the Shivabalayogi websites:
shiva.org
for information about Shivabalayogi
handloom.org
for books, videos, and bhajan recordings
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SHIVABALAYOGI: |
Shivabalayogi
did not designate any successor or successors. Since he
attained
mahasamadhi and dropped his physical body in 1994, his presence remains with
us through his devotees. He works directly through devotees, and in this very
real sense, his devotees are his successors. Here are just a few
examples of how this is true.
Shri Swamiji initiated several devotees into tapas, two of whom meditated twelve continuous hours each day for many years. Sathya Shivabalayogi, better known as Kondangi Swami, successfully completed twelve years of tapas on August 7, 1977. A young woman became known as Shrungavriksham Swami after she meditated in tapas for twelve years ending in 1974. Both these tapaswins have since departed this life. Both served to bring meditation and Swamiji's blessings to the public.
Other devotees meditate and work with little personal recognition. Devotees in Adivarapupeta have been consistently active since Shri Swamiji's mahasamadhi, holding the annual Mahashivaratri celebrations when devotees from around the world gather. This was the annual occasion when Shri Swamiji himself would attend, returning to the village where he was born and completed his twelve-year tapas. The Adivarapupeta ashram is the scene of major development since Shivabalayogi consecrated the foundation of a new temple shortly before his mahasamadhi. The Adivarapupeta trustees and devotees have constructed the temple, a large guest building, new kitchen, storage and office facilities, and are now working on completion of the new Samadhi building. For more information on the Adivarapupeta ashram, click HERE.
The Bangalore ashram is the largest and most accessible of Shri Swamiji's ashrams in India. It is also where His Holiness spent most of his time after completing tapas and before his mahasamadhi. It is in Bangalore where Shri Swamiji used to be when devotees celebrated his birthday (January 24) and tapas anniversary (August 7), and these celebrations continue to this day. For more information on the Bangalore ashram, click HERE.
Jhansi For many decades, devotees in Jhansi, north India, have been celebrating Shivabalayogi's birthday with a huge bandhara (annadanam) -- mass feeding. This is the largest, regular mass feeding done in Shri Swamiji's honor other than by the Trusts in Adivarapupeta and Bangalore. For decades, many thousands of people were fed through the efforts and donations of individual devotees. Only recently, since Shri Swamiji's mahasamadhi, have they established a trust to continue this annual work as well as regular meditation and bhajan programs. Examples of the Jhansi devotees' annual invitations can be found on the Invitations page.
A list of Shivabalayogi Ashrams & Centers can be found at http://shiva.org/HisAshrams.htm and additional list of devotee contacts at http://www.meditate-shivabala.org/resources.html. Shri Swamiji's successors can be found throughout India, the United States, England, Sri Lanka, and many other countries in the world.
Touring the West
Three Indian devotees who have toured the West, including the U.S.A., Canada, and the U.K., are known by name. Shivabalayogi makes his blessings available through them, as he does through many other devotees throughout the world. An American devotee is also touring the U.S.A. conducting meditation and bhajan programs.
Shivabalananda, also known as R. B. Singh, first toured the U.S.A. and U.K. in late 1994. He was working as an engineer for the Indian space program in Sriharikota when he was drawn to Shivabalayogi and took initiation in 1976. Since then, he has regularly meditated an hour each morning and evening, without fail. He was attracted to bhava samadhi, which is the manifestation of Shivabalayogi's astral presence on a devotee. Soon he was having the experience himself. Then he was drawn to a devotee in bhava samadhi giving spiritual discourses, and soon he received that blessing as well. He has been richly blessed with many spiritual experiences.
Particularly after Shivabalayogi's mahasamadhi, R. B. Singh's own bhava increasingly moved from the devotional movements during bhajans to verbal communications as Shivabalayogi. For programs, he dresses in the manner of Shivabalayogi, sits on an antelope skin asana, and assumed the spiritual name of Shivabalananda. There is more information on Shivabalananda's tours at http://www.meditate-shivabala.org/tour.html.
M. P. Singh was a business and family man from Farrukhabad in North India when he met Swamiji and experienced bhava samadhi. His bhava was deep and manifested often during bhajans. About a year before Shivabalayogi's mahasamadhi, M. P. Singh was asked to sit in a 45-day meditation in Agra. Afterwards, he was unable to return to ordinary consciousness, so devotees took him by train to Shri Swamiji in Bangalore where Shivabalayogi's astral presence on him amazed devotees at the ashram.
Since Shivabalayogi's mahasamadhi, M. P. Singh claims to have become Shivabalayogi completely and uniquely through bhava samadhi, a claim not recognized by most Shivabalayogi devotees. He tours the U.S. and Canada and has visited the U.K. The website at http://www.shivabalayogiguru.org/ is devoted to M. P. Singh.
Baba Shiva Rudra Balayogi is the third Indian devotee to tour the West. He sought after spiritual life from an early age and he is the only devotee whom Shivabalayogi initiated into sannyas, a vow of non-attachment. As Seenu Dixitar, he managed Shri Swamiji's Dehradun ashram and was widely respected for his devotion to Swamiji and his skill playing and singing bhajans.
Several months after Shivabalayogi's mahasamadhi, Baba was compelled, through Shivabalayogi's astral presence, to sit for five years of meditation, after which he assumed the name Shiva Rudra Balayogi. His programs include philosophical discourses and soothing bhajans as Baba is openly skeptical of most bhava samadhi, particularly any claim that a devotee in bhava samadhi is Shivabalayogi. His devotees revere Baba as a perfected yogi and the spiritual heir of Shivabalayogi. His website is at http://www.shivarudrabalayogi.com/.
The first time Ken Purmort was touched by his guru, Shivabalayogi, in 1989, he went into a state of samadhi for five hours. Later, Shivabalayogi initiated him into tapas at the Bangalore ashram. Swami Ken, as he is becoming known, traveled in United States, India and Europe with Shivabalayogi, and recently accompanied R. B. Singh on his 2007 tour of the United States. Swami Ken lives outside of Minneapolis with his wife at the Shantivan Dhyana Meditation Retreat Center. See http://www.shantivan.org/.
As a richly blessed devotees, each of these disciples is a powerful expression of devotion towards the Universal Guru in the form of Shivabalayogi. As disciples conducting programs in the West, they are a medium through which Shivabalayogi can give blessings.
Shivabalayogi, however, is not limited to any particular form. Shivabalayogi has many devotees and disciples who have completed intense meditation, or whom Shivabalayogi uses to be powerfully present in bhava samadhi, or both. Most devotees prefer to work quietly, making the great Yogi's blessings available without drawing attention to themselves.
Shivabalayogi calls upon different devotees to accomplish different major jobs, some private, some public, but one no less important than the other. Many devotees have followed Sri Swamiji's call to meditate or serve for hours every day. Those listed here are the public figures but many others have given much of their lives to meditation or service to Swamiji or both. To know such devotees is to understand that it is Shivabalayogi who put such desire into their hearts. Those who do his work more quietly with love and dedication are honored here as well.
Shri Swamiji always encouraged devotees to know the truth for themselves through each person's own direct experience.
“Yogis do bless their disciples and they get spiritual powers from that. They train some disciples. Some come to this country to teach what they learned from their guru, the yogi. There may be many more such disciples than are publicized in this country. Such disciples teach meditation, just like the yogi taught.” — Shivabalayogi
For more information, contact info@shiva.org For more information on Shivabalayogi, visit the website dedicated to Him at www.shiva.org
