Sri Ranjit Maharaj was born on the 6th of January, 1913, in Bombay, India. In his early childhood he was a fervent devotee of Krishna, but by age 12 he had met Shri Sadguru Siddharameshwar Maharaj, who became his Master. Later on Shri Siddharameshwar also became the Master of the venerated Indian sage, Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Siddharameshwar Maharaj realized the Self through meditation, a long and difficult way. According to His own words, it is called Pipilika Marg in Indian philosophy. This means the "way of the ant." Siddharameshwar taught "the bird's way," Vihangam Marg. This is the way of Understanding, the direct way of Self-Realization. The Birds Way is also the teaching of Sri Ranjit Maharaj. Interestingly enough, just about the sametime the young Ranjit was meeting his Master for the first time, a nearly disguised young American traveller on a spiritual quest toward Enlightenment, that gained fame anonymously some years later in a novel by the famous British playwright and author W. Somerset Maugham titled The Razor's Edge, visited Siddharemeshwar, one of the first Americans to do so. It has been written that from his stay in India he gained peace of mind.

The young American, called Larry Darrell by Maugham in the novel, traveled to Bijapur to meet with Siddharameshwar Maharaj and learned of Vihangam Marg, the bird's way. The holy man related to Darrell what Ranjit Maharaj was to eventually learn as well: "that only by hearing and practising from the teachings of the Master and thinking over it, just like the bird flies from one tree to another, can one attain Awakening very fast." Although "the bird's way" is not incorporated into the novel leading to Darrell's Awakening, it does play an interesting role later on as his life unfolds post-novel, and the interaction that occurs in the Awakening experience of another.