Saints – ऋषि; Rishi (Saint, Seer, Sage) 

What is a Rishi / Sage / Saint?
There is a misconception that a Rishi is a monk. A person who has achieved renunciation from the world, and has left society to live in the world in isolation, in a cave or in a jungle. This, however, is a mis-conception.
What these spiritually accomplished people do before they are sages, is that they look for the truth about who/what they are. This does not require renunciation of life. This simply requires transcendence of desire for the world. Both good and bad. And all polar opposites in this world. This does NOT require one to be a monk.  Perhaps we will talk about this topic in another article later.
Once they have realized the truth about who/what they are, and even when on their path, they are revered and respected by all of us for their effort as beings who have the strength and courage to transcend the attachments and desire for the outward world, towards the path for truth.

In addition to this, this truth can be realized by some people spontaneously and randomly. Without any effort or without any साधना; Sadhana; spiritual practice.  Also, this can happen to anyone and anywhere. There are these people around the world, today, yesterday and will be tomorrow, regardless of their religion, color, race, sex and social status.

Some examples:
The following is a very short list that has good examples of people who have realized the truth, some of whom were everyday people, but were “enlightened”, or in the traditional Vedantic sense had achieved मोक्ष; Moksha (liberation from the cyclic material universe) by realizing the truth.
In the effort to keep this list short, I have omitted many masters that I love. The list is ordered not based on any likes/dislikes, but simply by their age, chronologically. (Click on their names if you wish to read more about them)

Rupert Spira

Born: 1960 in England
Pottery artist and read a lot of  poetry of the sufi poet Rumi. Was guided by his teacher Francis Lucille towards realization of the truth.

Mooji

Born: 29 January 1954 in Jamaica
Went through intense speculation and various paths before being helped into realization by Sri Papaji.

Eckhart Tölle

Born: Ulrich Leonard Tölle February 16, 1948 (age 67) Lünen, Germany
One night in 1977, at the age of 29 he realized spontaneously after intense depression.

Ganga Mira

Born: 1947 as Geneviève De Coux in Namur, Belgium
Went through intense sadhana, but was guided by her teacher Papaji.

SN Bharadwaj

Obscure and very little is known about him.

Papaji

Born: H. W. L. Poonja 13 October 1910 (or later) Punjab, British India
Died: 6 September 1997 Lucknow, India
Went through a life of intense devotion to Sri Krishna, before meeting his Guru Sri Ramana who guided him to realization.

Nisargadutta Maharaj

Born: Maruti Shivrampant Kambli 17 April 1897 Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Died: 8 September 1981 (aged 84) Mumbai, India
Guided by his guru, Siddharameshwar Maharaj, the head of the Inchegiri branch of the Navnath Sampradaya. Ran a beedi store in south Mumbai and chain smoked beads.

Sri Ramana Maharishi

Born: Venkataraman Iyer 30 December 1879 Tiruchuzhi, Madras Presidency, British India
Died: 14 April 1950 (aged 70) Sri Ramana Ashram, Tiruvannamalai, India
Awakened at the age of 16, when he had a spontaneous experience of “death”.

Hazrat Babajan

Born: Balochistan, Afghanistan Died 21 September 1931 Pune, India
Had a very poor and struggling life, traveling the east on foot. At 37 years of age, she met a Muslim saint, who put end to her spiritual struggle by helping her realize herself.

If you are still interested in some more names, here they are.
Francis Lucille, Ranjit Maharaj, Ramakant Maharaj, Ramesh Balsekar, Alan Watts, Ananadamayi maa, Saibaba of Shirdi, Sri Atmananda Krishnamenon, Sri Sivananda, Neem Karoli baba. There are many others that would take up entire books, and following the teachings of these great people will only lead you to the truth. You are the divine.