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| Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897 - 1981) |
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 Nisargadatta Maharaj was a humble cigarette seller who was considered by many to be an enlightened spiritual teacher. He came from the Advaita (Nondualism) philosophical tradition. Nisargadatta was one of the greatest exponents of this school in the 20th century. He is best known for his book, I Am That, which was first published in English in 1973. With the success of his book, he became internationally renowned, bringing many Western devotees to his apartment in Mumbai. Bob Adamson, Steven Wolinsky, Robert Powell, and Ramesh Balsekar are amongst some of his most famous followers. His book, I Am That, has now been translated into many different languages. |
Date of Birth: 17 Apr, 1897
Location: India
State: Maharashtra
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Views: 115
Summary
Nisargadatta was born Maruti Shivrampant Kambli on April 17th, 1897, to a domestic servant in Mumbai. At the age of eighteen, he started work as a clerk. He then became a petty trader and in 1924, opened up his own (Bidi shop) business. He married and had three daughters and one son. At the age of thirty-four, Maruti met Guru Sri Siddharameshwar, who gave him a mantra initiation and simple meditation instruction, which Nisargadatta followed literally, as he recounts later:"My Guru ordered me to attend to the sense 'I am' and to give attention to nothing else. I just obeyed. I did not follow any particular course of breathing, or meditation, or study of scriptures. Whatever happened, I would turn away my attention from it and remain with the sense 'I am'. It may look too simple, even crude. My only reason for doing it was that my Guru told me so. Yet it worked!" -- I Am That, Chapter 75, p. 375. Within three years he was self-realized at which point he took the name Nisargadatta. In 1936, he abandoned his family and businesses. He became a Saddhu (holy man) and decided to take off barefoot to the Himalayas. Eventually, he returned spending the rest of his life working as a cigarette vendor and giving religious instructions in his home. During this time, Nisargadatta suffered two personal loses. First his wife died and then his daughter. In 1951, he started to take on disciples, after a revelation in a vision of his guru, Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj. Nisargadatta passed away in 1981, at the age of eighty-four.
References:
Related Links:
www.realization.org/page/topics/nisargadatta.htm
www.nisargadatta.net
www.prahlad.org/gallery/nisargadatta_maharaj.htm
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