AIVV-Life journey of Baba Virendra Dev Dixit

A WONDERFUL BIOGRAPHY

The story of a lamp and storm

CHILDHOOD

Born in a Brahmin family

YOUNG AGE

Study & Teaching

BABA VS BRAHMAKUMARIS

The real story of struggle

WEB OF FAKE ALLEGATIONS

Since 1998

Childhood

A resident of Kampila, Baba Virendra Dev Dikshitji was born in a poor Brahmin farmer’s family on 1st February, 1942 in a village called Ahmedganj situated four kilometres north of Kayamganj, in the Farrukhabad district (Uttar Pradesh). His mother’s name was Leelavati and his father’s name was Shri Sohanlal Shivadayal Dikshit. Shri Sohanlalji left his village Ahmedganj and settled permanently in his maternal grandfather’s village Kampila. So, Baba Dikshitji was brought up under the protection of his parents in the mythological and historical village Kampila. This very land is considered to be the land of the origin of the three personalities namely, Brahma, Vishnu and Shankar. But because of being so ancient, it has become lost in history.

Education

He passed his High School Education while having dry rotis made of pea. After completing his High School education [at Kampila], he completed his intermediate school (at Hamirpur district) from the residence of Inspector Siddique, the ex-incharge of the Kampila police station. He (Baba Virendra Dev Dikshitji) also has a younger sister who was staying under the protection of their father, since their mother had died in 1965. At that time, Baba was around 23 years old. Then after completing the JTC (Junior Teachers Certificate) training at Eta, he did the job of teaching children at the Municipal Primary School of Kampila for three years. After leaving it, he also taught at the Kayamganj Girls School for two years. In 1969, while staying in the hostel of the Gujarat University (Ahmedabad), Baba Dikshitji started his research work (for his Ph.D) on the topic: ‘Who is the first man of this world?’

Contact with the Brahmakumaris

During his research work, on the 30^th November 1969, for the first time, Baba Virendra Dev Dikshit entered the Brahmakumari institution at the Paladi service centre, 2B, Prabhu Park, Ahmedabad. There, a BK sister Vedanti attended him. Whatever the sister said, Baba opposed it. He was research-minded and believed in everything based on the scriptures; so, he contradicted her.
During the course, on the seventh day, the sister who was attending him went somewhere else, so, Baba Dikshitji met the sister in charge of that centre, BK sister Sarla. After having a discussion with her, he did find answers to some of his questions; still, the sister in charge wasn’t able to satisfy him completely. Later on, she told Baba: ‘a brother named BK Ramesh would be arriving from Calcutta the next day; you may ask for answer to your questions from him’, because sister Sarla had this feeling internally that she was unable to satisfy Baba Dikshitji. When brother Ramesh arrived the next day and met Baba, he asked Baba just one question: ‘did you like the form of the Supreme Father Supreme Soul Shiva which has been described here? Did you like His remembrance?’ Then, Baba replied: ‘yes, I liked the explanation that the Supreme Father Supreme Soul Shiva is a Point of Light; by remembering Him our point of light soul in the form of the mind and intellect will attain a subtle stage. By remembering the Subtle One, the intellect will become subtle.’ When Baba accepted the process of remembrance to be good, brother Ramesh told him: ‘if you like the process of remembrance, practice it for a few days. After practicing it you will automatically get the answers to all your questions.’ Later on, sister Vedanti also asked him to read the vanis of Shivbaba simultaneously along with the remembrance. Baba accepted both of their suggestions.

Sister Sarla refused to give Baba murlis

After that, when Baba approached sister Sarla to obtain the murlis, the sister in charge refused to give him the murlis, saying: ‘you are a scholar (shaastrakaar); you are not fit to read the vanis (murlis) of Shivbaba’. He was very disappointed by these words [and thought]: ‘every one has the right to read and understand the great sentences (mahaavaakya) of God’. Sister Vedanti (who had dealt with Baba) told him that she would give him a bundle of murlis at an appropriate time. Thus, when sister Sarla, the sister in charge was not present there (at the centre), Baba used to get the bundle of murlis from there. Then Baba read the murlis and returned them as well. This continued during the absence of the senior sister, it means, he continued to take the stock of murlis every third or fourth day. He received so much confirmation and contentment from the murlis that he was overwhelmed by it.

