Diwali Experience

On the day of Diwali (13 Nov, 2012), having celebrated the evening with friends, I came back to my house and was sitting on the bed in the pooja room, when on seeing Swamiji's photo, I kind of complained to my wife that Swamiji gives experiences to so many people but he has never given me an experience even though I had been initiated over a year ago and have been doing one hour of dhyan every day. I forgot about the casual remark made and carried on with other activities and went to sleep thereafter.

In the wee hours of the morning I  was suddenly overcome by a force which pulled all my attention to the bhrikuti (point between brows) and my body went into an euphoria. I had a feeling that Swamiji was around. Then a distinct and clearly audible human voice started chanting Om. I could not see Swamiji but could sense him around and the human voice was distinctly continuously chanting Om. I soon pulled out of the sensation but was zoomed into the same state again. This happened three or four times. I can only thank and wonder at the magnanimity of our beloved Swamiji.

-- Harminder

Hari Shreeyam Experiences

Namaste.

I have had a dream vision several months ago where I met Shivabalayogi. I have been familiar with him for years. I think about ten years ago I was sent vibhuti from his Mahasamadhi shrine. I would very much like to have some more if that is possible.

I first started my spiritual practe in yoga at age ten when I received my first shaktipat. I went through about ten years of automatic kriyas, mantras, etc., before reeiving another shaktipat from Swami Mukhtananda two years after he took mahasamadhi. He came as a ball of brilliant white light one night into my room, took me out of my body and gave me shaktipat again. Again I went through automatic kriyas - the bandhas, prnayama, hearing Om, seeing the various lights and sounds of nada.

I practiced at that time between four and six hours a day. I also did a three year mahamantra tapasya with the MahaMrytujaya Mantra. After three years Shiva appeared to me in a Golden Body and spoke to me and said he would grant my wish (but I'm not sure which one he was talking about).

My main devotional practice has been for the last six years shanting the Chandipat (the whole book - 400 pages). When I first committed to worshipping the Goddes Chandi this way she appeared to me smacked my face and said: "What are you doing here?" She initated me with the smack and instructed me with her question as to what I must answer inside myself. The practice has been very successful.

I have deep spiritual experiences on a regular basis and this last January when in Vajeshwari/Ganeshpuri I met a Nath who gave me diksha into the Nath order in the Vajeshwari Temple. While there I sat in meditation as the Chandipat was being chanted by the Brahmins and I could see out my third eye/forehead and I saw the Goddess Bahglamuki enter about ten feet from me through one of the doors. She was dressed in brilliant yellow with a pointed hat. Thereafter I have also had a vision of her coming to me and introducing me to her sisters.

Since then is when I have had the dream vision of Shivabalayogi and understand I am connected to him and have to develop this connection.

Swamiji's Treasure

A young man of 23 here in Fairfield, Iowa, contacted me about a month ago asking to receive Shivabalayogi's initiation.  He had come to Fairfield about five years ago, took the TM initiation, and also the siddhas (an advanced TM initiation), which he had been practicing until . . .

About a year ago he was at the Fairfield library and saw this big book called "Swamiji's Treasure." He took it home and read it very quickly.  Within a very short time, he was doing Swamiji's meditation took Swamiji as his Guru. He has watched all the videos of Shivabalayogi on YouTube and read everything about Swamiji available online.

He knew Swamiji was his Guru, but wanted to "seal the contract" by receiving the actual initiation from one of Swamiji's devotees. He looked online and saw my name in Fairfied and made the contact. The initiation took place at my home on January 25, 2013.

He lives a very simple, reclusive life here, meditating at least 4 hours daily.

Birthday Darshan

I spent the day of Swamiji's Birthday (January 24, 2013) quietly at home.  Late afternoon I sat to meditate and I asked Swamiji if Swamiji would come to me in a dream that night for Birthday Darshan.  It then came to my mind so clearly, that I DID receive Swamiji's Darshan early morning of the 24th in a deep sleep  . . .

"I was in the back of a huge auditorium with a large stage, waiting for Swamiji to appear on the stage where Swamiji's Darshan would begin.  There were thousands of people lined up waiting to go up for Darshan.  I was standing by myself in the back with no one else around.  I turned my head and there Swamiji was standing by himself.  I went to Swamiji and Swamiji said "Namaste Sally" and I replied "Namaste Swamiji".  I then went to my knees and placed my hands and forehead on Swamiji's feet (Swamiji was wearing some type of red bootie socks.  Swamiji then slipped off these socks and put His bare feet back under my forehead.  I continued on my knees holding Swamiji's Holy Feet with my hands for a very long time.  My mind was without thought, and my heart filled with the most incredible joy . . . "

After remembering this dream and Swamiji's darshan, it was so clear to me that this truly was Shivabalayogi physically coming to me.  Why:  Since meeting Swamiji in 1987.....and to this day, all I have ever truly wanted was to always and forever be at His Holy Feet of Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaji....to hold on and never let go.  What else is important in this life

— Sally

Serious Sadhana (Spiritual Practice)

Shivabalayogi in London, around 1990.

