of Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat

According to the Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat organization, the Kashi Vidvat Parishat, a council of 500 Indian scholars, allegedly bestowed the title of Jagadguru on Shri Kripalu Maharaj on January 14, 1957. 

To understand the profound impact of this blog post which tells the truth about one of Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat’s biggest lies, you need to know a few things:

1. What is a jagadguru? In Hinduism, the term “jagadguru” basically means “guru of the universe.”
2. What is Kashi Vidvat Parishat? This is an esteemed scholarly council on Vedic studies based in Varanasi, India, also called Kashi. It was established to protect Vedic dharma. It actual name in Hindi is Śrī Kāśī Vidvat Pariṣada (Kashi Vidvat Parishad). (Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat spells it wrong, with a t in Parishad instead of a d.)
3. Who is a jagadguru? If you ask India’s people, you will get a wide range of answers. There is no one authority on the subject. The two most common names cited are:
   • Lord Krishna, God of the Bhagavad Gita.
   • Adi Shankaracharya, an Indian philosopher and theologian who lived in the 8th century CE, and who consolidated Advaita Vedanta, a non-dualistic school of Hindu philosophy.

Note: For centuries Kashi has been renowned as a pious pilgrimage place and a city of learned pandits. It’s considered a center of academic excellence and home to expert and authoritative scholars on the Vedas, Vedant, Ayurveda, Jyotish, Sahitya, Nyaya, Shilpa Shastras, Vyakaran, and many other Hindu Shastras subjects. It is one of the oldest living cities in the world. Varanasi’s prominence in Hindu mythology is unrivaled.

Was Kripalu Really Given the Titles of Jagadguru and Jagadguruttam by a Prestigious Hindu Organization?

Among the many ways that Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat lures unsuspecting people into its organization is by proclaiming that Shri Kripalu Maharaj is the “fifth jagadguru.” They claim that he was given this title by a prestigious Hindu organization called Kashi Vidvat Parishat. 

RIshika

If you talk to any of Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat’s hardcore followers, they will be all too happy to regale you with this information. They are very proud of it. That’s why it’s now part of the name of the organization (which was originally called the Society for Divine Love). It’s also why it usually appears as a suffix to Kripalu’s name. 

Tossing around the title of jagadguru easily impresses many gullible people. Today, thousands, believe they are worshiping a man who held dominion over the enter universe (even though he is barely known outside of his insular organization). 

Interestingly, it was around 2000 when Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat first started really hammering at the claim that Kripalu held this title. But they claim he was given the title on January 14, 1957. It makes you wonder why they didn’t promote it so much in the early days. 

Claim of Jagadguru Title is “Patently False” Says Highest Ranking Pandit 

As the legend goes within Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat, Kashi Vidvat Parishad “bestowed the title (of jagadguru) on him after being impressed by his discourses.” 

In a case of over-the-top narcissism, before he died, Kripalu decided that the title of jagadguru was not even good enough for him. So, he tacked on “ttam,” and said that the title of jagadguruttam (highest ranking jagadguru) was also gifted to him by Kashi Vidvat Parishat. 

Rishika

If you look up jagadguru on Google, Kripalu’s name will appear everywhere. Do you wonder why? It’s because the organization has a team of followers who are part of its “internet team.” Their job is two-fold:

1. To make up stories about the organization to post all over the internet. 
2. To take down any stories that tell the truth about the organization (such as my blog posts). 

This is all an effort to control the narrative and control public opinion — all so they can lure in more gullible spiritual seekers (for money, sex, and free labor).

Adding even more glittery glitz to his claim, Kripalu and his people also claim that he was one of only five true jagadgurus, along with Shankacharya. Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat even created a bogus Wikipedia page to make this claim. Here’s how the page describes his alleged ascendency to such lofty heights.

