Paramapoojya Shri Sadguru Janananda Swamiji of Kanhangad.

India from time immemorial, has been the scared abode of thousands of Spiritual Embodiments, shedding their divine radiance of love, creative exuberance, propagating the Infinite divinity of the Almighty and enlightening Man. The divine creation of God, thus, heralding the clarion call of the Almighty, each signing the praise of His infinite glory, in his or her unique, exquisite way.

Gurudev Shri Nityanand Swamiji is one among them, who stands out on the loftiest pedestal of everlasing fame and pervading in the firmament of Philosophical divinity, who stirved to bring spiritual prosperity and enlightenment, and in his own way proclaimed that love and devotion are the dynamic throbbing of the heart that manifest in the inspiration and realisation of the immortal grave of the Universal Lord, the Supreme bliss and the noblest goal of all spiritual paths.

Paramapoojya Shri Sadguru Janananda Swamiji, emitting his brilliant radiance of joy and ecstasy, divine power of grace, clairvoyant vision, dynamic influence of spiritual aspirations, realisaion and enlightenment of such a divine Master as Gurudev Shri Nityanand Bhagwan, who had been his benevolent and beloved deity. Meditaiton in the Guru, service to him and obedience to his commands were the basic priciples on which Sadguru Shri Janananda Baba laid the foundation and paved his way to the spiritual attainment of immortal grace of Gurudev Shri Nityanand Bhagwan and etched out in golden letters the name of Kanchangad (Kanhangad) dedicating his sacred life of about 90 years, heralding his Master's clarion call of Infinite glory and reaching the summit of his spiritual realisation and aspiration, with radiance of love, selfless sacrifice and joy.

Sadguru Shri Janananda Baba's auspicious birth took place in a noble family at Hejmadi, a place cradled in the idyllic bliss of nature's bounty on the outskirts of Moolky in South Kanara District,Karnataka, in the year 1893. As a child Baba was very healthy and robust, and was very fond of playing football with his friends. On one occasion, as he was playing, the ball fell on the road and as he was picking it up, he met a very striking and outstanding figure, who was very much attracted to the boy. He fondled him and blessed the boy and as if he had realised everything that contained in the divine caress and blessings, the boy fell at the feet of the Divine Master, who was none other than Gurudev Shri Nityanand Bhagwan in his Avadhoot Form. That was the first encounter of the two great divine personalities, who mutually realised the latent potentialities of each other.

Driven by the dynamic throbbing of spiritual realisation and enlightenment,Baba decided to proceed to Bombay and with the assistance of an influiential person secured a job in a Hotel there. Baba soon learnt the art of preparing evey delicacy either sweet or savoury. But Baba used to go into a deep tranquil meditational trance, uttering the name of God and many a times savouries in the boiling oil used to catch fire and Baba would be awakened from his divine trance by the shouting alarms of fire by the people who witnessed the scene. On such occasions Baba used to bring out the burning vessel after removing the eatables from the boiling oil with his bare hands and avoid calamity. Surprisingly, Baba's hands were unharmed except for a few minor burns which vanished in a matter of days in a matter of days after the application of honey (as related personally by Bana himself). The owner of the Hotel was highly perturbed at the frequent disturbances and thought that Baba was possessed by some evil spirit which induced him to play with fire as back then in those days, such was the common belief among the illiterates. So he took Baba to Shri Balakrishna Maharaj in Bombay, the disciple of Shri Narasimha Maharaj who was an adept at all the occult Sciences, besides himself being a spiritual authority and a healer of physical and mental illnesses. On seeing Baba's divine face that shone with the radinace of spiritual frevour, he as overwhelmed with a powerful feeling of joy and reverence and told the Hotel Owner that, Baba had been vested with all the dynamic influence and brilliance of a Maha Yogi, that lay deep-seated in him, which would spontaneously overflow with unfathomable magnitude in years to come. He inculcated Baba with the challenging impetus to go to Nasik where the sacred Padukas of Shri Narasimha Maharaj, (Guru of Shri Balakrishna Maharaj) were installed and Gangapur, the sacred Abode of Lord Dattatreya. The Hotel Owner and the other bewildered spectators spontaneously fell at Baba's feet on hearing this and revered him.

