Late Shankar Maharaj Khandarkar Trust

In 1985, Khandarkar Maharaj breathed his last and went to his heavenly abode. While he was in this world, 5 out of his 8 books were published. But his precious books namely Shri Anubhavamrit Bhashya, Bhavarth Ekanathi Bhagawat and Sarth Ekanathi Bharude remained un-published then. The manuscripts of these books were left unattended when he was no more among us. There was also a shortage of editions of the books already published when Maharaj was alive. People demanded these books. In view of this demand, some of his selfless devotees and people came together and established at Kandhar (Dist. Nanded) the Vaikunthawasi Shankar Maharaj Khandarkar Books Publication Committee in in 1989. The committee collected funds from innumerable devotees of Maharaj, got financial support also from pre-publication scheme and published in 1991 the Sarth Ekanathi Bhagwat of Maharaj in two volumes in a very prestigious manner. This work increased confidence of the Committee. The committee got voluntary financial response of people from all walks of life. That encouraged further work. The name of the late Shankar Maharaj Khandarkar Book Publication Committee was changed to Late Shankar Maharaj Khandarkar Trust. The trust was registered with the Honorable Assistant Charity Commissioner at Latur in 1993 (Reg. No. E-139). The trust took a decision to publish the unpublished books of Maharaj at the earliest. With incessant work of the trust, the printing of the Anubhavamrit treatise in vendant style became possible. Subsequently, the manuscript of Sarth Ekanathi Bharude was also published in the book form. The trust also published three editions each of some of Maharaj's very popular books already published. Today all the eight books of Maharaj are published and are available in a very attractive form.

The special notable fact is that the trust published the "Sant NilobanchI Abhangawani: understanding and Appreciation" written by Dr. Yashwant Sadhu which was later awarded by the Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad (Pune) as the best publication in the Sant Literature in 1988.

The trust is very proud of this award. The trust has never ever any intention of making money from the sale of books of Maharaj. The trust's publication work has been carried out on no profit-no loss basis. Therefore, the trust does not carry on this work as a commercial activity as other professional agencies of book publishers do. All the office bearers and members of the trust work as their service to the saints. Some of the honorable members of the trust continue to carry on this work with great efforts even at the cost of their own money. Today, save for a few exceptions, most of the religious trusts have become tainted for their financial frauds and misappropriations of funds. But the Late Shankar Maharaj Khandarkar Trust is far away from this dirt. The trust is audited every year. The accounts are kept with honesty and accuracy. There is a total transparency in all the transactions. All the people who financially support the trust are properly rewarded in the form of books being given to them.. This is how the trust functions.

The executive committee of the Shri Shankar Maharaj Khandarkar Trust feels that the scope of the trust should not be limited only to publication of books of Maharaj. The trust has plans to undertake educational, social, health and cultural projects, with the financial support from people. Today, the work is limited and the revenue generated from the sale of books is re-invested for publication of books only, resulting in nil balance with the trust. People know this is how the trust is functioning for the last Twenty years. The trust never approached people by exploiting their religious feelings to collect funds to organize religious fanfare. The organization did the work and achieved its objectives satisfactorily from whatever funds were available from the support given by people at large. However since people know the basis of its functioning, the trust would like to appeal to religious minded people and rich individuals to come forward and offer liberally whatever funds they can and support the organization. The trust is silently serving the Maharashtra devotional cult (Warkari Cult) for the last 20 years by the form of giving away books of Maharaj. Liberal financial support of people would certainly inspire the organization to undertake some constructive work and educational projects.