The Shocking Truth About Kripalu Maharaj’s Claim to be “Jagadguru” — Claim is “Patently False” Says Highest Ranking Pandit at Kashi Vidvat Parishad

The Truth Puts Entire Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat in Question

(Note: Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Today I am thanking God for bringing the truth to light about Kripalu Maharaj’s claim to be given the title of “jagadguru.” The truth is truly shocking!)

Kripalu Maharaj rose to name and fame thanks to his natural charisma and nine letters — “jagadguru.” He claims that a prestigious Hindu organization in India “bestowed the title on him after being impressed by his discourses.”

For those not familiar with the word, jagadguru (also spelled jagatguru) means “guru of the universe.” (Further, Kripalu claimed to be jagadgurutam — meaning the highest ranking jagadguru).

By attaching this title to his name and building a woo-worthy story around it, thousands, if not millions, of people believe they re worshiping a man who held dominion over the enter universe.

Adding even more glittery glitz to his claim, Kripalu and his people also said that he was one of only five true jagadgurus, along with Shankacharya and the other three. Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat even created a bogus Wikipedia page claiming this. 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 meaning of all the scriptures, the six philosophies, and the (seemingly contradictory) teachings of the other four previous Jagadgurus.

This claim of jagadguruship allowed Kripalu to get away with years of criminal activity — including rape (to a degree rarely seen in the world), plunder (he amassed and horded over $1 Billion dollars of other people’s money, frequently taking their life savings), spiritual and physical abuse, and murder (there are certainly 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.)

Gullible people have believed Kripalu’s claim at face value for decades, never caring to dig deeper. However, I know two people who decided to dig deeper into this story this past summer. They wanted to learn for themselves if, in fact, Kashi Vidvat Parishad ever actually bestowed this title on him.

As you can imagine, the truth is truly shocking.

Kripalu’s “Jagadguru” Claim-to-Fame Lie Exposed!

All it took was a bit of careful digging for two Hindu business people to expose the lie that Kripalu. Here’s how one of them described their revelation to me:

My friend and I decided to probe the truth about Kashi Vidwat Parishad conferring the Jagadguru title on Kripaluji Maharaj in 1957. Unfortunately, Kashi Vidwat Parishad is completely non-existent on the web: no contact number, no address, no website, nothing. So how do you proceed? Here’s what we did:

• We first called the Department of Sanskrit at Benaras Hindu University (http://www.bhu.ac.in/).
• From there we were able to get a few contacts to Kashi Vidwat Parishad.
• We learned that Acharya Vidya Charan Shukla is the President and Pandit Shivji Upadhyay is the General Secretary of Kashi Vidwat Parishad
• We got the phone number for Pandit Shivji Upadhyay and called him.
• We learned from him that there was a big legal tussle between two factions at Kashi Vidwat Parishad, which 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. There were some very interesting revelations by Pandit Shivji, which I want to share with you.

First, all official decisions are taken by consensus by the 21 member executive committee. The claim that Kripaluji Maharaj was anointed as Jagatgurutam (i.e. foremost amongst all Jagatgurus) is patently false. There was never an official decision reached on this issue. This is something that a couple of KVP members did in their individual capacity, and no consensus was reached on this issue. It, therefore, has no official standing, whatsoever.

Secondly, Jagatgurutam is not a title that Kashi Vidwat Parishad has ever given to anyone. When I asked him why the JKP narrative is not challenged, he said that they don’t have the wherewithal to take on JKP. However, whenever someone asks them this question, they are always happy to provide the correct explanation.

Q&A With Jagadguru Claim Researchers

After receiving this news from one of the two people who conducted this research, I asked a few questions. Here are the answers:

Q: Why were you inspired to embark on this research mission?

A: All along I had my doubts about this whole thing: especially the "fifth original Jagatguru" and "Jagatgurutam" part (note: jagatguru is an alternate spelling of jagadguru). Many aspects of the story just didn’t add up. I had also read somewhere that the "photograph" of the event is a Photoshop job that involves many people from the Indian community in the Austin area. I just wanted to get to the bottom of this, once and for all.

Q: How long did it take? How did you make your tracking decisions?

A: I had been on this off and on, never really getting any hits. Kashi Vidwat Parishad has no web presence whatsoever. Its members are Sanskrit scholars, almost as removed from the recent technological advances as the Amazon tribes. Perhaps that explains why this charade has gone on for so long.

This past weekend my friend and I finally decided to go for the plunge. If you do a Google search on Kashi Vidwat Parishad, almost 99% of the hits are from Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat. The first step was to exclude “Kripalu” from the query. Then we started seeing other entries, most notably Kashi Vidwat Parishad’s pronouncement last year that Sai Baba may be venerated as a guru, but he is not God.

