Spiritual-Note

Trailinga Swami born to Narasingh Rao and Bidayabati in 1601, was a great Indian Saint who did tremendous sadhana for over 250 years and attained to the heights of spiritual knowledge. Swami is said to be the incarnation of Lord Shiva. His initial name was Shivaram.

Shivaram was always a profound and seriously introspective child. For the most part he avoided regular childhood past times, preferring instead to spend his time in solitude. He was quite indifferent to the demands of the society around him. Rather his great joy was to listen to religious stories told by his mother. He spent 52 years of his life serving his parents and at the age of 52 when his mother left her earthly body, Shivram moved out of his house and started his search for the guru. He started his sadhana in the local cremation grounds, where he remained seeking wisdom for 20 years. After that he went to many places including Nepal and finally settled in Banaras (Kashi) where he stayed for about 150 years.

The Swami, rarely eating earthly foods, was said to have gained a pound of body weight for each of his earthly years and finally reaching over 300 pounds.

The Swami was consistently seen to drink deadly poisons and remain unaffected by it. Thousands of people have seen Trailanga floating on the Ganges for days on end. Many who witnessed this are still living today. Swami was seen sitting on the top of the water and other times remaining hidden under the waves for hours and days. Frequently the Swami was seen on the extremely hot stone slabs at Manikarnika Ghat under the blistering heat of the Indian sun, yet no ill affect resulted to his body.

Trailanga Swami took samadhi on the ekadashi (11th lunar day) of the bright lunar of the month of Pousha (December) 1881.

Links:

Web pages containing good information about Shri Trailanga Swami

1. Shreemaa.org
2. Angelfire.com
3. Spiritual-note.com

Shri Yogaswami was born in Sri Lanka in May 1872. Originally known as Sadasivan, he led a normal life till 1905, when he met his Guru with whom he stayed till the latter passed away in 1911. He spent the next few years in intense meditation. Soon his fame spread and people started visiting him. He started the journal named Sivathondan, meaning the servant of Siva, which became a popular vehicle of his messages. He traveled to India in 1940 and visited Kashi. He also met Ramana Maharshi. In 1961 an accident confined him to the indoors of his Ashram in Jaffna. Three years later in 1964, at the ripe age of 91, much to the chagrin of his devotees, the Swamiji passed away, leaving behind him a legacy that continues even today.

Link: Web Site

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