Shivabalayogi
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Shivabalayogi (24 January 1935 – 28 March 1994) is a God realized[neutrality is disputed] master of meditation in the tradition of the ancient and modern yogis of India. He attained Self realization through twelve years of particularly difficult tapas (spiritual austerities), meditating in samādhi (God consciousness) for twenty-three hours daily.
After he completed tapas, he assumed the name Shivabalayogi, which some devotees had already began to use for him. The name means “Yogi devoted to Shiva and Parvati.” Shiva is God in the form of a yogi. Bala is one of the many names for Parvati, God in the form of a yogini. The name reflects that Shivabalayogi is a manifestation of both the male and female aspects of the divine (Ardhanarishwara). Generally, he referred to himself as “Swami” (Master), and devotees called him simply “Swamiji” meaning “respected Master”.
For three decades he traveled extensively in India and Sri Lanka, initiating over ten million people into dhyana meditation. From 1987 to 1991, he traveled in England and the United States.
Childhood
Shivabalayogi was born Sathyaraju Allaka on January 24 1935, in the small village of Adivarapupeta in the rice paddy country of the Godavari River delta in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. Most of the villagers earned a simple living making cotton sarees and dhoties (man’s wraps) on handlooms. Sathyaraju’s father, Bheemanna, was a weaver with very little means and died before Sathyaraju was three. The young boy was raised by his mother, Parvatamma, and maternal grandfather, Goli Satham. They were among the poorest in the village.
Initiation in Tapas
Sathyaraju experienced samadhi (enlightenment) on August 7 1949 when he was fourteen years old. He was sitting on the bank of the Godavari irrigation canal just outside the village, eating palmyra fruit that he and eleven friends had divided up. As Shivabalayogi described the incident, he was eating the fruit when his body began to vibrate, a bright light emanated from the fruit in his hands, and he heard the cosmic sound of Aum. As he watched, a black lingam, about a foot and a half tall, appeared in his hands. The lingam broke in two and a tall, handsome man emerged standing in front of the boy. The man was in the form of a jangamma devara, an ascetic who worships and dresses like Lord Shiva. His dark skin appeared smeared with light ash. He wore a white cloth (dhoti) wrapped around his waist, a necklace of rudraksha beads, and his matted hair piled on top of his head, all in the manner of the yogis of ancient times. He was extremely handsome with large, beautiful eyes. A bright light emanated from him, and all Sathyaraju could see was the yogi and the divine light.
The yogi instructed Sathyaraju to sit in a cross-legged position and close his eyes. The yogi touched the boy’s forehead at the spiritual third eye (bhrikuti) between the eyebrows, then gently tapped him on top of the head. Sathayaraju immediately passed into samadhi.
The eleven other boys with Sathyaraju saw none of this spiritual drama other than their friend sitting as if in meditation. They thought he was acting. But when they were unable to wake him up, they were afraid Sathyaraju was either possessed by a spirit or dead. They ran to the village for help. The villagers also tried to wake up the boy and carried him back to the front porch of his mother’s house, but the young yogi remained in samadhi then returned to where he had been initiated.
Tapas
Sathyaraju became known as Adivarapupeta Balayogi, the boy yogi of Adivarapupeta. Most of the villagers believed he was acting, probably to earn fame as a holy man (sadhu) and make money. Many abused the boy, hitting him, pouring sugar water over his body so ants would bite him, and even throwing a burning, gasoline-soaked rag on him. The Balayogi was in samadhi twenty-three hours a day. In samadhi, Shivabalayogi later explained, there is no awareness of the body or its physical surroundings. Each midnight he would return to ordinary consciousness and then he would feel the pain that his body was suffering.
The Balayogi moved the place of his meditation to a field where the villagers buried children who died while very young. It was a place the villagers feared at night, so they mostly left the boy alone. There his body suffered from insect, rodent and cobra bites. His body became stiff from the constant meditation until, as Shivabalayogi described, the yogi who had initiated him into tapas, his divine guru, cured all but his hands. They always remained frozen in the way he clasped them during meditation.
For eight years, the Balayogi meditated twenty-three hours every day. In that time, he mastered meditation in all four cardinal directions (east, north, west and south). Then his divine guru instructed him to meditate twelve hours a day for another four years to complete a full twelve-year cycle. He emerged from his tapas on August 7, 1961, before a crowd of tens of thousands.
