Shri Paramhans Swami Advaitanand Ji Maharaj, also known as Shri Paramhans Dayal Maharaj Ji (born Shri Ram Yaad), was born in
Chhapra City, India. Shri is known as the "First Spiritual Master" of the Shri Paramhans Advait Mat, while also initiated the "Second Master" and
Shri Swami Swarupanand Ji Maharaj in the early 1900s.
Early life
He was born on the day of
Rama Navami
Rama Navami () is a Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Rama, one of the most popularly revered deities in Hinduism, also known as the seventh avatar of Vishnu. He is often held as an emblem within Hinduism for being an ideal king and h ...
and was therefore named "Ram Yaad". His father was scholar Pandit Tulsi Pathak; his mother died a few months after his birth, so he was brought up by his father's disciple Lala Narhari Prasad, while Shri Narhari Prasad arranged his education. Shri Ram Yaad learned about
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
,
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
, and
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
. When Ram Yaad was five, his father died.
Paramhans Swamiji gave ''
Diksha
Diksha (Sanskrit: दीक्षा, IAST: dīkṣā) also spelled diksa, deeksha or deeksa in common usage, translated as a "preparation or consecration for a religious ceremony", is giving of a mantra or an initiation by the guru (in Guru–s ...
'' to him and taught him about
Brahma Vidya. When he was 11 years old, Narhari Prasad died and after some years, his wife also died. He was the only rightful successor of both families, but at the age of 16, he left his home and went to the forests of Bihar for meditation. In
Jaipur
Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...
, in 1883, he met the 90-year-old Swami
Anandpuri Ji, who taught him the
Kriya of
Pranayama
Pranayama (Sanskrit: प्राणायाम, "Prāṇāyāma") is the yogic practice of focusing on breath. In classical yoga, the breath is associated with '' prana'', thus, pranayama is a means to elevate the ''prana-shakti'', or life en ...
and
Yoga
Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...
. He reportedly wrote in
Urdu
Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
on a paper: "Accept Paramhans Ram Yaad". He named him as his spiritual successor to his seat.
Career
He travelled from place to place and carried the message of Sahaj Yoga, Bhakti and service. He stayed at Jaipur for a long time and started his spiritual preaching and uplifting the people there, attracting many followers there. As a wandering monk, he covered Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, etc. to teach ''Sahajyoga'' and ''Bhakti''.
The ashrams (temples) founded by him were called ''Krishana Dwaras''. Sant Mat-a-nuyayi Ashram, Gadwaghat, Varanasi, Brahma Vidyalay and Ashram, Chotka Rajpur, Buxar, Adwait-Swarup Ashram, Paramhans Satyarthi Dham, Rajyog Mandir, Shanti Mohalla, Delhi, and Shri Anandpur Satsang Ashram are all related to him.
He attained
Nirvana
Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...
on 10 July 1919 after transferring succession of the seat to
Swami Swarupanand ji. He had promised to his devotee Seth Amirchand that he would sacrifice his body and take Samadhi at his place. A Sacred Samadhi Shrine was built there in Teri, KP, Pakistan. After the Partitiion in 1947, his devotees shifted the center to Anandpur in Madhyya Pradesh.
See also
*
2020 Karak temple attack in which Advaitanand Ji's samadhi was destroyed.
References
{{Authority control
1846 births
1919 deaths
Advait Mat gurus