Sampradaya ( Sam - Pra - Daya) is a spiritual journey, a spiritual tradition that starts with a Sadguru and is carried forward by his disciples.The Inchegeri Sampradaya, also known as Nimbargi Sampradaya, is a lineage of Hindu Navnath c.q. Lingayat teachers from Maharashtra which was started by Shri Sadguru Bhausaheb Maharaj. It is inspired by Deshastha Brahmin Sant Mat teachers as Dnyaneshwar, Eknath and Samarth Ramdas.
Different accounts of the founding of the Nimbargi Sampradaya by Nimbargi Maharaj, the alternate name of the Inchegeri Sampradaya, are to be found. According to several accounts, in 1820 Kadasiddha, or "Almighty "Kadsiddeshwar", appeared as a vision to Shri Sadguru Gurulingajangam Maharaj"(1789-1875), also known as "Nimbargi Maharaj". According to a different account, the 22nd or 24th Shri Samarth Muppin Kaadsiddheswar Maharaj initiated Nimbargi Maharaj. According to Frydman, Kadasiddha initiated both Lingajangam Maharaj and Bhausahib Maharaj, and "entrusted to their care his Ashram". Accordong to Cathy Boucher, Nimbargi Maharaj's guru was called "Juangam Maharaj". She also mentions "a yogi [at Siddhagiri] who gave [Nimabargi Maharaj] a mantra and told him to meditate regularly on it". Nimbargi belonged to a Nellawai sub-caste of the Lingayat caste. According to Boucher, It is significant that some of the founders of the Navnath Sampradaya are Lingayat or Virasaiva because this was a revolutionary movement, allowing people of all walks of life, and both sexes to find Shiva immanent within themselves. Part of this democratizing movement, I believe, is a reaction of Western India's contact with Islam, which embraces people of all class, creed and gender. The iconoclasm, which is at the heart of Virasaivism actually comes down to us in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries as something we can easily relate to. The breaking down of taboos, of certain parts of India's spiritual structure makes it possible for us as modern people to partake of these teachings. We do not even have to be practicing Hindus, in the traditional sense, in order to hear it. This attitude was most evident in the Satsang room of Shri Sadguru Nisargaddatta Maharaj. Nimbargi practiced for 36 years, meanwhile living as a householder, and was finally awakened when he was 67. Until his death, at the age of 95, he "initiated people and lived the life of a Jivanmukta". TEACHINGS The Ant's Way - Pipilika Marg Bhausaheb Maharaj's teachings, and those of his student Gurudeo Ranade, have been called Pipilika Marg ,"the Ant's way", the way of meditation,while the teachings of his student Shri Sadguru Siddharameshwar Maharaj, and Shri Sadguru Siddharameshwar Maharaj's disciples Shri Sadguru Nisargadatta Maharaj and Shri Sadguru Ranjit Maharaj have been called Vihangam Marg, "the Bird's Way", the direct path to Self discovery. Shri Sadguru Ranjit Maharaj comments: There are two ways to realize: the bird's way or ant's way. By meditation (or ant's way) one can realize. The word or name has so much power. The name you were given by your parents has done so many things. Mantra is given by the master, but it is a very long way for the understanding. By chanting or saying the mantra you can go to the final reality.There are only two things: one is reality, the other is illusion. One word only can wipe out illusion. So one thought [i.e. mantra] from the Master who has realized is sufficient to realize. It is a very lengthy way, that's the only thing. So my Master found the shortest way, by thinking. By unthinking you have become the smallest creature, and by thinking you can become the greatest of the great, why not? If you don't have the capacity to understand by thinking, the bird's way, then you can go by way of meditation. It is the long way and you have to meditate for many hours a day. People say they meditate, but most don't know how to meditate. They say that God is one and myself is another one, that is the duality. It will never end that way. So one word is sufficient from the Master. Words can cut words, thoughts can cut thoughts in a fraction of a second. It can take you beyond the words, that is yourself. In meditation you have to eventually submerge your ego, the meditator, and the action of the meditation, and finally yourself. It is a long way. Nama-Yoga Shri Sadguru Bhausaheb Maharaj teachings were collected in a book called Nama-Yoga, a term coined by the compilers and translators of the book, whereas Shri Sadguru Bhausaheb Maharaj himself called it Jnana Marga, just like Nimbargi Maharaj did. The editors wrote: "Nama-Yoga" is a word specially coined by us to designate the Spiritual Philosophy and Discipline of Shri Sadguru Bhausaheb Maharaj. He himself called it Jnana-Marga - or Path of self-realisation. We have , however, used "Nama-Yoga" in a double sense. In fact, both the words - Nama and Yoga carry double meaning. Nama means i)Meditation on Divine Name and ii) Divinity in posse. Like many other saints, to Shri Sadguru Bhausaheb Maharaj also, Nāma (name) and Rūpa (form) of God were identical. The Name itself was God. Yoga means Spiritual union or realisation of god. In the first sense, Nama-Yoga represents the Path, while in the second sense, it represents the Goal, as meditation, on Divine Name, if properly practiced, will lead to the realisation of the vision and bliss of the lord. The Bird's Way - Vihangam Marg The Bird's Way is about the direct path to Self discovery. Shri Sadguru Siddharameshwar Maharaj and his two most well-known disciples, Shri Sadguru Nisargadatta Maharaj and Shri Sadguru Ranjit Maharaj all taught the Bird's Way. Shri Sadguru Siddharameshwar Maharaj's teacher, Shri Sadguru Bhausaheb Maharaj, taught the way of meditation or the Ant's Way. The way of meditation is a long arduous path while the Bird's Way is a clear direct path of Self investigation, Self exploration, and using thought or concepts as an aid to understanding and Self-Realization. Sometimes this approach is also called the Reverse Path. What Reverse Path indicates is the turning around of one's attention away from objectivity to the more subjective sense of one's Beingness. With the Bird's Way, first one's mind must be made subtle. This is generally done with some initial meditaion on a mantra or phrase which helps the aspirant to step beyond the mental/conceptual body, using a concept to go beyond conceptualization. The Bird's Way is deeply rooted in Advaita Vedanta philosophy which is also called the Spiritual Science of the Self, or Adhyatma. When one's mind is subtle it becomes easy to understand the teaching about Self Knowledge. The Bird's Way involves listening. This means listening to the teachings of a realized Master as well as the studying of texts on nonduality and Vedanta philosophy. In Vedanta philosophy emphasis is put on what is called the three-fold verification. The three-fold verification is a means for evaluating spiritual teachings and teachers as well as recognizing for oneself what your own actual experience is. The three-fold verification is to examine a teacher or teaching and verify if what is being said is in accordance with ancient teachings about non-duality, is it in agreement with what realized saints and sages or a Sadguru have said throughout history, and is it verifiable in your own direct experience? With these verifications as a tool for guidance, it is very easy for aspirants to discern if they are on a path that will lead to Self-Realization. What is offered here is a timeless path of understanding and realization through the teachings of several of India's greatest saints. Through the books of Shri Sadguru Siddharameshwar Maharaj, Shri Sadguru Ranjit Maharaj, Saint Samartha Ramdas, and Shri Sadguru Nisargadatta Maharaj, this path is being laid out clearly for spiritual aspirants. See the Digital Blackboard for excerpts from these books to get an introduction to the teachings of Self-realization and Final Reality. |