Reprimand & expulsion by Dadi Prakashmani:

After reaching Mt. Abu, the chief administrator of the Brahmakumaris institution, Dadi Prakashmani (also known as Dadi Kumarka) asked Baba Dikshitji to meet her at 4 o’clock in the evening. He wasn’t aware why she was calling him. When he went to Dadi at 4 o’clock, she immediately started scolding him: “Live quietly just as you used to earlier when you came here. Why do you create disturbance here and there?” He said: “Dadiji, I just talk about Shivbaba. I don’t talk unnecessarily at all. And Shivbaba has certainly said that “there are two kinds of birds in Shiva’s temples. One is pigeons and the other is parrots with a band around their throat.” Shivbaba has given all these examples just for us Brahmin children. So, Baba clearly told her: ‘I will surely tell others the true words of God that I have heard. I won’t listen to you.’ That’s it, on hearing this, Dadi became very angry. She immediately called a peon, asked him to leave Baba at the bus stand and send him off as soon as possible. This incident occurred in January 1974.

Expulsion from the Brahmakumari Vidyalaya:

When he returned from Mt.Abu, Dadi Kumarka immediately gave an order to the sister in charge at the Ahmedabad centre. In accordance with the order, she stopped Baba Dikshitji from sitting in the classes. One day, when the class was going on, suddenly some brothers came to Baba and told him that Dadi has forbidden him from attending the classes. Then Baba told them: Dadi has forbidden me from attending the classes but Shivbaba has never said in any vani (murli) to prohibit anyone from attending classes. If I have committed any mistake, tell me. I will correct it. They told him that they won’t listen to him at all. Then Baba also said: In that case, I won’t listen to you either. Saying this, he continued to sit in the class. Then those four-five people went inside and discussed something with the sister who was the teacher there. After half an hour of discussion, four-five brothers came out, some caught hold of Baba’s hands, some caught hold of his feet and they lifted him and left him down the stairs outside the ashram. After that, two of them stood guard at the gate to prevent him from going inside to attend the class. This process continued for three days. When Baba used to go for class in the morning and evening, he found those brothers standing at the gate. All the other brothers and sisters were permitted to attend the class except Baba, who stood at the door. Then he had to stop going there. At the age of 33, in 1975, Baba Dikshitji left Ahmedabad and returned to his home in Kampila village. There, even at home, some villagers had misguided his father Sohanlal Dikshitji, [telling him] that his son was in the grip of the Brahmakumaris. Being influenced by their words, Baba’s father didn’t listen to a single word of his. He refused to even give him the room which was in the outer part of the house. Meanwhile, Baba contemplated over a great sentence of Shivbaba in the murli: “the sound will spread from Delhi”. He immediately left the village Kampila for Delhi.

Prevented from doing Ishwariya service:

He was mostly given the Ishwariya service of selling literatures. Sometimes he also used to go to the station to receive parcels or to book parcels for the centre. In those days, sometimes the clerks had to be bribed. But even though Baba was late, he never used to bribe the clerk. The sister in charge of the centre used to be angry with him for this delay and tell him: “You waste a lot of time in any work”. Once, on a similar occasion, just when Baba Dikshitji tried to say something to the sister, she gave the example of another brother and said: “Look, that brother gets the work done so quickly.” On listening to this comment, Baba Dikshitji felt like crying and he said: “Tell me, what should I do? To avoid corruption I have repeatedly resigned jobs and you are forcing me to do the same. For this, I can neither ask you for money nor do I have so much money.” Despite hearing this explanation, the sister in charge said: “Acchaa, alright, do as we say. If you don’t want to do so, don’t do service in the ashram.” So Baba Dikshitji started going to temples and doing service there. He attended the class in the morning and then in whatever time was left after his research work he started to go to temples to serve the brothers and sisters there. The students from the centre also started attending the class along with Baba in the temple. They started to invite him to their homes. One among them was brother Manu, who (later on left Ahmedabad for America) took Baba to his house and started conducting classes there. In the evenings, Baba used to read Shivbaba’s murli at the house of brother Manu and gave explanations of them the way he understood it. When the sisters at the centre came to know about it, they became very angry because there was a wrong belief in them that he was breaking away (diverting) their students and had started to earn his own income. But it was not so. The Brahmakumaris continued to oppose [him]. So, this series continued for six months. Baba anyway kept attending the BK classes all along. The centre in charge had already stopped entrusting him any kind of work related to the ashram and in this way, the difference of opinion increased more and more.

