Shri Sadguru Balappa Maharaj Alias - Brhmanandaswami 

Shri Balappa hailed from Haveri, a village in Dharwar district of Karnataka. Born in the year 1843 he came from a rich family and was a jeweler by profession. He had children and lacked no worldly comforts. Yet one day, suddenly he felt disgusted with the temporal things and yearned for a Guru and his ‘spiritual guidance’. After performing the marriage ceremony of his daughter and the thread ceremony of his son, at thirty years of age, one day he left home and wandered about in search of a ‘Guru’.