Baba's turmoiled mind, determined to attain spiritual enlightenment by relinquishing all wordly materialistic attachments, straightaway proceeded towards the North and went to Nasik to achieve his divine goal. Here on the Banks of the river Kapila, Baba started his deep meditation in a Cave. He spent a substantial period here and then went to the Kalaram Temple in Nasik. On the Eastern Doorway of this Temple lies the installed Paduka of Shri Narasimha Maharaj and Baba continued meditating here. The Temple's Brahmin Poojari's were annoyed on seeing a Non-brahmin trying to mingle with penance. They even drew him away from there stating that he was betraying the sanctity of the Sanctorum. Baba indignantly asked them that, if he was spoiling the sanctity of the place as a non-brahmin, whether, they, as Brahmins could not bring back the sanctity. Baba also predicted then, that later on, in years to come, the Harijans would sanctify their Rama and purify him and indeed this prediction proved to be true later on. Not being satisfied with insulting Baba and wounding his feelings, they lodged a Police complaint accusing him of intruding into their premises unlawfully. The Police Inspector who came for spot inspection, was marvelled by the divine brightness that shone on Baba's face. Who was in a deep and tranquil meditational trance, and surprisingly he took the Poojari's to task for their audacity and nasty behaviour towards Baba, after respectfully prostarting before him. Thus began a series of Baba's miracles.

One day, there was a very heavy cyclonic storm and Baba sought refuge inside the Kalaram Temple, where already eight Pilgrims had taken refuge. Baba sat in a humble corner and went into a devotional trance. The Storm increased in intensity, the wild cyclonic wind was blowing hard, devastating everything that came in its way. All of a sudden there was a heavy flash of lightening and a bolt of thunder, screeching at its summit, entered the eastern door of the Temple and passed whirling through the idol of Rama, as if to salute Him, and went out through the Northern Doorway causing heavy cracks on the dilapidated walls of the Temple. Within the fraction of a second, the eight dead bodies of the pilgrims who sought shelter earlier, lay tattered and torn. But Baba was in a divine trance unaware of anything that transpired. When Baba was awakened by the Police who came to disperse the crowd that had collected to witness the great miracle, he calmly asked them why they had disturbed him. The storm nor the thunder had touched Baba nor was he disturbed by the calamity it had caused. All of them were marvelled at this and immediately fell at Baba's divine feet in reverence.

The administration of the Temples in Nasik was in the hands of a clan known as "Nath-Panth". They were extremely jealous at Baba's increasing popularity as a great spiritual sage, and they were afraid that they would be overdshadowed by the Grace of Baba's benevolent greatness. They started troubling him in every way possible and even went to the extent of depriving him of food and water by threatening the devotees who thronged respectfully around Baba. They even tried to drive him from there. Baba predicted that the wrath of the Almighty would teach thenm a lesson of their life time and would perish for ever due to His wrath, and that their clan would be extinct. Hardly a couple of months had passed by, Baba's prediction miraculously proved to be true. There was a huge flood and many of them perished in the deluge or were washed away. A devasting famine spread its cruel clutches and took a heavy toll of life. A few of the aristocratic group among the Nath Panth, made themselves comfortable at this time, but a nasty plague that followed, caused destruction, resulting in a heavy death toll. As a consequence of this The Government ordered the evacuation of the City and all the Naths either persihed or ran away for their lives, never to come back to power again.

From Nasik, Baba proceeded straight towards Gangapur by train, where he sought refuge in a Choultry. Certain inmates of the choultry resented, presuming that Baba was an intruder, but he just went away from there towards the confluence of the sacred Rivers, where there is, to this day a huge hill of sacred ashes, believed to be the remanents of the great Yagas performed by eminent sages of ancient times, which never gets exhaused. Up the hill, nearby, there is a Hanuman Temple, and Baba resumed his deep meditation there. The pilgrims who came there used to give Baba their offerings of food, fruits and milk. Thus Baba continued his deep penance and meditation with a firm bent of mind. Again here, a few of the temple poojari's became jealous of Baba's steadily increasing popularity and the reverence bestowed upon him, and were scared that their importance would wane gradually and they started troubling Baba and hinder his spiritual attainment by bringing all sorts of hurdles. But Baba's firm bent of mind and consistent perseverence subdued these bad elements and his popularity increased by leaps and bounds, resulting in a confluence of thousands of his admirers and followers, thus paving the path of glory and the spiritual attainment of his cherished goal. As the rainy season started Baba used to come down to the banks of the river and build a small hut. On a particular occasion, when Baba had gone out, a Sadhu from Northern India, Golap Baba by name, forcibly entered his hut (Parnakutir) and refused to move out. Baba was highly annoyed and went and sat on one of the Agni Kundas there, known as the Rudra Kunda, and Lo within the fraction of a second the entire hut alongwith the intruder, was simply reduced to ashes which dumb struck the entire crowd that collected there. They realised the intensity of Baba's spiritual and divine greatness and prostrated before him in utter reverence, after witnessing this miracle. Baba continued his meditaiton on the Rudra Kunda and many a times Gurudev Shri Nityanand Bhagwan himself used to refer to Baba as Rudra or Agni during his discouuse, referring to his perseverance and devotion. It is said that Dattatreya Himself gave His Darshan to Baba, being highly pleased at his strong will-power, persistent endeavour to dwell in the Supreme, divine concentration, mental clarity, abiding joy and peace and the gradual conquest of mind by total surrender to Him facing odds with fortitude.

