Mahayogi Shriniwas Siddhacharya alias Shriniwasji Shamrao Katkar

Shrigurudev Shriniwas Siddhacharya was born in 1946 in the city of Solapur, on the southern border of Maharashtra state, in a Maharashtrian Deshastha Madhva Vaishnav Brahmin family that belonged to Jamadgnya-Vattsa-Gotra pertaining to Rigveda Shakal shakha (branch) in the conduct of the Vedic rituals. His family surname is Katkar as the family originally hailed from the village Kati near Tuljapur, a famous centre of pilgrimage dedicated to Mother Goddess Bhavani. The ancestral history of his family shows that his ancestors had been settled in Karnataka as court-pandits and priests of Krishnadevraya, the Hindu Emperor of Vijaynagar who flourished in south India in the 15th century A.D. In the course of time Shrigurudev Shriniwasji’s family first moved to Jamkhed, a village near Ahmadnagar in Maharashtra, and then from Jamkhed to Kati, a village which was then a part of the province of Gangadharpant Newalkar – one of the chieftains of the Peshwa rulers of Pune and the husband of Rani Laxmibai of Zhansi, one of the freedom fighters who fought against the formidable army of the British East India company in the first war of Indian independence in 1857. It is also observed that the Katkar family has seen over the period of time the frequent advent of eminent Vedic scholars – Shrauta Agnihostris (the Vedic worshippers of divine fire), yogis, and ascetics born in it at different periods. Sabaji Prataprao – a Vedic scholar and a devotee of Lord Parashuram and the author of Bhargavarchanadeepika, a Sanskrit treatise on the worship of Lord Parashuram; Rambhatta Hoshing – a devotee of Lord Narsinha and a court-pandit in the court of Anupsingh, a Rajput king of Bikaner in Rajasthan; Shri Gananath Shreepadswami – a rigorous ascetic and a devotee of Kalbhairava, also a yogi who attained Sanjeevana Samadhi later in his life are some of the names which exemplify the spiritual lineage that had developed within the Katkar family through the course of centuries.

Shamrao alias Bhau Ramchandra Katkar, the great grandfather of Shrigurudev Shriniwasji, is a dazzling name in the same line of spiritual masters born in this family. Shamrao alias Bhau was one of the spiritual leaders of the Warkari sect. It was he who for the first time introduced the exposition of Advaita Vedantic principles through the medium of ‘Keertanas’ and ‘Pravachans’ i.e. the spiritual discourses among the followers of Warkari sect. He was a follower of Shri Sakharambuwa Domgoankar, a saint belonging to the tradition of Samarth Ramdas Swami, the spiritual preceptor of Ch. Shivaji Maharaj and also closely related to Paramhans Narayanteerth alias Hansraj Swami, an erudite Vedantic scholar-ascetic settled down in Paranda, a taluka place in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra. Bhau Katkar was one of the most influential Pravachankaras in his own times whose sermons used to attract thousands of devotees and scholars to listen to him. His was a simple yet scholarly exposition of Vedantic principles through the medium of spiritual literature in Marathi written by saint-poets like Saint Dnyaneshwar, Saint Tukaram, Shri Samarth Ramdas, which made him a popular spiritual personality of the time. Bhau spent the last days of his life in Sankeshwar, a place which is now-a-days a part of Belgavi district in modern Karnataka, India, working as Asthan-vidwan, the court-pandit of the Shankar math in Sankeshwar which was a branch that belonged to the Shankaracharya math of Shrungeri. Bhau Katkar born in the first decade of the 19th century left his mortal coil at ripe old age in 1878 in Sankeshwar.

