Invitation to Mahaashivaraathri - 2018 Celebrations

at Aadhivaarapupeta

You are invited to celebrate Mahaashivaraathri in Adivarapupeta.

Mahaashivaraathri

Mahaashivaraathri, the Great Night of Shiva, falls on February 13th this year.
It is the main annual function at the Shivabalayogi ashram in Adivarapupeta
- Mother Ashram, the sacred place where the great Yogi of Yogis sat for
almost all of his twelve-year tapas — meditation in samaadhi, the state of
enlightenment.

Mahaashivaraathri is the most auspicious time of year for the presence of Lord
Shiva, Shivabalayogi's Divine Guru, God in the form of a yogi. It is also a
celebration of the presence of Shivabalayogi, a manifestation of Lord Shiva
Himself.

Those who visit the Mother Ashram know his presence there can be felt
physically, just like his own physical body. That presence is even more
profound during the Great Night of Shiva.

Before Shri Swamiji dropped his own physical form, he always returned to
his native village of Adivarapupeta to celebrate Mahaashivaraathri every year.
His presence in that ashram is as important as it is powerful.

Now that Shivabalayogi is in Mahaasamaadhi — the great or ultimate
samaadhi — he gives even more experiences to assure us that he is ever
present. "You need experiences. That is what I give."


The trustees of the Adivarapupeta Ashram Trust and the trustees of Shri 
Shivabalayogi Maharaj International Trust warmly invite you to experience and
celebrate the profound blessings of the Great Night of Shiva in
Adivarapupeta.

There is never any charge for His blessings!

Invitation to Mahaashivarathri-2017 from Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj International Trust

Shivabalayogi in New England.

Video of Shivabalayogi and meditation programs in New England taken in 1990 by Peter Morales and re-edited by Tom Palotas.
As he leaves one program, Swamiji talks about being eaten by insects and rodents. He refers to his tapas, meditation in samadhi for 23 hours each day, in a field, a graveyard by tropical rice paddies, his body bitten and nibbled upon as his consciousness remained immersed in enlightenment. By one count, he endured seven cobra bites. He only felt the agony when he resumed ordinary awareness for one hour each night.
Swamiji often praised his mother, Tapaswiji Maharaj, and a handful of early devotees who helped keep his body alive during 12 years of continuous austerities, from age 14 to 26.
Swamiji always paid respect to gods and yogis. Two of these programs were at Zen centers with idols of Buddha. As was his custom, Swamiji would pause before the idol and communicate with the god or yogi, and in these two instances, with Lord Buddha.
Swamiji often said Buddha's tapas was more difficult because Buddha grew up as a prince in comfort, yet his body suffered just like Swamiji's. By comparison, Swamiji grew up as a poor villager knowing hardships.

Invitation to Mahaashivarathri-2016 from Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj International Trust

Hanut Singh

Hanut Singh, revered by those who knew him as one of Shivabalayogi's most senior and respected devotees, and a great saint in his own right, completed his earthly life of almost eighty-two years on Friday, April 10, 2015.

Since taking Shivabalayogi's initiation in 1968, Lt. Gen. Hanut Singh Rathore (ret.) practiced meditation daily without fail during front-line service in wartime (see World Peace) and throughout his active service as a senior officer in the Indian army. Even in later years as his health deteriorated, General Hanut insisted upon maintaining his meditation practice.

General Hanut's passing matched his spiritual greatness. This last Friday during his regular meditation, General Sahib simply remained in samadhi, his body and head erect. After some twenty hours in samadhi, his soul left his body.

True mahatmas, the great spiritual souls, often remain out of the public eye. General Hanut was such a spiritual giant. He avoided public controversies, and rather than talking about spiritual matters, he quietly practiced them. Yet his contribution to Shivabalayogi's devotees is immense.

Those who have read a book about Shivabalayogi and been inspired, should know that it was General Hanut who put together and wrote the first comprehensive book on Swamiji,  Shri Shri Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj, Life & Spiritual Ministration, which was the basis for all other books written on Swamiji.

Read more about General Hanut
at the Shivabalayogi website.

