Arrival of Raghupathi
When THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was about three years old, a relative brought home a wandering mendicant, or sanyasi whose name was Raghupathi Yogi. Raghupathi Yogi lived on the same street as THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM and came to know the entire family. He was born and brought up in Burma (Myanmar) then a British Colony, where he had studied yogic procedures from Buddhist lamas. He was an adept in Yoga and related methods and could demonstrate many Yogic powers, including the ability to levitate at will which he mastered through a combination of yogic postures (asana) and breath control techniques (pranayama). THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM fondly remembers the numerous occasions when Raghupathi Yogi would levitate and playfully ask the children to crawl under him; it was an entertaining game that everyone enjoyed thoroughly! Raghupathi Yogi was an expert in Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga methods and taught it diligently to his most ardent student, the young THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. Raghupathi Yogi noticed that the young THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, unlike boys of his age who played with toys and marbles, was engrossed in playing with little idols and statues of gods and goddesses. They seemed to be his companions and he was very comfortable playing with them. Being a man of deep wisdom, Raghupathi Yogi soon realized that the young THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was spiritually inclined. He remarked that the boy was a shining light in that household. Despite the huge age difference between them, the young boy was totally at ease in the company of Raghupathi Yogi. They seemed to share a deep bond where the need for communication did not matter.
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM remembers Raghupathi Yogi with tremendous affection and respect and
recalls: 'I had the fortune to study yoga under a great master, Raghupathi Yogi. When I spent time around him he was around one hundred and four or five years old. He was a very healthy man who had mastered yoga and had experienced all aspects of Yoga not just in the physical level, but in a much deeper way. He would express many different powers of yoga. I remember very clearly when he would take a stone and make the sound of a hammer hitting the stone; the stone would break into two pieces. Sometimes he would make the sound of a stone flying and to my astonishment, I would see birds falling down as if they had been the targets! At other times he would create a particular vibration and snakes would come from the bushes! Similarly, he would create the sound of a dog and from all over dogs would gather around him. Just through sound, he was able to do anything he wanted".
"He expressed so casually amazing strength and unimaginable physical power. He would tie an iron rope around his chest and when he exhaled deeply, the rope would break into pieces! Usually a logical mind cannot accept or understand that all this is possible, but this great Yogi made everything possible! I had the fortune to be around him and see him levitating, not once but at least twenty times. He would inhale deeply and hold the breath. The moment he did that the body would lift from the ground, like an inflated balloon!"
"From the age of three to thirteen I had the fortune to be under his feet, his guidance and care. Every day from morning till noon for at least 4 to 5 hours, he would make me do all the traditional yogic techniques including asana. He would instruct me to bend this way and that way, backwards and forwards. He would make me do all of the yogic cleansing techniques like neti, and dhauti. I would have to swallow that long cloth to clean the intestine and internal system. To tell you honestly, it's only now that I feel happy about everything he made me do. Those days I used to hate him because my training which started from 6 am in the morning was practically like torture Any beginner in yoga can sympathize and understand with what I am talking about."
Raghupathi Yogi came into THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's life for a purpose. Being a Yogi of many great skills and powers, he helped prepare the young boy's body to receive and hold the tremendous energy of enlightenment. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM says that retaining this tremendous energy is like squeezing four elephants in a small hut.
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM says that the experience of satori (a glimpse of enlightenment or a no-mind state) is not a big thing; anybody can experience a satori. However, in order to stay in that level of consciousness and to actually express it, preparation of the body and mind is required. Raghupathi Yogi helped prepare the young THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's body and mind through various yogic techniques. He enabled him to experience, remain and radiate the high energy of enlightenment.
Raghupathi Yogi would without fail come to the boy's house every morning. Day after day, the Yogi would take him to the temple and make him practice yoga techniques for three to four hours.
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM recalls affectionately: 'The temple where Raghupathi Yogi used to teach me yogic techniques had a beautiful stone pillared mandapam (hall). He would instruct me to climb 20 to 30 pillars continuously! I was not allowed to use both hands when climbing the pillars. t. I could use only one hand! The other hand was to be kept behind my back or tied with a rope. To this day, I am still not able to find any reference to support why he made me climb the pillars. I have not read any Yogic literature which identifies that climbing pillars is a yogic technique!'
The boy obeyed Raghupathi Yogi, partly out of respect and partly out of affection. The Yogi insisted that he do this extended practice every day. He told the boy that he needed to keep his body fit, as he would need to do Herculean things in the future. After the yoga practice, he would take the boy to a nearby hotel to have breakfast. He was very loving and bought him candies and chocolates to keep the boy's interest alive.
Over time, Raghupathi Yogi taught him all the eight parts of Ashtanga Yoga, including pranayama (breath control techniques) and asana (postures). Additionally, he taught mantra, dhyana (meditation) and various other yogic techniques. He was also given the invaluable knowledge of how to live without water and not feel thirst. He was to twist the tongue, and while sucking in air make the sound of the mantra 'lam'. He also taught the young boy how to go without sleep, and not feel tired and how to live without
food and not feel hunger by using a herb to draw a diagram on the skin over the liver.
