Chapter - 5: Siva Appears in human form🔗

Nithyananda says:

‘Enlightenment is not an end by itself. It is just the beginning of a spiritual journey. It is the threshold of a longer path, not a destination’.

We have talked about incarnations in earlier pages. Enlightened spirits, who do not need to be reborn as a result of their accumulated samskara, still reincarnate on planet Earth. They do not need to be born again, unlike ordinary mortals, since they have dissolved all their vasanas, samskaras, and karmas. As we read earlier, our carried-over desires and mental attitudes, based on our past actions, cause rebirth and the cycle of life and death. Once this karmic load is extinguished, and enlightenment results, this cycle stops. An enlightened being has no automatic rebirth.

It is true that in other locations in this Universe of ours, living beings with intelligence exist. However, it is only from planet Earth that a conscious being can proceed towards enlightenment, which is the state of superconsciousness. Enlightened beings come back to planet Earth as incarnations, based on a need expressed by Existence. They are recalled, as it were, and sucked back as energy by a desperate need upon this planet for their presence. The spiritual positivism of enlightened beings is needed to counteract the accumulated negativity of the planet.

It is in this context that Krishna announced in the Bhagavad Gita: Age after age, I shall be reborn upon this planet Earth, to protect the good and to eliminate the evil.

Enlightened beings have no free will, none at all. On the contrary, we, ordinary mortals, do have free will and use it. This is an irony of sorts. Human beings can actually choose to do what they want, and accumulate burdens of samskara and karma based on actions arising out of their free will. It is nature's way of making us responsible for our actions. Once we evolve spiritually, we understand more about the joy and freedom of surrendering our free will to the universe. By giving up the free will, which we understand in our limited way as freedom, we acquire true freedom, liberation. Surrendering one's free will to the divine is the last step in the process of one's enlightenment.

This surrender of free will is complete in an enlightened being. It is surrender and intellectual acceptance of all that is true; that divinity is resident within; that one's true nature is divine. In addition, it is the emotional acceptance of the divine within oneself; not just the intellectual understanding from the head, as it were, but the heartfelt emotional identification with that divinity within as well. Finally, it is a surrender of the senses; a complete acceptance through one's sensory perceptions to see reality as it is, not the way one's mind would want to interpret this reality. At this stage, one would be able to perceive the formless beyond the seen form, and accept the formless as divine. One would at this stage move and flow with the universe as the universe intends, with no intention of free will.

Enlightened beings have already surrendered to the universe; intellectually, emotionally and through their senses. They have no longer the freedom to do what they wish. Whatever they do is directed by the Universe, the Divine. Enlightened beings are fully aware of their own inner divinity and this awareness drives every one of their actions. Their mission in life is dictated by the universal intelligence.

Master says to us often:

'To all of you, 'God' is just a concept; and 'I' is reality. To me, 'God' is reality; God is a real experience and 'I' a mere concept; it is not real.'

The very first awareness of His own inner nature, His very first brush with His incarnated being, and the first revelation of His life's mission, happened to nithyananda when he met Arunagiri Yogiswara, when he was about nine years of age.

Within the temple of Arunachala in Tiruvannamalai, at the rear of the main structure housing the shrine of the deity Arunachaleshwara, is the jiva samadhi, the burial place or crypt, of Arunagiri Yogiswara.

Arunagiri Yogiswara is considered to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva himself. Without knowing why, nithyananda was attracted to the location of Arunagiri Yogiswara's jiva samadhi during his growing years, and started spending a lot of his time there inside the Arunachala temple. nithyananda took to sitting in front of the jiva samadhi of Arunagiri Yogiswara.

One day, as nithyananda was sitting on this spot, he saw a handsome young man emerge from a dark corner of this jiva samadhi. This young man came up to him and started talking to him. nithyananda found him to be quite different from the other ascetics whom he used to meet in and around the temple. Though he too was dressed in a saffron cloth wrapped around his waist, like most other ascetics, this young man seemed very different, distinguished and well built. He long hair was worn loose, he wore a garland of rudraksha beads on his neck (the holy beads worn by mendicants and ascetics), and wore vibhuti bhasma (sacred white ash) on his forehead.