If anyone has had the opportunity to visit the Shivabalayogi ashram in Dehradun, it was General Hanut who was largely responsible for preserving it for Swamiji's mission. It was Shivabalayogi's idea that Gen. Hanut should build his retirement cottage on the ashram grounds. Shri Swamiji would spend a few weeks each year at the Dehradun ashram, but when the great Yogi was away, General Hanut's presence, his encouragement for Seenu Dixitar, the ashram caretaker, and a degree of financial support, and the General's own intense spiritual practice all helped preserve the ashram for over two decades. One can only suspect that this was Shivabalayogi's plan.

During the uncertainty and confusion after Shivabalayogi's own mahasamadhi, when Seenu was compelled to sit for five years of meditation in the Dehradun ashram, it was General Hanut who supported and protected him, enabling Seenu to assume the name and role of Shivarudrabalayogi.

Through the example and devotion of General Hanut, many other Indian army officers came to Shivabalayogi and became not only devotees, but sincere sadhakas, those who practice sadhana — meditation. They would spend time with Shivabalayogi at the Dehradun ashram and helped organize devotees' excursions to visit Badrinath and Kedarnath in the Himalayas and bathe in the Ganges.

Those who know a little about this great saint should will surely be inspired by his example. Shivabalayogi's only teaching was to encourage the daily practice of meditation. Shivabalayogi has many devotees, but few were able to take his teaching to heart. General Hanut was universally respected as one such committed devotee.

Certainly, all Shivabalayogi devotees owe a large debt of gratitude to the great soul who lived the life of General Hanut Singh.

Ahalya, Anjana Devi, Vali, Sugreeva and Hanuman

Parts of this story are narrated in the Ramayana, but somehow no one seems to link them. I am just doing that. Swamiji confirmed parts of this story.

Ahalya was sage Gautama’s wife. She was famous for her beauty all over the worlds. Anjana Devi was the daughter of Gautama and Ahalya.

The Sun god was enchanted by the beauty of Ahalya. Being a ‘Kaamaroopi’ – one who can take any form as per one’s will - he took the form of Sage Gautama when the sage was not at the ashram and made love to Ahalya. Ahalya consented as she mistook him to be her husband. Vali was born to the Sun god and Ahalya. It was only when the Sage returned to the ashram later that Ahalya realized she was tricked. Indra, the king of Gods, was also enchanted by Ahalya’s beauty and played the same trick as the Sun god. Sugreeva was born of this relationship. Anjana Devi who was a child by then understood that her mother was cheated by Sun god and Indra. Sage Gautama was not aware of the cheating and took Vali and Sugreeva to be his children and all the three children were growing up together.

Once, Sage Gautama set off on a trip along with his family. It was midday when they were to cross the Thunga-Bhadra river. Sage Gouthama was carrying the two boys Vali and Sugreeva on his shoulders and his wife Ahalya and daughter Anjana Devi were following him. The sand on the banks of the river was hot from the sun and burnt little Anjana Devi’s feet as they had to walk quite some distance on it before actually getting into the waters. Unable to bear the heat, she suddenly shouted at her father, “Father, this is not fair. You have left me - your own child - to walk on the hot sand and you are carrying Vali and Sugreeva – who are not even born of you - on your shoulders. You seem to love them more than you love me.”

Anjana Devi’s revelation shocked and enraged the Sage. He threw both the little children into the waters of the river saying, “If they are my children, they will return to me. If not, they will turn into monkeys and get washed away into the forest.” Cursed thus, the two brothers were washed ashore, turned into monkeys and grew up to be the rulers of the monkeys in the forests on the banks of the river Thunga-Bhadra, which were part of the ‘Dandakaaranya’.

Ahalya was grieved by the separation of her two sons from her and cursed her daughter Anjana Devi saying, “You failed in preserving the secret of your mother and it is because of you that my children have turned into monkeys and have been separated from me. Let your child too turn into a monkey.”

The Sage, in his anger, cursed his wife Ahalya to turn into a stone as she behaved unintelligent as a stone. Ahalya fell on her husband’s feet and asked for forgiveness pleading innocence saying it was not her fault, but she was cheated by the gods. Finally, Gautama took pity on her and said, “My curse will come true. You will turn into a stone, but you will regain your human form when Lord Rama’s feet touch you.”

