Sree Narayana Guru was born on August 22, 1856 (1032 Chingam in Malayalam calendar) in a humble cottage in the pretty hamlet of Chempazhanthi near Thiruvananthapuram. His father was Madan Asan, a farmer, and mother Kutti Amma and he had three sisters. He was named by his father as Narayanan; he affectionately called him Nanu, a short name for Narayanan. His family, Vayalvaram house and his father were much revered by the villagers as they also had a sound economic status. Sree Narayana Guru was born on August 22, 1856 (1032 Chingam in Malayalam calendar) in a humble cottage in the pretty hamlet of Chempazhanthi near Thiruvananthapuram. His father was Madan Asan, a farmer, and mother Kutti Amma and he had three sisters. He was named by his father as Narayanan; he affectionately called him Nanu, a short name for Narayanan. His family, Vayalvaram house and his father were much revered by the villagers as they also had a sound economic status.

Leaving home, he traveled through Kerala and Tamil Nadu and it was during these journeys, he met Chattampi Swamikal, a social and religious reformer, who introduced Guru to Ayyavu Swamikal from whom he learned meditation and yoga. Later, he continued his wanderings until he reached the Pillathadam cave at Maruthwamala where he set up an hermitage and practiced meditation and yoga for the next eight years. In 1888, he visited Aruvippuram where he meditated for a while and during his stay there, he consecrated a piece of rock taken from the river, as the idol of Shiva, which has since become the Aruvippuram Shiva Temple.The act, which later came to be known as Aruvipuram Pratishta, created a social commotion among the upper caste Brahmins who questioned Guru's right to consecrate the idol. His reply to them that "This is not a Brahmin Shiva but an Ezhava Shiva"[8] later became a famous quote, used against casteism.It was here, the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP Yogam) was founded on 15 May 1903 by the efforts of Padmanabhan Palpu, better known as Dr. Palpu, with Narayana Guru as its founder president.

Guru shifted his base to Sivagiri, near Varkala in 1904 where he opened a school for children from the lower strata of the society and provided free education to them without considering their caste. However, it took him seven years to build a temple there, the Sarada Mutt was built in 1912. He also built temples in other places such as Thrissur, Kannur, Anchuthengu, Thalassery, Kozhikode, and Mangalore and it took him to many places including Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) where he made his final visit in 1926. On his return to India, he was involved in a number of activities including the planning of the Sivagiri pilgrimage which was planned after his visit to Pallathuruthy in 1927 to attend the anniversary of the S.N.D.P. Yogam