[3] Mumtaz Ali Khan was born on 6 November 1949 to an affluent Muslim family in Trivandrum, Travancore–Cochin (now in Kerala).

This was a turning point in nine-year-old Sri M's life, and he later said about the meeting: After the jackfruit tree incident, although outwardly I looked like any other boy of that age, my personality had undergone a profound change.

He returned from the Himalayas and traveled throughout India, meeting gurus such as Neem Karoli Baba, Lakshman Joo and J. Krishnamurti.

[14] A documentary film, The Modern Mystic: Sri M of Madnapalle,[15] was directed by Raja Choudhury in 2011.

The walk began on 12 January, the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda (who had undertaken a similar journey over a century earlier).

[18] It exceeds the earlier book in apparently-miraculous incidents; in the introduction, he wrote that his readers might think that he "had finally gone bonkers".

[19] In the year 2020, Sri M has been conferred with the Padma Bhushan Award for the distinguished service of high order in the field of Spirituality.