After reaching his cherished goal and visiting several holy places, Baba came to Kanhangad. Here, the unique meeting of Gurudev Shri Nityanand Bhagwan, who was digging the caves from a huge rock with his bare hands then, proved to be a turning point in Baba's spiritual life. A golden beam of radiance that shone on Gurudev's benign gace evoked the spark of realisation and acceptance, as his magnificent Guru, in whose ardent quest, Baba had hitherto tirelessly wandered in a turmoiled and distressed state of mind. Baba joined his master in the task of digging the caves and since he had a very strong body, he could complete the work with gusto and Gurudev used to address him as "Maruthi"(another name for Lord Hanuman) and his crowbar as his "Gadha" (Club) and affectionately told his followers that Maruthi was digging with his club. This allegorically refers to Hanuman's intense devotion to Sri Rama, which was persistently reflected in Baba's submission and unfathomable reverence and respect to his Divine master, Gurudev Shri Nityanand Bhagwan. Under Gurudev's divine mantle, his devotion increased steadily and faith in his stronghold and reverence deepened, with enthusiasm and perseverance. Having gauged Baba's latent capacity of spiritual illumination, rapturous joy in the Infinite glory of the Supreme, Gurudev Shri Nityanand Bhagwan, ordered him to go to the Himalayas on a pilgrimage to attain further divine flame of immortal bliss and Infinite wisdom. Baba, who had vehemently determined in meditation on the GURU, service to him and obedience at his command, revered his divine Master's orders and in the year 1938, started on bare foot, with a trident in his hand to assist him in walking on the thick ice and snowy mountains of Kailas and Mansarovar. Baba faced several hard crossed pathways of nature's wrath, tests and tribulations which, as he often quoted, were overcome by the sheer grace of Gurudev Shri Nityanand Bhagwan. Many a times Baba lost track of the pathways, and was left desolate, in the clutches of cruel fate, when a Divine Lady in pure white mantle, radiating her supreme power of grace, benevolence and maternal joyous ecstacy, graciously offered him warm milk and led him on the right track, and disappeared. Strange are the ways of Gurudev Shri Nityanand Bhagwan, the pinnacle of kindness, whose infinite grace and clairvoyant vision, protects his devotees in diversified ways, in times of distress and danger.

The Himalayan range was inhabited by Tibetian tribes consisting of Lhamas, Adivasis and shepherds, who reared ferocious dogs to attack any stranger that dared to cross their territory. Once Baba came across a Tribal Chieftain who showered him with thunderous abuses for entering his premises. Baba politely requested the chieftain, who was sitting amidst his paraphenelia, for a cup of herbal tea that was boiling, to relieve him of the biting cold and frost-bite. Overpowered with anger at Baba's audacity, the chieftain who sat amidsts several huge vessels boiling with the extract of herbs (which was their common drink) and dangling carcasses of raw meat, ordered his hench men to pour the hot drink on Baba. Immediately Baba with all his divine strength and boldness jumped over the chieftain's head and helped himself with a drink., The frightened tribesmen started throwing raw meat, snow balls and ice on Baba, who predicted that, because of this attitude of theirs towards a holy man, they would soon face the wrath of God, and that, they would be driven away in the same manner as he was driven out by them. Hardly a short time elapsed the Chinese invaded this terriotry and drove away the Lhamas and the Tibetians. (This area is still in the custody of China). Thus, Baba's forebodings proved to be a reality, establishing his supernatural divine powers. For years together Baba meditated in the Himalayas, visiting Rishikesh, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Kailas, Manasarovar and other important holy places there, crossing all the hard crossed pathways of Nature's wrath and tribulations, with a definite plan of spiritual discipline reaching the inner fulfilment of his Guru's commands and reaching the highest realisation of spiritual aspirations, with devotion, concentration and perseverence.

