53 Facts About Upasni Maharaj

Upasni Maharaj lived in Sakori, British India, and is said to have received God-realization from Sai Baba of Shirdi.

Kashinath Govind Upasni Shastri, later known as Upasani Baba Maharaj, was born a Hindu into an orthodox Brahmin family in the village of Satana, India, in the Nasik district on 15 May 1870.

Upasni Maharaj was the second child of Govind Shastri and Rukmina.

Upasni Maharaj's father was a copyist attached to the legal profession at the civil court of Dhulia; he had moved from Satana, leaving his son under the care of his grandfather and uncle.

Upasni Maharaj was sent to a vernacular elementary school but did not excel in the non-traditional curriculum taught.

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Upasni Maharaj left after three years, following being brutally caned by his teacher.

Upasni Maharaj's parents were critical of his extremism, and they nurtured the idea that he was a financial burden to them.

Upasni Maharaj daily requested his parents to give their permission for him to leave, but they were adamant that he should remain a householder, and arranged a second marriage for him.

Upasni Maharaj began to spend increasing periods of time absent from his home.

Upasni Maharaj finally left his wife and relatives on the pretext of the need to earn a livelihood.

Upasni Maharaj went to Pune, but because of his lack of formal education could not find a job.

Upasni Maharaj's journey took him through a thick wood, in the midst of which was a large hill .

Upasni Maharaj secluded himself in the cave and, after two days of fasting, devoted his time to repeating the sacred syllables of mantras.

Upasni Maharaj felled fuel and sold it at Nasik with them, giving them all the proceeds.

Upasni Maharaj then resumed his journey to Satana and reached it on 22 July 1890.

Upasni Maharaj began to follow his usual routine, and resumed his study of Ayurveda, but now to assist his grandfather who was suffering from paralysis.

Upasni Maharaj's studies were completed after three years, and he started a dispensary at Amaravati near Nagpur where he practised.

Upasni Maharaj was able to advertise the patent medicines that he manufactured, and the business became successful.

Upasni Maharaj became a well-known physician in Ayurvedic circles, and settled both in his profession and marriage.

Upasni Maharaj moved to Gwalior where there arose an opportunity to acquire uncultivated land if one agreed to farm it.

Upasni Maharaj became an estate landlord, but afterwards found that he had made a costly mistake.

Upasni Maharaj's desperately threw water into his face and he regained consciousness, but not normal breathing.

Upasni Maharaj's wife took him to Nagpur, where they sought professional treatment, but the prescribed medicine did not work, and no effective help was available.

Upasni Maharaj moved to Dhulia to stay with his brother, but the breathing problem became so painful and laborious that, in sheer desperation, he set out alone in search of a yogi who might cure him.

Kulkarni Upasni Maharaj attributed the ailment to intensive yogic practices and advised a visit to Sai Baba of Shirdi, whom he described by the Muslim term of aulia .

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Upasni Maharaj had been tutored by his grandfather, a respected Brahmin pundit, had followed Hindu codes of asceticism, and had enjoyed professional and financial success as an Ayurvedic physician in a high caste society: the idea of visiting a Muslim saint for guidance was alien to his worldview.

Upasni Maharaj found it beneficial, and followed this practice for the rest of his life.

Upasni Maharaj never gave spiritual discourses, but told stories or parables on occasion.

Upasni Maharaj's language was metaphoric and paradoxical, as was his behaviour.

Upasni Maharaj talked to local Hindus who eulogized the saint, but it was too obvious that Sai Baba was a Muslim, and Upasani was not prepared to follow him.

Upasni Maharaj attended the daily Arti ceremonies and resumed his yogic routine.

Upasni Maharaj's meditation was not to be based on yoga, but on a rapport with the saint.

Upasni Maharaj took very little food or fluid and no outdoor exercise, except to attend arti.

Upasni Maharaj's moods seemed erratic to those who observed him, and some who approached him were abused or even beaten.

Upasni Maharaj disliked the attention, but since it was Sai Baba's order, he deferred, and allowed devotees to approach him in this manner.

Upasni Maharaj gained many Brahmin devotees, but concentrated on assisting the bhang caste, sweepers who cleaned the streets and removed the refuse of the houses.

Upasni Maharaj chose to live among the colony of untouchables, in conditions of squalor.

Upasni Maharaj's rising fame reached Shirdi, and people came from there to Kharagpur to see him.

Upasni Maharaj lay at rest by a dust bin; sometimes he bathed in gutter water, and drank it; he would bathe and wash the clothes of a leper, and drink the washings; he would put a piece of dung in his mouth in the same way as he would a morsel of rich food.

Upasni Maharaj was usually naked; occasionally he would wear a piece of gunny sack, for which he became noted.

Upasani Upasni Maharaj had become known as Sai Baba's spiritual heir or chief disciple, and his fame spread.

Upasni Maharaj travelled to several places in India where he gave discourses on spiritual subjects.

Upasni Maharaj did not wear the ochre robe of a sannyasin, but instead favoured common gunny cloth.

Upasni Maharaj was not a member of any religious sect, and remained independent.

Upasni Maharaj ate, urinated and defecated, and took baths all within the narrow confines of the cage.

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At most Hindu ashrams Gandhi would have been ceremoniously greeted as a great celebrity, his patronage deemed a blessing, but Upasni Maharaj showed great annoyance, and used abusive language towards the visitor.

Upasni Maharaj had a tendency to do this, particularly when annoyed by the demands of social etiquette imposed by caste Hinduism.

Upasni Maharaj was a traditionalist, yet in some respects his outlook was modern.

Upasni Maharaj believed that they should all be educated, though stressed religious rather than secular education.

Upasni Maharaj was charged with an offence under the Devadasi Act and convicted in the first Court, but acquitted on appeal.

Principal teachings of Upasani Upasni Maharaj have often been reduced to three rules that, "if observed sincerely, lead to a life worth living":.

Yet the 'language' of Upasni Maharaj required that the listener adapt to something other than words:.

Upasani Upasni Maharaj has been described as the living embodiment of the Ashtavakra Gita.