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{{Infobox person<br />
|image = <br />
|alt =<br />
|caption =Dada Bhagwan<br />
|birth_date={{birth date|1908|11|7|df=y}}<br />
|birth_place =[[Tarsali]] near [[Baroda]] (now in [[Gujarat]], India)<br />
|birth_name =Ambalal Muljibhai Patel (A. M. Patel)<br />
|death_date = {{death date and age|1988|1|2|1908|11|7|df=y}}<br />
|nationality = [[Indian People|Indian]]<br />
|philosophy =Akram Vignan<br />
|founder = [[Akram Vignan Movement]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Dada Bhagwan''' (7 November 1908 – 2 January 1988), also known as '''Dadashri''', born '''Ambalal Muljibhai Patel''', was a spiritual leader from [[Gujarat]], India who founded the [[Akram Vignan Movement]]. He was religiously inclined from the early age. He worked as a contractor for a company maintaining dry docks in Bombay before attaining "self-realization" in 1958. He left business and focused on his spiritual goals. The movement around his teaching grew into the Akram Vignan movement gaining followers in western India and abroad.<br />
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==Biography==<br />
===Early life===<br />
Ambalal Muljibhai Patel (A. M. Patel) was born on 7 November 1908 in [[Tarsali]], a village near [[Baroda]] (now in Gujarat, India). His parents, Muljibhai and Jhaverba, were [[Vaishnava]] [[Patidar]]s. He grew up in [[Bhadran]], [[Kheda district]] in central Gujarat. A. M. Patel credited his mother for instilling an early appreciation of the values of nonviolence, empathy, selfless generosity, and spiritual penance within him. It is said that he was blessed by a saint when he was thirteen who told that he would attain liberation. He married a local village girl named Hiraba in 1924. Their children (born in 1928 and 1931) died a few months after birth so they had no surviving children. During this period, he was also influenced by the writings of [[Shrimad Rajchandra]] a [[Jain monasticism|Jain Monk]] who was also the [[Spirituality|spiritual]] [[Jain monk|Guru]] of [[Mahatma Gandhi]] and householder and religious teacher whose teaching inspired new religious movement later. He began practising temporary [[Brahmacharya|celibacy]] and later vowed lifelong celibacy. He was a contractor by profession. He moved to [[Bombay]] where he worked successfully as a contractor for the company Patel & Co. The company used to maintain and construct dry docks in the [[Mumbai Harbour|Bombay harbour]].<ref name=FPeter>{{Cite book|url=http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/7438/1/Present_Lord_2003.pdf|title=Present Lord: Simandhara Svami and the Akram Vijnan Movement|last=Flügel|first=Peter|work=The Intimate Other: Love Divine in the Indic Religions|publisher=Orient Longman|year=2005|isbn=9788125028017|editor-last=King|editor-first=Anna S.|location=New Delhi|pages=194–243|editor-last2=Brockington|editor-first2=John}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://sureshbjani.wordpress.com/2011/06/29/dada_bhagwan/|title=દાદા ભગવાન – અંબાલાલ મૂળજીભાઈ પટેલ|last=Jani|first=Suresh B.|date=2011-06-29|website=Gujarati Pratibha Parichay|language=gu|trans-title=Dada Bhagwan – Ambalal Muljibhai Patel|access-date=2017-03-21}}</ref><ref name="Wiley2009">{{cite book|last=Wiley|first=Kristi L.|title=The A to Z of Jainism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cIhCCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA31|date=17 June 2009|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6337-8|pages=167–168}}</ref><br />
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===Dada Bhagwan===<br />
He claimed to have attained self-realisation in June 1958 at [[Surat railway station]] while sitting on a bench at platform number 3. It was about 6 pm and it lasted 48 minutes. However this was not revealed initially by him.<ref name=FPeter/><ref name=":0" /><br />
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After his experience, a close relative began to address him by the spiritual name of Dada (a Gujarati term for "Revered Grandfather") Bhagwan (Lord) became his spiritual name. The experience or self-realization is described as revelation or manifestation of the god within, or pure self, supreme self manifested through body; which he later called ''Dada Bhagwan''. He had differentiated between self and his empirical self as Patel and Dada Bhagwan.<ref name=FPeter/><br />
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He left his business to his partners to concentrate on his spiritual goals. He continued to live on the dividends of his shares of company. He continued his householder life as his teaching did not require renunciation or asceticism.<ref name=FPeter/><br />
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===Akram Vignan movement===<br />
Dada Bhagwan formed a movement which he termed [[Akram Vignan Movement]]. Unlike the step-by-step purification according to Jain principles, Akram Vignan promises instant salvation through the grace of [[Simandhar Swami]], for whom Dada Bhagwan serves as a medium. His followers believe that they will be reborn in two lives in Mahavideha, a mythical land described in [[Jain cosmology]] from where they can achieve [[moksha (Jainism)|Moksha]] (liberation) as they are in connection with ''Gyani'' (knower). Flügel regards the movement to be a form of Jain-Vaishnava syncretism, a development analogous to the Mahayana in Buddhism.<ref name=FPeter/><ref name="Wiley2009"/><br />
