Pujya Paramhansa Kevalanandji was born in a small village of Rajasthan in India. His childhood was full of hardship. He often said that “Unnis sal tak na mila kapda na mila achha khana. Saal ke 13 ruppeeye main gujaran chalata tha (Till the age of 19, neither cloth nor good food was available. I had only 13 rupees to live the whole year).”
At the age of nine, Kevalanandji left his home town for Khandva in Madhya Pradesh. From Madhya Pradesh, he left to Gujarat at the age of 19. He visited many places in Gujarat and made Vadodara his home where he was fondly called “Bapji” and “Khadvawala Baba”.
He was a disciple of Dadaji Dhuniwala Keshvanand and Shree Rang Avdhoot Maharaj. He often used to visit Nareshwar. During one of these visits, Shri Rang Avdhoot told him “Tuje Naresware dedu (I will give your Nareshwar). Kevlanandji Baba replied “Tune jo paya, muje dede. Nareshwar le ke kyar karunga (Give me whatever you have achieved, what will I do with Nareshwar”. Shree Rang Avdhoot also said that “Tu mujse 80 guna uncha hai, Tuje koi samaj nahi payega (You are 80 times higher than me but no one will understand you). Although he didn’t have a formal education, he possessed great knowledge on all matters. His teaching was often similar to great Saint Kabir – mystic, deep and hard to understand.
He insisted sitting on floor when devotees came for his darshan. There was a banner hang behind his sitting place. Banner read “Maharaja gadha nahi jo tumhara boja juthaye (Great king is not a donkey, who will carry your load)”. Despite this people used to come with their problems and Kevalanandji blessed them all.
Even though he had high-profile individuals as devotees, Kevalanandji lived a very simple life. He never accepted any kind of gifts or money from anyone. He attained Maha-samadhi on 03 August 2013 in Vadodara.
Shree Gurudev Datt !