From Nick Black in London:

I’ve been a meditator for 35 years, followed yogic spiritual practice very seriously and intently for a long, long time. But like many of my generation, I tended to fall for spiritual groups and leaders who in the end turned a little toxic. So I’ve gone my own way for some time. Being a journalist and writer, I kept a good eye out for all the minutiae of eastern spiritual movements, plus being a jyotish astrologer in my spare time. But for some strange reason, Shivabalayogi never appeared on the radar screen in all those years.

Earlier this year I completed an exhausting, very tiring nine-day recitation of the Devi Mahatyam/Chandi Path for Navarartri. Doing that is a bit like pulling teeth.  My mind, body and senses rebelled. Serious sadhana is a sort of give-away title for tapas, if you think about it. Little did I know what was to happen next! The very day after I’d finished it, the boon came: the Master appeared.

I kept having visions in meditation of a matted hair Yogi of beautiful aspect, leading me in meditation, encouraging to deepen practice . . . my meditations increased to an hour, to two hours, so that on weekends I’d manage five hours at a stretch all under the influence of the matted hair inner Yogi. He told me to put ash on my head and so I started doing that.

The experiences continue in full and delicate force and are unlike anything I’ve ever really known even after all this time on the yogic path. He is shimmering always, either as a sort of protective body casing or, this is hard to explain, twinkling in a miniature form in the sahasara crown chakra. Believe me I know the difference between fantasy and reality, and such experiences are just too overwhelming concrete to ignore.

Then a few weeks ago I was in a bookshop and came across a copy of Gen. Singh’s biography of Shivabalayogi (Spiritual Ministration, see http://www.handloom.org/Books_main.html) and you can probably guess what happened next! I realized this was the matted hair Yogi who had been visiting.  I’ve known lots of spiritual teachers and ways of being, but this was like a death and a birth. Death of all the clutter, the old me, the old ways of relating. Birth of something truly wonderful.

Shri Swamiji passes power to his devotees

to do tapas. Shri Swamiji is with a person

who completed five years of tapas.

What happened and happens is that the great Yogi revealed himself in astral form, took over my body in a very literal sense, and forcibly pulled my body and eyes to meditate with the attention on what Indian tradition calls the bhikruti, the third eye. No choice about it! I sit, “POW” comes the great Yogi, locks my body and mind and sight, and deep we go . . .

This is happening day in, day out. I’m in absolute bliss, hard to describe, just overwhelmed with gratitude and the reality of this sea-change in life.

It’s very strange that I missed him completely all these years. I can only say I wasn’t ready, that things happen at their own time and space, and that there is such an element of destiny. How can I love and revere this person whom I never met, and yet whom I have and who is with me so intimately.

The Shivabalayogi websites, the books, the You Tube videos are like nectar at present. There are some fantastic performances in the kirtans available for download. [http://www.handloom.org/Bhajans_Home.htm] I imagine, however, the bhava experiences raised some controversy. I can see how they could be manipulated. That’s a whole other thing happening… my hands and body get thrown into all sorts of positions when I watch Swamiji on You Tube or listen to the kirtans. I cannot thank you enough for putting all this out there. I’m in that odd stage where everything moves me to tears, it’s so profoundly beautiful.  So… thanks so much!

I’ve got a blog called Serious Sadhana, found on http://serioussadhana.blogspot.com/

Swamiji's Smiling Face: from Bangalore to Adivarapupeta

from Sudarshan Reddy Balakrishna:

As usual, Sunday evening bhajans were going on at the Bangalore ashram (July 31). I was sitting with the bhajan group enjoying the bhajans. Suddenly I felt an urge to do meditation. I went aside and sat for meditation. Few minutes passed by in meditation, then all of a sudden I went into deep meditation. My body was reacting differently, like how it will react when you get fever. It was like that. Then I was seeing a face in front of me.