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Initially, he had not revealed his experiences to the public but his some close relatives and friends knew it. In 1962, during a conversation with him, a person named Chandrakant Patel from [[Uganda]] experienced sudden self-realization. Such experience is described in traditional Jainism as ''kshayaka samyatva'' which is only achieved in presence of Tirthankara. Kanubhai K. Patel was the second person, who was also his business partner, who received instant knowledge in 1963 from Dada Bhagwan.<ref name=FPeter/><br />
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===Expansion of movement===<br />
Between 1962 and 1968, very few close people received "knowledge" through Dada Bhagwan. Following 1968, he bestowed "knowledge" who requested to be blessed. This is the foundation of the movement. He said that he was initially reluctant due to fear of public opinion as in case of [[Shrimad Rajchandra]] but after his visit to a [[Rishabha]] temple in [[Khambhat]] he decided to public performance of ''Gnanvidhi'', a practice to transfer of "knowledge" for self-realisation. In 1968, the first ''Gnanvidhi'' was held at [[Bombay]]. Over the years, the ''Gnanvidhi'' became more elaborate and achieved its present form in 1983. He continued to give spiritual discourses all over the world. He emphasized contact of "knower" (''jnani'') to gain knowledge over scriptural or ritual knowledge. His followers were initially spread in his hometown [[Vadodara]] and Bombay. The movement expanded in the 1960s and 1970s to southern Gujarat and Maharashtra and in Gujarati diaspora in East Africa, North America and UK. In 1983, he had reportedly around 50,000 followers.<ref name=FPeter/><ref name="Wiley2009"/><br />
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When he died on 2 January 1988, his funeral was attended by about 60000 followers.<ref name=FPeter/><ref name=":0" /><ref name="Bhagwan2015">{{cite book|author=Dada Bhagwan|title=Adjust Everywhere: Conflict Resolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cTzBBwAAQBAJ&pg=PP10|date=2 April 2015|publisher=Dada Bhagwan Aradhana Trust|isbn=978-81-89725-00-6|pages=5–10}}</ref><br />
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==Succession==<br />
Soon after the death of Dada Bhagwan, the movement split into two factions. One led by Kanubhai Patel as Jay Sachchidannad Sangh and other led by [[Niruben Amin]] known as Dada Bhagwan Foundation Trust and Simandhar Swami Aradhana Trust in Ahmedabad and Mahavideh Foundation in Mumbai. She became a popular leader of the movement and was addressed as '''Niruma''' by her followers from 1999.<ref name="FPeter" /><ref name="Wiley2009" /> After death of Niruben in 2006, she was succeeded by [[Deepakbhai Desai]].<ref name="Bhagwan2015" /><br />
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==Recognition==<br />
In 2012, the [[Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation]] named a stretch of road between Visat crossroads and Sabarmati crossroads as ''Pujya Dada Bhagwan Road'' and the Zundal circle as Dada Bhagwan circle.<ref name="John 2012">{{cite web | last=John | first=Paul | title=The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has christened a stretch on SP Ring road and a circle after a revered saint Dada Bhagwan. The standing committee passed a resolution on Thursday renaming the stretch between Visat crossroads and Sabarmati crossroads as Pujya Dada Bhagwan road while the Zundal circle has been named as Dada Bhagwan circle. | website=The Times of India | date=10 May 2012 | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com//articleshow/13084868.cms | access-date=21 March 2017}}</ref><br />
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==In popular culture==<br />
Dada Bhagwan was portrayed by [[Gulshan Grover]] in a 2012 independent film ''[[Desperate Endeavors]]'' directed by French-Algerian director Salim Khassa.<ref name="Od2011">{{cite web | title=Gulshan Grover plays a Godman | website=The Times of India | date=17 August 2011 | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertain]]ment/hindi/bollywood/news/Gulshan-Grover-plays-a-Godman/articleshow/9623647.cms | access-date=21 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="ht2011">{{cite web | title=Gulshan Grover wins best actor at NY fest | website=Hindustan Times | date=26 August 2011 | url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/gulshan-grover-wins-best-actor-at-ny-fest/story-8RBxBlbIM3oD4cb2tJz1zO.html | access-date=21 March 2017}}</ref><br />
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==Bibliography==<br />
Dada Bhagwan has authored the following books now translated in English:<br />
* ''Who Am I ?''; {{ISBN|978-81-89725-10-5}}<br />
* ''Generation Gap''; {{ISBN|978-81-89725-18-1}}<br />
* ''Harmony In Marriage''; {{ISBN|978-81-89725-15-0}}<br />
* ''Life Without Conflict''; {{ISBN|978-81-89725-21-1}}<br />
* ''Anger''; {{ISBN|978-81-89725-04-4}}<br />
* ''Worries''; {{ISBN|978-81-89725-05-1}}<br />
* ''The Science Of Karma''; {{ISBN|978-81-89725-11-2}}<br />
* ''Life Without Conflict''; {{ISBN|978-81-89725-21-1}}<br />
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==Further reading==<br />
* {{cite book|author=Dada Bhagwan|title=Autobiography Of Gnani Purush A. M. Patel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jov8CAAAQBAJ&pg=PP6|date=7 May 2015|publisher=Dada Bhagwan Aradhana Trust|isbn=978-81-89725-09-9}}<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
{{Akram Vignan}}<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhagwan, Dada}}<br />
[[Category:Indian spiritual teachers]]<br />
[[Category:Mystics]]<br />
[[Category:1908 births]]<br />
[[Category:1988 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Gujarati people]]<br />
[[Category:Syncretists]]<br />
[[Category:People from Vadodara district]]<br />
[[Category:Hindu reformers]]<br />
[[Category:Jain reformers]]<br />
[[Category:Gujarati-language writers]]</div>WikiDwarf