Commencement of the Advance Party from Delhi

Soon after reaching Delhi, he achieved success. He went around the main 20-25 service centres there and after that he got a little chance to narrate the Ishwariya knowledge to some brothers and sisters of Shahadra Rohtash service centre. Among those service centres, most of the students from the service centres located on the banks of the river Yamuna started coming in contact with him. While listening to the knowledge from Baba Dikshitji, until 1976, among the people who cooperated with him were BK Ravish Kumar Saxena and BK Ashok Pahuja. These people became active supporters of Baba and in the beginning they also had some literature of Baba printed. This news was reaching the so-called Brahmakumar-kumaris and they developed restlessness and anger within them. So, they started chasing Baba Dikshitji in jeep and car. Baba understood that now those people won’t stop chasing him. Therefore, Baba purchased an all route pass of Delhi and started going all around Delhi from one place to another. A service centre of the Advance Party was opened at RK Puram in Delhi.

All-India Tour

In those days, All-India railway tour tickets were issued at low cost. With Rs.150/-, 250/- and 300/- he bought circular route passes for two months or three months and kept going around the whole India till June 1982. 78, 79, 80, 81, till 82 I was on tour for five years. I used to stay at dharmashaalaa etc. Once or twice it happened so that there was a lot of crowd in the dharmashaalaa and I didn’t even get a small cabinet to keep my bag. It was rainy season. So, I had to sleep in a park on a bench. There are benches there, aren’t there? It rained at night; I covered myself with a plastic [sheet] and slept. I slept for one day, for two days [but] it was raining every day! … When Baba Dikshitji was in Kanpur, he met a person from his village Kampila, who told him that his father’s health was failing. It would be good if he visited his home. So, Baba Dikshitji told him that he had a programme to visit Delhi after two days, so, he would go to Delhi via Kampila at that time. When Baba reached his home after two days, he found that his father had passed away. His younger sister had performed the last rites.

In 1982, Baba permanently settled at his house in his ancestral village Kampila. In the year 1983, Pushpa mata surrendered her daughter BK Kamala Devi Sharma to Baba for Ishwariya service and since then she has cooperated with Baba as the mother of the yagya (yagya mata). The parties coming from Delhi, Kanpur and Varanasi also continued to receive the sustenance of advance knowledge. Gradually, the number [of students] arriving started to increase. By 89-90, within one year, nine Brahmakumaris from South India and other areas, left their own centres and surrendered there, under the care of Baba Virendra Dev Dikshitji and mother Kamala deviji. The opponents [of Baba] in Mt. Abu, the Brahmakumar-kumaris named the Ishwariya family that is working at Kampila in the form of the ‘Advance Party’ as ‘Shankar Party’. On the other hand, the Brahmakumaris who were in charge of centres from all over [the country] started complaining to their chief administrator, Dadi Prakashmani that Shankar Party is making all their followers break away and taking them to Kampila, so she should do something about it. As the result of the differences of opinion in the principles, Dadi appointed a Brahmakumar (Rajkumar Sehgal) from Seekar (a place) in Rajasthan as their representative to oppose the Shankar Party. In this way, a lot of printed matter prepared against Baba Virendra Dev Dikshit started to be sent to all the Brahmakumari ashrams. Even the so-called duplicate Vishnu Party (an opposition group) hasn’t been able to oppose [the Advance Party] so strongly through newspapers, as much as [the Brahmakumaris have] by printing [so many letters] at Mt. Abu through Mr. Sehgal and sending [them] to Baba and all the BK ashrams in which it has also been printed: ‘Virendra, stop narrating the vani (words) [of knowledge] that you narrate’.

