Sunita Shenoy was born to Hosdurga Devrai Pai, a Head Master of Canara High School at Kanhangad. She was the eldest daughter and her mother died when she was very small. Her father remarried and she had four step brothers and four step sisters. Hosdurga Devrai Pai was one of the first disciples of Bade Baba in Kanhangad. Bhagawan Nityananda used to call Devrai "head master." In those days Baba used to sit in the caves of the Kanhangad Ashram. Head Master used to send breakfast or lunch for Baba everyday.

Sunita Shenoy was a young girl at the time and she was given the task of delivering the food to Bhagawan Nityananda every morning. It was a very long distance from her home to the cave at Kanhangad Ashram, and an equally long walk from there to school. For a child of her age it was not a pleasant assignment, but bound by respect for her elders, she did it without any complaints, making the difficult journey every morning to serve Bhagawan. Bhagawan Nityananda was in his teens then and was always absorbed in the Avadhoota state. He could never be found in the same place and Sunita usually had to search for him or wait until he appeared. Sometimes she waited for a long time and Bade Baba did not come. Then she left the box containing the food in order to avoid being late to school.