Description

Born in 1826 in the Kerala state of India, Baba spent a great part of his life struggling to achieve God-Realization, which he claimed as the main goal of human being.

Baba started his spiritual quest under the guidance of his grandfather since his young age. Both of them stayed together for many years, until Baba’s grandfather left his body in the forest of Amarkantak, the place they chose to live in to perform their penances. Shivapuri Baba remained in the forest, inquiring, until having a full vision of God and therefore, becoming enlightened.

Later in his life, Baba gave a brief description of his experience: “Many days, months and years passed under this tree. I am not really sure how long I sat under this tree. But one fine day with the grace of the Lord there came a flash of LIGHT and everything was revealed within me. THERE I HAD A FULL VISION OF GOD.”

As wished beforehand by his grandfather, Baba left the forest and undertook a world tour pilgrimage. He accomplished his trip almost entirely by foot, and ended up in Nepal, where he later chose to stay for a long-term period. Many persons met the saint there and started to visit him on a regular basis. Until his last breath, Baba repeated that if one wanted to be free from the worldly miseries and wanted to see God in this life or the next, one had to follow the principles of Swadharma Sadhana, to which he also gave the name “Right Life”.

Shivapuri Baba left his body in 1963, at the age of 137, in his hermitage where resides now his Samadhi Mandir.