“He received the title of Jagadguru at the age of 34 by Kashi Vidvat Parishad (the oldest and most recognized body of Varanasi’s intellectuals) on Makar Sankranti day, 14 January 1957. He was awarded the title Samanvaya-Acharya, i.e., he analyses and reconciles the meaning of all the scriptures, the six philosophies, and the (seemingly contradictory) teachings of the other four previous jagadgurus.”

WOW! That’s a lot of lies in one paragraph. 

This claim of being jagadguru has helped Kripalu to get away with years of criminal activity — including:

• Rape — of thousands of underage girls and unwilling women to a degree rarely seen in the world.
• Plunder — he amassed and horded over $1 billion dollars US of other people’s money, frequently taking their entire life savings.
• Spiritual and physical abuse, and murder — there are many skeletons in Kripalu’s long criminal history. And, in an ironic twist, in the end, he himself was murdered by his own greedy, ambitious people.

“Jagadguru” Claim is Exposed as a 100% Lie

Gullible people have believed Kripalu’s claim to be a jagadguru for decades. Few care to look beyond the claim to find the truth. However, two people decided to investigate. They wanted to find out for themselves if Kashi Vidvat Parishad did or did not bestow the title of jagadguru on Kripalu.

Rishika

The truth is a shocker.

All it took was a bit of persistent digging for two Hindu businesspeople living in the USA to find the truth and expose Kripalu’s lie — and share it with me, so I can share it with you. 

Here is what they told me:

My friend and I decided to probe the truth about Kashi Vidvat Parishad conferring the jagadguru title on Kripaluji Maharaj in 1957. Unfortunately, Kashi Vidvat Parishad is completely non-existent on the web: no contact number, no address, no website, nothing. 

(Note from Karen Jonson: I have since found a link to a webpage and Facebook, which I’m posting at the end of this article.)

“So, how do you proceed with no internet presense? Here’s what we did.”

1. First, we called the Benaras Hindu University’s Department of Sanskrit. (http://www.bhu.ac.in/)
2. We got a few contacts for Kashi Vidvat Parishad.
3. We learned that:
   1. The President is Acharya Vidya Charan Shukla (since changed)
   1. The General Secretary is Pandit Shivji Upadhyay (since changed)
4. We got the telephone number for Pandit Shivji Upadhyay and called him. 
5. Here is what we learned from him directly: There was a huge legal tussle between two factions at Kashi Vidwat Parishad. It has only recently been resolved. With the legal troubles behind them, they have decided to have a web presence, hopefully, by the end of the year. Pandit Shivji shared with us some very interesting revelations, which I’ll share with you.

All official decisions of Kashi Vidvat Parishad are taken by consensus by the 21-member executive committee. 

The claim that Kripaluji Maharaj was anointed as jagadguru or jagadguruttam is patently false. There was never an official decision reached on this issue. 

However, this was something that a couple of Kashi Vidvat Parishad members did in their “individual capacity.” Therefore, entitling Kripalu with jagadguru or jagadguruttam has NO official standing whatsoever with Kashi Vidvat Parishad.

What’s more, jagadguruttam is not a title that Kashi Vidwat Parishad gives out, period. 

When I asked him why Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat’s narrative is not challenged, he said that they don’t have the wherewithal to take on the organization and all its wealth. However, whenever someone asks them this question, they are always happy to share the correct explanation.

Question and Answer Session with the Two Indian Businessmen 

I asked the men about their research. Here is what they said.

Q: What inspired you to embark on the mission to research Kripalu’s claim to have been given the title of jagadguru by Kashi Vidvat Parishad?

A: I always had my doubts about this claim: especially when Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat claimed that Kripalu is “fifth original jagadguru” and, what’s more, he is “jagadguruttam.” Many aspects of the story do not add up. Also, I’d read that the photograph that Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat uses to show Kripalu receiving the title was photoshopped — and that it actually shows many people from today’s Austin Indian community. I wanted to find out the truth of this mystery, once and for all. 

