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TAPAS SHAKTHI
24th January 1935 - Bom in a small village
called Adivarapupeta by the mouth of the
Godavari river on the east coast of India.
Original name Satyaraju.
7th Aug 1949 - Lord Shiva in the form of a
jangama devana
(a devotee of Shiva who
lives by begging, wears his hair matted
and smears his body with ash) appears
before Satyaraju. He asked the boy to sit
in
padmaasana
and by touching the point
between his eyebrows put Satyaraju into a
trance. In the trance Satyaraju could see a
black
Shiva lingam
surrounded by dazzling
light.
Oct 1949 - When Balayogi found that some
villagers were harassing him during his
ta-
pas,
he decided to shift to an
aashram
at
Pasalpudi, a village about 8 km from Adi-
varapupeta.
Dec 1949 - When
the Balayogi was
going to the canal
for his daily mid-
night bath he was
bitten on the leg by
a black cobra. The
Balayogi
ignored
the bite and went
back to his
sa-
maadhi
after taking his bath. The pain be-
gan so excruciating that he grew frustrated
and decided to give up the life of a
yogi
and
return home to lead a normal life. When he
was leaving, his old
guru
suddenly ap-
peared before him and initiated him into
the
panchaakshari mantra "Om Namah
Shivaya".
He told the boy that by repeat-
ing the
mantra
daily his pain from the cobra
bite would go away.
Jan 1951 - A famous saint Tapaswiji Ma-
haraj who was reputed to have undergone
kaayakalpa,
the ancient Vedic technique of
rejuvenation, met the Balayogi for the first
time.
Oct 1952 - Tapaswiji Maharaj initiated the
Balayogi into the
Surya upasana mantra,
a
mantra for worship of Sun god. From then
on the Balayogi did
japa
of the
Surya man-
tra
for two hours daily.
28th Oct 1953 - During the night, the
Balayogi was aroused from his deep
nirvikalpa samaadhi
by a tap on his leg.
When he came to consciouness he saw an
intensely bright light flooding the entire
mandir. He saw the snow white and di-
vinely beautiful form of Shankar Bhagvan,
God Shiva.
Oct 1954 - One night his divine
guru
(Lord
Shiva) appeared in one of his periodic vis-
its. He told the Balayogi that his
japa
of
the
Surya mantra
would soon bear fruit and
the god Surya would manifest before him
in 10 days. It was on the
Kartika Poornima
of
1954
that
the
Balayogi
had
Saakshatkaam
of
Surya
and
thereby
granted
siddhi
of the world of the Sun.
12th Oct 1955 - Tapaswiji Maharaj the
great
saint
attains
mahaasamaadhi.
On
midnight of the same
day
opened the door of the
dhyaana mandira
and
saw a huge cobra
(naag).
When the
Bala-yogi stepped on
the coiled body of the cobra and walked
over it, thesnake was enraged and bit him
on his left thigh.On his return from the
bath, he stepped once more over the
snake. This time the, snake bit him on his
right foot. When he sat down to meditate,
he fell unconscious onto the wooden plat-
form when Shiva gave
darshana
to the
Balayogi. At the end of his
tapas,
the
yogi
recognised the
naag
and told Shiva that it
was the snake which had bitten him. The
naag
had been sent by Shiva to test the
yogi's fearlessness.
May 24th 1956 - Tempted by a maiden ...
captivatingly and divinely beautiful bathed
in a glowing strange light. Balayogi did not
succumb.
1 Aug 1961 - Balayogi or more properly
Shiva Balayogi as he was now named,
marked his completion of the twelve years
of
yoga tapas
by chanting the sacred sound
of Om in a melodious voice. His
guru
re-
vealed to him his (
guru's
) real identity as
Lord Shiva.
7th Sept 1965 - Swamiji undertakes a forty-
day
Tapas
during the Indo-Pakistan war of
1965.
7th Aug 1968 - Swamiji begins one year of
tapas
in Bangalore.
7th Aug 1969 - completes his one-year
ta-
pas.
Dec 1971 - Swamiji undertakes forty-day
tapas
because of 1971 Indo-Pak war.
7th Aug 1977 - Opening of the international
centre for Indian culture (the meditation
hall) at the new
Aashram
in Bangalore.
1989 - Swamiji consecrates a
Shivalingam
in Venice, Italy.
994 - Swamiji attains
samaadhi.
— Thomas L. Palotas
—
“Tapas Shakti”
Eternal India
encyclopedia
PERCEPTIONS
Shri Shiva Bala Yogi Maharaj
The life of a saint essentially is the
life of the spirit. The life of the spirit is
usually difficult to fathom because ma-
hatmas are usually reserved and do not
reveal much.
Swami Galayogi underwent a 12-
year
Tapas
(being immersed in samadhi
during which there is no consciousness of
the body or physical surroundings, unlike
Dhyaana
(meditation which is intermit-
tent and interrupted by thoughts).
Tapas
is continuous like the flow of oil. Initially
Tapas
follows a six-hour cycle. Begin-
ning from midnight the person will be im-
mersed in
samaadhi
for about five to five
and a half hours. At the end of that period
the eyes will automatically open and the
person will emerge from
samaadhi.
This
cycle will be repeated at eleven in the
morning, at five or six in the afternoon,
and again after midnight.
When emerging from
samaadhi
the
person should drink some water then take
light nourishment restricted to milk and
fruit. Yoghurt may be taken instead of
milk. After this light meal the person
should sleep for about ten minutes to di-
gest the milk and fruit. Thereafter one
may walk around within the house or
aashram
compound. This rest period be-
tween
samaadhi
should be restricted to a
half or one hour. During the midnight rest
period the person should have a daily bath
and then test for one hour. As the inten-
sity of
tapas
increases, the person re-
mains in
samaadhi
for longer and longer
periods until reaching the advanced stage
of continious
samaadhi
, for the full
twenty-four hours, except for a one-hour
break at midnight to bathe and consume
some milk and fruit.