Shri Guru Dattāvatārī Samarth Yogabhyanand Vyankatnath Maharaj lived in a small village named Devgaon Rangari in Aurangabad district. He was known far and wide as a Yogi, clairvoyant, healer, astrologer, and a pure Siddha Saint whose spiritual power was felt across India. People from many states travelled long distances to meet him — seeking blessings for problems related to children, marriage, finances, illnesses, education, destiny and inner suffering.
Among the countless seekers was Narendra Chaudhary, a young college student just 17–18 years old. He was mentally disturbed, confused, and troubled by constant thoughts. Questions tormented him day and night: *“Great saints lived in the past — but where are such saints today? How will I find one? Who will guide me? How will my spiritual progress happen?”* He was deeply attracted to and inspired by Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Swami Vivekananda, and his fascination grew so strong that he often felt like leaving everything behind and living permanently in Vivekananda’s Ashram. Beyond these two, he believed that no true saint existed in this age.
Narendra rejected all family rituals — daily worship, puja, spiritual routines. He felt, *“How will I ever find God through this? Where is the real spiritual path? Today’s so-called saints are cheats; they exploit people. If so many divine incarnations came earlier, why didn’t they create a proper, lasting spiritual system for future generations?”* These doubts filled him with frustration. His college life in Nagpur only added to his confusion. He disliked commerce — a subject he was forced to take — and his daily schedule became a cycle of attending morning classes, then escaping through the window after roll call and roaming the city with friends. His mind was atheistic by nature, and neither he nor his siblings ever performed worship or spiritual practice. He doubted everything: God, religion, saints. He believed firmly: *“No one has seen God or spoken to Him — so why believe?”* To him, saints were frauds, religion was manipulation, and only Ramakrishna and Vivekananda were genuine.
His life was directionless. Study if he felt like it; otherwise wander. Lunch was with friends in a mess filled with laughter and jokes, after which the afternoons slipped away in aimless roaming. None of the friends ate non-veg or drank alcohol, but one day they decided, *“Others eat; they’re not bad. Why fear religion?”* Although no one had permission from home, they secretly tried non-veg. One friend refused, but the rest forced him just for amusement.
Just as the great Gorakshanath once transformed the farmer Manik into the mighty Siddha Adbhutnath, in the same way — although Narendra had no spiritual qualities, no respect for saints, and believed in no Guru — Vyankatnath Maharaj, the fifteenth Nath in the lineage of Swami Machhindranath, began bringing a subtle but powerful transformation within him. That directionless, atheistic young boy would one day sit on the Guru’s seat as Narendranath.
How a confused, troubled, logic-driven mind was transformed from ordinary man into a divine being, how karmic suffering was burnt away, how ignorance dissolved and spiritual clarity awakened — this is the very essence of *Gurucharitra* unfolding in modern times.