Insights Into Overcoming Fear, According to a 20th Century Sage

"Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj was "born" in Bombay as Maruti Shivrampani Kampli, in March, 1897. His birthday coincided with the auspicious day of Hanuman Jayanti; hence the name Maruti. Young Maruti's childhood was spent at Kandalagaon, a village some distance from Bombay, to which his father had moved in "the year of the plague." I remember Maharaj saying that perhaps his earliest personal recollection is being carried on his father's shoulders, heading toward a hill just as the sun was peeping over the top."

"Maruti started his career as a clerk with a private firm, but with his independent and adventurous temperament, he soon took to trading on his own. Maruti Kampli started his business venture with one shop making and selling bidis (handmade local cigarettes), and in a comparatively short period became the owner of eight such shops. In 1924 he married. There were four children-one son and three daughters."

"His mere material prosperity could not bring Maruti much contentment. A deeply religious atmosphere and ritualistic tradition in the family, and his early association at Kandalgaon with a learned Brahmin named Vishnu Gore in particular, had kindled in him, quite early in life, the inevitable questions regarding the relationship between Man, the World outside, and God. It was to a friend of his, one Yeshwantrao Bagkar, that Maruti owed his introduction to Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj of the Navanath Sampradaya."

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj was born Maruti Shivrampani Kampli in Bombay in March 1897, his birth coinciding with Hanuman Jayanti. Childhood was spent at Kandalagaon after the family moved during the plague. After his father's death in 1915, Maruti returned to Bombay to work, later opening and expanding a bidis business to eight shops. He married in 1924 and had four children. Early religious influence and association with Vishnu Gore prompted existential questions about Man, the world, and God. Introduction to Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj led to initiation and dedicated spiritual practice, culminating in realization between 1933 and 1936. In 1937 he abandoned family and business to wander.

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