Spiritual-Note

Whenever we talk about the Saints of Maharashtra, the name of Dnyaneshwar easily stands the first. However his contemporary Saint Namdeo is also equally important. His place among the Maharashtrian Saints is unique; because unlike most other Maharashtrian saints he moved far and wide outside Maharashtra for preaching, and even today his followers are found in large numbers in far off places like the Punjab and Haryana.

Like Dnyaneshwar there is no reliable information available about Namdeo, the information that is available is through legends and also through a number of biographical ‘ Abhangas’, which are included in the Gatha known after his name. Even though over 2000 Abhangas are included in Namdeo’s Gatha, we feel that they are compiled by six different persons who were known by the same name viz. Namdeo. We have therefore to accept the information derived from these ‘ Abhangas’ very guardedly, relying only on those that appear to be definitely of Namdeo himself.

Link:

• Web Page1
• Web Page2

Believed to be an incarnation of Shri Dattatreya the name of this spiritual master, popularly called Swami Samarth, is a household word in Maharashtra and the region around. As this Perfect Master chose to reside at a place called Akkalkot for 22 years where he took Mahasamadhi (left his mortal body) in 1878, he is also known as the Maharaj of Akkalkot, situated in Solapur district of Maharashtra state of India.

For the devotees of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba, it would be inspiring to learn about the life and deeds of ‘Swami Samarth’. A comparative analysis of the lives of these two great Saints, i.e. Swami Samarth and Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi would establish a surprising amount of commonness in their lives and deeds which includes their methods of teaching, the universality of their approach and the miracles they performed. Even a critical approach by a non-conformist would ultimately lead to the assertion that the over-all role of these two spiritual masters during the second half of the nineteenth century was similar, if not same. One, who is capable of making finer spiritual analysis, would be faced with a bewildering reality.

The reality is that Swami Samarth and Shri Shirdi Sai Baba were the manifestations of the same Divine Spirit in two gross bodies.

Link:

• ShreeSwami.org
• SwamiSamarth.com
• ShreeSwamiSamarth.com
• AkkalkotSwamiSamarth.org

Biography of Swami Samarth is available on ShreeSwami.org. PDF/HTML

Sant Shri Gadge Baba was the great hero of 19^th century and known for his social services. He was a holy saint who worked for helpless and poor.

On 23rd of February 1876, Gadge Baba was born in a washerman’s family of small village Shengaon of district Amravati, Maharashtra, India. He lived a life of poverty. In starting days of his life he worked in his own field, when he lost his own land he worked as a wage labor. One day he was at a field and keeping birds away from grain. A sadhu who passes near by him, asked Gadge baba ‘if he is the owner of the grains?’ This question turned Baba for realization.

After this comment of sadhu Gadge Baba knows the value of community-sharing and keeps it for his whole life time. Community-service become the base of his teachings of Baba. His teachings were-

Give food to the hungry
Give shelter to the needy
Protect the environment

A public teacher, the Gadge Baba traveled from one place to another place wearing his food pan upturned on his head and carrying his trademark broom. When he entered a village, instantly start cleaning the gutters and roads of village. He also told the citizens of village that their congratulations would have to wait until his work was done. For this job, the peoples of village gave money to Baba. From this money Gadge Baba build educational institutions, dharmasalas, hospitals and animal shelters. He conducted his discourses in form of “Kirtans”(a form of discourse which includes devotional songs by Saints). In which he would emphasis on topics like service to humanity, compassion. During his kirtans he would educate people against blind faiths and rituals. He would use Dohas (couplets of a song) by Saint Kabir in his discourses.Currently almost all organizations build by him are functioning well. On December 20^th, 1956 the Great Saint left this mortal world. Even so many years have passed since his departure there is lot of following for him. Government of Maharashtra state also runs a villge cleanliness programme named after him. University of Amravati was renamed as Sant Gadge Baba university.

Link: Web Page1, Web Page 2

Shankar Maharaj was a perfect master in the tradition of Nath Siddhas. Different stories are told about the birth and early life of Shankar Maharaj. But the following story of his birth and initiation by his guru appears to be most authentic, having been told by Maharaj himself to his prime disciple Dr. Nagesh Dhaneshwar of Nagar, about 200 kms from Pune.

Once Dr. Dhaneshwar asked Maharaj his age. Instead of answering, he asked him to judge his age from physical examination since he was a medical doctor.

Dr. Dhaneshwar judged his age to be more than 125 years. Maharaj agreed with him and told him that he was born in about 1800 at Mangalwedha (near Pandharpur) in the family named Upasani.

Link: Web Page

Basava [also known as Basavanna] flourished in the 12th century in Karnataka. He was a Prime Minister to king Bijjala who ruled from 1157 to 1167 over Kalyani, a city of historic importance. Basava was indeed a great prophet for in him we find the combination of rare qualities. He was a mystic by temperament, an idealist by choice, a statesman by profession, a man of letters by taste, a humanist by sympathy and a social reformer by conviction.

Basava strove hard to bring about reformation in Hinduism into which social evils had crept in. The social and cultural conflicts which had been going on in India from ancient days were stimulating a new foment within the Hindu society. At the time of Basava there were apologists who had been giving a new interpretation to the irrational religious practices and form of thought. But Basava with a courageous frankness acknowledged the prevailing evils of the Hindu society and suggested ways and means to create a new orientation.

Link: Web Page1, Web Page2, Web Page3