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His Holiness Jain Ächärya Sushil Kumarji Mahäräj (Guruji) (Life - June 15, 1926 - April 22, 1994)
Compiled by - Pravin K. Shah (April 25, 1994) Jain Study Center of NC (Raleigh)
JAINA Education His Holiness Jain Acharya Shri Sushil Kumarji passed away at the age of 68 years, in his Ashram at 4:00 PM on Friday April 22, 1994 (6:30 AM USA Eastern time) in New Delhi, India. His devotees affectionately called him Guruji.
Guruji's Life Mission and Work Guruji was born in a Hindu Brahmin family on June 15, 1926 in a small village of Sikhopur, in Hariyana, India. The village was later named Sushilgarh in Guruji's honour. He left his family and home at the age of seven to live with a Jain monk Shri Chhotelälji Mahäräj, who later became his living religious guru. When Guruji was a young boy, Shri Roop Chandji Maharaj appeared to him in spirit and told him to become a monk. Shri Roop Chandji Mahäräj, who left his body 100 years ago, was a great yogi and enlightened master in the family of monks to which Guruji belongs. He was Guruji's spiritual guru. So, at the age of 15, Guruji took Dikshä in the Jain Sthänakaväsi sect and became a Jain monk. Guruji pursued an academic career and obtained a degree of Shästri, Acharya, Vidya-Ratna, and Sähitya-Ratna. He also mastered classical Indian and yogic philosophies. He did not learn yogic systems from any master. His knowledge was realized through direct experience, and his powers were awakened through the grace of past lives. It was not long before Guruji's divine mission unfolded that he began to gain recognition as a fountain of wisdom, truth, and understanding, who actively promoted peace and harmony throughout his homeland. He worked untiring to establish a sense of universal brotherhood amongst the conflicting religious traditions of India. He honoured and respected all of the world's great religions as an expression of one divine truth. Guruji was also widely known in the Jain community for his unprecedented and highly controversial international tour, which began in 1975. Jain monks are only permitted to travel solely by foot, yet Guruji recognized the wisdom in breaking from this ancient restraint in order to share the Lord Mahävir's message of nonviolence, peace and oneness of all living beings with the world at large. With the encouragement from Gurudev Shri Chitrabhanuji, Guruji began his international tour. Since then, his acclaim as a true man of God has spread to all corners of the earth. Guruji was a self realized master, well known for his practice of effects of sound on spiritual progress and his teachings of the Arhum Yoga system. Arhum Yoga is an ancient system for the mastery of the inner self through watchfulness and direct perception. It encompasses all aspects of philosophy and yogic practice in the Arihanta tradition. It includes the Eight Steps of Yoga, sound vibration, healing, awakening of the Kundalini and all divine powers, color science, holistic health, the concepts of Ahimsa, Anekäntaväda, and the perfection of the soul. This knowledge is based on the Matrika Vidyä of the Namokar Mantra, which is the foremost mantra in the Jain tradition holding much secret knowledge. Guruji's work in India was not limited to creating religious harmony among many ethnic groups, but he had organized and presided over a significant number of World Religions Conferences. In 1981, in order to unite all different Jain sects in North America, the two spiritual leaders; Gurudev Shri Chitrabhanuji and Acharya Shri Sushil Muniji, along with various Jain community
