50th Tapas Anniversary, Bangalore, Dehradun, Adivarapupeta

The new idol of Swamiji installed

in the temple at the Bangalore ashram.

Bangalore   August 7th program this year at Bangalore was celebrated with bhajans, homa, abhishekam and annadanam (mass feeding). Many devotees were in bhava samadhi.  The special events this year were the consecration of a new temple to Five-Faced Hanuman (panchamukhi hanuman), a project undertaken by Mr. Doraiswami, one of the ashram trustees, and the installation of a new marble statue (murthy) of Shivabalayogi inside the temple on its south side.

The new statue was undertaken by two Bangalore devotees who noticed that many people coming to the temple did know about Swamiji. They come just to see the gods. So Mr. Mohan and Mr. Madhu, as well as Mr. K. B. Vishwanath, the working Chairman of the Bangalore Trust, wanted people to know that this is an ashram and who is Swamiji. Mr. Vishwanath proposed the idea to the Bangalore trustees who supported the idea.

Mr. Viswanath and his wife Smt. K. Accava Viswanath graciously donated the entire cost of of the sculpture. The statue has been installed in the place where Swamiji used to sit during temple functions.

The chief guest this year was Justice M. N. Venkatachalaiah, retired Chief Justice of India. He spoke to the crowd after the homa and described how he has known Shivabalayogi since the 1960’s. A former trustee of the Bangalore Trust, he spent a great deal of time with Swamiji, often not leaving his ashram until very late at night. In those early years at the original Bannerghatta Road ashram, Swamiji got very frustrated with all the difficulties the devotees were suffering. When Swamiji threatened to leave Bangalore for good, Justice Venkatachalaiah helped convince Swamiji to stay and helped him obtain the present ashram site.

Baba Shivarudrabalayogi from Dehradun also addressed the devotees after the homa, assuring them, as he has in Adivarapupeta during Mahashivaratri, that Shivabalayogi continues to work through bhava samadhi. He made no mention of his emergency appeal over the internet on July 17 asking devotees to complain about encroachments at the Dehradun ashram, and Baba’s own threat to fast until death. Very few devotees in Bangalore know about this emergency appeal by Baba.

Dehradun  A group of fifteen to twenty long-time devotees of Swamiji gathered in General Hanut Singh’s home at the Dehradun ashram on August 7th to celebrate the 50th tapas anniversary with meditation, kirtan (bhajans) and bandhara (annadanam). We understand that programs will continue monthly at the General’s house.

The homa and programs in the main Dehradun ashram concluded by reading a prepared message from Baba. You can read more about this function at Baba's website, http://www.shivarudrabalayogi.org.

Adivarapupeta   This year, Miss K. Yashoda invited devotees to celebrate the 50th tapas anniversary with a 48 day meditation retreat at the Adivarapupeta ashram, ending on August 7th. Two devotees, one from Bangalore and another from Delhi, joined on June 20th; others joined later. After his return, the Bangalore devotee described how his daily meditation increased to twelve hours, some days eighteen hours. He said he became able to communicate with cows, snakes and other animals around the ashram.

The day before the anniversary, Miss Yashoda organized a procession with a huge picture of Swamiji through the streets of nearby Draksharam and Ramachandrapuram.

We hope to have photos and more information to you in our next Shivabalayogi Currents report.