Sri M

Sri Madhukarnath, also known as Sri M (born 6 November 1949), is an Indian yogi, spiritual guide, social reformer and educationist. He is an initiate of the Nath. Madhukarnat lives in Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh, India. He received the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian award, in 2020.

Early life

Mumtaz Ali Khan was born on 6 November 1949 to an affluent Muslim family in Trivandrum, United State of Travancore–Cochin (now in Kerala). In his autobiography, ''Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master,'' Madhukarnath describes meeting his guru Maheshwarnath Babaji in the garden of Madhukarnath's home in Trivandrum: a distinguished, youthful-looking stranger with matted hair, standing near a jackfruit tree. After a brief conversation, the stranger disappeared. This was a turning point in nine-year-old Sri M's life, and he later said about the meeting:

After this awakening, Madhukarnath made contact with a number of South Indian saints who included Bhagawan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri, Yogi Gopala Saami, Kaladi Mastan, Swami Abhedananda, Chempazhanti Swami, Swami Tapasyananda and Mai Ma.

Quest for self-realisation

According to his autobiography,Apprenticed to a Himalayan master: a yogi's autobiography, Sri M, 2010, Magenta Press, Madhukarnath left his home at age nineteen to find his master in the Himalayas. Exhausted by the search, he met Maheshwarnath Babaji—the same person he had met when he was nine—at the Vyasa Gufa (cave) near Badrinath. Madhukarnath lived with Maheshwarnath for three-and-a-half years and learned many things. Initiated into the Nath energy was awakened. Madhukarnath and Maheshwarnath traveled to a mutt in Tholing, Tibet. His desire to meet Grand Master Mahavatar Babaji was fulfilled on Nilkantha Hill with the help of Maheshwarnath. Madhukarnath claimed that Mahavatar Babaji was his master in a previous life, and Maheshwarnath reportedly had the power to materialize and de-materialize in any form on earth or beyond.

Later years

After spending three years in the Himalayas as a wandering yogi with his master, Madhukarnath said that he was asked by his master to go back and prepare for his life mission. He returned from the Himalayas and traveled throughout India, meeting gurus such as Neem Karoli Baba, Lakshman Joo and J. Krishnamurti. Madhukarnath spent substantial time in the Ramakrishna Mission and the Krishnamurti Foundation. While associated with the foundation he met his future wife, Sunanda Sanadi; they have two adult children.

Madhukarnath heads the Satsang Foundation, which runs two schools in Andhra Pradesh: the Peepal Grove School and the Satsang Vidyalaya. The Peepal Grove School, a boarding school, was inaugurated by former President of India A. P. J. Abdul Kalam in 2006. Satsang Vidyalaya is a free school for children in the Madanapalle area, where Madhukarnath lives. The foundation began Bharat Yoga Vidya Kendra, a training programme for yoga teachers, in 2020. He writes in "Speaking Tree", a spiritual forum run by ''The Times of India''. A documentary film, ''The Modern Mystic: Sri M of Madnapalle'', was directed by Raja Choudhury in 2011.

In 2015, Madhukarnath undertook a "Walk of Hope": a ''padayatra'' from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. The walk began on 12 January, the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda (who had undertaken a similar journey over a century earlier). With a group of fellow travelers, Madhukarnath walked through 11 Indian states and considered the Walk of Hope an exercise to restore the country's spirituality. The ''padayatra'' ended in Srinagar, Kashmir, on 29 April 2016.

Madhukarnath published ''The Journey Continues'', the second part of his autobiography, in 2017. It exceeds the earlier book in apparently-miraculous incidents; in the introduction, he wrote that his readers might think that he "had finally gone bonkers". Madhukarnath detailed a number of his previous lives over a period of 2,000 years, during which he (or she; in several lives, he was a woman) was associated with Indian saints.

Books

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References

External links

Satsang Foundation

Manav Ekta Mission

Peepal Grove School

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sri M
1948 births
Advaitin philosophers
Indian Hindu spiritual teachers
Indian autobiographers
Indian founders
Indian spiritual writers
Kriya yogis
Indian yogis
Indian yoga teachers
Living people
Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in other fields
Malayali Hindu saints