Yogiraj Shri Shankar Maharaj, a Siddhayogi belonging to Nath Panth, was undoubtedly one of the greatest saints of Maharashtra in the modern age.  He took samadhi at the age of about 150 years in Pune on Vaishakha Shuddha Ashtami of Shaka 1869, which falls on April 28th, 1947. His physical body rests in the Samadhi Mandir situated near Padmavati on the Pune-Satara road, about 10 Km from Pune Railway station and couple of kilometres from the Swar Gate State Transport Bus Terminal.  The samadhi structure  started as a small brick platform but over the years it has developed into a beautiful temple where a marble statue adorns the sanctum sactorum on the head side of the samadhi. Hundreds of devotees visit the Samadhi Mandir every day and pay their respects and pray to Maharaj.

This biography is the first English language biography of Maharaj. Recently however an English translation of the biography in Marathi by Yogi Dnyananath Ranade has been put on the Internet. The present biography is based on the information collected by the author through personal interviews of several disciples and devotees of Maharaj.  It contains therefore a lot of hitherto unpublished information. For the sake of completeness a summary of the published information information has also been included. (See the text for acknowledgements).  Since most devotees of Maharaj are Marathi speaking, a Marathi translation of this biography is being made.  I am grateful to these devotees/disciples for their cooperation. It has been a very happy experience for me to meet them and benefit by their benevolence.  I hope that readers too will benefit likewise.

Table of Contents

   Chapter
        I.      A Remarkable Yogi
        II.     A Nath Panthi Siddha-Yogi
        III.   A Broad Outline Of Birth And Life
        IV.   Activities At Nagar - 1: Dr. Nagesh Dhaneshwar
        V.    Activities At Nagar - 2: Major Ganesh & Dattatreya Abhyankar
        VI.   Activities In Malinagar - 1: G. K. Pradhan  & Asher Family
        VII.  Activities In Malinagar - 2: Vasantrao Kulkarni
        VIII. Activities In Pune  - 1: Raosaheb And Taisaheb Mehendale
        IX.    Activities In Pune  - 2: Vasudeo M. Pandit
        X.     Activities In Pune - 3: Yogi Dnyananath Ranade
        XI.    Activities In Pune - 4: Some Incidents From Pune
       XII.  Activities In Pune  - 5: Madhusudhan V. Kanhere
       XIII.  Activities In Pune  - 6: Samadhi
       XIV.   Activities After Samadhi
       XV.    What We Learnt
 

This biography has been translated into German language by Mr Dietrich Platthaus and is available at Biographie eines Guru

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 BIOGRAPHY:   CH I-III  :  CH  IV-V : CH  VI-VII :  CH VIII-X :  CH XI–XII

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                Address: Dr V.V.Shirvaikar, A-23 Yashodhan Soc.      email: vshirvaikar@yahoo.com
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                                Pune 411037 INDIA