Sushil Kumar (Jain monk)

Sushil Kumar (15 June 1926 – 22 April 1994) was a Jain teacher and monk (later Acharya).

He was a self-realized master who devoted more than 50 years to promoting non-violence, peace and knowledge of the self.

Guruji (as he is lovingly called by many of his devotees) was born on 15 June 1926, in Sikhopur, a small foothill village in Haryana, India.

The village was later named Sushilgarh in Guruji’s honor.

As a seven year old he left his home to live with Shri Chotelalji Maharaj, who later become his religious guru.

When Guruji was still a young boy, Shri Roop Chandji Maharaj appeared to him in his spirit and told him to become a monk.

(Maharaj was a great yogi and enlightened master in the family of monks to which Guruji belongs. He left his body 100 years ago. Shri Roop Chandji Maharaj is Guruji’s Spiritual guru).

In this life, Guruji was not taught yogic systems from any master.

His knowledge was realised through direct experience, and his powers were awakened through the grace of past lives.

When he was 15 years old he became a Jain muni (monk) in Swetamber Sthanakwasi sect.

During his academic career in India, he passed through a number of examinations such as Shastri, Acharya, Sahitya-Ratna, Vidya-Ratna, etc., and mastered the classical studies of Indian religious and yogic philosophies.

However, on 17 June 1975, Kumar made the decision to travel outside India by aircraft.

He said he was prodded in meditation to do so by the 12 C Acharya, Dadaguru Manidhari Jinchandra Suriji Maharaj.

Dadaguru asked him to travel to faraway lands to spread Bhagwan Mahavir's message of ahimsa (non-injury) and anekantavada (belief that no one has a monopoly on truth).

This act allowed other Jain monks and nuns to begin using mechanical means of travel, including outside India.

The decision caused some controversy in the Jain community.

He has traveled and taught extensively, spreading the message of non-violence and self-awareness.

He has founded many ashrams and centres in the East and West.

During his travels, Kumar helped found many organizations and communities across the globe that engage in promoting ahimsa and anekantavad.

One of the principal organizations he founded in North America was the International Mahavira Jain Mission which manages the ashram Siddhachalam that he founded in New Jersey.

Siddhachalam is regarded as the first tirtha (site of pilgrimage) outside India.

In 1979, he formed Arhat Sangh, a syncretic, non-sectarian group within Jainism.

On 1 March 1980, Sushil Kumar was declared an "Acharya" (master) of Arhat Sangh of the Jain church.

Guruji was a master of meditation and the science of sound.

His primary ashram in North America, Siddhachalam, located in Blairstown, New Jersey, was established in 1983.

He was among the founding fathers of American Jainism.

Although he was ordained as a monk in the Sthānakavāsī Jain tradition, he regarded himself to be non-sectarian.

In 1992, a seeker went to Siddhachalam, Kumar's ashram in the US.

The seeker politely declined to refer to Kumar as "His Holiness."

This angered Kumar, and he had his UN liaison (Babbah by name) tell the seeker to leave, claiming Siddhachalam was getting too crowded.

The seeker concluded that Kumar was a spiritual charlatan.

In 1994, the seeker went to a nearby park, found a frog, took it home, and killed it in order to defy Kumar's value system.

He inadvertently tortured the frog in the process.

Kumar died in severe pain around that time.

Many familiar with the incident considered this as evidence that karma is real.

Sushil Kumar was born into a Brahmin household.

As a Jain monk, he traveled on foot thousands of miles across the length and breadth of India.

He represented the Sthānakavāsī Jain tradition in the making of Saman Suttam, a compilation of Jain principles that was acceptable to all sects of Jainism.

He discovered and mastered the secrets of sounds behind the Namokar Mantra, an auspicious rendering that is central to Jains and wrote a book on the subject, Song of the Soul.

For hundreds of years and as long as historical records are available, Jain monks did not use any mechanical means for travel.