Distortions of Ordinary Reality

In between the embodied Shivabalayogi and the cosmic Shivabalayogi are the many miracles associated with Shivabalayogi.

When he was in his own body, he could seem quite ordinary.  He was short, with a big stomach, long arms and long, bent fingers.  Yet there was always something other-worldly about this ordinary human person, something hugely larger than life.  It manifested in how we felt in his presence.  It manifested in the transforming power of his words.  More than eloquence, it was that Swamiji simply spoke truth from his own personal experience.

All around his presence were little distortions of ordinary reality.  Little and big coincidences — one could label them miracles — occurred around him almost all the time.  Although he appeared to be ordinary, and in a sense he was, there was nothing really ordinary about him at all.

These subtle and no-so-subtle manifestations of the spirit in our physical world have continued since his mahasamadhi, and they can be associated with the Shivabalayogi story.

People are still attracted to his photograph for some consciously unknown reason.  His initiation continues to evoke experiences.  Things happen through people that are inexplicable except as some manifestation of the Shivabalayogi person.  A woman has a vision of Shivabalayogi and sees him wearing a particular and distinctive coat which, unknown to the woman, he actually wore.  A woman in bhava samadhi knows and does things that the woman doesn’t know, but others recognize as something Shivabalayogi knew and did.

There is the astral Shivabalayogi, the subtle bodies that he manifests.  Swamiji talked about a yogi’s ability to project any number of astral bodies, and this phenomenon occurred unusually frequently around Shivabalayogi before his mahasamadhi.

Swamiji talked about bhava samadhi and, at least during several conversations in the United States, how he wanted to evoke the experiences in the West.  He would say that all yogis use bhajans (spiritual music) and bhava (spiritual trance).  He confirmed in different ways, some surprisingly direct, that he communicated and gave guidance and blessings through bhava samadhi.

The phenomena are still a part of The Living Yogi story today, as they are in all spiritual traditions.

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