His Tapas, His Life

A Yogi Tested by God

“All the pain and suffering that one has to undergo is a test. God tests. If one passes these tests then one can reach God.”

1935 – 1994

Born Sathyaraju, a weaver’s son

He was born on 24 January 1935 in Adivarapupeta, a weaving village of the Godavari delta, and named Sathyaraju. At fourteen, by an irrigation canal, his Divine Guru initiated him into tapas — twelve years of meditation in samadhi. He completed that tapas on 7 August 1961 and became known as Shivabalayogi.

7 Aug 1949Initiation into tapas, aged fourteen, by the Godavari canal
12 yrsMeditation in samadhi — eight of them at twenty-three hours a day
7 Aug 1961Completion of the twelve-year tapas before a vast crowd
28 Mar 1994Mahasamadhi; his body interred at Adivarapupeta

Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj was born Sathyaraju on 24 January 1935 in Adivarapupeta, a weaving village of the Godavari delta in south India. At the age of fourteen, on 7 August 1949, by an irrigation canal, a divine yogi emerging from a Shivalinga touched him between the eyes and he passed into samadhi. For twelve years he meditated in samadhi — eight of them at twenty-three hours a day — mastering meditation facing each of the four cardinal directions, and completed the twelve-year cycle on 7 August 1961 before a crowd some estimated at a hundred thousand or more. He became known as Shivabalayogi, “Yogi Dedicated to Shiva and Parvati,” and referred to himself simply as Swamiji. For three decades he travelled throughout India and Sri Lanka, and from 1987 he toured the United Kingdom and the United States, giving public programs of meditation and bhajans and initiating people freely. He dropped his physical form on 28 March 1994 and entered mahasamadhi; his body is interred in the Samadhi at Adivarapupeta.

The Arc of His Life

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A Yogi Tested by God

Born Sathyaraju, a weaver’s son

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The Arc of His Life

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