history of bhagat samaj

Bhakta families are mainly found in the state of Gujarat, India. Our ancestors came from North India, settled later in North Gujarat. It is believed that we were originally Patels or Patidars.

During the Kabir era, some of our ancestors were impressed by the Teachings and philosophy of Kabir. Kabir believed in simple life and  Nirgun Bhakti. He was very much against the rituals and religious practices created by Brahmins and Pundits. His believed that these rituals will not help the mankind but it will destroy them. So he opposed all the rites, poojas, Havans and other customs performed during birth, wedding and death events. Our ancestors understood His beliefs and adopted them in their daily lives. By doing that, they were labeled as Juda (different) Bhagat Patidar by other Patel community. Later on we were called Uda Bhagat and finally we adopted our surname as Bhakta.

Our Bhakta Samaj in India is concentrated mainly in southern Gujarat, Surat district. Later some of our Bhakta families moved to Bharuch and Raj Disrtict. Some business minded families were established in Bombay(Mumbai), North Gujarat. Few Bhakta families went overseas to South Africa, Rhodesia, East Africa, Portugal, Fiji, Trinidad, Panama, England, New Zealand, Canada and America.

After India’s independence, more families settled in England, Zambia, Panama and Canada as well as America. But the real settlement came when Graduate students went to America for further studies during 1960’s. America was the destination country for Bhakta Samaj since then.

In early 1970’s, many of our Bhakta families settled in San Francisco area and rest were students mainly in Eastern United States for further studies. Few families came from England for study too. Among them, Mr. Chhaganbhai Bhulabhai Bhakta came from England for further studies. After graduating from college, He started his Job with Los Angeles County Health Department. He was very much interested in establishing student unions, Bhakta family unions as well as association of Indians. His noble thought was to establish our own Bhakta Association. So with the help of other Bhakta family members, He established Bhakta Society of USA in 1973. His thinking was broad and open. His vision was to create a Samaj that will create an atmosphere to preserve our Bhakta Culture and promote the Teachings of Our Sadguru Kabir Saheb for all the Bhakta families living in USA.

He single handedly done all the work, including collecting data for our First Bhakta Directory in USA and typewriting all, printing fliers for the events and notifying the members. His broad vision and Dream was to have our OWN place where all the Bhakta families can meet and pray as well as conduct social and religious events.

In 1980, Bhakta Society of USA was renamed Shree Ramkabir Bhakta Samaj for two reasons. One was to get Tax exempt status (501 C 3) as religious organization and second was to establish our Shree Ramkabir Bhakta Samaj as a prominent community in USA.  Samaj got the tax exempt status from Internal Revenue Service.  Our Bhakta community was getting larger and has been moving to other states for business purposes. We were settled in majority of the states of America. To include all the families of USA for the representation in policy making of Samaj, Shree Ramakabir Bhakta Samaj established Chapters in whole USA, from Northern California to Wichita, from Southern California to Georgia, From South West to Corpus Christi, form Houston to San Antonio, from Midwest to Dallas.

In 1992, Shree Ramkabir Bhakta Samaj of USA name was adopted for our Samaj. Our Samaj have published Bhakta Directories, Started education Fund for Higher Education for our Children and published religious books. Also we have helped charitable organizations by donating funds, during Natural Disasters here in USA as well as India and overseas.

In 2002, Shree Ramkabir Bhakta Samaj of USA brought its first property for its members usage in Norwalk California. The dream of our Samaj’s founder Mr. Chhaganbhai Bhulabhai Bhakta, was a reality on that 22nd day of November, 2002.

It was officially opened by our own pujya Maa Sarveshwari. The Bhakta Cultural Center as it is well known by now, is booming with activities done by our Bhakat families.

Our official website is also being operated as www.Bhakta.com and www.Bhaktasca.org.