nithyananda did not remember what the two of them talked about, except that the interaction left a profoundly blissful impression upon him. It also created a great longing in him to meet this young man again. As the young man was about to leave, nithyananda asked him whether he could see him again and if so, when. The young man said, ‘Come here whenever you wish. Call me if you wish to see and talk to me, and I shall come to you.’

nithyananda started coming to this place everyday without fail. Once he reached the jiva samadhi, he would call out, ‘Swami, Swami’, and the young man would emerge smiling. nithyananda lost himself in talking to him. It was as if he were a part of himself. He found himself filled with bliss and comfort. They talked for hours day after day. Since very few people came to this spot in the temple, they were left alone most of the time.

nithyananda asked the young man what his name was. The young man told him that his name was Arunagiri Yogiswara. nithyananda at that time had no idea who Arunagiri Yogiswara was and did not recognize the name. Arunagiri Yogiswara became his hero, idol and inspiration. nithyananda was convinced that Arunagiri Yogiswara was what he wanted to be when he grew up. Everything about the young man was magnetic and enchanting.

nithyananda’s attachment for the young man was so strong that he could not wait to see him in the mornings. He would rise very early in the mornings and leave home immediately for the temple and the jiva samadhi. When his mother became curious as to why he was leaving so early in the mornings, as nithyananda was never very fond of going to school, he gave her excuses saying that he had special classes to attend at school. What nithyananda felt with this young man was an indescribable joy of spirit.

Later on when talking to us, the Master described the experience he had with Arunagiri Yogiswara using the metaphor of two birds, from Mundaka Upanishad, an ancient Hindu scripture:

Two birds were sitting on a large fruit-bearing tree that had many branches. One of the birds was a golden-hued bird with a lovely plumage. It had a serene calmness about it and was perched silently upon one of the upper branches, which had fewer fruits. It spent most of its time unmoving, showing no interest in the fruits around it. The second bird was smaller and livelier; this bird was always restless and kept jumping from one branch to another branch searching for fruits to eat.

The second bird felt very happy when it tasted sweet fruits and chirped happily. When it came across a bitter or sour fruit, which was often, it made irritated noises and looked unhappy. The more the bitter fruits it tasted, the more sorrowful this bird became. It said to itself that there was no joy in these fruits and there was no joy at all in living like this.

It then looked up and saw the blissful golden bird perched above, sitting in silence, calm and relaxed. The golden bird seemed to light up the entire tree. The smaller bird flew up to look at the golden bird more closely. On the way up, it saw some juicy fruits and it stopped to peck at them. The fruits were tasty and it settled down to eat more. Then some fruits were bitter, and some sour, and it grew disappointed. It looked up and saw the golden bird again, calm, happy, and relaxed. It moved up again.

It flitted up and down, right and left. Each time it saw the golden bird, it would fly up closer; then it would stop to taste a fruit that first tasted sweet, only to taste bitter and sour fruits as it stayed on to eat more.

Finally, it reached the treetop where the golden bird was perched. It looked at the bird up close and was startled to find that the golden bird was none other than its own self. It went closer and closer, becoming happier and more relaxed. The smaller bird felt a deep connection with the golden hued bird. It was love; not falling in love, but rising in love. Soon it lost its own identity and merged with the golden bird.

nithyananda's feelings were similar though he could not have described his feelings with similar words as in the Upanishad at that time. It was his inner self-realization that was his link with this person to whom he was attracted so strongly for no reason. It was as if he saw himself, his own Self, in the young stranger, who no longer seemed a stranger.

Arunagiri Yogiswara was the first person who helped nithyananda develop a conscious experience of himself. Through his discussions with him, he made nithyananda look beyond his external self. Even though he was still no more than a child, nithyananda felt the stirrings of the need to look within and explore more deeply his own existence, without quite knowing why and how.

nithyananda took to wandering all over the Arunachala hill with Arunagiri Yogiswara, who took him to places the boy had never been before. One day, they reached a point that seemed a dead end, beyond which there seemed no path. However, as they continued to walk, a new path seemed to open up in front of them and they kept going further. In the distance, they saw a huge banyan tree. As they reached closer, they could see several older people seated under the tree.

nithyananda and Arunagiri Yogiswara reached the banyan tree and sat amongst the other people already assembled there. All of them greeted the young man deferentially and with love. Arunagiri Yogiswara introduced nithyananda to all the others and they all seemed very happy to meet this young boy. All of them were dressed in saffron robes similar to what Arunagiri Yogiswara wore. All the older people sat around Arunagiri Yogiswara, who was far younger, and listened to him respectfully, as disciples would to a Master.

