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Nisargadatta Maharaj

Nisargadatta Maharaj

1897 CE–1981 CE · Modern · Bombay (Mumbai)

1897–1981 CE (born 17 April 1897; died 8 September 1981, Bombay)

Nisargadatta Maharaj, born Maruti Shivrampant Kambli, lived almost his entire life as a married householder and small shopkeeper in Bombay, selling hand-rolled beedis. In 1933 he met his guru, Siddharāmeśvar Mahārāj of the Inchagiri branch of the Navnāth Sampradāya, and after a period of practice arrived at the conviction of his own non-dual nature, which he expressed in a terse, uncompromising 'I Am That' teaching focused on the sense 'I am' as the gateway to the absolute. From a small loft above his Bombay home he received visitors for decades; the 1973 English compilation of his Marathi dialogues, 'I Am That' (translated by Maurice Frydman), brought him an international following. He died of throat cancer in Bombay in 1981. His life is well documented through these dialogues and the accounts of his translators and visitors.

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Did you know?

  • A Bombay shopkeeper whose book was read around the world

    Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981) ran a small shop in Bombay selling hand-rolled cigarettes (beedis). A record of his talks, published in English in 1973 as I Am That, was translated into many languages and read internationally.

    How we know

    Nisargadatta Maharaj: b. 17 April 1897, d. 8 September 1981, Bombay; ran a beedi shop; I Am That first published in English 1973 (Maurice Frydman's translation of Marathi recordings). Verified via Wikipedia.

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Bombay (Mumbai)

What they did here

Lived almost his whole life here as a householder and beedi-shop keeper; met his guru Siddharāmeśvar in 1933, taught from a loft above his home, and died here in 1981.

About Bombay (Mumbai)

Bombay (Mumbai) is the capital of Maharashtra, on the west coast of India on the Arabian Sea. It was the home of Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981), the Advaita teacher of the Navanātha lineage whose talks were published as I Am That.

See other sages who lived in Bombay (Mumbai)→

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Nisargadatta Maharaj’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Works

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