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
Nath, also called Natha, are a Shaiva sub-tradition within Hinduism in India and Nepal. A medieval movement, it combined ideas from Buddhism, Shaivism and Yoga traditions in India.[Mahavatar Babaji
Mahavatar Babaji (; ) is the name given to his guru by Indian yogi Yogiraj Lahiri Mahasaya (1828-1895), and several of his disciples, who reportedly appeared to them between 1861 and 1935, as described in various publications and biographie ...]
. Madhukarnat lives in
Madanapalle
Madanapalle is a town in Annamayya Rajampeta district and Rajampet Lok Sabha constituency of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one if the largest city in the District. It is a Selection Grade Municipal City Council and located in Madan ...
,
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
, India. He received the
Padma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...
, India's third-highest civilian award, in 2020.
Early life
Mumtaz Ali Khan was born on 6 November 1949 to an affluent
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
family in
Trivandrum
Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...
,
United State of Travancore–Cochin (now in
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
).
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
Bhagawan Nityananda (November/December, 1897 – 8 August 1961) was an Indian guru. His teachings are published in the "Chidakash Gita". Nityananda was born in Koyilandy (Pandalayini), Madras Presidency, British India (now in Kozhikode di ...
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
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
. 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
Badrinath is a town and nagar panchayat in Chamoli district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. A Hindu holy place, it is one of the four sites in India's Char Dham Hindu pilgrimage, pilgrimage and is also part of India's Chota Char Dham pilgr ...
. Madhukarnath lived with Maheshwarnath for three-and-a-half years and learned many things. Initiated into the
Nath
Nath, also called Natha, are a Shaiva sub-tradition within Hinduism in India and Nepal. A medieval movement, it combined ideas from Buddhism, Shaivism and Yoga traditions in India.[Kundalini
In Hinduism, Kundalini ( sa, कुण्डलिनी, translit=kuṇḍalinī, translit-std=IAST, lit=coiled snake, ) is a form of divine feminine energy (or ''Shakti'') believed to be located at the base of the spine, in the ''muladhara'' ...]
energy was awakened. Madhukarnath and Maheshwarnath traveled to a
mutt in
Tholing
Tholing (, literally "high place";), Toling, Tuolin, or Toding, alternatively Zanda, Tsanda, Tsada, or Zada, is a town and seat of Zanda County, Ngari Prefecture, in the west of Tibet Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. The town was the ...
,
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
. His desire to meet Grand Master
Mahavatar Babaji
Mahavatar Babaji (; ) is the name given to his guru by Indian yogi Yogiraj Lahiri Mahasaya (1828-1895), and several of his disciples, who reportedly appeared to them between 1861 and 1935, as described in various publications and biographie ...
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
Neem Karoli Baba () or Neeb Karori Baba () ( – 11 September 1973), known to his followers as Maharaj-ji, was a Hindu guru and a devotee of the Hindu deity Hanuman. He is known outside India for being the spiritual master of a number of Ameri ...
,
Lakshman Joo
Swami Lakshman Joo (9 May 1907 – 27 September 1991) was a mysticism, mystic and scholar of Kashmir Shaivism. He was known as Lal Sahib ("Friend of God") by followers.
Biography
Lakshman Joo was born in a Kashmiri Hindu Brahmin family ...
and
J. Krishnamurti. Madhukarnath spent substantial time in the
Ramakrishna Mission
Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) is a Hindu religious and spiritual organisation which forms the core of a worldwide spiritual movement known as the ''Ramakrishna Movement'' or the ''Vedanta Movement''. The mission is named after and inspired by th ...
and the
Krishnamurti Foundation
The Krishnamurti Foundation is a nonprofit organisation originated with the life and spiritual teaching of Jiddu Krishnamurti. ''Jiddu Krishnamurti'' ( or ; 11 May 1895 – 17 February 1986) was a philosopher, educationist, spiritual lead ...
. While associated with the foundation he met his future wife, Sunanda Sanadi; they have two adult children.
Madhukarnath heads the
Satsang Foundation
A satsanga (), also rendered satsang, refers to the practice of gathering in the company of good people for the performance of devotional activities. It also refers to an audience with a Satguru for yogic instruction. Satsangas are group events, o ...
, 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
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (; 15 October 193127 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist and statesman who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied phy ...
in 2006. Satsang Vidyalaya is a free school for children in the
Madanapalle
Madanapalle is a town in Annamayya Rajampeta district and Rajampet Lok Sabha constituency of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one if the largest city in the District. It is a Selection Grade Municipal City Council and located in Madan ...
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
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...
''. A documentary film, ''The Modern Mystic: Sri M of Madnapalle'', was directed by
Raja Choudhury
Raja Choudhury (born Ranjit Choudhury, 11 June 1964) is a National Film Award (India) winning documentary film maker, architect, public speaker, spiritual teacher on The Shift Network, and designer of multimedia installations and events and Web s ...
in 2011.
In 2015, Madhukarnath undertook a "Walk of Hope": a ''
padayatra
A padayatra ( sa, पादयात्रा, pādayātrā, journey by foot, translit-std=ISO) is a journey undertaken by politicians or prominent citizens to interact more closely with different parts of society, educate about issues concerning ...
'' from
Kanyakumari
Kanniyakumari (; , referring to Devi Kanya Kumari), also known as Cape Comorin, is a city in Kanniyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland Ind ...
to
Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
. The walk began on 12 January, the birth anniversary of
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...
(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
Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...
, 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 FoundationManav Ekta MissionPeepal 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