Bhagawan Nityananda (November/December, 1897 – 8 August 1961) was an Indian

guru Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...

. His teachings are published in the "Chidakash Gita". Nityananda was born in

Koyilandy Koyilandy (;A Survey of Kerala History, A. Shreedhara Menon)is a major town Nagar Palika, municipality and a Tehsil, taluk in Kozhikode district, Kerala on the Malabar Coast. The historical town is located right in the middle of the coast of Koz ...

(Pandalayini),

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(now in

Kozhikode district Kozhikode (), is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala, along its southwestern Malabar Coast. The city of Kozhikode, also known as Calicut, is the district headquarters. The Kozhikode Municipal Corporation has a corporation l ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

Biography

Childhood

Details about Bhagawan Nityananda's birth are relatively unknown. According to his disciples, Nityananda was found as an abandoned infant in Tuneri village, Koyilandy, Madras Presidency, British India by a lady named Uniamma Nair, who was married to Chathu Nair. The Nair couple adopted this child and took care of him along with their own five children. Nityananda was named as ''Raman'' by his foster parents. The Nair couple were farmers, who also took care of the farms owned by a wealthy lawyer named Ishwar Iyer, who greatly trusted them. Nityananda's foster father died when he was three and his foster mother when he was six. Before dying she handed over her responsibility of Nityananda to Ishwar Iyer.

Spiritual life

Even in childhood, Bhagawan Nityananda seemed to be in an unusually advanced spiritual state, which gave rise to the belief that he was born enlightened. He was eventually given the name Nityananda, which means, "always in bliss". Before the age of twenty, Nityananda became a wandering

yogi A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297–299, 331 ...

, spending time on

yogic 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 ...

studies and practices in the Himalayas and other places. By 1920, he was back in southern India. Settled in southern India, Nityananda gained a reputation for performing miracles and curing the sick. He started building an

ashram An ashram (, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions, not including Buddhism. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< Kanhangad Kanhangad () is a commercial city, located in the Kasaragod District, state of Kerala, India. Location The area contains villages around Kanhangad town with Kasaragod as the northern border, Nileshwar, popularly known as the 'cultural town' ...

state. The hill temple and Ashram in Kanhangad are now pilgrim centres. The Guruvan, a forest in the hills nearby where Bhagawan sat on penance, is now a pilgrim retreat. By 1923, Nityananda had wandered to the Tansa Valley in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

state. There, his reputation as a miracle worker attracted people from as far away as

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, though he never took credit for any miracles. He said, "Everything that happens, happens automatically by the will of God." Nityananda gave a great deal of help to the local

adivasi The Adivasi (also transliterated as Adibasi) are heterogeneous tribal groups across the Indian subcontinent. The term is a recent invention from the 20th century and is now widely used as a self-designation by groups classified as Scheduled Tr ...

s. Nityananda set up a school, where he provided food and clothing for the students.

Guru

As a

Guru Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...

, Bhagawan Nityananda gave relatively little by way of verbal teachings. Starting in the early 1920s, his devotees in

Mangalore Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the st ...

would sit with him in the evenings. Most of the time he was silent, though occasionally he would give teachings. A female devotee named Tulsiamma (Tulsi Amma) (1882-1945) wrote down some of his teachings and his answers to her specific queries. Later, these notes were compiled and published in the

Kannada language Kannada () is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, an ...

and came to be known as the ''Chidakasha Geeta''. Some believe that Nityananda had the power to transmit spiritual energy (

shaktipat Shaktipata () or Shaktipat refers in Hinduism to the transmission (or conferring) of spiritual energy upon one person by another or directly from the deity. ''Shaktipata'' can be transmitted with a sacred word or mantra, or by a look, thought or ...

) to people through non-verbal means. He could also be extremely fiery and intimidating in his behaviour, even to the point of throwing rocks on occasion. This was his way of deterring people who were not serious in their spiritual aspirations, or who came to him with ulterior motives. In 1936, he went to the

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

temple in the village of Ganeshpuri and asked if he could stay there. The family that looked after the temple agreed and built a hut for him. As his visitors and followers increased, the hut expanded and became an ashram. To the people around him, he was an

avadhuta ''Avadhūta'' (IAST ', written as अवधूत) is a Sanskrit term from the root 'to shake' (see V. S. Apte and Monier-Williams) that, among its many uses, in some Indian religions indicates a type of mystic or saint who is beyond egoic-conscio ...

: one who is absorbed in the transcendental state.

Final Years and Death (Samadhi)

Bhagawan Nityananda died on 8 August 1961 at age 63. His

samadhi Statue of a meditating Rishikesh.html" ;"title="Shiva, Rishikesh">Shiva, Rishikesh ''Samādhi'' (Pali and ), in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, is a state of meditative consciousness. In many Indian religious traditions, the cultivati ...

is located in Ganeshpuri at the Samadhi Mandir. There is also a shrine dedicated to him in the

Gurudev Siddha Peeth Gurudev Siddha Peeth is an Indian ashram run by the Gurudev Siddha Peeth Trust and serving the Siddha Yoga path. It is situated between the villages of Ganeshpuri and Vajreshwari in the state of Maharashtra, north-east of Mumbai. On the Siddha ...

ashram at Ganeshpuri. His ashram, tourist hostel, and other buildings associated with his life in Ganeshpuri are preserved by the Shree Bhimeshwar Sadguru Nityanand Sanstha Ganeshpuri. This trust is also responsible for his

shrine in Ganeshpuri, which is a pilgrimage site. A trust at Kanhangad looks after the Ashram and temples located there. The trust also runs a few educational institutions and a

dharmasala A ''Dharmasala'' or a house of fire, or house with fire, is the name given to a place where people, especially pilgrims, can rest on a journey. It is a type of building found in Angkorian complexes constructed during the reign of late 12th-centur ...

Bhagawan Nityananda’s Guru

According to Bhagawan Nityananda's biographers, the identity of Nityananda's guru is a mystery. According to Healy, Nityananda did not have a guru. In one of his talks, his student

Swami Muktananda Muktananda (16 May 1908 – 2 October 1982), born Krishna Rai, was a yoga guru and the founder of Siddha Yoga. He was a disciple of Bhagavan Nityananda. He wrote books on the subjects of Kundalini Shakti, Vedanta, and Kashmir Shaivism, ...

said that Nityananda’s Guru was an unknown

Siddha ''Siddha'' (Sanskrit: '; "perfected one") is a term that is used widely in Indian religions and culture. It means "one who is accomplished." It refers to perfected masters who have achieved a high degree of perfection of the intellect as we ...

from

References

Sources

External links

Nityananda the Living Tradition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nityananda 1897 births 1961 deaths 20th-century Hindu religious leaders Malayali Hindu saints Miracle workers