Celibate

Because of being the only son, his father used to pressurise him for marriage but Baba didn’t like it. This is why, he used be cross with his father. Ultimately, his father said to him: if you wish to live in this home, you will have to get married otherwise you may go wherever you wish. So, he left home under pressure.

Free of anger

Baba never had the feeling of taking revenge from his opponents. Because wise men don’t take insults or criticism to heart. They keep moving ahead. It is said even in the Gita: Not being disturbed by happiness or sorrow, benefit or harm, defeat or victory and living in balance are the very signs of a saint, of a person with a stable intellect. In the same way, Baba Virendra Dev Dixitji also kept moving ahead. Baba was criticized and insulted a lot but it never affected Baba.

Free of greed

He sent three copies of inland letters via registered post. One to Vijaylaxmi (his sister), one to Shukla and one to Nekse Pandey, his own neighbour who lived in the same area. He sent three letters stating, ‘I don’t want any property of the laukik father (worldly father), I have been adopted by the alaukik father.’ He said to his sister, ‘Take care of the house and father’s remaining bank-balance. I don’t want anything. Whether I receive two chapattis or good food, it is fine with me. Whether I get good clothes or a mere loin-cloth, it is fine with me. Whether I receive a palace, a hut made of straws or not even that, the sky will serve as cover and the earth as bedding; that too is fine with me.

Detached

He is detached from the body, detached even from the pleasures of the body. He doesn’t require any pleasure of the body. He is detached even from the relatives. He doesn’t require any kind of pleasure of relationship from anyone.

Egoless

To take the worldly name and fame is also body consciousness. We don’t want any name and fame that would increase body consciousness. I am just a teacher, an instrument. The Karavanhaar (Enabler) is enabling me to do [everything], He is making me act.

1998

Attack in Kampila Center

10 Conspirators – 1. Dashrath A Patel (Chief) 2. Ashok Pahuja, Delhi with an accomplice, Ravish Kumar Saxena 3. Ram Pratap Singh Khurja, Uttar Pradesh 4. Chaturbhuj Aggrawal, Kolkata 5. Jaya Bharadwaj, Delhi 6. Renuka, Narnaul, Haryana 7. Tara Devi, Mathura 8. Meena Kumari, Gujarat 9. Kailashchandra, Mujaffarnagar 10. Pran Gopal Buram, Kolkata who was used as the foremost weapon

On the 16^th of April 1998, the police officers suddenly attacked the Vidyalaya, which was full of maidens and mothers who came from several states of India. It means, in spite of the fact that the Vidyalaya had paid the electricity bill, the power supply was cut off at 9 AM on the 16^th of April 1998 and on the same day, in the afternoon, the police force from Kampil, Kayamganj and Shamshabad Police Stations along with a truck full of P.S.C force raided the Adhyatmik Vishvavidyalaya without any prior notice under the false allegation of electricity theft. In the year 1998, Baba was 58 years old, still, the police officers behaved so cruelly with him, that no person – provided that he isn’t stone hearted – can stop himself from shedding a tear after watching this scene. Like tyrants, they dragged innocent Baba out of the house. Not just this, when the police mercilessly dragged Baba into the roadside gutter, his leg slipped into it and his pajama came off. Still, they kept dragging him and threw him into the jeep. They insulted the aged Baba so much and took him along with them. Even animals wouldn’t be treated so mercilessly. The conspirators had given a bribe of 70,000 rupees to a gangster named ‘Tiger’ in order to murder Baba. Tiger was about to murder Baba that night but a police officer put Baba in an inner barrack that very day and so Tiger’s plans were foiled.

Finally, in response to the bail petition No. 601/98, the Honourable Judge Bindra Prasad stated: In these circumstances, there is apparently no evidence of electricity theft by Baba Virendra Dev Dixit. Hence, the petitioner stands eligible to get the bail sanctioned.