Later, when Anjana Devi was married to Kesari, Hanuman was born to her. But, due to his own grandmother’s curse, he was either born as a monkey or turned into one. That should explain why Hanuman is called ‘Aanjaneya’, ‘Anjani Putra’ as well as ‘Kesari Nandhana’. We know that he is the son of the Wind God (see box below) – ‘Vayuputhra’, ‘Vaathaathmaja’. Apparently, Hanuman the monkey, went and lived with his uncles Vali and Sugreeva who were also monkeys and ruled the monkeys with the city of ‘Kishkindha’ as their capital. Swamiji confirmed that a village by the name of Anegundi, close to Hosapet in Karnataka about 100 Kms from Bellary, was the birth place of Hanuman when HH visited Hosapet. When I Googled for Anegundi, I found there is a trust named Kishkindha Trust near this village.

Evidently, all this happened before Lord Rama, at the age of 16 years, set out to the forests along with Sage Vishwamitra and his younger brother Laxmana to help protect the yagna from Thaataki the lady demon and other rakshasas including Mareecha and Subahu. It was on that trip that Lord Rama’s feet touched the stone that was the cursed Ahalya and she regained her beautiful human form.

People tell us that when Hanuman saw Lord Shri Rama roaming in the forest much later, after Sita was kidnapped by Raavana, he did not know Rama. I can’t believe that because Rama was the one, the mere touch of whose feet turned Ahalya - his grandmother, from a stone back to human form. Hanuman’s grandfather – Sage Gauthama was a devotee of Rama (even before Rama was born) as were several other sages and knew all about him. Therefore, Hanuman was a third-generation devotee of Lord Rama - like some of us whose grandfathers and/or grandmothers were Swamiji - Shivabalayogi’s devotees.

Hanuman is an 'amsha' of Lord Shiva

This is a story related by Swamiji – Shri Shri Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj to me Dasari Jagadish Kumar.

When Lord Shri Rama, Mother Sita and Laxmana returned to Ayodhya from Sri Lanka along with Hanuman, the citizens received them with immense joy. Then there were celebrations all over for several days for Lord Shri Rama’s coronation. Mother Sita was so pleased with all the love and respect she received from them that she wanted to host a meal for all the citizens in return. Lord Rama agreed to her proposal and she started preparing for the massive event. Hanuman supported her through all the activities of procuring the groceries and making all the arrangements working hard day and night. Mother Sita was very pleased with Hanuman’s service. She was already grateful for all the help she received from Hanuman over the past few months and was looking for an opportunity to express it. Finally, when the food was ready and the citizens were arriving to have the meal, she felt that Hanuman must be very hungry. She was concerned that Hanuman will get busy in serving the guests and he may not get the chance to eat for a long time. Besides, she wanted to serve him herself as he was like her child. She asked him to be seated and have his meal first and offered to serve him.

Hanuman obeyed mother Sita and sat down to have the meal. As she served the food one dish after the other, Hanuman kept eating. To her surprise, she found that Hanuman did not appear satiated. He kept on eating. He was eating so much that that she started wondering if he would eat all the stuff that was cooked for the thousands of citizens. She started worrying but could not stop serving him. She excused herself and ran to Lord Rama and explained her fear to him. Lord Rama asked her, “Who do you think Hanuman is? He is an ‘amsha’ of Lord Shiva. Therefore, any amount of either food or any material stuff - however precious will not satisfy him. The only thing that satisfies him is devotion.” Mother Sita agreed, “I thought he was your obedient devotee and I consider him my child. Thanks for disclosing who he really is. But please tell me how to satiate him now. Otherwise I will be in trouble. We will have to start procuring all the groceries and begin cooking again and the citizens won’t be able to wait for long.” Lord Rama responded, “Sita, you will have to prostrate to Hanuman to satiate him. But, because he also considers and respects you as his mother, he won’t tolerate it if he sees you prostrate to him. Prostrate to him from behind him so he does not see you, and pray to him.” Mother Sita rushed back, and quietly prostrated to Hanuman from behind him and prayed to him, “My lord, forgive my ignorance. I realize who you are now. It is my mistake to think that I could feed you enough to satiate you.” Within a few moments, Hanuman burped and got up saying, “Mother, I had enough of this wonderful food. Thanks. Let me now make sure that all the guests are served properly. They must be waiting.”