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His
Life
Sri Shivarudra Balayogi was born 'Srinivasa Dikshitar' to
a pious Brahmin family living in the town of Kolar in the south of
India in 1954 and affectionately called 'Seenu'. A beautiful baby,
He was the youngest of the family's children and so was naturally
cosseted by all.
His Childhood
His parents,
Shankara and Sharada Dikshitar, raised their small brood of four
children with great care and attention, with the aim to bring out their innate
strength of character and develop their ability to live in a morally upright
manner and overcome life's inevitable challenges.
His father, Shankara, had grown
up in difficult circumstances following the death of his parents while still
a young boy, but through hard work and perseverance had overcome this enormous
challenge and graduated as a medical doctor with the aim of serving humanity.
He worked long hours in the service of his patients and would charge no fee if
their financial circumstances were difficult. This formed the basis of His spirituality
- the devout service of God through serving humanity.
Sharada had
grown up in a pious family and closely followed the traditional Indian practices
of worship and service to the community. She instilled a devotional attitude
in the children, strengthened by an astute intellect. Thus Seenu grew through
His childhood in an atmosphere of devotion to God and dedicated
service to humanity.
Though
growing up thus in comfortable surroundings, He found however
that He experienced a peculiar pain of not belonging, a strong
sense of alienation from this world - a feeling that in being
in this world He had been transported into a strange new dimension
which was not His true home.
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At the
age of seven, He chanced one day to hear His sister singing the
famous devotional song of Adi Shankaracharya, 'Bhajan Govindam'.
The song speaks of the futility of worldly aspirations and exhorts
one 'to adopt the Divine consciousness into your mind because when
this physical body gives way, none of your worldly scholarship,
wealth or power will come to your aid'. The words struck a chord
in Him and He began to ponder their meaning. He began to consider
who he truly was:
"Did my existence commence with the
birth of this physical body? If so, what will happen when this physical
body will eventually die? If I am the Immortal Self as declared in
the scriptures, then why is it that I am not aware of it?"
Seeking answers to these questions He
read the teachings of the great spiritual Masters of India but
still found that this only provided an intellectual answer - the
knowledge was not a living experience for him. Thus searching to
experience the Truth as a conscious experience He would spend many
long hours during His teenage years in solitude in the caves of
the sacred Chamundi Hills near His home in contemplation. Slowly
the desire grew that He might find a God-Realized Master as a Guru
to guide him to the Highest Truth. He waited, performing His spiritual
practices and praying to the Divine to provide such a Guru.
His Guru
At the age
of sixteen He was sitting in deep contemplation one evening in
the Hanuman temple opposite His home, when He suddenly heard a voice whisper
in His ears, "Shivabalayogi
is your Guru. He will guide you to cross this ocean of worldly illusion." Opening
His eyes to see who had spoken, He was amazed to find no one nearby. For the
next few days He went on enquiring about 'Shivabalayogi' from all the people
He met in the temple, but could find no clues as to what the experience had meant.
A few days later He was walking through the Mysore town centre when He abruptly
heard the voice again, "Go to the Raghavendraswami temple. There you will
know about your Guru." Looking around, He was again unable
to see anyone that could have spoken to Him.
Proceeding as the voice had directed Him,
He went to the temple where one of Swamiji's devotees introduced
himself and gave Him a book on Swamiji's life. Two days later the
great Yogi came to Mysore on one of His tours and Seenu went for
His darshan(1).
On the night before meeting His Guru, Swamiji initiated Him in
a dream-vision into a mantra dedicated to Sri Shivabalayogi. Taking
Swamiji's darshan the next day, Seenu fell in love with
His Guru at first sight, and wanted to immediately leave home to
join Sri Shivabalayogi's ashram, but was persuaded by His mother
to wait three years to be sure His feelings were genuine. He was
initiated into the technique of dhyana(2) meditation
by His Guru and practiced this as the centre of His sadhana (spiritual
exercises) while waiting for this time to pass. Continuing His
studies at Mysore College, it was finally at the age of 19 that
Srinivasa was accepted into Swamiji's service and was sent to manage
Swamiji's ashram in Dehra Dun, at the foothills of the Himalayas.
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