To his surprise, nithyananda did not feel out of place here at all, amongst far older people and still being treated as an equal. For the first time, nithyananda felt the sheer beauty of the saffron robes and experienced a strong desire to wear one himself.

nithyananda asked Arunagiri Yogiswara whether he too could have a saffron robe to wear. Arunagiri Yogiswara gave the boy a saffron robe, similar to what all of them were wearing, and nithyananda put it on immediately. Nithyananda still preserves and treasures that saffron cloth that Arunagiri Yogiswara gave him that day, many years ago, under the banyan tree. This saffron robe, which is now at the Bidadi ashram, is proof that all that happened then was not a dream or a figment of the young boy's imagination, but the truth.

‘What is this place, where are we?’ he asked the young Master. Arunagiri Yogiswara said that this was his ashram, his home, the place where he taught. nithyananda then asked him, ‘Then how do you manage to come so quickly, when I call you at the temple, at the burial place?’ Arunagiri Yogiswara said, ‘That is no problem, I can reach you fast.’

By evening that day, Arunagiri Yogiswara brought the boy back to the temple. nithyananda continued to see him every day. The boy did not feel that there was anything extraordinary or mysterious about this young man, who was a teacher to others and an ascetic, a yogi, who seemed to be on a spiritual pursuit. To nithyananda, Arunagiri Yogiswara was like any other ascetic, only younger and one he could relate with comfortably. He took with him the saffron robe that he had given him, and carefully kept it with his clothes at home.

Some days later, nithyananda’s mother saw the robe amongst his clothes and asked him about it. She wanted to know where he got it from and who gave it to him and why. nithyananda said that a young yogi whom he met in the temple gave him the robe and she did not pursue the subject. A few days later nithyananda showed the robe to Kuppammal, his mentor. She too asked him as to who gave him the robe. nithyananda responded saying that it was Arunagiri Yogiswara who gave him the robe.

Kuppammal was taken aback. She retorted saying that Yogiswara would not give such a robe to nithyananda unless he were to accept the boy as a disciple. She then wanted to know how and where the boy had met him. nithyananda said he regularly met him near the burial place at the rear of the temple. Kuppammal felt that nithyananda was not telling her everything. She asked nithyananda to take her to the place and show her Arunagiri Yogiswara. Innocently, nithyananda took her to the spot where he normally met Arunagiri Yogiswara and called out, 'Swami, Swami'. However, there was no response this time. Normally he would come out as soon as he called him.

Kuppammal laughed at the boy's discomfiture. She asked, 'How will he come out? Where can he come out from? There is no place for anyone to stay here. Show me!'

The boy walked to the spot that Arunagiri Yogiswara normally came out from, which he had assumed was the entrance to a cave-like enclosure. nithyananda was startled to find that there was no opening at all at that spot. There was only a stone slab there, covering whatever lay behind, and there was a figure sculpted on that stone slab. That figure looked uncannily like Arunagiri Yogiswara whom he used to meet every day.

Shocked, confused, and frightened, nithyananda started to cry. He had no idea what was happening. Kuppammal, contrary to her normal understanding and acceptance of whatever the boy said, would neither accept nor understand what he was trying to say. Perhaps she did understand but could not accept that she understood, or explain what was happening. nithyananda was weeping uncontrollably.

Kuppammal asked, 'How did he look? What did he do? Where did he take you? What did he say? How long have you been meeting him?'

nithyananda explained to her all that had happened. How Arunagiri Yogiswara had first appeared to him by coming out of the burial place, how he had said that the boy could call him anytime, how they used to meet every day, how he took him to various places, about the banyan tree, the elders around him and whatever he could remember of what they talked about.

Kuppammal burst out crying. She prostrated in front of that blocked cave entrance and started wailing: 'Master, so many people have been waiting to see you for so long! You never appeared. And yet you chose to play with this young boy now!'

nithyananda did not understand what Kuppammal was saying. He went away from the burial place into the temple in deep anguish and pain. He had lost someone, someone he felt very close to, an invaluable relationship, and he could not bear the thought of that loss. The boy missed his hero. He could not understand why Arunagiri Yogiswara did not respond at all when he needed to prove to Kuppammal his identity, and to show her that he was speaking the truth. He felt betrayed.