Being born in such a family that gave birth to a line of highly advanced spiritual masters, yogis, Vedic scholars, pandit, and saints, it is not surprising that Shrigurudev Shriniwasji should get interested in spiritual matters from his early childhood. Born to Shri Shamrao Govind Katkar and his wife Rukminibai, a pious orthodox Brahmin couple, as their third child Shriniwas underwent the Upanayana ceremony at the tender age of eight and was initiated into Gayatri Upasana-worship of Divine Mother Gayatri by his own father. The Katkar family used to scrupulously follow all brahmanic ritualistic traditions. Their house was a meeting ground for holy saints, Keertankaras, yogis and tapswins who used to be cordially invited by Katkar family on different religious and spiritual occasions. As a result, child shriniwas came in contact with several sanyasis, sadhus and other holy men who used to stay at his house when they visited Solapur. As a boy, Shriniwas, who used to observe all those holy men and their behavior patterns, was of extremely curious nature and tried to ask too many questions about them to satisfy his curiosity. Once Shri Lakshmeeshteerth alias Shri Kundapur Swami, one of the ascetic-saints belonging to Madhva-vaishnava sect, visited the Katkar family. Being a devotee of Lord Shrikrishna, he used to offer pooja daily to his lord, which was an object of very curious attention for child Shriniwas. The reason for his attention being attracted towards pooja ceremony performed by Shri Kundapur Swami was also noteworthy. The holy saint had a special stone known as Mattsya-Shaligram which as per the faith of Vaishnavas is considered to be a living embodiment of Lord Mahavishnu. While performing Abhishekam i.e. bathing the divine lord in the stone-form with cow-milk, the Shaligram-stone placed in the copper dish would swiftly revolve clockwise around itself when cow’s milk used to be poured upon it. Child Shriniwas used to observe this event very curiously. One day Shriniwas asked the saint whether he would give him that stone. The saint began to laugh very loudly but later on showing a mock anger remarked that the peculiar stone was not an ordinary stone to be played with but was a rare divine object to be worshiped with full devotion and sincerity. From that day onwards, the kind-hearted saint began to give child Shriniwas the milk offered to the Shaligram-stone everyday as teertham as long as he stayed in Solapur. One day his grandmother Radhabai, who used to take child Shriniwas to Shri Kundapur Swami, asked the saint why he had been giving that teerth (holy milk) to her grandson. The Vaishnava-saint replied saying, “One day this child (Shriniwas) will be a great spiritual personality. I give this teerth to cleanse his body and make it ready for tremendous spiritual experiences that he will undergo in his future life”. Similar incident happened when Shriniwas at the tender age of seven was brought at the feet of His Holiness Shirolkar Swami, the then senior pontiff of Shankar math situated in Sankeshwar in Belgavi district in modern Karnataka. As Shriniwas was made to prostrate before H.H. senior Swami of Shankaracharya math, the great sage peeped very seriously and keenly through the eyes of Shriniwas and prophesied that the child would be a great spiritual personality in future. He advised the grandparents to call Shriniwas by the name ‘Vasant’ indicating, like the vasant-spring Shriniwas would bring spiritual harvest in the lives of many who would gather around him for spiritual inspiration and light.

At the age of eleven, Shrigurudev Shriniwasji came in contact with another spiritual personality, Shri Niranjana Karamalkar also known as Niranjana Swami Maharaj. He was a priest at the Tripurantakeshwar temple of Lord Tripurantakeshwar-Shiva situated in Shukrawar Peth, Solapur. He was an adherant of Acharya Shankara doctrine of Advaita . He used to give discourses on Vedantic topics. For Shrigurudev, the first seeds of spirituality were sown in him by Shri Niranjana Swami Maharaj. Hence Shrigurudev Shriniwasji considers Shri Niranjana Swami as his first inspiring Guru. After Shri Niranjana Swami’s death, Shrigurudev, following his steps, began to give spiritual discourses at the tender age of nineteen. Having passed the matriculation examination, Shrigurudev joined DBF Dayanand College of arts and science, Solapur for higher education and obtained the B.A. degree in Philosophy. Then he moved to Shivaji University, Kolhapur for his post-graduation. He completed M.A. in Philosophy standing first in the order of merit list of the university. Shrigurudev began his professional career as a lecturer in Philosophy at Palghar College in Thane district near Mumbai. He left Palghar after two years and returned back to Solapur as his mother-institute, DBF Dayanand college, Solapur invited him to join it as the head of Philosophy department. Since then, he continued to work as the head of Philosophy department at Dayananad college till his retirement at the age of sixty in 2006. In 1976, he married Sulakshana Pundale from Pune and had a son named Aniruddha and a daughter Gayatri from her. During this prolonged course of years, Shrigurudev on one side was leading a life of a married householder-grihastha and on the other side a professional life of a bright academic philosopher. He continued his spiritual quest that used to inspire and stimulate him to be in touch with the great contemporary spiritual personalities. His contacts and dialogues with them helped him to enrich his own diverse spiritual interests and widen the scope of his spiritual quest and enquiry which had always been unbound within the limits of any particular spiritual-religious ideology, doctrine advocated by any particular sect. He also continued during those years his practice of giving spiritual discourses uninterruptedly.

