Swami Shankar Purushottam Tirtha

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Swami Shankar Purushottam Tirtha was a danda sannyasi and Tirtha-Siddhayoga lineage guru who founded the Shankar Math in Uttarkashi and the Siddhayoga Ashram in Varanasi in the early 1900's. Swamiji's writings have influenced early and modern Siddhayoga guru/authors. Prolific Siddhayoga author, Swami Vishnu Tirtha was a sannyasi disciple of Swami Purushottam Tirtha. ^[1] Another disciple, Shivom Tirtha, also wrote several Siddhayoga books and was a sannyasi disciple of Swami Narayan Tirtha, who himself was a disciple of Swami Shankar Purushottam Tirtha.^[2]

Contents 1 Biography 2 Swamiji's books 3 Swamiji's influence 4 Teachings 4.1 Experience and intellectual understanding 4.2 How to end suffering 4.3 Naturalness 4.4 Kundalini infusion by guru 4.5 Kundalini shakti 4.6 Lifestyle practices 4.7 Spontaneous shaking during siddhayoga sadhana 4.8 Truth 4.9 Changing gurus 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Biography

Swamiji was born in 1888 in Vikrampar division of Dacca, Bengal. He was the son of a highly devoted orthodox brahmin family, and from childhood exhibited a deep interest in the path of yoga and Self-Realization). He always enjoyed remembering Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, and when he engaged in sadhana it took very little time for him to enter samadhi and enjoy hours of meditation. While his friends enjoyed India's Freedom Movement, Swamiji has little desire or ability to fight due to his increased experience of bhakti, (devotion to the Divine).

One day a miraculous incident happened while he was in daily worship before Sri Ramakrishna's picture. He prayed earnsestly to beseech Ramakrishna's blessings to find a competent guru who would be friend, philosopher, and guide in his bid to achieve moksha, the ultimate destination of one's spiritual journey. Suddenly Sri Ramakrishna's portrait transformed into a new ascetic whom he had never seen before.

As the days passed, his desire to find a guru became so paramount that it always subjected him to a state of agony and torment. Once day a friend invited him to visit a nearby village (Binotia) where to his great astonishment, he saw that very ascetic (from the picture) in the person of Sri Narayan Dev Tirtha. The yogin also behaved as if the author was known to him for a long time and asked him to stay in the village overnight.

That evening he sat for meditation with the other followers of the yogin and in no time became submerged in an ocean of spiritual ecstasy and inexplicable joy and happiness for which he was hankering for and spent so many sleepless nights over.

He realized he had found his guru and elected him as his guru the very next morning. He then became a brahmacharya (celibate) known as Atmaprakash Brahmachari, studying with his guru for 8 years. Thereafter he went to the holy city of Varanasi where he penned his experiences, later becoming the book Yoga Vani.

Ultimately he opted to become a sannyasi (ascetic lifestyle), and his guru directed him to Puri where the eminent scholar, prolific writer and speaker, Jagadguru Swami Sri Bharati Krishna Tirthaji Maharaja [author of Vedic Mathematics ^[3] and Vedic Metaphysics ^[4]]. ordained the holy seat of Shankarachayra at Gobardhan Math. Expressing his desire, it was immediately fulfilled by the Shankarachaya. He was initiated into sanyas (celibate for life) and was renamed Shankar Purushottam Tirtha.

After a few years, Bharati Krishna Tirtha Swami was invited to USA by Paramhamsa Yogananda. He left Swamiji in his seat as Shankaracharya. Upon returning, swamiji requested to return the position and move to the jungle of Uttarkashi (in the Himalayas) for a more secluded life. While in Puri, he helped the raja(king) of Uttarkashi who thanked him by building him the ashram, Shankar Math.

In those days, you could only reach Shankar Math by foot from Rishikesh, taking 2 weeks of walking. His disciples requested and built him an ashram in Varanasi, Siddhayogashram, where he blessed many devotees and disciples to lead them to the path of Siddhayoga.

He chose Swami Narayan Tirtha as his successor, and died in 1958 in Kolkota.^[5]

[edit] Swamiji's books

• Yoga Vani: Instructions for the Attainment of Siddhayoga (Bengali, Hindi, English)^[6]
• Guru Bani: 100 Ways to Attain Inner Peace (Bengali, Hindi, English)^[7]
• Jap Sadhana (Bengali, Hindi)^[8]

[edit] Swamiji's influence

• Founder of the modern Siddha Yoga group, Swami Muktananda recommends Swami Shankar Purushottam Tirtha's book, Yoga Vani. In Muktananda's book, Play of Consciousness, he says:

Nagad was a solitary and beautiful place. My meditation progressed automatically. I studied books such as Mahayoga Vijnana, containing descriptions of some experiences which are helpful for the yoga of meditation. I sent for other, similar books, such as Yogavani and Shaktipat. Mahayoga has a very important place in Shaivite philosophy. In the Shivasutras, Pratyabhijnahridayam, Tantraloka, Shivadrishti, one can read what the saints say, in the light of their own experiences, about Shaktipat, the grace of a Siddha, and the dynamic play of Mother Kundalini.^[9]

