Indian and American devotees are touring the United States and the West teaching Shivabalayogi's meditation, some conducting meditation and bhajan programs. Shivabalayogi makes his blessings available through them, as he does through many other devotees throughout the world.
Shivabalananda,
also known as R. B. Singh, first toured the U.S.A. and U.K. in late
1994. He was working as an engineer for the Indian space program
in Sriharikota when he was drawn to Shivabalayogi and took initiation in
1976. Since then, he has regularly meditated an hour each morning
and evening, without fail. He was attracted to
bhava samadhi, which is the manifestation of Shivabalayogi's astral
presence on a devotee. Soon he was having the experience himself.
Then he was drawn to a devotee in bhava samadhi giving spiritual
discourses, and soon he received that blessing as well. He has been
richly blessed with many spiritual experiences.
Particularly after Shivabalayogi's mahasamadhi, R. B. Singh's own bhava increasingly moved from the devotional movements during bhajans to verbal communications as Shivabalayogi. For programs, he dresses in the manner of Shivabalayogi, sits on an antelope skin asana, and assumes the spiritual name of Shivabalananda. There is more information on Shivabalananda's tours at the Meditate-Shivabala website.
Mahendra Pal Singh
is controversial because he claims to be Shivabalayogi in a new body. He was a
business and family man from Farrukhabad in North India when he met
Swamiji and experienced bhava samadhi. Some were very impressed with his
trance, others irritated and skeptical. About a year before
Shivabalayogi's mahasamadhi, M. P. Singh sat in a 45-day meditation in
Agra. Afterwards, he was unable to return to ordinary consciousness, so
devotees took him by train to Shri Swamiji in Bangalore where his trance
had a similar effect. Some were impressed; others irritated and skeptical.
Since Shivabalayogi's mahasamadhi, M. P. Singh claims to have become Shivabalayogi completely and uniquely. Controversy continues to surround him. He tours the east coasts of Canada and the U.S. where he has become trustee for life and successor to Shivabalayogi. He demands recognition as Shivabalayogi and has expelled those who do not. During his first western tour he was forced to leave England early for alleged misconduct, since 1999 he no longer visits the Adivarapupeta ashram, and he has alienated devotees who knew the real Shivabalayogi. Websites are devoted to M. P. Singh as Shivabalayogi at Shivabalamahayogi and in Canada.
Baba Shivarudrabalayogi is the third Indian devotee to tour the West. Srinivasa Dikshitar, better known simply as Seenu, sought after spiritual life from an early age and he is the only devotee initiated by Shivabalayogi into sannyas, a vow of non-attachment. Seenu managed Shri Swamiji's Dehradun ashram and is widely respected for his devotion to Swamiji and for his skill playing and singing bhajans.
Several months after Shivabalayogi's
mahasamadhi, Baba was compelled, through Shivabalayogi's astral
presence upon him, to sit for five years of meditation, after which he
assumed the name Shivarudrabalayogi. His programs include
philosophical discourses and soothing bhajans as Baba is openly
skeptical of most
bhava samadhi, particularly any claim that a devotee in bhava
samadhi is Shivabalayogi. Baba teaches meditation which he calls
jangama dhyana (timeless meditation). His devotees revere Baba as a perfected
yogi and the spiritual heir of Shivabalayogi. The
Shivarudrabalayogi website is devoted to him.
The first time Swami Ken
Purmort was touched by his guru, Shivabalayogi, in 1989,
he went into a state of
samadhi for five hours. Later, Shivabalayogi initiated him
into tapas at the Bangalore ashram. Swami Ken, traveled in United
States, India and Europe with Shivabalayogi, and since 2007 has been
touring the United States and Canada conducting meditation programs. Swami Ken lives outside
of Minneapolis with his devoted wife Vivien at the Shantivan Dhyana
Meditation Retreat Center. See the
Swami
Ken website.
Steven
Sadleir, director of the Self Awareness Institute in Laguna
Beach, California, studied and traveled with Shivabalayogi in the late
1980's and 90's, hosting Swamiji's programs and giving Swamiji's
initiation in Orange County and Los Angeles. During a 1990 visit
to
Steven teaches meditation, giving talks and seminars around the world, and holding retreats where he leads dhyana meditation. He also conducts monthly teleconference meditation classes in which students call from all over the world. He now has around 20,000 students in 120 countries. For more information visit the Self Awareness Institute website. Steven also gives Shivabalayogi’s initiation without charge.
The Swamiji Within
Each
devotee can be a powerful expression of devotion towards the Universal
Guru in the form of Shivabalayogi. Each sees and reflects
Shivabalayogi differently. As disciples conducting programs in the
West, each can be a medium for Shivabalayogi's blessings.
Shivabalayogi is not limited to any form, disciple or devotee. Shivabalayogi has many devotees and disciples who have completed intense meditation, or whom Shivabalayogi uses to be powerfully present in bhava samadhi, or both. Most devotees work without acquiring much personal recognition to help make the great yogi's blessings available to the public.
Shivabalayogi calls upon different devotees to
accomplish different major jobs, some private, some public, but none
more or
less important than the other. Many devotees have followed Sri
Swamiji's call to meditate or serve for hours every day. Those
listed above are the better publicized disciples, but many others have
given much of their lives to meditation or service to Swamiji or both. To know such devotees is to understand that it is Shivabalayogi who put
such desire into their hearts. Those who do his work more quietly
with love and dedication are honored here as well.
Shri Swamiji always encouraged devotees to know the truth for themselves through each person's own direct experience.
“Lineages are different from yogis. You are asking about a spiritual leader and the continuation of his mission right down with another spiritual teacher, and after him another spiritual teacher. That has no relationship to the connections that yogis have. The yogi has nothing to do with spiritual leaders. A yogi never starts a religion. All the yogis belong to a single line. They are all the same. They are all connected together. It’s not that you have lineages or anything like that.” — Shivabalayogi