The tradition of Master-Disciple (Guru-Shishya) is well-known Nath Tradition (Nath Sampradaya) which has affected all walks of our life to the present day with its strong preaching and philosophy of knowledge.
How Nath Tradition Started
The Dattatraya was the first Nath Master, the greatness of the Nath Tradition lies in destruction of our ignorance and enabling us to realize the self.
There are nine Nath Masters who played big role in spreading of the tradition, in Karnataka one of the nine Natha’s is Shree Revansiddha who initiated the Nath cult in this part of the world, he propagated the tradition in the present Athani taluk and then established an Ashram in Kolhapur on a hillock where he passed the heritage to his disciple Siddhanath and told him to name Ashram as “Siddhagiri”, Siddhanath then renamed himself as “Kada Siddheshwar”, from then on wards whoever presided him were known as Kadasiddheshwar Swamiji of that Mutt.
Roots of Inchageri Tradition
Our tradition heritage begun its roots with Shree Guruling Jangam Maharaj of Nimbaragi, One of his disciple was Shree Sadguru Bhausaheb Maharaj, he was known for his conducting abilities with saptah’s (Spititual Festivals) known for its discipline and grandeur. He gave huge importance to meditation/dhyana. He also started the routine and discipline of daily Kakadarati, afternoon and night bhajans, Also set standards on which holy books to be read at which bhajan timing and so forth.
He did the biggest contribution to make Inchageri as the place for further flourishing the tradition and initiated great disciples one after another, Shree Siddharameshwar Maharaj stands as one of the tallest among these who carried forward and taken Inchageri Sampradaya to many other non-existent areas of India.
Work by Shree Siddharameshwar Maharaj
After Shree Siddharameshwar Maharaj took Naam from Shree Bhausaheb maharaj he followed his masters instructions to the fullest, he meditated daily without fail. He then went to Bagewadi for intense sadhana and initiating further disciples with the permission from his master.
Because he had mastery over Hindi , Gujarati languages he started preaching in Mumbai which made many disciples in that part of India, Shree Vilasand Maharaj of Agra, Ranchod Das Maharaj of Baitkol Mutt Karwar, Shree Kadsiddheshwar Maharaj of Kaneri Mutt, Shree Ranjit Maharaj and Shree Nisarg Dut Maharaj of Mumbai and Our Sadguru Shree Ganpatrao Maharaj are amongst the prominent disciples.
In 1936 at his 48th Age Shree Siddharameshwar Maharaj left his body, the achievements and height he scaled in such a short span has given biggest contribution to the advaita philosophy and to Inchageri Tradition.
Shantikuteer Sampradaya
Our Sadguru Shree Ganapatrao Maharaj born on Ganesh Chaturthi of 1909, further established Shanti Kuteer Sampradaya which is largely influenced from Inchageri Tradition. Dasbodh by Samarth Ramadas continues to be the premier holy book of Shantikuteer Sampradaya. Shree Ganapatrao Maharaj preached with free flow in Kannada and Marathi and had maintained coordial relations with his fellow seers and disciples of Shree Siddharameshwar Maharaj.