As he went into the garba graha – the sanctum sanctorum - of the deity Arunachaleshwara, he saw Arunagiri Yogiswara seated inside, on the Shiva Linga; instead of the deity, he saw him! He cried out, ‘Swami! Swami! you are here, why didn’t you come when I called you at the samadhi? Kuppammal Patti (patti in Tamil means grandmother, an elderly woman) says you do not exist. She wants to see you.’

The yogi just sat there and smiled. The priests thought that the boy had lost his mind. They could not see Arunagiri Yogiswara. They did not understand whom the boy was talking to or why he was saying what he was saying. They pushed him out of the garba graha. The boy continued to shout, ‘Swami, please come out; please come out!’

nithyananda did not understand why the Yogi was not responding now, why he would not come out as he did before. He went home highly disturbed. It was an emotional night for him. At one level, he was at peace because he saw the Yogi in the garba graha smiling at him, glad that he had not lost him after all. At another level he was confused that he had made no response.

The boy wondered what went wrong. Was he wrong in telling Kuppammal about the Yogi? Was it supposed to be a secret between the two of them, nithyananda and Arunagiri Yogiswara, that no one else was supposed to know about? Did he lose his friend through his carelessness, through his ignorant action? Was the Yogi angry with him? Will he never come back to see him?

It was a searing pain, pain of losing a part of himself; pain that he had not experienced before. He sobbed uncontrollably, tears pouring down his cheeks. nithyananda was mourning a lost friend.

The boy spent the whole night in agony. He thought that he would not wake up the next morning.

Early next morning, the boy ran to the spot where he used to call him. He sat in front of the jiva samadhi and wept. 'Why are you not coming out? Are you angry with me? If I have made a mistake, please forgive me. I cannot live without you, please come out and meet me, let me see you, please speak to me,' he cried.

Suddenly nithyananda saw Arunagiri Yogiswara in front of him, but in a very different form. Arunagiri Yogiswara was no longer in flesh and blood, no longer in the physical form that the boy used to see him earlier. He was in a very different form. His whole form was of light, brilliant and mystical. Arunagiri Yogiswara's feet were not touching the ground. He was glowing, almost transparent.

Arunagiri Yogiswara smiled tenderly at the boy, full of compassion and love. He said, 'Dear one, you and I are one. We can never get separated. But the play is over. You will not miss me any longer. You will not be separated from me. We are one.'

Saying this, the form of Arunagiri Yogiswara merged into the boy and disappeared from his view. From that moment, nithyananda did not feel the separation from Arunagiri Yogiswara at all. It was as if Arunagiri Yogiswara was a part of him now. A deep fulfillment descended on him; complete bliss. It was an overflow of love, compassion, all positive emotions at their highest level.

On that day, nithyananda's childhood ended. nithyananda's walking, talking, and interaction with people became more mature, in line with the new realization, his enlightenment.

Nithyananda says:

'This was probably my first moment of realization of who I really was. It was my first spiritual experience, my first moment of enlightenment. From that moment I stopped missing anything. All I 'missed' from then on was the idea of missing anything at all!'

It was only later that nithyananda realized that the person whom he played with, whom he related so closely with, this Arunagiri Yogiswara, was none other than Arunachala, Shiva Himself.

Many years later, at his ashram in Bidadi, Nithyananda met Shiva again! That experience will be described in a later part of His biography.

Nithyananda retains the saffron cloth that Shiva gave him, with all its associated memories. nithyananda carried the cloth with him all through his parivrajaka, his wandering, through his tapasya, days of spiritual effort. That saffron cloth is witness to the wonderful things that happened to his being at various stages in his life, from childhood, through his various stages of enlightenment.

After this incident, a feeling of detachment, the feeling of just witnessing without involvement descended on nithyananda. There was a sense of detachment to what was happening around him, and a lack of any expectation of what needed to happen. A new consciousness started shining within him, which clearly indicated that whatever was happening around him was all impermanent. Clarity in terms of what is eternal and what is ephemeral was expressed and experienced in his consciousness.

