Shivapuri Baba

The Shivapuri Baba (named after his last place of residence in the Nepalese Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park, birth name: Jayanthan Nambudiripad , in his middle years also called Govindananda Bharati or Govinda ; born September 27, 1826 in Akkikkavu in the southern Indian state of Kerala ; † January 28, 1963 in Dhruvasthali, near Kathmandu , Nepal ) was an important yogi and Hindu mystic who was venerated as a saint in India and Nepal because of his teaching, his ascetic life and his old age.

Teaching

The Shivapuri Baba taught svadharma or “right life”, a rule of life derived mainly from the Bhagavad Gita and the Vedas , which he builds on the three disciplines of spiritual , moral (or morally virtuous) and physical duties, the strict observance of which through the intermediate stages of the Self-knowledge and the knowledge of the soul should ultimately lead to the knowledge of God. He taught that this “right life” was not tied to a specific religious form, but was universally valid and could be led by people of all cultural and ideological origins. In his instructional speeches, for example, he showed the points of contact with the corresponding teachings and the like. a. of Hinduism , the Buddhism , of Christianity and Sufism on.

Life

Following the tradition of his Brahmanic origins, he decided at a young age to embark on the spiritual path of a sannyasin and, after his initiation, retired to the jungle on the Narmada River, where he led a hermitic life in complete solitude for 24 years. until he finally came to see God according to his own statements.

At the age of 50 he left his hermitage and began a pilgrimage around the world, which lasted a total of 40 years, i.e. until shortly after the First World War , whereby he covered the distance (apart from the lake passages) exclusively on foot. He wandered via Afghanistan and Persia to Mecca and Jerusalem , on through Turkey , Greece and the Balkans to Rome , in order to then visit practically all European countries and several of them (e.g. in Germany and England ) To stay for years. He then traveled to the USA and from there migrated via Mexico to South America, embarked for the South Sea Islands and traveled back to India via New Zealand and Australia .

During this world tour he met many historical personalities, such as the Indian politician and independence fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak , the mystic Ramakrishna , the yogi and philosopher Aurobindo Ghose , the German Kaiser Wilhelm II , the Dutch Queen Emma , the English Queen Victoria , the father Winston Churchill , the writer George Bernhard Shaw or the American President Theodore Roosevelt .

After his return, he settled in Shivapuri National Park in Nepal at the age of 100, where he spent the remaining 37 years of his life in seclusion, teaching a few students and occasionally receiving well-known personalities, such as the Indian president and religious philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan in 1956 . Despite the great veneration he was shown in India and Nepal, he refused any cult of his person and vehemently refused to turn his modest hut into an ashram or pilgrimage center. In 1961 and 1962 he was visited there by the English scientist, author and spiritual teacher John G. Bennett , whom he subsequently commissioned to write a book on his teaching of the "right life".

literature

• John G. Bennett: A Long Pilgrimage - Life and Teaching of Shivapuri Baba ; Südergellersen 1985; reissued as: Living Right - The Teachings of the Wise Shivapuri Baba ; Xanten: Chalice, 2018; ISBN 978-3-942914-26-0 .

Web links

• Illustrated biography of Shivapuri Baba
• Audio recordings of the conversations between the Shivapuri Baba and John G. Bennett in 1961 and 1962
• The Shivapuri Baba in conversation with John G. Bennett

swell

1. ↑ John G. Bennett: Live Right ; Xanten 2018, pages 43-68
2. ↑ Ibid: pp. 17–24
3. ↑ Ibid: pp. 25–32
4. ↑ Ibid: pp. 33–41