Bhagawan Nityananda

Infobox Hindu leader
name=Bhagawan Nityananda


image-size =150px
birth-date=1897
birth-place= India
birth-name=
death-date=August 8 1961
death-place=Ganeshpuri, Maharashtra, India
guru=
philosophy=
honors=
quote=
footnotes=

Bhagawan Nityananda (November/December, 1897? [cite book|last=Hatengdi|first=M.U.|title=Nityananda: The Divine Presence|publisher=Rudra Press|year=1990|pages=pg iv] – August 8, 1961) was an Indian guru. Several new religious movements (including Siddha Yoga and the Nityananda Institute) refer to him as the first Siddha guru in their lineages.cite book|last=Brooks|first=Douglas|coauthors=Sabharathnam, S. P.|title=Meditation Revolution|publisher=Agama Press|year=1997|isbn=0965409600] [cite web|url=http://www.nityanandainstitute.org/|title=Nityananda Institute|accessdate=2007-05-03] His teachings are published in the "Chidakash Gita". Nityananda was born in Quilandy (Pandalayini) Kerala, South India.

Childhood

Details about Nityananda's birth are sketchy but most accounts agree that Nityananda's mother abandoned him as an infant. He was born near Quilandy in North Kerala. He was found/adopted by a woman who worked as a maid working as a servants for Mr. Ishwar Iyer, a lawyer. Upon the woman's death Mr. Iyer adopted Nityananda (then known as Ram).cite book|author=Hatengdi, M.U.|coauthors=Chetanananda, Swami|title=Nitya Sutras|publisher=Rudra Press|year=1985|isbn=0915801027] Even in childhood, Nityananda seemed to be in an unusually advanced spiritual state, which gave rise to the belief that he was born enlightened. He was eventually given the name Nityananda: "always in bliss".

Before the age of twenty, Nityananda became a wandering yogi, spending time on yogic studies and practices in the Himalayas and other places. By 1920 he was back in southern India, where he had a fleeting encounter with a boy who would later become Swami Muktananda.cite book|last=Muktananda|first=Swami|title=Bhagawan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri|publisher=Siddha Yoga Publications|edition=2nd Revised Edition|year=1996|isbn=0911307451]

Adult life

Settled in southern India, Nityananda gained a reputation for affecting miracles and wonderful cures. He then started building an ashram near Kanhangad, Kerala state. The local police thought he must be producing counterfeit money to pay for the building, so Nityananda took them to a crocodile-infested pool in the jungle. He dived in and then produced handfuls of money, which was apparently enough to satisfy the police. The beutiful hill temple and Ashram in Kanhangad are now pilgrim centres. The Guru Van, a forest in the hills nearby where Bhagawan sat on penace, is also a pilgrim retreat now.

By 1923, Nityananda had wandered to the Tansa Valley in Maharashtra state. There, his reputation as a miracle worker attracted people from as far away as Mumbai, though he never claimed credit for any miracles. He said, "Everything that happens, happens automatically by the will of god" Nityananda gave a great deal of help to the local adivasis, who were despised by the population at large. Nityananda set up a school for them, as well as providing food and clothing.

As a guru, Nityananda gave relatively little by way of verbal teachings. Starting in the early 1920s, devotees would sit with him in the evenings. Most of the time he was silent but occasionally he would give teachings. Some of the devotees starting writing down his words. Later these notes were compiled and published in the Kannada language.

Nityananda had the power to transmit spiritual energy (shaktipat) to people through non-verbal means. He could also be extremely fiery and intimidating in his behaviour, even to the point of throwing rocks on occasion. This was his way of deterring people who were not serious in their spiritual aspirations, or who came to him with ulterior motives.

In 1936 he went to the Shiva temple in the village of Ganeshpuri and asked if he could stay there. The family that looked after the temple agreed and built a hut for him. As his visitors and followers increased, the hut expanded and became an ashram. To the people around him, he was an avadhuta: one who is absorbed in the transcendental state.

Nityananda died on August 8, 1961. There is a shrine to him in the Gurudev Siddha Peeth ashram at Ganeshpuri. His ashram, tourist hostel and other buildings associated with his life in Ganeshpuri are preserved by the Shree Bhimeshwar Sadguru Nityanand Sanstha Ganeshpuri. This trust is also responsible for his samadhi shrine in Ganeshpuri, which is a pilgrimage site.

A trust at Kanhangad looks after the Ashram and temples located there. The trust also runs few educational institutions and a dharmasala.Fact|date=October 2008

Nityananda’s Guru

According to Nityananda's biographers, the identity of Nityananda's guru is a mystery. Some believe that he had no guru. In one of his talks, Swami Muktananda said Nityananda’s Guru was an unknown Siddha Purusha from Kerala. [cite book|quote=Q: Did Baba Nityananda have a Guru in the physical or subtle body? If so, could you tell us something of him and his lineage?/ Baba: Who would dare ask Nityananda about his Guru? Still, he had a Guru. His Guru was a Siddha Purusha living in Kerala. He was completely unknown. I don’t recall his name, but I have written it down somewhere. He belongs to the Siddha line. It is enough for one to know about one’s father, and what the father’s father was like, is the father’s concern. It is only the father who would bother about the man who was his father. Nityananda did come from a line. He belonged to the line of great Siddhas.|first=Swami|last=Muktananda|title=Satsang with Baba Volume 4|pages=page 17|isbn=0914602322|publisher=SYDA Foundation|location=Oakland, Ca.|year=1978]

Further reading

* "Bhagawan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri", by Swami Muktananda. Siddha Yoga Publications, 2nd edition (1996). ISBN 0911307451.
* "Life of Bhagawan Nityananda & Chidakasha Geeta", by Deepa Kodikal. Surendra Kalyanpur, 2007.

ee also

*Gurumayi Chidvilasananda
*Shree Muktananda Ashram
*Oakland Ashram
*Rudi (Swami Rudrananda)

References

External links

* [http://www.bhagawannityananda.org/ Bhagwan Nityananda Resource website]
* [http://www.nityanand.org.in/ Shree Bhimeshwar Sadguru Nityanand Sanstha - Official Samadhi Shrine website]
* [http://www.siddhayoga.org/ Siddha Yoga Website]
* [http://www.nityanandainstitute.org/ The Nityananda Institute website]