Teachings
From 1963 to 1987, Shivabalayogi traveled extensively throughout India, then Sri Lanka. From 1987 to 1991, he traveled to the U.K., U.S.A., and Italy. Everywhere he gave public programs consisting of initiation into meditation (dhyana diksha), giving darshan in samadhi, evoking spiritual trance (bhava samadhi), particularly during bhajans (kirtan, spiritual song). When people asked for healing, he typically gave them blessed vibhuti (ash). Giving prashad (blessed food) was also very important for him, and devotees often arranged for mass feedings when thousands would be fed.
Shivabalayogi taught in silence. Once he was asked, “What is Swamiji’s teaching?” He simply replied, “Dhyana. Vibhuti. Bhajan. Bhava samadhi.” (Meditation. Blessed ash. Spiritual song. Divine trance.) He valued knowledge through direct experience far more than words.
His only verbal teaching was to encourage people to meditate for one hour each day, summarized in these words: “Know truth through meditation, then you yourself will know who you are, your religion, your purpose in life, and your nature. Do not believe what others say and become a slave to religious prejudices. Meditation is your religion. Meditation is your purpose. Meditation is your path.”
Bhava Samadhi
Shivabalayogi’s programs consisted of giving the initiation, an hour of meditation practice while he himself would meditate in samadhi, then an hour of bhajans (spiritual song) during which he would continue to meditate in samadhi. After, people could go up to him individually for darshan and blessings. Always blessed food (prashad) would be distributed to everyone present.
Shivabalayogi explained that all yogis use bhajans to awaken spiritual awareness. Singing songs of devotion to God is an expression of the path of devotion (bhakti). Swamiji once said, “Yogi is love.”
Shivabalayogi often used the expression the “path of devotion” (bhakti marga) to describe spiritual life. He would say, “You can win over anything with devotion. If God can be won over by devotion, rest assured that anything can be won by devotion. You have to come from devotion to practice meditation. Only then will you get Self realization. You should always begin meditation with devotion. Chanting and bhajans are for devotion. They are the start for the spiritual path. Just like you go for the first class in primary school. It’s like that. Prayer, bhajans, homa, japa and all these things help you develop further and further on the spiritual path. Gradually they will bring you into the line of meditation.”
Death
Shivabalayogi died on March 28 1994. He had been on dialysis since 1991 and for some fifteen years he suffered from diabetes and an injured foot which became infected and never healed. His body was taken to the ashram in Adivarapupeta where it was interred in April 2 1994.
Ashrams
During Shivabalayogi’s three decades of travel, many properties were donated to him in India as ashrams to be held in trust for the public.
The first ashram is in Adivarapupeta, his native village where he completed twelve years of tapas. That is the site of his samādhi, the tomb where his body is buried, and is a pilgrimage site for devotees particularly for Mahashivaratri, the annual great night of Shiva.
In 1963, when Shivabalayogi began traveling in India, a small ashram was established for him in Doddaballapura, a small town north of Bangalore, then the following year in Bangalore on Bannerghatta Road. As he traveled, additional ashrams were established in Sambhar Lake, Dehradun, Hyderabad, Anantapur, Hindupur, and Agra. On August 7 1977, he established a new ashram in Bangalore at J.P. Nagar, where he later consecrated a temple in honor of the three divine manifestations of God: Brahma and Saraswati the Creator, Vishnu and Lakshmi the Sustainer, and Shiva and Parvati the Destroyers of Illusion. In Indian tradition, the worship of Brahma is forbidden, yet Shivabalayogi insisted upon consecrating a deity of the god.
Shivabalayogi established charitable trusts in London, Portland, Oregon, and North Carolina. Since the mahasamadhi, additional trusts and ashrams have been established in India, the United States, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia.
Notes
References
- Shri Shri Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj: Life & Spiritual Ministration by Lt. Gen. Hanut Singh (India 1980, reprinted India 2008)
- Shri Shri Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj: Darshan by Thomas L. Palotas (Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj Trust, Bangalore, India, 1991)
- Tapas Shakti: Shri Shri Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj by Thomas L Palotas (Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj Trust, Bangalore, India, 1992)
- The Living Yogi by Thomas L. Palotas (Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj Trust, Bangalore, India, 1995)
- Divine Play: the Silent Teaching of Shiva Bala Yogi by Thomas L. Palotas (Lotus Press, 2006, ISBN 0-9760783-0-9).
- Swamiji’s Treasure: God Realization and Experiences of Shivabalayogi by Thomas L. Palotas (Lulu.com, 2007, ISBN 0-9760783-1-7)