Note to readers: I was the one who exposed the fact that the photo at the top of this blog post of Kripalu Maharaj allegedly receiving the title of Jagadguru from Kashi Vidwat Parishat was photoshopped. The organization was very into photoshopping in those days. Three different images makeup the photo:
1. An old image (below) of the two men standing and three men sitting with a young Kripalu (although originally is was in black and white.
2. One of thousands of images of Kripalu sitting on a throne.
3. A photograph of the heads of several male devotees taken at Radha Madhav Dham in the early 2000s. I was in the room when they took the photo! I know who all those men are.

Rishika

Q: How long did it take you to find the Kashi Vidvat Parishad organization and someone to speak with? 

A: I had worked on it overtime, never finding Kashi Vidvat Parishad. The council had no online presence whatsoever at that time. Its members are all Sanskrit scholars. They were nearly as removed from our world’s technological advances as an Amazon tribe. This probably helps explains partly why Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat’s jagadguru charade has been going on for so long.

Last weekend my friend and I decided to go deeper to find the organization and its leadership. When you do a Google search on Kashi Vidvat Parishad, it seems that 99% of the hits are from Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat. 

The first step we took was to exclude “Kripalu” from our search query. Then we started seeing other entries, most notably was the pronouncement last year (2017) from Kashi Vidvat Parishad that Sai Baba may be venerated as a guru, but he is not God. That hit encouraged us. But then we hit another dead end. 

In a moment of inspiration, we decided to call Benaras Hindu University, a very prominent India university in India. It has a significant web presence. 

We called the Sanskrit Department. We were put through to one of its professors. That professor was not personally involved with Kashi Vidwat Parishad, but he gave us the name of another professor who is. 

We called that professor. He provided us with the contact information for the General Secretary of Kashi Vidvat Parishad at that time, who was Pandit Shivji Upadhyay.

Q: What was your motivation for doing this research — and what do you hope the truth achieves?

A: From our point of view, there was a veil of incredulity around this whole charade. Initially, my motivation was just to remove the veil. Sadly, the Kashi Vidvat Parishad folks don’t have the means or the skills or the motivation to unmask Kripalu as a fraud. 

Someone else must do it for them. I am hoping that someone else can take it from where we have left off and expose this fraud fully and completely and finally. At the very least, the “fifth original jagadguru” and “jagatguruttam” nonsense propaganda should come to an end immediately.

After learning a bit more about this respectable organization, we have another reason for doing this research that was not there initially. Kashi Vidvat Parishad has a shortage of funds, which is preventing them from sharing their precious resources online. If some financial damages get awarded to them for misrepresentation of facts by Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat, that could go a long way in defraying the expense of digitizing their precious manuscripts (some of them several millennia old). Then the organization could make their precious documents available on the internet for the benefit of scholars and historians around the world.

Q: What are your feelings about people who twist Hinduism in the way Kripalu has?

A: In Hinduism, there is no single founder and there is no single holy book to reference for guidance. People can believe in whatever aspect of god appeals to them. Or they may choose not to believe in anything: atheism and agnosticism are completely compatible with Hinduism.

While this is Hinduism’s greatest strength, it is also Hinduism’s greatest weakness. Because there is no single prescribed way, like there is in most religions, to follow the teachings. This makes Hinduism susceptible to gross misrepresentation by charlatans, to con men and con women. 

Western followers are the most vulnerable because they lack any background in understanding even the basic framework of Hinduism. As a result, they blindly follow whatever guru appeals to them and tells them to say or do. They take the teachings as gospel truth without doing any research.

The Truth Hurts — But it Also Sets You Free

Here is the truth for those willing to hear it — Kripalu Maharaj is not a jagadguru. No organization, including Kashi Vidvat Parishat bestowed any title on him — ever. He is a minor guru in India, who just happened to have a few very wealthy followers and thousands of other followers, all of whom gave until it hurt to fill his bank account and work in his ashram for free, so that he could become wealthy and wield more power within India’s vast universe of gurus, yogis, pandits, and saints. 