In the midst of that experience I got a bit disturbed and wanted to remove it. I tried shaking my head with eyes still closed, thinking if I shake my head it will go away, but it was of no use. Then I recognized the face as Swamiji’s, eyes half open and smiling a bit. It was almost round in shape. This continued to be there for about 5-10 minutes before it vanished. Then my body became normal and bhajans also got over and I came out of meditation.

The experience was so refreshing. I was so happy for having Swamiji's darshan in meditation. I almost felt like saying loudly to everyone that I had Swamiji’s darshan in meditation today. I wanted to dance in joy.

Exactly six days later I was in Adivarapupeta for the 50th tapas anniversary celebration. I went to Swamiji’s Samadhi. As soon as I entered my attention was driven to a photo kept there. To my surprise I was seeing the same Smamiji’s face in the photo which I had seen in my mediation six days earlier: the same face, with eyes half open and smiling.

Phanisree: Divine Light & Darshan

I am Phanisree, Swamiji’s devotee from the Adivarapupeta ashram.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary function of the divine guru, Sri Shivabalayogi Maharaj, some of his devotees gathered in Adivarapupeta ashram on June 21, 2011 and meditated ten hours a day for 48 days, until August 6. During this period, on July 16 while I was making a flower garland for Goddess Parvati, I saw a divine light emerging from the flowers. The light was powerful. The divine light engulfed the surroundings of the ashram. I felt that Swamiji was blessing the meditation program by passing his divine power.

On August 5 and 6, a special chariot procession was arranged through the streets of Ramachandrapuram, Draksharama and Adivarapupeta. On the evening of August 5, Swamiji’s picture with a white colored shawl was placed on the dais of the decorated chariot. The procession started in the streets of Draksharama and continued to Adivarapupeta. As the procession moved towards the ashram, I saw Swamiji wearing a blue colored shawl giving his darshan to me and the people around me. He was waving his hand towards us. I felt that it was nothing other than his physical body. I  felt Swamiji’s energy and his spiritual currents passing into my body. As soon as I saw his physical body, I was amazed. I felt tears of joy and entered into the state of euphoria.

The next two days, August 6 and 7, I also experienced the same divine energy. In fact my experience cannot be expressed in words. On August 7, I felt that Swamiji entered into each and every devotee and was doing all the preparations for the mass feeding. Each and every program on that day was also very special and powerful. I remembered the olden days when Swamiji was with his physical body.

Nooka Raju: Adivarapupeta Meditation & Darshan

From Nooka Raju, headmaster of the school in Kakinada:

I used to visit every weekend to do service at the Adivarapupeta ashram. On August 5, I applied for leave and went to the ashram to participate in the chariot procession in Draksharama. I also stayed in the ashram for meditation. Suddenly I could sit in meditation for four hours continuously and I had a nice vision of Swamiji with lightning, as it would appear before rain.

In Drakshrama the procession was ready to start. Vibuthi from the Samadhi was applied to Swamiji’s photo, A coconut was broken, camphor was burned and arthi was given to Swamiji. The drummers started beating, dancers started their dance, and fire crackers exploded. The chariot moved from the place where it had been standing and started moving forwards. A powerful vibration engulfed the atmosphere. Attracted by Swamiji’s divine power, people pressed their palms together and bowed.

C.H. Satyavathi, Draksharama, Swamiji's Darshan

I am C. H. Satyavathi from Draksharama. I attended celebrations in Adivarapupeta for the 50th tapas anniversary of Sri Swamiji.

On 5th August, there was a procession with Shri Swamiji’s photo carried in a chariot from the ashram through Adivarapupeta.  I was waiting for the procession to enter Adivarapupeta, near the Neerelamma temple.  As the procession entered slowly, I got a shock seeing Shri Swamiji in his real, human form in the chariot. I had tears in my eyes and my heart started thumping. I started running towards the chariot to hold Sri Swamiji’s feet and do namaskar [bow]. Seeing my state a lady near me took hold of my hand and stopped me from running towards Swamiji. She said it was only a photo of Swamiji. But she also had darshan of Swamiji. In the photo, Shri Swamiji was wearing a white shawl, but the Shri Swamiji who gave darshan to both of us wore a blue shawl. His face was smiling and he waved his hands towards us. It was not a dream. We could really see Sri Swamiji sitting in the chariot.  We were in the middle of the road forgetting our surroundings and not realizing the crowd around us. We were amazed at the darshan we received with our open eyes. In was an experience of a life time. We never expected this type of experience which we received on that day.

The next day we were cutting vegetables at the ashram. But we never felt that we were cutting vegetables or had done any work. We felt Sri Swamiji had entered everybody and he himself was cutting vegetables and doing all the cooking.

