JAGADGURU RAMBHADRACHARYA JI
Jagadguru Rambhadracharya ji was born as Giridhar Mishra, on Jan 14th, 1952 on Makar Sankranti, Magh Krishna Ekadasi in the highly religious Brahmin family, in the village
Shadi Khurd, Distt Jaunpur U.P. His mother Smt. Shachi Devi and father the revered Pt. Shri Rajdev Mishra felt themselves blessed to have him. As a child as well the saint bewitched not only the members of his family but also who so ever came to see him for the first time. He had an unfailing beauty, sweetness and charm on his face that comforted the distressed ones. His board and glowing forehead gave a clear indication of his being enlightened. Just after two months of his birth the child was deprived of his eyesight on account of an eye-disease - 'rohua'.
This sad incident seemed to be a curse to his family but in fact it proved to be a great boon in disguise for the newborn child. The Supreme God had blessed his child with divine eyes to realise the spiritual world and his own self. Since then the great soul made the full and the best use of his heavenly blessing. He began to remain in close intimacy with god and dedicated himself fully to his creator. The child developed a wonderful intellect and memory. He could learn by heart even the most difficult shlokas and poetry after listening only once. To the utter surprise of the pundits and scholars the saint learnt by heart the whole of Shrimad Bhagawad Gita only at the age of five years and the whole of Shri Ramcharitmanas composed by Goswami Tulsidas at the age of eight years with the efforts of his great grand father the honourable PT. Surya Bali Mishra. Now he became one with Shri Sitaram having no separate identity of his own.
Divine virtues like fearlessness, courage, emotionality, revolutionary nature; sweetness, firm determination and spontaneous poetic overflow became his natural qualities. In his childhood he had started composing poems that appealed to the hearts of the listeners. On the auspicious date of Nirjala Ekadahsi June 24, 1961 the Upnayan ceremony was performed for the saint and on the same day he was given the Gayatri Diksha and above all he was given Diksha of Ram mantra by the profound scholar and connoisseur of the Indian Scriptures Pt. SH. Ishwardas ji. After having learnt by heart Shri Ramcharitamanas and Shri Bhagavadh Gita, the great saint felt a keen desire for higher study of Sanskrit. Hence having received education in Panini Grammar for five years in the local Adarsh Shri Gauri Shankar Sanskrit College, he came to Varanasi for a special study. The Sampurnanand Sanskrit University granted a gold medal to him as he topped in the Shastri examination in 1973. Besides this he also received five gold medals and one silver medal for securing highest marks in the Acharya examination in 1976 on account of his wonderful speech and exceptional talent. Acharya Shri received five first prizes in the all India Sanskrit conference.
In 1981 he received gold medal from then governor Dr. M. Channa Reddy for being first in all India Sanskrit debate competition. Like wise the Acharya won so many shields, cups and important educational prizes in the different debates based on Indian scriptures and also in number of educational competitions. In 1981 Acharya Shri got the PH. D degree on "adhyatmramayane- Apaniniya Prayoganam Vimarsh"- the subject of his research. Thereafter the vice president of India conferred the highest degree in the educational world- DLit on him for presenting a divine research on the subject “Asthadhyayaya Pratisutram Shabdbodh Samiksha".
On November 19, 1983 on the sacred day of Kartik Purnima, Acharya Shri presented a golden sight when he took Virakt Diksha in Shri Ramananda Sampradaya (sect). Dr. Giridhar was now decorated with the holy name of Shri Rambhadradas. Acharya Shri founded Shri Tulsipeeth in Shri Chitrakoot Dham, the work place of Shri Sitaram in 1987. At that time all the saints and temple Mahants installed him as Shri Tulsipeethadhiswar and on June 24, 1988 on the sacred day of Jyeshtha Shukla Ganga Dussera, Acharya Shri was honourably seated on the throne of Jagadguru Rambhadracharya of Tulsipeeth officially. On February 3, 1989 all the saints and khalsas of the three Akharas of Shri Ramananda Sampradaya (sects) who were assembled on the "Prayag Maha Kumbh" festival honoured Shri Tulsipeethadhiswar Jagadguru, Shri Ramanandacharya, and Shri Rambhadracharya ji unanimously with their full support.
The personality of Acharya Shri is prodigious and vibrant absorbing everyone into his words and thoughts. Acharya Shri worships Shri Ram with the affection of guru Vashishtha. His original quality is that in spite of holding such a high post of Jagadguru, he has a sweet and as simple nature free e of vanity. Humility compassion, true love for lord Ram, nobility of character is his rare qualities that prove his saintliness. He is the custodian of Indian culture style of telling Bhagavadh Katha. Indeed he has the gift of garb. He is the divine image of simplicity and sacrifice. His true sincerity towards mother India and fearless out burst to defend; the integrity of the nation is really a source of inspiration for all the Indians.
Jagadguru Rambhadracharya has started Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Seva Sangh with its head quarter located at Satna, Madhya Pradesh. The main objectives of the JRVSS are to search out the disabled students in their area, inspire & help them to take admission in the university so as to make them free from the course of illiteracy & make them undependable in the society. To make maximum efforts for public participation in the different activities in building University for handicapped. To make suitable arrangements for disabled who can not go for study for any reason. To arrange campus for handicapped time to time & make their participation invariably. To bestow participation in different social welfare works time to time. JRVSS is actively involved for conducting community awareness & child development programmes in rural area of our country. This includes various aspects of community based rehabilitation programmes. To promote woman and child Health care, we organize camps to make the community aware about their growing importance.
Swami Rambhadracharya wrote Sanskrit commentaries titled Sri Raghavakrpabhasya on the Prasthanatrayi - the Brahma Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita and eleven Upanishads (Katha, Kena, Mandukya, Ishavasya, Prashna, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Shvetashvatara, Chandogya, Brihadaaranyaka and Mundaka), apart from Narada Bhakti Sutra and Ramastavaraja Stotra in the late 1990s. These were published in 1999 and 2000. Composed the biggest ever Sanskrit Mahakavya Bhargavaraghaviyam with 2100 verses in 33 metres,
Jagadguru Rambhadracharya has received many awards 2004 — President Award — Maharshi Badryan Puruskar, 2001 — Mahamahopadhyay — Lal Bahadur Shastri Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, New Delhi.1998 — Dharmachkrawarti — Parliament of Religion, Chicago. 2003 — Dewaliben Award — For Progress in Religion & Culture. 2003 — Ativishista Puruskar— UP Sanskrit Santhan. 2003 — Rajshekhar Samman— MP Sanskrit Academy. 2002 — Ravikul Ratna — Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi, (UP). 2005 — Sahitya Academy Award New Delhi. 2006 — Banbhatta Award — Sanskrit Board, Bhopal. 2006 — Shree Vani Alankaran— New Delhi
His versatile genius has granted us valuable literary gifts in both Sanskrit and Hindi, his original works have an important place in the different literary forms poetry, articles, essay, preaching and philosophy.
