Shegaon Gajanan Maharaj temple

Shegaon Gajanan Maharaj temple

Gajanan Maharaj from Shegaon (Buldhana District), Maharashtra, India was a Saint from India. "Sant Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan" is the largest temple trust in the Vidarbha region. The early life history of Gajanan Maharaj is obscure, his birthdate being unknown. His devotees believe him as incarnation of Lord Ganesha and Lord Dattatreya. Biruduraju Ramaraju has tried to establish in his collection of books called "Andhra Yogulu" that he was a Telangana Brahmin. However, in a recently published Marathi book entitled, "Shri Gajanan Maharaj Charitra Kosh" by Shri Dasabhargav (who himself hails from Shegaon) some interesting facts have been revealed. This author met Shri Swami Shivanand Saraswati, who was 129 years old at Nashik. Shri Swami told the author that he was Telangi brahmin who had met Shri Sadguru Gajanan Maharaj in 1887 in Nashik, which is a pilgrimage centre. He also clearly told that after Shri Gajanan Maharaj appeared in Shegaon and remained there, he had visited Maharaj 25-30 times. During these visits Shivanand Swami declared that he used visit Shri Dadasaheb Khaparde in Amravati and stay with Khaparde family. Thus, Shri Shivanand Swami is none other than the Telangi brahmin whose mention has been made in the foreward of "Shri Gajanan Vijay" on his own admission. Later Shivanand Saraswati left to perform penance in Himalaya and was never spotted again (refer pages 362-365 of the above book for the detailed conversation of the author and Shri Shivanand Swami along with their photograph). Thus, it is quite clear that Shri Gajanan Maharaj was not Telangi brahmin as some speculate. Some speculate that he might have in fact hailed from Sajjanghad, (which was the place where Sant Samartha had lived). Das Ganu Maharaj has written a 21 chapter biography, "Shri Gajanan Vijay," of Gajanan Maharaj in Marathi. Contemporaries of Gajanan Maharaj identified him by several names like Gin Gine Buwa, Ganpat Buwa, and Awaliya Baba. There is no proper past history of Gajanan Maharaj of Shegaon but in "Shree Gajanan Vijay" Dasganu Maharaj has mentioned that Gajanan Maharaj was calling some people as His brothers. They are as follows: Shree Narasingji, Shree Vasudevanand Saraswati (Tembhe Swami Maharaj), Sai Baba and such great saints of the time. This indicate that Gajanan Maharaj was Pure incarnation of the supreme power. In the holy book (Shree Gajanana Vijay) it is also mentioned that Shree Gajanan appeared in the form of Shree Hari Vitthal (Pandurang) in Pandharapur) for his one devotee named Bapuna Kale. Shree Gajanan Maharaj was able to do this because he was none other than the supreme (or fully awake part of the Supreme), who resides in every (Alive and non-alive) body. Some people believe that Shree Gajanan Maharaj was student (Shishya) of Shree Swami Samarth, however it is not acceptable as most of devotee or Students (Shishyas) prefer to chant Shree Swami Samarth however Shree Gajanan Maharaj had alway chant "Gan Gan Ganaat Bote" or "Chandan Chawal Bel ki patiya...." There are lot of similarities between Shree Swami Samarth and Shree Gajanan Maharaj, Both were Paramahans Sanyasi, Both were AjanBahu and many others. Thus many people also believe that Shree Gajanan is none other than Shree Swami Samarth. Maharaj accepting a human body is a mere pastime (Leela) as he is Brahmadnyani; that is why thousands of the devotees flock to Shegaon for his blessings. How he functions and transforms people from vile, wicked ways to great devotees is really unknown. None in his earthly days ever saw him chanting any special mantra holding japamala etc. But he is a supreme saint, whose blessings everyone must have.