Sri Guru Jambheshwar Ji (vegetarian): Founder of the Bishnoi & India’s First Environmentalist, Part 1 of 2

Sri Guru Jambheshwar Bhagwan (vegetarian), also known as Guru Jambhoji, was an enlightened Master and the founder of the Bishnoi faith. He taught that God was omnipresent. Guru Jambheshwar Ji is believed to be the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, one of the primary Hindu deities. Lord Vishnu is known as “The Preserver,” a supreme Being that creates, protects, and restores the universe.

Sri Guru Jambheshwar Ji was born in the remote northern Indian village of Pipasar in Nagaur district, Rajasthan, in 1451. Sri Guru Jambheshwar Ji was a special child, who shared a birthday with Lord Krishna, a principal Deity in Hinduism and the God of Compassion and Love. After Guru Jambheshwar Ji’s parents passed away, He donated all of His wealth. Now in His 30s, He left home in search of spiritual attainment.

In the late 15th century, there was a severe 10-year drought in Rajasthan. Numerous human and animal-people lives were lost, and much land was destroyed. Disheartened, Guru Jambheshwar Ji kindly aided the affected.

In 1485, when Guru Jambheshwar Ji was 34 years old, He achieved enlightenment below a tree called Kankedi, at Samrathal Dhora, a sand dune in the Thar desert of western Rajasthan. There, He founded the Bishnoi faith, a Hindu religious belief system, to help the grief-stricken people and guide them back towards the path to the Divine. His teachings were in poetic form known as Shabadwani and consisted of 120 shabads, or hymns.

Guru Jambheshwar Ji reminded His disciples to show appreciation to God for the gift of life, and to be mindful of karma. His teachings also included religious traditions from other faiths. Guru Jambheshwar Ji is perhaps best remembered for how His teachings illustrated the integral connection between nature and the Divine. Long before the concepts of environmentalism and climate change were widely known, Guru Jambheshwar Ji was a pioneer in eco conservation efforts.

Guru Jambheshwar taught that purity of both body and mind are of utmost importance. By maintaining external purity of the physical body, illnesses, body odors, and infections can be avoided. Meanwhile, internal purity of the mind is needed to gain wisdom and obtain absolute truth.