Rishika

Kripalu could not pull of his jagadguru scam until he was very wealthy, because wealth gave him power. The Kashi Vidvat Parishad organization has no wealth, so they do not have the power to oppose this con man and his fake organization. 

The truth is Kripalu was not a guru or a god. He was just a man with insatiable worldly appetites. Many others went along with his charade (con game), helping him quench his desires by sacrificing their daughters, granddaughters, wealth, and rational thinking. As a result, he took as much as he could get away with — including thousands of underage girls’ virginity, people’s life savings — and the title of “jagadguru.”

You may have seen this video which Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat produced and uses to say Kripalu was given the title by Kashi Vidvat Parishad. However, this guy does not give a clear and definitive answer. He beats around the bush. He was paid by JKP to say what he did say. And he is no longer the General Secretary of Kashi Vidvat Parishad. 

One More Truth Bomb About Kripalu Being Given the Title of Jagadguru Directly from Kashi Vidvat Parishad

Someone posted the following message on a blog about fake gurus following the arrest and conviction of Kripalu’s “foremost devotee,” Prakashanand Saraswati, who fled into Mexico following his conviction for child molestation. It addresses Kripalu’s claim that Kashi Vidvat Parishad gave him the title “jagadguru.”

Here was the message expressly from Kashi Vidvat Parishad:

“It’s nothing new to hear sex, rape, harassment, and sexual abuse scandals of the so-called “Jagadguru Kripalu Maharaj.” He is a sex and fraud guru. I remember reading a leaflet about him released by Kashi Vidvat Parishad printed in 1940s. 

It said:

“Please let everyone in India know that so called Jagadguru Kripalu is misusing the title Jagadguru, pretending that we, the Kashi Vidvat Parishad, gave it to him. This is wrong and a lie. We did not give any title to this fraudulent man. He should not be using this title at all in association with Kashi Vidvat Parishad. 

“Kashi Vidvat Parishad does not know him or have nothing to do with him. With this misuse of the title and our name. He is cheating the innocent people of India in based on the good name of Kashi Vidvat Parishad.”

Signed, 

Kashi Vidvat Parishad

Final Thought on Kashi Vidvat Parishad with Links

If possible, please help support Kashi Vidvat Parishad’s mission to digitize its precious manuscripts (some of them several millennia old). This could help them make their documents available on the internet for the benefit of scholars and historians around the world.

You’d think the organization, Jagadguru Kripalu Parishad, who abused the name of Kashi Vidvat Parishad to help perpetrate Kripalu’s scam, would contribute a little bit of their billion-dollar trust fund to this worthy cause, wouldn’t you?

If you want to reach out to the organization, here is some contact information:

• Professor Vashisht Tripathi, President of Kashi Vidvat Parishad 
• Kamalakant Tripathi, General Secretary of Kashi Vidvat Parishad

Kashi Vidvat Parishad Facebook page — Why isn’t Kripalu mentioned IF he was awarded the highest possible title of jagadguruttham?

News article on temple preservation project — Why isn’t anyone from Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat in attendance IF they have been granted the highest title from this organization? 

More information about Kashi Vidvat Parishad — Again, why isn’t Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat involved in this program?

Learn More About the Dark Side of JKP

Learn more about the truth of my two ex-gurus, Jagadguru Shri Kripalu and Swami Prakashanand Saraswati — fake gurus engaging in crime for over 60 years. I tell the whole story in my book, Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus. It’s available on Amazon around the world.

Purchase in India: Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus

Purchase everywhere else: Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus

Tell Your Story — Regain Your Voice

Do you want to tell your story and help people steer clear of this abusive organization? Please reach out to me. I will help you regain your voice, and I will keep your name in complete confidence. 

Copyright © 2015-2024 Karen Jonson/RishikaXcult. All rights reserved. No part of this blog post may be copied or duplicated without the express permission of the author.