Nisargadatta

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According to the following article (url supplied)

Nisargadatta did not arrive in the world with the

understanding he had when he left. He seems to have

been 34 years old before he even met the teacher who

was most important in his life. He had many life

experiences, a family, no doubt many questions.

 

Bill once attempted to point out the fact that it is

highly unlikely for anyone to be able to take the end

result of this man's journey and expect to leap

directly to it without any work.

 

This list *could* be a great resource for people who

are seeking answers.

 

Nisargadatta Maharaj (April 1897 – September 8, 1981)

worked as a simple bidi seller in Mumbai (known

formerly as Bombay) but was considered by many an

enlightened being and a master of spirituality.

Maharaj was world renowned and admired for his direct

and informal teachings, a selection of which are in

his most famous book I Am That, which has been

translated into many languages. Nisargadatta is widely

considered to be one of the 20th century's most

articulate communicators of the Hindu school of

advaita vedanta or nondualism, uniquely successful in

making such previously diffuse ideas accessible to

both eastern and western minds.

 

***

 

Nisargadatta's father, Shivrampant, worked as a

domestic servant in Mumbai and later as a petty farmer

in Kandalgaon, a small village in the back woods of

Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.

At 18 Maruti's (given name) father died, prompting him

and his brother to leave their family behind to find

work in Mumbai (previously Bombay). Maruti found work

as a small time clerk but quickly opened a small goods

store mainly comprising of leaf-rolled cigarettes

(beedies).In 1924 he married Sumatibai and they had

three daughters and a son.

 

At the age of 34 Maruti was introduced to his future

guru, Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj, the head of the

Inchegeri branch of the Navanath Sampradaya by his

friend Yashwantrao Baagkar. Maharaj " did not follow

any particular course of breathing, or meditation, or

study of scriptures. " His guru told him to concentrate

on the feeling " I Am " and to remain in that state.

 

Sri Siddharameshwar died three years later in 1936 and

it was at this point that Maruti reached

self-awareness and adopted the new name of

Nisargadatta. He then took off to the Himalayas to

further his understanding but eventually returned to

his family in Mumbai. It was there that he spent the

rest of his life, working as a bidi vendor and giving

teachings in his home.

 

His book " I Am That " achieved international success in

1973 with its first English translation. His new found

" fame " brought him many new devotees from around the

world.

 

Nisargadatta continued to receive & teach visitors in

his home up to his death in 1981 at the age of 84

years.

 

Bob Adamson, Stephen H. Wolinsky, Robert Powell, and

Ramesh Balsekar are several of his followers who are

still alive; they all teach the wisdom of and have

written books about Sri Nisargadatta. A close friend

of Sri Nisargadatta and fellow disciple of Sri

Siddharameshwar, Ranjit Maharaj, taught in Mumbai,

Europe, and the U.S.A. until his death in 2000.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisargadatta_Maharaj