Profile

Mahesh was born in a family of god fearing people on 13th December 1964 in Ludhiana, in the state of Punjab, India. His parents named him, Ramnish, which in Sanskrit language means `as pleasing as Lord Ram’. This name stayed with him for a good 40 years, till his second guru, Shree Babaji gave him the name Mahesh on seeing his devotion towards Mahadev Shiv and MahaKali. Thereafter, Shree Babaji conferred the title of BhaiGuru on him when he attained the status of a mentor in his spiritual organization. Although in the year 2017, Mahesh bid adieu to his guru, but the title continued to remain with him since people lovingly kept on addressing him as BhaiGuru. This was because of the love and affection with which he looked after the spiritual growth of all people connected with him and became a part of everyone’s family. Early Years Mahesh’s grandfather, Durga Das Tangri was a deeply religious person and was a well-known philanthropist. After doing his engineering from London, he settled in Ludhiana and did ample work for the society. There was a big hall in his haveli in Ludhiana, where he built a gurdwara and the holy guru grant sahib was kept there. Community meals (bhandara) were a regular feature during his life-time. Mahesh’s father, Raj Rishi Tangri, joined the Indian Air Force as a transport pilot. He was part of the two major wars, with China in the year 1965 and with Pakistan in the year 1971. A deeply spiritual person, he is an immensely socially conscious person since he imbibed these values from his father. His job in the services involved hectic travelling and this exposed Mahesh to various cultures and value systems. Birth On 13th Dec 1964, Mahesh was born in the city of Ludhiana, Punjab in India. He was brought up in a very liberal atmosphere at home, where all religions were accepted and respected and staunch religious practices were neither followed nor encouraged. First influence - Mata Vaishno Devi In the late 1970, his father was posted in the hill town of Udhampur in the state of J&K, where Mahesh was introduced to Mata Vaishno Devi and became her follower from his heart. His family would visit the shrine of divine mother regularly since it was near Udhampur and most of times the young boy would walk the complete distance to the temple barefoot in reverence to the deity. Mahesh shares his experiences during his umpteen visits to the shrine of divine mother in his own words as follows: “As a young boy, whenever I got to know that we would be going to Vaishno Devi, I would prepare a list of things I wanted to ask of divine mother. The journey to the shrine was always special but the interesting thing was that the moment I reached inside the cave where the holy idol of divine mother was kept, I just did not feel like asking her of any of the things in the list. I would merely ask, “Mother, you know everything. Please give me what is best for me.” Eventually, I stopped preparing the list altogether. Sometimes I wonder that if it has indeed been the blessing of divine mother I received those days that she gave me ShivKaliBodh…there could not have been a better gift from mother.” Shirdi Sai Baba After competing his schooling from various missionary and public schools, Mahesh did his engineering from University of Roorkee and passed out in the year 1987. His first job in a company in Jaipur involved extensive travelling and during his innumerable train journeys, he would pick autobiographical and spiritual books from the vendors at the railway platforms and read them. One book which left an indelible mark on him was ‘Sai Baba of Shirdi, a unique saint’. Mahesh shares his experience of reading this book in his own words as follows: “As I read the book and got to know about Shirdi Sai Baba, I got goose bumps on realizing that such a magnificent divine soul had existed on this earth just a few decades back. It was so uplifting to read about his life and selfless work that many times during my read, I was overwhelmed with tears in my eyes. Never has any book moved me so much emotionally, charged me spiritually and awakened in me the desire to know more and more about such divine souls and the almighty.” His idol - Guru Nanak Thereafter, he read volumes on Guru Nanak, who life as a fakir with a family inspired him. The various travels of Guru Nanakji are well recorded and Mahesh could easily find books to read on him. About the effect of Guru Nanak on his life, Mahesh explains as follows: “In a way, I began to idolize Guru Nanakji and thought of leading my life similar to him- travelling and spiritually educating one and all, fearlessly questioning superstitions and illogical norms of society and remaining surrendered to the divine at all times. Till date Guru Nanakji remains in my heart and I remain a fakir like him within. He was truly a god who walked amidst us.” His first guru - Mataji Nirmala Devi Mahesh left his job in the year 1988 and started his life as an independent professional. This was the time when he immersed himself in his work and lived life with the normal expectations and desires of a young man. But divine had other plans and these plans were slowly unfolding in their own time. In the month of February 1993, Rajesh Kalra, a friend introduced him to Mataji Nirmala Devi, the founder of Sahaj Yog. Mahesh would have spiritually discussions with Rajesh at length, which would comprise of lengthy sessions with questions on meaning and purpose of life and sharing of experiences. In the meantime, Rajesh had become a follower of Mataji Nirmala Devi and asked him to take initiation from her. However, Mahesh did not accept himself as a serious spiritual person to actually accept a guru and took a good three months, to finally visit a center of Sahaj Yog in Noida in May 1993. A seed sowed by Shirdi Sai, sprouted with the blessings of Mataji Nirmala Devi. By the time he was three weeks in Sahaj Yog, he had begin to feel the divine cool breeze and connection with divinity. Then the life-changing experience happened when he participated in the 10 days spiritual camp of Sahaj Yog in Ganapatipule on the shores of Arabian Sea, near Goa, India. Starting from the May 1993 to July 2002, Mahesh became an ardent devotee of Mataji Nirmala Devi and took the mantle of propagating her spiritual system in the remote hill towns and villages of Northern India. His second guru - Shree Babaji However, something during this spiritual journey in Sahaj Yog, Mahesh felt his spiritual growth had reached a plateau. So he decided to leave Sahaj Yog and took initiation from this second guru, Shree Babaji in July 2002. During this period, he was introduced to MahaKali and became a staunch devotee. He witnessed transformations within himself, which were also observed by people connected with him. This inspired him to spread the word of his second guru, in cities, towns and villages. However, on seeing some follies in the system, he started getting disturbed and decided to leave Shree Babaji in March 2107. ShivKaliBodh Then he began to earnestly pray to divine mother to show him the right way for union with divine and to awaken the divine virtue of love within all. His intense devotion culminated in attainment of ShivKaliBodh on the purnima, 10th April 2017.