Sri Shreedhara Swami Maharaj (Devanagari: श्री श्रीधर स्वामी Maharaj, Kannada:ಶ್ರೀ ಶ್ರೀಧರ ಸ್ವಾಮಿ Maharaj) (7 December 1908 – 19 April 1973) was an Indian prominent Kannada-Marathi saint and religious poet in the Hindu tradition. Shreedhar Swami was a devotee of Lord Ram and a disciple of Samarth Ramdas. Early life Sri Shreedhara Swami Maharaj was born in a Brahmin family to Narayan Rao and Kamalabai Deglurkar on 7 December 1908 in Lad Chincholi, Karnataka. He was born on Datta jayanti in the evening when the chariot was passing by the house. He was a devotee of Lord Ram and a disciple of Samarth Ramdas. When Shreedhara Swami was 3 years old he lost his father and thereafter his mother and elder brother Trimbak took care of the family. Young Shreedhara was admitted to a school in Hyderabad for his primary education. Since the very early days he was spiritually inclined. One recorded incident from his early childhood is as follows: He had once fallen very ill and had lost a lot of days at school because of it. Thus he feared that he might fail in the examinations. His mother then told him to constantly chant the name of Lord Ram and that he would see him through the exams. He solemnly started doing that so much so that he finally did not do any studies at all and all the time chanted the name of Ram. On the day of examination he went without reading anything and to the surprise of everybody he answered every question so nicely that he did secure first rank. Shreedhar Swami's elder brother died when he (Shreedhar) was just ten. His mother, unable to cope with the shock and prolonged illness, soon followed him. After her death Shreedhar Swami went to Gulbarga to live with his aunt and continued his education there. After spending a few years in Gulbarga, he headed for Pune where he lived in an orphanage for sometime. Here his urge for spiritual enlightenment grew and on the suggestion of one Mr. Palnitkar, he embarked on a journey to Sajjangad with the intent of seeking spiritual knowledge at the place where Shri Samarth Ramdas had resided nearly three hundred years ago. Sajjangad and Spiritual Awakening During the course of time, he got well-acquainted with one of his teachers at school, Shri palnitkar Guruji. Discovering Sridhar's intense inclination towards spiritualism, he advised him