Sensing him to be not an ordinary man who needs food to eat but a Yogi, Bankat took him home and asked Maharaj to stay with him. Karma, Bhakti and Gyan Yoga.Īccording to a legend, a money lender named Bankat Lal Agarwal first saw Gajanan Maharaj in a "superconscious state" on 23 February 1878 on a street, eating leftover food which was thrown (and thus spreading the message of food is life and food should not be wasted). According to the Shree Gajanan Vijay, he was an exponent of three streams of Yoga i.e. He received a significant following in Maharashtra and thousands visit the Shegaon temple every year. They represent different forms taken from the same source. There are some similarities between Gajanan Maharaj and Swami Samarth of Akkalkot, another Hindu guru and mystic. He also appeared as Samarth Ramdas for another devotee. Gajanan Maharaj appeared as the Hindu deity Vitthala in Pandharapur for his one devotees Bapuna Kale. ( April 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Īccording to his biography Shree Gajanan Vijay, Gajanan Maharaj used to consider a few other spiritual personalities such as Narasingji, Vasudevanand Saraswati (Tembhe Swami Maharaj) and Sai Baba of Shirdi as brothers. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Parallels with other prominent saints and spiritual masters Contemporaries of Gajanan Maharaj identified him by several names such as Gin Gine Buwa, Ganpat Buwa, and Awaliya Baba. He lived at Kapiltirtha for around 12 years. It is believed that he had once visited Nashik, Maharashtra and the surrounding pilgrimage sites including Kapiltirtha. He advised Das Ganu to write a biography on Gajanan Maharaj. When he arrived at Pandharpur, Das Ganu was contacted by a resident at Shegaon, Ramchandra Krishnaji Patil who was also a devotee of Gajanan Maharaj. He was later renamed as Ganesh and his grandfather often called him Ganu, a shorter version of his name. Das Ganu who was initially named Narayan by his maternal relatives had at some point moved to Ahmednagar, Maharashtra where his father had been a care-taker of a property. Gajanan Maharaj was an ardent user of marijuana and hashish which is exemplified in almost all available images in the public domain from the time of his attaining samadhi.Even the temple premises where he attained samadhi had a smoking choola as a symbolic representation.Īnother biography of Gajanan Maharaj known as Shree Gajanan Vijay was composed by Das Ganu who was born at Akolner. It is also believed that Shivanand Swami may have been a former resident at Sajjangad, Maharashtra, also where the prominent 17th-century saint and philosopher Samarth Ramdas lived for many years. It is claimed that Shivanand Swami later travelled to the Himalayas and was never seen again (according to pages 362–365 of the aforementioned biography that details the conversation between Dasbhargav and Shivanand Swami). Shivanand Swami also declared that he would often visit Dadasaheb Khaparde, a resident at Amravati and stay with his family at their residence during these visits. He claimed to have made around 25 to 30 number of visits to Gajanan Maharaj during this period. He informed Dasbhargav about the period when Gajanan Maharaj appeared in Shegaon where he lived for the remainder of his life. According to Shivanand he was a Brahmin who had previously met Gajanan Maharaj during 1887 at Nashik. While at Nashik, Dasbhargav is thought to have met a contemporary saint known as Swami Shivanand Saraswati who was speculated to be of 129 years of age at the time. The biography mentions various versions of Gajanan Maharaj's origins. One of his biographies known as Shree Gajanan Maharaj Charitra-Kosh was authored by Dasbhargav or Bhargavram Yeodekar, a native of Shegaon. He is believed to have made his first appearance during February 1878 at Shegaon. The early life details of Gajanan Maharaj remain obscure and his date of birth also is unknown. 6 Gajanan Maharaj Temples are spread in various parts of the country in India and as well in the worldīackground and biographical versions.2 Parallels with other prominent saints and spiritual masters.