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was also taught how to play with light energy and how to create things through sound energy. These were of immense use to him during his wandering days and penance; but for these techniques and the strength built through yoga, his body-mind would have been unable to withstand the rigors of those years of tough ascetic life.
Raghupathi Yogi did a great service by preparing the young boy's body and mind for his future endeavours and also got fulfilment doing so. As much as the young THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM learnt from him, the Yogi said he learnt from the boy. He gave him the deerskin he used to sit on, which was given to him by his Master. This was treated and tanned with herbs and even after 60 odd years it has the original hair.
Raghupathi Yogi arranged for taking pictures of the young yogi in various meditative postures during his years with him. Photography was very expensive those days in rural Bharat. Raghupathi Yogi would borrow money from a local hotel owner, Upadhyaya, for these photographs. When asked why he was doing it despite such expense, he just smiled and did not answer. When the photos were delivered, he wrote on them, 'The whole world will one day thank me for these photographs.' Raghupathi Yogi had photos taken of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM alone as well as the two of them together, but none of himself alone. When questioned about this by the young boy, Raghupathi Yogi just smiled and said, 'No one will want to have my photographs, but many will want to have yours!'
Importance of early training
Raghupathi Yogi told the boy that the best age to learn yoga is before the age of 14 and that was why he started him at 3 years of age. He had a total of eight full years to train the young boy.
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM said that the rigorous training he underwent in the first eleven years of his life helped him sustain the tremendous energy of enlightenment. He remembers very clearly Raghupathi Yogi telling him that to bear fruit on the spiritual path you have to be trained from a very young age.
According to Vedic tradition, any kind of spiritual practice must be undertaken before sexual maturity so that it will be easy to live with reality and not fall prey to impossible and unreal fantasies. Otherwise, the whole process can be difficult and disheartening. Once puberty is attained, the fantasies and imagination that are thrust on the individual through the outside world, (in the modern context the media, peer pressure and social conditioning), play havoc with the hormones and the vital energies. It then becomes very difficult to begin the practice of Yoga for spiritual elevation. At best it can be viewed as the practice for granting physical and mental well -being.
During the Vedic times the practice of brahmacharya was all about learning to live with reality. Brahma means truth or reality and charya means to walk with. This correct understanding has to do with learning about and accepting reality. In no way did it mean forced celibacy, as many people have erroneously understood it.
This truth was very well known during the Vedic times. That is why in ancient Bharat the gurukulam (the educational system) was highly regarded. When a child was about 3 years old, the parents handed the child over to the guru, who from then on became his father and mother.
Till the age of seven, children were allowed to roam freely, unclothed or wearing a single loose robe with no awareness of their gender. The energies were allowed to flow easily. Restrictions were not imposed on the children in this extremely natural atmosphere. Both boys and girls were taught the Gayatri mantra (sacred chant) so that the inner sun, their innate intelligence, would be awakened and expressed.
With such unique and caring guidance, most children would have some kind of spiritual experience by puberty. As the Guru had trained their body and mind so lovingly, they were capable of handling the subtle high voltage energies that coursed through their bodies.
Raghupathi Yogi's appearance in the young THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's childhood was indeed most propitious. He was very learned and would pass on many teachings to the young lad. It was as if he wanted to pour all his experience and knowledge into the boy in the little time that was available to him. ```
``` THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM remembers that at all times Raghupathi Yogi would play with snakes, which for him, was quite frightening initially. He would playfully guide thin snakes through his nostrils and take them out through his mouth in imitation of some yogic cleansing techniques. When Raghupathi Yogi saw the boy's fear, he would laugh and say that they would not do any harm, as they were a part of him, his family. He always wore a gold girdle around his waist like a coiled snake around a pillar.
It was only after enlightenment that THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM understood that Raghupathi Yogi was none other than an amsa (a part) of Patanjali himself. He realized that he had received his training and initiation in spiritual matters, especially in the Science of Yoga through none other than Patanjali in the form of his beloved master, Raghupathi Yogi.
What is Yoga?
In Sanskrit, the word "Yoga" actually means uniting or becoming one with. Many people today are unaware of this true meaning of yoga because they have their own perception of what yoga is. For some people, the word yoga triggers off a visual image of flexible, healthy bodies in various convoluted postures, or sitting in meditation, and they stay away from the practice thinking it is too much for them. Yoga is practised by modern people for a variety of reasons. Yoga is taken up a form of weight loss exercise by the obese. For the person with physical ailments, yoga is practiced as a therapy for healing the body. For the person suffering from stress and anxiety, yoga is a heaven sent practice to induce mental calmness and peace of mind. For people with unsatisfactory relationships at home or work, yoga presents a way to develop the right attitudes and cognitions to improve their relationships and life. For the seekers, yoga is the way to finding the meaning of life and existence. Yoga is all of the above and more.
The goal of yoga at the highest level is to prepare the body and mind for experiencing the highest states of awareness and consciousness. Good health, wealth, peace of mind, contentment and clarity of mind are among beneficial side effects of regular yoga practice.