That gave us some encouragement, but then we hit a dead end. In a moment of inspiration, we decided to call Benaras Hindu University, which is a very prominent university in India, with a significant web presence. We called the Sanskrit Department and we were put through to one of their professors. This professor is not personally involved with Kashi Vidwat Parishad, but he gave the name of another professor who is. We then called the second professor, who provided the contact information for Pandit Shivji Upadhyay, the General Secretary of Kashi Vidwat Parishad.

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

A: There was a veil of incredulity around this whole stuff, and initially my motivation was just to remove that veil. Sadly, the Kashi Vidwat Parishad folks don’t have the means, or the skills, or the motivation to unmask this charade. Someone else has to do it. I am hoping that someone else can take it from where we have left off and expose this fraud fully and completely. At the very least, the "fifth original jagadguru" and "jagatgurutam" nonsense propaganda should come to an immediate end.

After learning a little more about this respectable organization, there’s another reason that has cropped up, which was not there before. Kashi Vidwat Parishad has a paucity 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 JKP, that can go a long way in defraying the expense of digitizing their precious manuscripts (some of them several millennia old), and making them available on the web for the benefit of scholars and historians.

Q: What are your feelings about people twisting Hinduism in this way?

A: In Hinduism, there is no single founder, and there is no single holy book. Followers have the flexibility to believe in whatever aspect of godliness appeals to them. They may even 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, as in most other religions, the religion is susceptible to gross misrepresentation by charlatans. Western followers are the most vulnerable because they lack a solid grounding in the framework of Hinduism, and they blindly follow whatever their gurus say/do as the gospel truth.

The Truth Hurts — But it Also Sets You Free

The truth is this — Kripalu Maharaj lived in this world exclusively through his id. The id is related to the very base functions of the human brain based on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation.

As such, Kripalu TOOK whatever he wanted his entire life, including many underage girls’ virginity, modest people’s life savings — and the title of “jagadguru.”

The truth is he was no God. He was just a man with insatiable worldly appetites, like any common demon in the scriptures. And many others went along with his charade (con game) helping him fulfill his desires by sacrificing their daughters, granddaughters, wealth, and rational thinking.

Can you handle the truth?

If you want to hear the truth first-hand, let me know. I have the phone number for Pandit Shivji Upadhyay, General Secretary of Kashi Vidwat Parishad.

Better yet, please help support Kashi Vidwat Parishad’s mission to digitize their precious manuscripts (some of them several millennia old), so they can make them available on the web for the benefit of scholars and historians, and the world.

Final Thought – You’d think the organization, JKP, who abused their name to win Kripalu fame, would contribute a little bit of their billion dollar trust fund to this cause, wouldn’t you?

Grateful on Guru Poornima — A Lesson in the True Meaning of Celebrating the Teachers on Your Journey

I was wrong.

A while ago I wrote a blog post announcing that I would never again celebrate Guru Poornima.

Today I received a message from one of my long-time supporters. This person was never a devotee, but is offended by the long-con fraud perpetrated by Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat and the damage it has done. 

Today I received a personal note from this person — and I’m going to share it with everyone, because the words are so beautifully stated and profound. Today I have learned the true meaning of Guru Poornima.

A couple of years ago you had a blog post where you had mentioned that you would never celebrate Guru Poornima again in your life. While I can surely empathize why you felt like that at the time, you could not have been more wrong.

Guru Poornima is one of the most important days of the Hindu calendar. It symbolizes the fact that we are eternal students, who are on a constant quest to learn.

It is a day to recognize the fact that our learning process never stops — from the cradle to the grave, from the womb to the tomb, so to speak.  

It's our duty to seek the right gurus (yes, the use of the plural word here is deliberate). These are the teachers who can unravel before us the countless mysteries of this universe. Teachers who can help in our personal, professional and emotional growth. Teachers who can help us cope with our problems with equanimity. Teachers who can help us with our spiritual growth etc. etc.  

No one guru can fit into all of these roles. So never seek a guru's advice in an area that is not the guru's expertise.

Always Remember the Cardinal Rule: You learn from the guru, but you never surrender to the guru. You seek the guru's advice, but you never let the guru make decisions for you. If you feel that the guru is misleading you, immediately step back and look elsewhere. 

There is some twisted logic in the following — but let me still try to explain. If you realize that the guru is willfully misleading you, he/she may be teaching you something important that you need to be thankful for. This is not the same thing as being willfully misled so the guru can profit from the deception. Understand the distinction.

Be thankful, but never get emotionally attached to your gurus. When you are done with learning from one guru, seek another.

No one knows everything that there is to learn, so this quest never stops. Always remember that no single guru can teach you everything. You will have multiple gurus with non-overlapping roles in your life.

