Shiva Bala Yogi Virtual^* Darshan
* (Virtual: non physical, but being such in essence or in having the power or practical effect)

Travels in India

Typically yogis remain in one place, generally little known until their last physical years. It is the devotee who must travel to the yogi for darshan. Swamiji would say that after the yogi takes mahasamadhi, the yogis’ disciples do the traveling, having received blessings, powers and instructions to go into the world. This pattern repeated itself in the West when Ramakrishna sent Vivekananda, when Sri Yukteswar sent Yogananda, and when Nityananda sent Muktananda. With Shivabalayogi, the yogi himself traveled to devotees.

During the three decades after his completion of tapas, Shivabalayogi traveled regularly and extensively at the invitation of local devotees. Swamiji conducted meditation and bhajan programs in a seemingly endless list of cities, towns and villages throughout South and North India: Madras, Bombay, Mangalore, Mysore, Jaipur, Delhi, Ambala, Lucknow, Jhansi and Bhubhaneshwar to name only a few of the larger places. He established ashrams in Dodballapur, Bangalore, Sambhar Lake in Rajastan, Dehradun, Anantapur, Hyderabad, Hindupur, Guntur, Venkatapuram and Agra. In the first eighteen years after his tapas, Shivabalayogi undertook seven all-India tours and visited Sri Lanka repeatedly.

Swamiji traveled mostly by car accompanied by a handful of devotees chosen in the early 1960’s to make his extensive travels possible. Many were young men from the Adivarapupeta area and about the same age as Swamiji. They were chosen for their ability to physically protect Swamiji.

There were no rest stops. Afternoons and evenings were packed with programs, and Shri Swamiji would sit with devotees and give darshan late into the night. If there was some free time, Swamiji was likely to ask for a picnic to be organized for the devotees. He visited temples to bless the deities. He visited homes where devotees ceremonially bathed his feet. He consecrated the foundations of countless temples, homes and businesses. He made himself endlessly available to devotees, both the sincere and those whose primary motives seemed to be material or social status.

Everywhere he gave meditation programs. He would visit a place and give initiation to large numbers of people, morning, afternoon, and evening, each meditation period being about one hour. He would sit in samadhi and meditate with the people sitting in front of him. In the evening there were bhajans followed by an announcement that if people had anything to ask Swamiji, they could go up and ask. People brought Swamiji every problem imaginable. He gave each a patient hearing and he typically put some vibhuti on a tray and made as if blowing on it. He would then give the vibhuti to the devotee with instructions on its use: perhaps drink it with warm water, keep it on the person, wear some between the eyebrows, or rub it on the affected body part. All were welcome to receive his darshan, and he never permitted anyone to charge money.

Swamiji said that all places were the same to him, but devotees knew that each ashram had its own character and purpose. Bangalore is the largest ashram, and Swamiji was there for his birthday and tapas anniversary celebrations. He would be in Adivarapupeta each Mahashivaratri, Anantapur for Vijayadasami (the celebration of the Divine Mother usually in September), Dehradun during the hot months of the summer, and Guntur for Sri Rama Navami, the celebration of Rama and Sita’s wedding. The Bannerghatta Road ashram in Bangalore was where Swamiji honored his mother Parvatamma at her samadhi each August 15th.