Nithyananda stopped relating with his family as before and moved away from his friends as well. He felt comfortable relating only with a few people such as Kuppammal and other spiritually advanced souls. He would often walk up the Arunachala hill and sit on a rock; just to be with Arunachala. After this experience, he never felt that Arunachala was only a hill of rock and stone; to him it was living energy.

Whenever nithyananda was in a temple procession, he would feel the nearness of his beloved Arunagiri Yogiswara. He would feel proud, like a child would, knowing that his father was an important person. This gave him an opportunity to re-experience the profound and powerful mystical experience that Arunagiri Yogiswara had bestowed upon him.

Nithyananda told us while recounting this incident, 'I got my body language from Arunagiri Yogishwara. He used to look like how I look now.'

Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi talks about a banyan tree that he visited once on Arunachala. Ramana says that one day as he was walking on Arunachala, he was transported to this banyan tree and saw a young Yogi teaching disciples far older than himself under that banyan tree. Bhagavan Ramana connected this tree and the Yogi he saw, to Lord Dakshinamurthy, an incarnation of Shiva Himself.

This is the same banyan tree that Sankara sang about in his Dakshinamurthy Stotram; under which the South-facing young boy taught older sages in silence.

Ramana said that no human being could go to that place by himself. Ramana then says that when he tried to go towards that location again another time, he stepped on a beehive and the angry bees attacked him. Ramana saw this as a sign that he was not to go to this place again. Later on, Ramana Maharishi's disciple Muruganar attempted to reach this banyan tree with a group of seekers. The entire group, who knew Arunachala hill well, ended up getting lost. Frightened, they gave up their attempt and returned.

Nithyananda says:

'When I see all these references to this banyan tree under which this young Master taught older disciples, as Arunagiri Yogiswara or Dakshinamurthy, I am convinced that they refer to Shambhala, abode of the Saptarishis (seven sages), the cosmic energy center.

One can reach Shambhala from Tapovan, which is over 15,000 feet in the Himalayas beyond Gangotri and Gomukh. With the Master's help one can reach Shambhala from anywhere. The enlightened master can act as an airstrip to take you to that space at any time. The airstrips from where you can fly to Shambhala are called energy fields. The banyan tree at Bidadi (Nithyananda's ashram outside Bangalore) is one such energy field to take off.

However, Shambhala is not on this earthly plane. Shambhala is an experience that is spiritual. That is what Ramana saw and I saw with Arunagiri Yogiswara. The tree that we both saw is the same banyan tree at Bidadi in our ashram.'

Appar, the great Tamil poet saint, sings in his ‘Kailaya Pathigam’ as to how he was transported to Kailash and saw Lord Shiva and His Consort Parvati. Appar was not in Kailash in the physical plane when he had this spiritual experience. He was transported in spirit to this location, the abode of gods.

The banyan tree that Ramana Maharishi refers to and the banyan tree at Bidadi are like airstrips or helipads. These are locations to take off and reach the spiritual plane where Arunagiri Yogiswara resides in pure consciousness as Dakshinamurthy, ‘Shiva’ Himself.

Nithyananda spent many years in the Himalayan regions and many months at Tapovan. From Gangotri, one has to trek to Gomukh first and then climb further to Tapovan. Tapovan has no access paths or any kind of shelter. At least in Gomukh, there is an ashram and some army tents. Tapovan has nothing, and no one. The ascetics, the sannyasis, the yogis who stay there have no protection from the elements, which can be life threatening, especially in the cruel winters. Traveling to and staying at Tapovan requires extensive acclimatization through extended periods of stay at lower levels like Gangotri and Gomukh.

Nithyananda, when describing his stay at Tapovan, says that he stayed in caves and used jute bag material and paper to protect himself from the cold. He explained that Tapovan was the connection from the Earth, and the only connection from anywhere in our universe, to a non-physical location, an ethereal location, where the universal energy controlling the universe existed. Nithyananda says that this energy, this intelligence is what we refer to as God, Divinity etc. This is the energy that enables the operation of this universe, which includes our planet Earth. The words shambhala, as a reference to this energy location and Saptarishis, or seven sages, to refer to the intelligent energy, as used by Nithyananda are metaphorical references to a non-physical location and non-physical entity. However, this location and this entity are very real.