So, Karen, you were wrong when you said that you will not celebrate Guru Poornima again. Go out and celebrate this important day, and show your gratitude to people who have taught you something in order to become a better person (e.g., your 12th grade English teacher). If the gurus are alive, call them, and show your appreciation for what they have done for you. If the gurus are dead, spend a moment in contemplation and remembrance.

I strongly believe that Guru Poornima should be observed by one and all, irrespective of whether or not you are a Hindu.

Thank you to the author of these words. I could not love them more. They are so beautiful. And they have inspired me to once again celebrate Guru Poornima.

I will not throw out a beautiful expression of gratitude because of the exploitative fake gurus in Jagadguru Kripalu Parshat.

Today I want to give thanks to a few of my important gurus since I left the JKP cult.

• Thank you to the author of this message (who shall remain anonymous for specific reasons), but who has been a staunch supporter since day one.

• Thank you to Dr. Madhu P. Godsay, who wrote a chapter in my book about the true tradition of the guru-disciple relationship in Hinduism, and gave me my first-ever glimpse of the truth of our eternal existence.

• Thank you to Mohan Joshi, who has guided my spiritual awakening more profoundly in a few words than my ex-fake-gurus could in a billion words.

I am so very very appreciative of the guidance I have received from these three enlightened beings. 

THANK YOU with deep gratitude!

Guru Poornima Jay Ho!!!!

Warning — The Three “Didis” of Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat are Up to No Good

The Greed of the Three Unmarried Crones Knows No Bounds — Now They are Telling New Lies to Trick New People

My favorite Shakespeare play is “MacBeth.” Maybe it’s because I had a wonderful English teacher in 12^th grade who really dug into the various characters and their motivations.

For example, he stamped an impression of the three witches in Macbeth into my mind that I’ve never forgotten. He said they were likely “camp followers.” These were women who followed around armies and provided the men with “services,” including cooking, cleaning, and sex.

If you know the play, you know it’s ultimately about human greed — and the destruction created by unquenchable greed for power, name, and fame. While people are murdered so that Macbeth can rise to power, he and Lady Macbeth slowly go insane because they are so evil.

Today this play reminds me of Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat — which has been driven from Day One by the unstoppable greed of Kripalu Maharaj for sex, money, and fame. And now that he’s dead, his daughters have taken over the greed game. Their current ONE BILLION dollars in cash and property isn’t enough for them — as they song goes, they want “More. More. More.”

And how are they continuing the greed game? One way is by telling lie, after lie, after lie.

And this brings me back to the three witches in Macbeth. Like them, the three daughters of Kripalu have been camp followers all of their lives — curiously never married — why? Because no one wanted them? Or because they were already “married” to their dad? Or both? They certainly provided all the right services all of these years. 

(The photo above is of the head witch of the threesome — called Bharti Didi or Vishaka — in the middle surrounded by two of her many servants. She's receiving a bogus award that JKP paid to receive.)

Now they have been elevated to beyond camp followers to leaders of the pack. And they can only keep the con game running (out of greed) by telling lies.

Again this is reminiscent of the three witches of Macbeth. As you may recall, Macbeth’s downfall begins when he runs into the witches who drop several hints into his mind about his potential to become the King of Scotland. After he shares their pronouncements with Lady Macbeth, the greed begets a series of murders and mental illness.

Here’s what Macbeth says upon first laying eyes on the witches:

What are these,

So wither’d and so wild in their attire,

That look not like th’ inhabitants o’ th’ earth,

And yet are on’t? Live you? or are you aught

That man may question? . . .

By each one her choppy finger laying

Upon her skinny lips. You should be women,

And yet your beards forbid me to interpret

That you are so.

Then they drop a few lies into Macbeth’s ears — which begins his downward spiral toward destruction.

And just like the three hags of Macbeth, the three crones of Kripalu are whispering lies into the ears of their preachers — who are whispering them into the ears of their followers. All for one purpose — to continue to delude people so they can snatch all of their money.

Here are the new lies being propagated by JKP’s three crones and their minions:

1. Kripaluji had many preachers but he never ever made disciples and he never gave initiation to anyone. After his death, his work is being carried forward by a trust, not an individual
2. Prakashanand Saraswati is a disciple of Jagadguru Shankaracharya Brahmanand Saraswati (a sanyasi). Jagadguru Kripaluji Maharaj was a family man and a Vaishnava
3. Although Prakashanand Saraswati met Kripaluji Maharaj a few times, there was never any formal relationship between them. There were many holy men who came in touch with Kripaluji as they were impressed by his irrefutable devotion towards God
4. JKP cannot be held responsible if any godman falsely claims that Kripalu Ji is his guru

I can hear them chanting now as they try to dupe more gullible people: 

“Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble …

Round about the cauldron go; In the poison'd entrails throw.

Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”

Here’s the truth (and I have proof of all of it):

1. Kripalu created his preachers in his image. He gave them a handwritten instruction book to study and told what to say in speeches (I have copies of many of the preachers’ speeches). Each and every one of JKP’s preachers was created in his image. Period! Since his death, his work is being carried out by each one of these people. 
2. Prakashanand Saraswati was briefly a disciple of Jagadguru Shankaracharya Brahmanand Saraswati in his 20s. When Guru Dev died, he wandered around. Then found Kripalu, who he latched onto. Kripalu was happy to employ the wanna-be workhorse in his “mission” to “make millions of dollars” together — words Prakashanand wrote to Kripalu in a letter I have (in a safe deposit box). Kripalu was a rapist and conman, who let others raise his kids while he gallivanted around India raping girls and women.
3. Prakashanand Saraswati and Kripalu were thick as thieves for decades.
4. JKP can and will be held responsible for the damage it has wrought in its 60 years of existence.

Nothing good can come from these three women’s scheming. If I were you — I’d get out while you still have your life and your sanity (oh, and, of course, your life savings).

Here’s a tip to the “didis” — why don’t you just take the billion dollars your dad already stole from people and go away for good? Go live full-time in your big house with the hidden rooms in Mussoorie India — you know the one: where you let Prakashanand Saraswati hide out. The world doesn’t need any more witches like you creating lies, stealing people’s hard-earned money, and just generally creating mayhem wherever you go.

RishikaXcult.com Is Alive! — and Re-Released Memoir Tells Even More Secrets of the Two Gurus Who Headed up an International Organized Crime Spiritual Cult

 RishikaXcult.com Is Alive — and Back Online!

After being obliterated by a cyber-attack in 2013 — RishikaXcult.com is now back online — and ready to spill some secrets.

Read the updated version of my memoir, including five new chapters — Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus — Telling Their Secrets and Finding My Truth!

Here's the updated book's press release.

Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus — Telling Their Secrets and Finding My Truth
Re-released with Five New Secret-Spilling Chapters on June 30th 2015

Cult Tried to Bomb, Ban, and Bury Memoir that Reveals Gurus’ Dark Secrets
— including a Secret “Sex Factory,” a Charity Scam, Physical Attacks, and More

AUSTIN, TEXAS, 30 June 2015 — Exactly eight years ago today, on June 30th, 2007, Karen Jonson sat down with a blank journal and wrote the following words:

“All I’ve ever wanted my whole life was to find God. And now I think I’ve found the devil.”

That was the beginning of what would become a memoir of her life in the U.S. ashram of two Hindu gurus, called Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat.

Once thought to be gods incarnate, the “gurus” were actually conmen living secret lives, Karen learned. While running an international "spiritual organization," they were running an elaborate, secretive underground crime organization that included a “sex factory,” charity and money laundering scams, and physical threats and attacks. Her research also revealed that the fake gurus were molesting women and underage girls on a massive scale.

As a first-hand observer in the ashram, Karen knew she had to expose their crimes. So she started a secret life of her own — gathering and recording as many insider secrets as she could for the next 10 months, before one guru’s arrest for child molestation on April 25th 2008. Her journals became her memoir — Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus: Telling Their Secrets and Finding My Truth*.

Beginning in 2013, Karen’s former gurus began attacking everything related to the book. Their efforts included an attempt to get Amazon to ban the book from its virtual book shelves, a bid to remove the book’s video trailer from YouTube, and a DDoS cyber-attack on her blog with the same intensity used to bring down WikiLeaks.com.

Now, Karen is re-releasing her memoir with five new chapters. Along with stories about the gurus’ bedroom rituals, offering virgins to the gurus, and a criminal trial for child sex abuse, the revised edition of Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus also reveals:

·       How one guru escaped from Texas to India after being convicted on child sex abuse
·       The experiences of an underage girl raped by the head guru who sued the cult — and won
·       The suspicious death of the head guru — at the hands of his own people?

“Writing this book was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” said Karen, “because I had to relive every single incident and re-tell every single secret I heard about two people who I once considered to be divine. Despite the personal pain I endured, I was compelled to share the truth to help others steer clear of this cult. During the process, I have communicated with many others who had been abused, including girls who were raped as minors. They told me the book helped them surmount their pain. Because of this, writing the book was worth all of the personal pain I endured.”

The updated release of Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus — Telling Their Secrets and Finding My Truth is available as a Kindle ebook and print book on Amazon everywhere outside of the India subcontinent.

On the India subcontinent, HarperCollins India released a version of the memoir in 2014, titled Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus — My Journey to Hell and Back.

The 358-page soft-cover edition is $15.97. The Kindle edition is $9.99.

* Note: The original title of Karen Jonson’s memoir was: Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus — How I Was Conned by a Dangerous Cult and Why I Will Not Keep Their Secrets.

Learn more at the book's new website: www.SexLiesandTwoHinduGurus.com

Order book from Amazon here: Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus