Today, February 19, 2026, marks **Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti**, the birth anniversary of the great Maratha warrior and visionary leader who founded the Maratha Empire. Born in 1630 near Pune, Shivaji Maharaj is remembered for his courage, strategic brilliance, and commitment to Swaraj . His ideals of justice, respect for women, religious tolerance, and people-centric governance continue to inspire generations.

What Sadguru said About him is:-

*“People from the Indian background would know much about this. I'm not going into the historical aspects of this person, but there was a king—you know—Shivaji, the great king or an emperor, whose kind of acquired a tremendous amount of respect for his administration, for his bravery, for his courage, and his strategy of how he fought in those times.*

*Hugely respected, especially people from Maharashtra, Shivaji is relevant even today because of the way he conducted his administration—very evolved, enlightened administration he did. Very little people know about his administration; generally, they know only about his battle strategies which are admired and appreciated, but the most important thing was his administration—very evolved administration he did for his kingdom.*

*So he had a guru whose name was Ramdas. Ramdas. One day Shivaji was standing in the balcony of his palace, then he saw his guru going from house to house with a begging bowl, begging. Then he thought, "What is my guru doing begging on the streets? I'm a king, my guru can't be begging on the street."*

*Then he called Balaji, who was his assistant, wrote a chitty and sent it: "Please go and place it at the guru's feet." So he went and placed this chitty at the guru's feet. So he picked it up and saw.*

*And Ramdas came to the palace the next day, and he said, in this chitty, Shivaji had written: "I am placing my entire kingdom at your feet. You can do whatever you want with the kingdom and me."*

*So Ramdas said, "Now that you have forsaken your kingdom and given it to me, what are you planning to do?"*

*So Shivaji said, "Whatever you say. You are my Sadhguru, whatever you say I will do, and I just want to be around you and serve you. That's all I want to do."*

*Then Ramdas had an extra begging bowl. "Take this," and both of them went begging on the street—the emperor and the guru.*

*People, when the guru came to their house, they thought he's just some beggar and they gave whatever they gave. Now the emperor has come; with great respect they gave whatever they could. It's only now that if a beggar comes home, people are putting cooked food, leftover food, all kinds of things, but in this culture that was never done in the past. They only gave ingredients: rice, dal, you know, like this, so it's for them to go and cook their food and eat.*

*So after their begging rounds were over, they went near the river and the guru prepared a small meal, a simple meal of whatever ingredients had come that day. And after he finished eating, what was leftover, the king—no more a king—ate.*

*Then they were sitting under a tree and Shivaji smiled and said, "Now that you've turned me into your beggar in this 24 hours, what else do you wish to do with me?"*

*Ramdas said—it's called Hero, that means a piece of orange cloth—he gave this orange cloth which was on his body, he took it and gave this orange cloth and he said, "Use this as your banner and go back and rule the country. But just know, this is not your kingdom. This doesn't belong to you, you don't own it. And you will do the best that you can for the people. That is the way you must rule."*

*He always used the orange cloth or the orange flag as its banner and he administered his kingdom in a most enlightened way possible to run a kingdom.*

*Why I'm telling you this story is Shivaji rose in his stature, lives in the hearts and minds of this country, because he lived in grace. He fought battles, many, but it's absolutely balanced. Never in anger, never in hatred, never lost in anything—just doing what is needed.*

*Grace is the greatest empowerment that you can have. Once grace enters your life, every little thing is. How do I become available to grace? Grace does not mean it's coming from one direction somewhere. As gravity is, grace is, but in a much bigger dimension. Because gravity works only to a certain distance; grace is the basis of the creation.*

*But you won't be available to it if you have strong walls of individuality. If you become dispassionate, slowly the walls will dissolve. Now everything in you breathes grace.”*

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐣𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐣 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞’𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