Having reached the summit of his cherished goal, Baba came down to Ganehspuri, where Gurudev Shri Nityanand Bhagavan had settled down, with an ardent zeal and cherished desire to meet his benevolent master. The strenuous pilgrimage against all odds, after fighting Nature's wrath had left traces on Baba's personal health. He had a long beard and long clusters of golden knotted hair (jata) adorning his divine head Besides, constant exposure to the excruciatingly biting cold had chilled Baba's sacred body. So he straight away went and jumped into one of the hottest boiling springs known as the "Surya Kunda" and sat deep down in divine meditation on his Guru. The intensity of the burning water in the hot spring was capable of turning a grain of paddy into boiled rice, but the divine powers of Baba realised no pain or burns and to quote Baba's own words, he felt stunned and cold, as if he was thrown into a pool of icy cold water. Gurudev Shri Nityanand Bhagawan came to know of this episode through his divine vision and sent his followers to bring Baba to him. Seeing Baba in his most radiant form, Gurudev was overwhelmed with a joyous ecstacy and rapturous love for his most obedient disciple, and fondly embraced and caressed him and Lo all the latent cold that had accumulated in Baba's adorant body vanished and he regained his normal health in a matter seconds, within the twinling of any eye. It was at this most auspicious moment that Gurudev Shri Nityanand Bhagawan ordained Baba, who was all along hitherto referred as "Sheena Swamy" and named him as "JANANANDA" the eternal joy of Mankind. Gurudev then ordered Janananda Baba to take complete charge of the Ashram and other assets that were under its jurisdiction, at Kanhangad and to settle there permanently and never to go anywhere else. The great command of his omnipotent Gurudev was immedaitely obeyed by the greatest disciple scrupulously and he never moved from Kanhangad till his own Mahasamadhi.

Consequent to his assuming the responsibility at Kanhangad, the benign hands of Goddess Prosperity, showerd her divine grace and illuminated the dark, wild forests around the Ashram viscinity, which lay haunted by loneliness that pervaded in its acute form. The magic wand of Baba's sincere efforts, personal supervision, selfless devotion to his master's task, has resulted in moulding the Ashram Premises into a calm, transquil and prominent part of the township of Kanhangad. Since 1955, Gurudev sent many of his followers to Kanhangad from Bombay, Nasik, Mangalore, Udupi, Bangalore and many other parts of the country including Kerala which has cradled Kanchangad "the golden forest," which shines with the flory and grace of Gurudev Nityanand Bhagawan. The dark treacherous forests infested with wild life has vanished and Sadguru Shri Janananda Baba had contributed his heart and soul to lay the strong foundation in building Kanhangad into a beautiful township, consisting of houses, buildings, gardens, a tranquil and peaceful atmosphere in the Ashram to unanimously sing in the praise of our Gurudev Shri Nityanand Bhagwan.

Baba's tireless efforts, concientious hard work, and personal supervision has borne fruits in the form of providing free accommodation, free food to his devotees, followers and Sanyasis, irrespective of caste, creed, sex or even nationality, who hail from all parts of our country and abroad too. The monument of his greatness is vested in the moulding of the Ashram, which provides a tranquil, peaceful and sublime atmosphere in the secure arms of our Gurudev, Shri Nityanand Bhagawan. The striking feature of the Ashram, is the daily Bal Bhojan (free food for the children) programme carried on to this day ever since its conception under the orders of Gurudev, motivated by Baba under his tender watchful supervision. The sight of young children singing the praise of Gurudev with sparkling eyes of innocence, irrespective of caste creed or sex, bowing their little heads with reverence, love, and gratitude to their beloved and benevolent benefactor, Sadguru Shri Janananda Baba, will swing any spectator into a divine esctacy of overwhelming joy and adoration. Baba's magnetic charm had also shaped the magnanimous Guruvan. (where Gurudev attained Sidha Yoga) a vast fertile land of 49 acres into a Nandanvan (celestial garden), where Baba's versatile and enterprising nature and forethought has included him to rear commercial crops like pepper, cashewnuts, coconut and betelnuts which yield a substantial sum of money that goes towards the expenses of the Institution, over and above the amount that is graciously donated by the staunch followers of Gurudev Shri Nityananda Bhagwan and Sadguru Shri Janananda Baba.

