A
small shrine marks the place where
Shivabalayogi was initiated into tapas. Nearby are some palmyra trees.
Swamiji's mother, Parvatamma Allaka.
He often praised her as the only person who protected him
throughout his
severe, twelve-year tapas.
Shivabalayogi on samadhi.
Shivabalayogi on his tapas.
The village life of Sathyaraju ended abruptly on the afternoon of August 7, 1949. He had been swimming with friends in an irrigation canal just outside the village. They found some palmyra fruit which they shared among themselves. Sathyaraju squeezed the sweet juice from his piece of fruit when he felt a vibration from the fruit in his hands. He was overcome by the cosmic sound of aum and a powerful light. Then he saw a black Shivalinga, an ovoid-shaped form of the divine soul that is Shiva, God in the form of a yogi.
From the Shivalinga emerged a tall, handsome ascetic. He instructed the boy to sit, then touched him between the eyes. Sathyaraju immediately passed into samadhi, a state of blissful consciousness in which the mind is still and there is no awareness of the body or time. He remained in samadhi for almost the entire day, and continued his meditation for days and weeks.
The villagers thought he was acting, and those who disliked him forcibly tried to expose him. They pulled at his legs. They hit him. They poured sugar water on him so the ants would bite. One fellow soaked a rag in gasoline, lit it, and threw it on the boy.
It was not just abuse. Sitting motionless for such long periods, insects and rodents nibbled at his flesh, and several cobras bit him.
While in samadhi, he was unaware of the pain, but he returned to ordinary consciousness each midnight for about an hour. Then he suffered the torment of his body.
Each night, he resumed his meditation. For eight years, he meditated in samadhi for twenty-three hours every day. He mastered the powers of each of the cardinal directions, north, south, east and west. For another four years, he meditated at least twelve hours each day. There were periods when he remained in samadhi for weeks at a time. He became known as the balayogi (“boy-yogi”) of Adivarapupeta.
He completed his twelve years of meditation, a spiritual austerity called tapas, on August 7, 1961. As he later explained it, the Divine manifested to him as the gods Shiva and Parvati, and they merged into his body. He had attained complete Self realization.
See Tapas Photos slide show.
Shivabalayogi His Tapas Video