• Another modern Siddhayoga guru, Shivom Tirtha, has laid out the Tirtha Siddhayoga lineage tree on his website. ^[10] In 1963 he became a sanyasi disciple of Swami Narayan Tirtha, who was a disciple of Swami Shankar Purushottam Tirtha.^[11]

• Swami Vishnu Tirth, from another branch of Tirtha Siddhayoga lineage (brahmacharya guru of Shivom Tirtha) became a sanyas disciple of Swami Shankar Purushottam Tirtha in 1939. ^[12]

[edit] Teachings

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[edit] Experience and intellectual understanding

One of Swamiji’s main teachings was that people could have direct experience of Soul or God, as opposed to mere intellectual understanding. Just as a bird needs two wings to fly, so spiritual seekers need intellectual knowledge and direct spiritual experience.^[13]

Knowing God is not attained through intellectual understanding, but direct experience, and was beyond the limits of any specific rites, or rituals. While he emphasized the need for both, he noted that intellectual knowledge was used in one of two ways, a) to inform a person of the steps leading to the goal and the goal itself, and b) to confirm the higher spiritual experiences a person had. This is quite different from the modern idea that memorization and intellectual understanding itself is the same thing as understanding from life experience. He cites Bhagavad Gita 6:44, which says a sincere inquiry into yoga brings direct experience of union, removing the need for rites and rituals. ^[14]

He discussed two kinds of knowledge, a) external, objective knowledge, and b) internal, subjective knowledge. Objective knowledge is obtained from the guru and shastras (spiritual texts), while subjective knowledge is obtained through devotion and meditation. He cited a passage from the Yogashikopanishads referencing this idea.^[15] and further cites Gita, saying that one who acts out of loving service to humanity more easily experiences union of individual soul with eternal soul than the intellectuals or those seeking self-reward. ^[16]

[edit] How to end suffering

Spirituality to Swamiji involved the focus on removing human suffering and not mere discussion of lofty, esoteric concepts. His book Yoga Vani begins with this very message. ^[17] His says the solution to suffering is attaining salvation (moksha), or Self-Realization.

[edit] Naturalness

Swamiji emphasized that growth of Self-Realization was growth of divine love, and for this, a natural lifestyle was required; straining or forcing can cause anger, frustration, and harm, and thereby go against one’s own nature. ^[18] This idea is also cited in Ayurvedic texts^[19].

[edit] Kundalini infusion by guru

Siddhayoga is attained by the infusion of spiritual force through the good grace of a saintly preceptor. ^[20] The process of infusion is explained as, the shakti flows from God through the guru, into the disciple at the muladhara where the kundalini snake resides; awakening her. ^[21]

The author cites Kularnava Tantra , explaining how shakti is infused by Guru through touch, observation, and volition. Just as the bird hatches its offspring by sitting (ie, touching), Siddhayoga gurus animate the disciple's shakti through their touch; As the fish raise their offspring by observation, so the guru raises the student’s shakti through observation. Tortoises, after laying her eggs raise, them from a distance through will force. So the guru can infuse shakti into the disciple (known as Sambhabi diksha in the Bayabiya Samhita).^[22]

[edit] Kundalini shakti

In addition to the many Vedic shastras (spiritual texts) cited above that discuss siddhayoga at least in part, the author also brings in other shastras that discuss kundalini shakti as a part of the siddhayoga experience, including Yogachooraamani Upanishad ^[23] and Gautameeya Tantra^[24].

[edit] Lifestyle practices

In addition to practicing Siddhayoga sadhana (meditation), Swamiji said there is the need to live a well rounded, balanced life of moderation, citing references from Gheranda Samhita and Bhagavad Gita ^[25] and ethical living (Yama and Niyama)^[26]

[edit] Spontaneous shaking during siddhayoga sadhana

While many meditation how-to books admonish sitting absolutely still during meditation, Siddhayoga explains the need and value of letting the body be spontaneous. Thus described are various ‘quivers’ or shaking movements of the body including feeling dizzy, going into spontaneous yoga asana positions and pranayam (breathing) modes, all occurring naturally as the body cleanses the sushumna nadi (spiritual tube in the spine).^[27]

[edit] Truth

Swamiji’s advice on how to know if something is true to to base it on three tests: if the scriptural authority (shastra), the guru’s instruction, and one’s own direct experience all correspond, then you know something is true .^[28] Anything less involves some degree of blind faith and uncertainty.

[edit] Changing gurus

This guru cites various Vedic texts to show the right and responsibility of a disciple to find the right guru and switch gurus when dissatisfied. He cites Kularnava Tantra (verses 109-110) and Shiva Purana. ^[29]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• About Swami Shankar Purushottam Tirtha