Quick Facts
Biography
Balumama Maharaj was an Indian Mystic, Yogi, and a self proclaimed incarnation of Lord Shiva. He was born at Akkol Karnataka and took Samadhi at Adamapur Maharashtra. By his simple teachings, he helped many people. He did not believe in superstitions. He was vegetarian throughout his life. He never used to consume food from utensils which were used for cooking meat. 'Muley Maharaj', Vithoba andRakhumai were his Gurus. Today, when you visit the temples of Adampaur and Metake you can see them beside Balumama. He firmly said that knowledge is life and ignorance is death. Though he came from a Shepherd family, he worked for everyone. He used to wear simple shirt-Dhoti. The whole world was his family. He is the one who owns this whole world and everything in this universe works accordingly by his orders. All these desires, joy , fear , satisfaction, and peace lie at his feet
Early life
Balumama was born in 1892, in a village called Akkol(ಅಕ್ಕೋಳ) in Chikkodi taluk of Belgaum district in Karnataka. His father was Mayappa and mother was Sundara. He spent his childhood with his parents, but was always lost in meditation and was a quiet boy. He later went on to live with his sister and was married to her daughter against his will. The marriage did not last long. He was given about 15 sheep by his in-laws which he started to tend.
Miracles
While shepherding his sheep, he was known to have performed several miracles and helped poor and downtrodden people. He used to travel long distances with his sheep in parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka. He was fluent in both Kannada and Marathi. Whatever he said came true without fail. He had followersamongst the rural poor, who began worshipping him as a saint. The sheep which Balumama had were considered sacred. If the herd of Balumama's sheep stayed or passed through a farm or a field, the owner was bound to have prosperity.
Temple
Balumama attained samadhi at the age of 74 in 1967 at a village called Admapur in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra. A temple was built in his memory in Adamapur which lies between Nipani in Karnataka and Radhanagari in Maharashtra. The Temple is looked after by the "Shri Balumama Sansthana". The sheep numbers have now grown to about 40,000, which are looked after by his devotees.
Belief
The sheep of Balumama are considered sacred, the current sheep which are the progeny of the original sheep of Balumama areke them win elections.
Books
- 'Shri Sant Sadguru Devavtari Balumama Charitra Granth' By Mr. C.S.Kulkarni (Marathi)
- 'Bhav-Bhakticha Bhandara' By Mr. S. Killedar (Marathi)
- 'Shri Balumama Vijaygranth' By Dr. Shrikrishna D. Deshmukh (Marathi)
- 'Shri Sant Sadguru Balumama Arati Sangraha' By Mr. B.B.Aidmale (Marathi)
- 'Sri Sant Sadguru Balumama Namanstotra' By Madhav Joshi (Marathi)
- 'Sri Sant Balumama Stavan' By Mr. C.G.Patil (Marathi)