It’s near impossible to inscribe the biography of a mahaguru whose presence and philosophy rewrote the story of many lives. Agreeably, therefore, decades later, the pen cannot distinguish between what was him and what we made him out to be.

In this life, my association with Gurudev began in 1977, but I only started researching his biography in 2009. It has taken eleven years to put scribble to pad. During this period, many of his disciples have moved on, leaving behind whispers of stories once known. The mahaguru was self-effacing, extremely wary of shutterbugs or any publicity. Hence, all information about him comes from my personal knowledge or that of his disciples, devotees, and family.

Time withers many a memory. We remember the big feats and forget the small bits that more than make up the whole story. So even though I have a bunch of stories about Gurudev in which facts trump fantasy, I have deliberately chosen not to share those since you may consider them imaginary rather than unbelievably true.

Time also makes one reimagine a story with occasional punctuation twists. In everyday narratives, commas are often converted into exclamations. For this reason, many anecdotes being only partially explainable have been left out of the biography. Those remaining have been packaged in several sections, from his life story, philosophy and practices to his secrets, superheroes, and superpowers.

A man of abundant humour and gracious simplicity must be justifiably presented without fancy lines or pacy writing. The difficulties he weathered to reach the spiritual pinnacle cannot be traded for soulful phrases or idioms. The content bouquet of this book is culled only from verified information. All else has been naturally omitted. While such distillation factors authenticity, it may limit the perceivability of his omnificence.

As a man, he was made to measure,
but as a mahaguru, he remains immeasurable.

The intent of this biography is to chronicle the spiritual megastar in a manner that does not awe but instead inspires us to achieve the same feats the mahaguru did. Any story of inspiration is incomplete until it becomes the aspiration of a few. The ability to commit to his philosophy and absolute surrender to his grace will be determinants for those who seek the reward of freedom or mukti.

In destiny’s lotto, I wish you good luck!