The construction of a holy temple in Guruvan, by Shri Babubhai H. Mehta (Lokhandwala) in 1966, at the request of Baba and the bathing tanks there with the eternal flow of Papanashini Ganga, beholds the spectator spell bound with spontaneous awe, respect, regard and reverence to the magnanimous spiritual grace pf Baba. His undaunted enthusiasm has also manifested in the field of Education, that has taken shape in the establishment of Shri Nityananda Polytechnic College in Kanhangad, to impart Technical Educaiton and is a living monument to the divine memory of Gurudev Shri Nityananda, the beloved and benevolent deity of Sadguru Shri Janananda Baba. Baba's daily routine comprised of an early rising, and hectic ashram activities consisting of personal supervision of the Bal Bhojan, strolling in the fields to study the progress of the crops and the work turned out by the workers there, visiting Kushalnagar and Guruvan frequently, in addition to giving Darshan to his followers and other pilgrims which included a multitude of Sanyasis from all castes and creed, giving talks on spiritual aspects, guiding and advising all those who seek his divine grace and blessings, and relieving the sufferings of all those who sought his blessings, from their unfathomable depths of sorrow and woe. He had also shouldered the responsibilities of the Polytechnic College as its Founder established in 1966 and Kuluguru and took active participation in its multiferious activities. Baba also bestowed his personal attention on Pooja ceremony which took place daily thrice, in the morning, afternoon and night. Baba is also the spiritual embodiment behind the yearly festivals of Mahashivarathri, Pranapathista, Guru Poornima and Datta Jayanthi, who liberally induced his followers, encouraging them to hold these festivals with great pomp and vigour. Hundreds of thousands of devotees throng around the temples singing the praise of the spirit incarnate, Gurudev Shri Nityanand Bhagawan and the Sculptor and master engineer of the Shri Nityananda Ashram, Sadguru Shri Janananda Baba and pay their holy tributes to the two great spiritual heads who are the heart and the soul of the sacred Ashram and the Shrines.

Having acquired a universal and divine consciousness, a spiritual bliss, a divine beam of radiance and joy, mingling with the Infinite glory of Gurudev, (who often mentioned about the sanctity of Kanhangad to his devotees with immense pleasure) spent more than four decades of fruitful years of his sacred life in the noble task of building his mater's ideals on the strong pedestals of spiritual aspirations and attainment, and heralding his noble teachings in his own unassuming and humble way, ennobling his life with good principles, purity of mind and worship. Heralding that the Guru is the supreme bliss & that the noblest goal of all spiritual paths that can be achieved by pure devotion and universal love for mankind. Obedience to the Guru's command is the highest austerity, true sadhana and supreme duty and that service to the Guru is the highest form of worship and adoration in the entire Universe.

In October 1982, a few months before taking Mahasamadhi, he visited Ganeshpuri & performed puja in the samadhi temple of his beloved Sadgurudev Nityananda. He stayed in Bangalorewala Building in Ganeshpuri for a few days, where he gave darshan , everyday, to thousands of devotees of Nityanand Bhagwan & of his own, who had come to seek his blessings. Many of the devotees of Nityanand Bhagwan from the monk order, like Sadanand Swami of Tungareshwar, Muktanand Swami & others, also came to Ganeshpuri to seek the blessings of Swami Jananand Baba, who was viewed by them as of the same mantle as Nityanand Bhagwan.

Swami Jananand Baba took Mahasamadhi on the auspicious day of Datta Jayanti on 27th December, 1982.

Swami Jananand Baba's Samadhi Temple is built near the Temple of his Sadguru Nityanand Bhagwan in the Ashram at Kanhangad. The samadhi temple was completed & "Pran Prathishtha Puja " of the Murthy was performed in the presence of Swami Sadanand Baba of Kanhangad., on " Datta Jayanti " on 8th December 1989. The murthy is made of "Panchloha" & was made in Khar, a suburb of Mumbai , by a famous sculptor, Mr. Sonavadekar.