Sanatan Sanstha

The Sanatan Sanstha is a non-profit organization registered in India. It was founded in 1990 by Jayant Balaji Athavale with the blessings of Bhaktaraj Maharaj and is based on the study of spirituality as a science. The stated main aim of the organization is to present spirituality in a scientific language for the curious (Jidnyasu) and to guide seekers. The organization has a chain of centres in different parts of India and abroad.

Athavale has worked in the field of spirituality to share with humanity the findings of his research into the deeper understanding of the spiritual dimension using a scientific approach. To this end, he has published more than 1.6 million copies of spiritual books in Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Gujarati, English and six other languages since 2002.News Today columnist V. Sundaram describes Athavale as a "rare spirit who brings to ordinary men a realization of their own divinity and makes spiritual life seem adventurous and attractive, so that they may go forth into the world with a new interest and a new joy at heart." He claims that Athavale's work has been recognized by Hindu saints and sages belonging to all denominations.

Narendra Dabholkar

Narendra Achyut Dabholkar (1 November 1945 – 20 August 2013) was an Indian rationalist and author from Maharashtra, India. In 1989 he founded and became president of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), (the Committee to Eradicate superstition in Maharashtra). Triggered by his murder on 20 August 2013, the pending Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Ordinance was promulgated in the state of Maharashtra, four days later. The next year, in 2014, he was posthumously awarded the Padma Shri for social work.

Personal life

Dabholkar was born on 1 November 1945 to Achyut and Tarabai, being the youngest of ten siblings, the eldest was the late educationalist, Gandhian and socialist Devdatta Dabholkar. He did his schooling at New English School Satara and Willingdon College, Sangli. He was a qualified medical doctor, having obtained an MBBS degree from the Government Medical College, Miraj.

He was the captain of the Shivaji University Kabaddi team. He had represented India against Bangladesh in a Kabaddi tournament. He won the Maharashtra government's Shiv Chhatrapati Yuva Award for Kabaddi.