Sri Sadguru Sivananda Murtyji took his Mahasamadhi today on June 9, in Warangal India at 1:55 AM at the age of 86. He was the head of the Saiva Mahapeetham, an important South Indian Vedic Saivite order and a great guru on many levels, with many thousands of disciples throughout India and the world from all walks of life.
Sivananda Murtyji is one of the few great realized souls in the world today and his physical presence will be missed by all his family and devotees. He had access to all the fourteen lokas mentioned in Puranic thought and had a deep understanding of the movements of souls between the various worlds. Now we will have to seek his guidance from within.
Guruji is a great Master who followed the teachings of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi and Trailanga Swami, as well as other great teachers, yet he had his own originality of thought, action and expression. He was adept in Vedanta in all of its forms, Shaivism, Raja Yoga, Jyotish, Indian music, Ayurveda and homeopathy. He was well known for his depth of knowledge, devotion and humility.
He was a great defender of the Sanatana Dharma and Hindu culture, which he embodied in his own life and teachings. He organized and conducted special workshops and seminars on Vedic astrology and on the traditional arts, music and sciences of Andhra Pradesh in order to sustain them in the world today. For this purpose he established the Sivananda Cultural Trust and the Andhra Music academy.
Guruji had a great concern for the welfare of India and of all humanity. He understood the history of the nation and was able to envision a greater future for it extending to a new spiritual renaissance. He used his great power of tapas to draw in a deeper yogic knowledge and grace into the country and into the entire world. He was close to many government leaders over the years, and recently received a special phone call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a visit by Sri Ram Madhav, general secretary of the ruling BJP.
Guruji has taken his work to the higher lokas, where his consciousness has been active for many decades. He related his spiritual death experience to me many years ago and had long been living on the other side of time. He had given up food and water some weeks ago and taken to an extended fast in order to transition beyond this physical realm.
We last saw Guruji with a group of our sadhakas three months ago in early March, where he provided us several days of special instruction, though he was already in a mode of silence and withdrawal. He also presented me with an introduction to my book Shiva: The Lord of Yoga, which he recently wrote in spite of his illness.
Over the years we have witnessed many miraculous events around Guruji, as have many other people, not only his devotees. This power of his can only expand now as he is no longer constrained to the limitations of the physical body. Yet most important was his insight and his compassion.
Vamadeva and Shambhavi
