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July 13, 1991
His peace, exhibited through speech and smile, seems at odds
with the distance he has traveled.
Yet for Shivabalayogi, a yogi renowned at home in India and abroad, the state is
unshakable. He has come too far,
eclipsed too many mental and physical barriers, to be affected by anything as
inconsequential as miles or foreign cultures. If anything, Shivabalayogi, is enriched by his surroundings.
Helping others in this area obtain their own transformation through a
unique mode of meditation is the reason for his three-day visit to
His presence her can be traced to
“I invited him to help him share his experience,”
He estimated 150 to 200 people participated in the program in
1989 and as many as 120 last year.
This year’s program will begin 6:30 tonight and Sunday at
Shivabalayogi, speaking through his interpreter, Jagadish
Kumar, said his meditation lasts about an hour, a primary focus being to reduce
participants’ tension while heightening their capacity for harmonious
relationships with others. Sessions end with songs repeating God’s name, he said. “Whatever I have learned from God is exactly what I teach to
the people,” Shivabalayogi said.
“Afterward, they can do their daily work better that they have been and it
brings them closer to God.” Shivabalayogi did Tapas or “Religious Austerity” ,
through 12 years of meditation in almost total isolation.
He endured a host of natural threats, including multiple cobra bites and
scarring insect and rodent attacks on his clasped hands at various times during
the period. But he never abandoned
his path, and now says he enjoys meditation more than anything else in life. He stressed the tendency of his meditation to help others
understand one another, thus improving interpersonal relationships in and
outside the home. He added, with a
characteristic hint of humor, “the power of meditation is more powerful that the
atom bombs.” Like the body needs food, so does the spirit need meditation to
stay healthy Shivabalayogi said. |
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