In his 'Autobiography of a Yogi', Paramahamsa Yogananda describes the experiences of his Master, Yukteswar, in a similar non-physical location.

From our recent experiences with the Master, we know that there is a very real danger of his leaving his body when he reaches locations such as Gomukh and beyond. Even at lower levels of Gangotri, it is with very great difficulty that he had to stay out of samadhi state. In 2004, when he traveled to Gomukh, he went into deep samadhi for many hours.

When talking about one of these experiences, the Master said even as he laughed: I was with the Energy at Shambhala. I told them that if they wished I would be very happy to stay on and not go back to my physical form. In seconds they threw me back into my physical body, much to the relief of the few close devotees around me at that time!

In his 'Autobiography of a Yogi', Paramahamsa Yogananda talks extensively about Mahavatar Babaji, who even today walks in the Himalayan region. Babaji, whom Paramahamsa Yogananda refers to and whom Paramahamsa Nithyananda met during his Himalayan travels, is available to all seekers. In fact, as we shall describe in a later part of this biography, a disciple of Nithyananda had a vision of Mahavatar Babaji, when we toured the Himalayan region with the Master, in the summer of 2005, on the way to Kedarnath. Similarly, Arunagiri Yogiswara too is available to all seekers on planet Earth. He is Shiva Himself.

This experience with Arunagiri Yogiswara created in young nithyananda a deep interest and thirst for the advaitic or non-dualistic experience. nithyananda's spiritual interests started with decorating and playing with idols of deities at a very early age. When he met the levitating Yogi he was introduced to extraordinary yogic experiences; with Kuppammal he was introduced to the path of knowledge; with Arunagiri Yogiswara he experienced for the first time the awareness of his inner Self. This event ignited in him a spiritual quest of a different dimension.

After the experience with Arunagiri Yogiswara, nithyananda started spending more and more time at the jiva samadhi. The burial place where an enlightened Master's body is preserved continues to radiate energy for thousands of years. The body carries all memories. One cannot think without the body. Body is not mere matter as we think; and mind is not the only memory space as we think. Body and mind are both memories. If one can change memories, one can change the body. Memories of enlightened Masters are sharp, pure and powerful. Their bodies are buried instead of cremated, in order to preserve these memories. Memories of ordinary people, on the other hand, are full of samskaras. This is why their bodies are burnt, so that these samskaras do not haunt and disturb the living. As we mentioned elsewhere, this is the same reason why people feel the presence of unfriendly spirits in burial grounds.

Masters continuously respond to prayers of devotees even after their physical death, through their living energies. One can get an audience with them at their place of burial; relate to them and talk to them. Their telephone numbers are the mantras which can be used to relate to them! If one utters these mantras with awareness at the jiva samadhi of a Master, one can feel an immediate connection and a response to the prayer.

nithyananda started spending all his time at the burial place of Arunagiri Yogiswara. Earlier he used to skip school from time to time; now he stopped going to school altogether. The school headmaster complained to his parents. nithyananda's parents expressed their inability to do anything to persuade their child to go to school, and requested the headmaster to take care of it himself. The headmaster sent a security guard from the school to find and bring nithyananda to school. This security guard knew the boy's routine and would come to look for him at this place. nithyananda gave this old man whatever money he had with him and sent him away. As the man watched the boy spend all his time in meditation at the jiva samadhi, he became strangely attached to him and stopped bothering him. Instead of taking money from nithyananda, he would bring him food and money, and altered the boy's attendance at school as well!

Nithyananda met this man, the security guard from his school, in

2004. The old man, much older now, dissolved into tears, remembering nostalgically the intense young child so deeply engrossed in his spiritual pursuit, and now a living enlightened Master.

Nithyananda says:

'There were many unconnected, paradoxical, illogical events that happened around this body. When we seek to express them in words, when we attempt to write them down as facts, these events become lies. Spiritual experiences are multi-dimensional. Written words are two-dimensional at best.

My biography cannot be a recording of all dimensions of the Truth. Written words cannot record all dimensions of the Truth, because Truth is much deeper than all written words. It is just a chronological recounting. Its purpose is to inspire. My experience with Arunagiri Yogiswara was even deeper than enlightenment. Enlightenment is an ultimate experience; it is not the final experience. It is the gateway to many more spiritual experiences.'