I attended the 7th August function and participated in the homa and bhajans. Sri Swamiji’s face was glowing with broad smile greeting everybody. Even while I was ringing the bell in the temple I could see Shri Swamiji in the lingam. The lingam became as wide as Shri Swamiji’s face. I could see Parvati on one side and Lord Shiva with matted hair on the other side of the face of the lingam. I left the bell and did pranam [bow] on the floor feeling shock and happy. When I got up and went close, the lingam appeared as it normally in the ashram.

The mass feeding was a grand thing.  Lots and lots of people were sitting. Normally I used to have sciatica pain in the leg. But that day after the darshan of Swamiji, I never felt pain. I served the large crowd carrying the buckets of blessed food. I was running and doing the service with Swamiji’s power inside me.

During puja at the Samadhi, I saw light emerging from Swamiji’s face. Swamiji was so happy.

Sally Moburg: A Real Dream

July 8, 2004, Ganesh Place

After my early morning meditation, I laid back down at 7:30am, and woke up at 9am, thinking that I should get up. As I lay there somewhat awake, and somewhat still asleep, the following happened/dream:

I was taken to the meditation hall at Indian Valley Retreat Center. We had just finished pada puja to Swamiji in new body. Swamiji then went and sat behind a partition in the hall. That Swamiji then appeared to be sleeping, and I was somewhat embarrassed over this.

In the meditation hall, Swamiji in his original body appeared in the chair. He appeared to be the same age as when he left his body. Swamiji looked so beautiful and happy. On the other side of the partition, (where Swamiji new body sat), Swamiji would laugh, then Swamiji in old body would make the same laugh. This went back and forth for some time.

From the back of the room, I was watching and crying to once again see my Swamiji in his original body. I wanted to go to his feet, but I could not move. Swamiji was talking beautiful English, stopped talking and then said "Oh, I have two of my old devotees here," and called for Geeta and me to come to him. Geeta and I went to Swamiji's knee, our heads on Swamiji's feet. I could not stop crying. Swamiji got up to walk, and put his arms around Geeta's and my shoulders. I kept crying and kissing his beautiful hands, continually saying "I love you."

As we walked among the retreat people, Swamiji stopped, looked at me and said, "What do you want Sally?" For a second, I thought of all the things I could ask for, and then said "I want Swamiji always in my heart." Swamiji smiled and then I actually felt a small thump in my heart, as if Swamiji had actually gone there.

Swamiji kept walking with his arms over Geeta's and my shoulders. I kept kissing Swamiji's hand, and began wondering where Mriganka had gone. She was not there to see what was happening. We walked past the closed bathroom door, with the light on, and I knew that Mriganka was inside. Swamiji gave a rap on the door with his knuckle and said "Mriganka-ji."

We walked further, then turned around. As we walked by the bathroom, Mriganka came out to go back to the meditation hall. She casually gazed over her shoulder at us, and continued walking. I was so surprised that Mriganka was not reacting to see Swamiji in his original from. Then, as if it had finally struck her to see that it was Swamiji, she turned to Swamiji and fell to her knees. In a huge loud voice, with her hands going up in the air, she kept repeating "Balayogi Maharajiki!" Her face was so beautiful and lit up with joy and ecstasy.

The new people in the hall had been silent watching this, wondering who this Swamiji was. They had never met the original body. Then everyone began putting their hands in the air going "Balayogi Maharjiki!" The whole room and devotees were estactic. Swamiji then walked back up to the chair on the stage, smiled and waived goodbye to us as he walked off the stage and behind the curtain.

Note: On July 6, 2004, in my meditation, I had been asking Swamiji for a vision of Swamiji's holy lotus body.

Raj Ahlawat, Tapas Anniversary 1987

I know today Sri Swamiji's fiftieth anniversary tapas day is being celebrated in the Bangalore Ashram with great enthusiasm. Devotees from all over India & various countries are there.

We do recollect celebrating the 7th August function when the Brahma, Maheshwara, Vishnu temple was inaugurated. I would like to share with you my experience.

In end of July of that year, I wrote to Swamiji that I would love to come, but it was not possible as it was the children's study time, very expensive, and many more reasons. However, I was very keen to be there. Matter finished.

Out of the blue, on 4th August, my husband Rajji told me that we are going to the Bangalore Ashram. I was elated. On reaching there on 6th August,we were called to have Swamiji's darshan in his room. The moment he saw me, he had mischievious smile and said, "You were not coming. How did you manage?" I thanked him for his kindness, as I was sure it was his call.