Shri Shri Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj
An Introductory video to Shri Shri Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj (click Play)
The Divine Guru Shri Shri Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj
God is never unjust to His creation. The Divine is the Ocean of Kindness. Whenever there is decline of dharma (righteousness), the Divine comes to the rescue of the universe.
When mankind is attracted too much to materialism, it loses its mental and moral health. This results in increasing the miseries of mankind. Tension prevails and physical and mental suffering spreads. The people of the earth suffer from dissatisfaction, depression and unhappiness. Doubts, fear, hatred and jealousy become a norm.
In such bleak situations, the Divine Grace descends and amazing, inexplicable wonders occur for the welfare of the universe. For the spiritual upliftment of humanity, the Divine chooses a worthy child, a mighty soul, to carry out Its plan.
Such great ones, rising above all differences and weaknesses of humanity, use their powers and give their abilities and energies to aid humanity. By drinking bitterness, they give their love and tolerance. They take the sufferings of humanity and in return, give their knowledge and wisdom to enlighten the universe. Their approach is always universal. They sacrifice their lives for the sake of the world. They become the eternal, guiding and inspiring light to the universe.
One such great soul is our loving guru, Shri Shri Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj
His Early Childhood
Shri Shri Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj was born as Sathyaraju on 24th January 1935, in a small hamlet called Adivarapupeta, located in Andhra Pradesh, India. He was born into a poor weaver's family. When he was just 3 years old, his father passed away. From then on, Sathyaraju was raised lovingly by his mother and grandfather. Sathyaraju was an intelligent boy. He was fearless, honest and had an unshakeable will-power, naturally making him a leader among the boys of his village.
On 7th August 1949, 14 year old Sathyaraju was persuaded by his friends to go for a swim in the Godavari canal. As they passed through a grove of palmyra trees, 3 palmyra fruits fell to the ground. Sathyaraju distributed the fruits equally among all his friends.
As Sathyaraju sat by the canal bank, squeezing his share of the palmyra fruit, his body began trembling for no accountable reason. He then saw a dazzling light emerging from the fruit in his hand followed by the cosmic sound of "OM" emanating from the fruit. The Divine light and sound engulfed him in blissful waves, stopping the trembling of his body, allowing his mind to become calm and peaceful.
As he watched, the fruit in his hand disappeared and in its place, was a Shivalingam. The Shivalingam then broke into half and before Him stood a sage who Sathyaraju thought was a Jangama Deva. The sage was later revealed to be none other than Lord Shiva himself. He instructed Sathyaraju to sit in a yogic posture, touched Him between the eyebrows and tapped him on the head. Sathyaraju immediately lost outer consciousness and went into a deep meditative state which is known as Samadhi.
His Tapas
Thus began the 12 years of arduous Tapas where Sathyaraju meditated for 23 hours a day for 8 years, only returning to ordinary consciousness at midnight just long enough for him to have a bath and consume a cup of milk. Sathyaraju faced many obstacles in completing his quest for spiritual enlightenment as there were many skeptics who dismissed the Divine's play as a child's game for fame and name. He was harassed in various ways, yet Sathyaraju was never distracted from his intense state of Samadhi.
The Jangama Deva periodically came to Sathyaraju in visitations to protect, guide, encourage and inspire him in his sadhana. After 4 years of intense tapas spent in Samadhi for about 23 hours a day, Sathyaraju, now referred to as Balayogi (boy Yogi) was subsequently initiated into Tapas facing each of the 4 cardinal directions.
On 7th August 1961, upon completion of 12 years of austere Tapas, Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati manifested in their Divine form to confer their blessings upon the young Yogi and named him Shivabalayogi, meaning Lord or Master of Yogis devoted to Lord Shiva and Mother Parvathi.
Lord Shiva then told Shivabalayogi that His life mission would be to arouse the dormant spirituality in people. He would serve mankind by spreading the message of Meditation to all earnest aspirants, and guiding others onto the spiritual path to gain liberation from creation’s illusions.
His Mission and Vision
For the next 3 decades, Shri Shri Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj (Swamiji as He was fondly referred to), tirelessly served the world, travelling to foreign lands far and wide to spread His message of peace through meditation without any discrimination of status, race or religion. His blessings and spiritual teachings found its way to the hearts of earnest spiritual seekers around the world, providing them with peace of mind and serenity of heart in the form of a Divine Father, while gently guiding them onto the Divine path of spirituality.
Swamiji initially resided in Adivarapupeta. As He began touring South India, many ashrams were established in locations such as Bangalore, Ananthapur, Dehradun and many others. Swamiji’s mission also took Him to many countries all over the world, where His spiritual teachings helped alleviate the pain of His disciples and provided a guiding light in their journey towards the Divine Consciousness.
Shri Shri Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj attained Mahasamadhi on 28th March 1994. He explained that the physical body is unimportant to a Yogi and even after dropping the physical form, the Yogi continues granting His benediction to all who earnestly seek His guidance, for healing and enlightenment, through the silence that transcends time and space. Swamiji is one of the greatest Yogis to emerge from the spiritual abode of India and has selflessly devoted Himself for the benefit of humanity.
