Pujya Rakesh Zaveri

Rakesh Jhaveri, also known as Pujya Gurudev Rakeshbhai (born 26 September 1966) is a spiritual leader, mystic, scholar of Jainism, author and orator from India. Spiritually inclined from a young age, he is a follower of Shrimad Rajchandra, a Jain spiritual teacher. He completed doctoral studies on Shrimad’s work Atmasiddhi. He founded Shrimad Rajchandra Mission, Dharampur which supports spiritual and social activities across the world.

Early Life

Rakesh Jhaveri was born in Mumbai, India on 26 September 1966 to Dilip and Rekha Jhaveri. In 1972, Rakesh began his academic studies at Activity High School in Mumbai. From an early age, he was spiritually inclined. From the age of four he began speaking on Jain philosophy. He first encountered Shrimad Rajchandra when a copy of Shrimad Rajchandra Vachanamrit fell and he saw the photograph of Shrimad Rajchandra. He recounted that he went into deep meditation for 72 hours after this incident, which led to jāti smaraṇa gnān (recounting of previous lives).

In 1978, Rakesh visited an ashram in Hampi and stayed for eighteen months. A satsang-mandal (devotional group) was formed by 1978 and some followers had already started to call him guru by 1980. During his visit to his aunt in Jaipur, he decided to devote rest of his life to spiritual activities. In 1983, he visited Hampi again and stayed there for two years. In 1985, he returned to Mumbai upon his parents’ request and started studying religious texts, practicing yoga and learning Indian classical music. He observed silence for twelve hours a day and traveled extensively between 1985 and 1990. During this period, the number of followers around him continued to grow. During his holidays in Nepal, he decided to pursue the college studies.

He completed B. A. from Osmania University, Hyderabad, in 1988. In 1989, he visited Antwerp for his father’s treatment where his discourses were attended by increasing number of followers. He completed M. A. in Philosophy in 1991 from the University of Mumbai. He started his doctoral studies on Atmasiddhi, a spiritual work composed by Shrimad Rajchandra, in January 1994 under Ramanlal Shah. He was awarded PhD on 2 December 1998 by the University of Mumbai. He had vowed not to give a public discourse until his PhD was completed. He gave his first public discourse in Rajkot on 13 April 2001

Spiritual Journey

Rakesh Jhaveri soon established Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur in 1994 to organise his followers which was later succeeded by the. On 13 May 1999, the construction of an ashram spread across 223 acres (90 ha) at Dharampur and was opened to public in April 2001. The ashram is located on the hillock of Mohangadh which was an estate of the last ruler of the erstwhile Dharampur State. In 2002, he started initiating followers, Atmarpits, who give up worldly possessions and commit to celibacy. He gives the series of discourses to his followers at the ashram throughout the year. He gives discourses in Mumbai once a month on Shrimad Rajchandra Vachanamrut (words nectar), a compilation of his guru Shrimad Rajchandra’s letters, personal diaries and transcriptions of his spiritual discourses. He also prescribes an annual scriptural study schedule to those interested .

He established Shrimad Rajchandra Love and Care (SRLC); a non-governmental organisation that provides medical, educational and humanitarian services; in 2003. The NGO received a special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 2020 due to its projects that work towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

In November 2016, the Mission produced a play, Yugpurush: Mahatma na Mahatma depicting spiritual relationship between his guru Shrimad Rajchandra and Mahatma Gandhi. The Mission opened a science college in Dharampur, Shrimad Rajchandra Vidyapeeth, the same month. In November 2017, the 34-feet tall statue of Shrimad Rajchandra was unveiled at the ashram. By 2017, the Mission had 102 Satsang centres, 39 Youth Group Centres and 227 Divine Touch Centres worldwide. In 2019, the Mission and the Sangeet Natak Akademi co-produced a play Bharat Bhagya Vidhata focused on how Mahatma Gandhi cultivated the values of truth and non-violence. The Mission gifted statue of Mahatma Gandhi to the city of Manchester to serve as a “symbol of love and compassion” following the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing. It was unveiled in November 2019. On April 25, 2021, Shrimad Rajchandra Hospital established a 150-bed COVID Care Centre in Dharampur during COVID-19 pandemic in India.

Anecdotes:

• Though he follows several principles of Jain monasticism, he does not consider himself a monk. He resides with his followers at the ashram in Dharampur and with his family when in Mumbai.
• He was awarded the Gandhi Seva Medal by the Gandhi Global Family, an NGO, in 2017.