In 1975, Shrigurudev Shriniwasji in the course of pilgrimage to Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh travelled with his grandmother to Kanchipuram in Tamilnadu in South India where he was divinely privileged to have a holy contact with revered His Holiness Shri Chandrashekharendra Saraswati, the 68th pontiff of Kanchikamkotipeetham. H.H.Chandrashekhrendra Saraswati, also known as Paramacharya throughout the world and as Periyaval to the millions of Tamilians, had been staying then at a temple in Kalvai, a small village near Kanchipuram. H.H. Paramacharya blessed Shriniwasji with Vedha Diksha, throwing his divine graceful glance upon him and initiated him into Shreevidyamahayoga. Blessed and initiated by H.H. Paramacharya, Shriniwasji began his sadhana-the practice of Shreevidya under his guidance in its initial stages. Since then, by the grace of Jagatguru Shri Paramacharya, he was privileged to have frequent contacts with him in Kanchipuram and also in the course of Padayatra which H.H. Paramacharya undertook in a lengthy period of almost five years from 1978 to 1983. During this period crossing the borders of Tamilnadu, H.H. the Paramacharya travelled and traversed on foot along with a few of his attendants throughout the southeast of Andhra Pradesh, the southwestern part of north Karnataka and the southern Maharashtra. Shriniwasji used to follow and contact H.H. the Paramachrya occasionally wherever and whenever he was privileged to see H.H. the Paramacharya during the course of his Padayatra. During this period, Shriniwasji found the life and teachings of H.H. the Parmacharya to be an eternal source of divine spiritual inspiration. The life of H.H. the Paramacharya, manifesting on one side an austere tapaswi and yogi involved in an unending tapsya and manifesting on the other side a kind-hearted saint showering his unbound merciful grace upon thousands of people who used to flock to him to get themselves relieved from their afflictions through his grace, was in the eyes of Shriniwasji a living embodiment of an ideal Shreevidyamahayogin, who being himself ascended to the state of Moksha i.e. a permanent liberation from the cycle of birth and death, descends again into the flow of Sansar (the mundane life) to shower upon the miserable humanity the joys of material life-Bhoga as, from his point of view, both Bhoga and Moksha being inseperable aspects of complete well being are equally desirable. In the year 1980, when the sadhana of Shrigurudev Shriniwasji under the guidance of H.H. the Paramacharya had taken a very crucial turn, the Paramacharya directed Shriniwasji to approach Pandit Ishwarshatri Dikshit, a great Shrividyamahayogin, to receive advanced stages in Shreevidyamahayoga discipline.

Pandit Shri Ishwarshatri Dikshit, born in 1910, belonged to the ancestral lineage of Lord Chidambermahaswami through his mother side. He had been ritualistically connected to the Shukla Yajurveda with its branch known as Kanva shakha. He was a resident of Sangli, a district place in Maharashtra. He was an erudite Vedic scholar and a well-versed traditional pandit in the field of Vyakarana, Purvamimamsa and Nyaya, the three most important branches of Indian Philosophy. A profound Vaiyakarani-a scholar in the field of Vedic grammar founded by sage Panini, sage Katyayana and sage Patanjali, well-versed in Jyotish and Ayurveda, Pandit Shri Ishwarshatri Dikshit was a scrupolous performer of daily Agnihotra. He was one of the highest adepts in the field of Shreevidyamahayoga with a first hand practical knowledge of secret tenets of Mantrayoga, Rajayoga, Layayoga and Hatayoga, the component branches of Shreevidya. The whole life of Shri Ishwarshatri Dikshit comprising almost 78 years was a dazzling example of an ideal Shrividyamahayogin who was at once a dnyani, an illumined soul, having realised his non-dual identity with supreme Brahman and also a Kritopasaka bhakta engrossed in the loving experience of the grace of Mother Divine Shri Lalitamahatripursundari. As per the directions of H.H. the Paramacharya, Shriniwasji was led to the feet of Mahayogi Shri Ishwarshatri Dikshit under whose guidance Shriniwasji continued his sadhana that culminated in his being fully initiated along with his wife Sou. Sulakshana through Purnabhishekam i.e. the ultimate stage of the highest initiation given to him and his wife by Mahayogi Shri Ishwarshatri Dikshit in shukla ekadashi which also happened to be a Mahaparva of Mohini ekadashi in the Hindu month of Vaishakh corresponding to the English month of May in the year 1984. From then onwards, Shrigurudev Shriniwasji was bestowed with the official status of Siddhacharya i.e. the highest preceptor authorized to initiate the deserving aspirants in the discipline of Shreevidyamahayoga as per their adhikar or capacity. Even after his being enthroned to the status of Siddhacharya, the highest preceptorship, Shriniwasji continued to come in frequent contacts with both of his illustrious sadgurus with reverence and to walk upon the path shown by them. Mahayogi Pandit Shri Ishwarshatri Dikshit left his mortal coil in 1988 while H.H. the Paramacharya Jagatguru Shri Chandrashekharendra Saraswati attained Mahasamadhi siddhi in 1994.

Since then Shrigurudev Shriniwasji began to propagate the theoretical and practical aspects of Shreevidya among deserving aspirants. After his retirement from the service, he is fully engaged in his personal study and sadhana, guiding the aspirants in the path of Shreevidyamahayoga. People flocking to Shrigurudev from India and abroad get themselves initiated and guided in the yogic path of Shreevidyamahayoga irrespective of their class, caste, language, and sex differences. Whoever is desirous to enter this ancient yogic path, he gets himself guided by Shrigurudev Shriniwasji. Not only spiritual seekers but the miserable ones considerably high in number run to him to get themselves relieved from their difficult life situations. Shrigurudev Shriniwasji helps those afflicted persons also, guiding them to come out of their severely troublesome life situations. Sou. Sulakshana, wife of Shrigurudev Shriniwasji, left for her heavenly abode in September 2008. Shree Gurudev Shriniwasji and late Sau. Sulakshana are having their son Aniruddha and daughter Sau. Gayatri, both married and well settled in their life.