Blog Posts by Anand

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 In the yoga tradition it is said that you cannot progress on the spiritual path without the assistance of a guru. This is true to a degree; there is almost always simple progress anytime you take time to meditate, journal, practice asana, or contemplate divine qualities. However, if you want real transformation and enlightenment in this lifetime, then the aid of a guru is imperative; as it is best to learn from someone who has already achieved self-realization and enlightenment. The following pages aim to explore the power of the guru and also elucidate some potential pitfalls along the road to finding one.  I will also explore the concept of longevity and lifespan as we know it and discuss ancient alchemy and its wonderous effects. But first.. gurus. 

 Having a guru can create a mental conundrum for those born in the west, because we are taught that everyone is equal and no one is superior to another, and in order to be accepted as a student - you must submit to the teacher. This submission is viewed as weakness because if you put someone up on a pedestal, then you have actually dug a hole in the ground for yourself. There have been many bad gurus who have taken advantage of their position that have caused great harm as a result. Unfortunately, these “bad gurus” are the ones that get the most press and documentaries on Netflix. There are real, authentic gurus out there, but you won’t find them at Yoga Journal conferences or on social media.

 First, it is important to define the role of a guru and how they came into that position. The term ‘guru’ is made up of two words; ‘gu’ meaning darkness, and ‘ru’ meaning dispelling. A guru is an individual who removes the darkness of ignorance or forgetfulness and brings you into the light of recognition or remembrance. Unfortunately, this has led many new age teachers to think that anyone is a guru or that they can in fact become one. However, they are actually gugu’s – taking people from darkness into more ignorance. Anyone can help spark a glimpse of divine recognition but that does not qualify them as a guru, which is a title that is given from a recognized lineage of teachers. The position of the guru is passed down from master to student to maintain consistency in the teachings of that lineage. When a guru is recognized as being on another level than other gurus, then they are referred to as “satgurus,” meaning true masters. Unfortunately, just because they may call themselves “Satguru” or “Sadhguru” doesn’t necessarily make them one. It could just mean that they have an excellent marketing team.

 It is said in the yoga tradition that when the student is ready then the guru will appear. I have been very blessed to have two satgurus appear in my life. I was not seeking any teacher, as I felt complete and whole, and didn’t see any reason for a guru. Sadhana Shakti became connected with a teacher on Key Biscayne and started to attend retreats with this teacher’s guru. She became very excited about the community and wanted me to join. I still wasn’t feeling it, but I eventually relented and went to a local meditation. It was an okay meditation experience; as I’d prefer to do it alone than with a group, but I was talking with the teacher, Patrick Connor, and noticed that there was a framed image of Skanda at the front of the room. I asked, “That is Skanda, right?” And he replied, “That is Murugan, the second son of Shiva.” I smiled, then added, “Yes, that is Skanda.” Skanda has 108 names and technically he was the first born, but he lost his birthright to Ganesha (*see the blog on the Mango Race).

 I took this as a sign and wanted to meet Patrick’s guru, because the chance of a guru being aligned with the energy of Skanda is very rare and difficult to find, especially in the west. The satguru, Sri Sri Sri Svami Svami Purna Purna Maharaj, teaches all over the world, but we went to see him in the Pokonos mountains of Pennsylvania at an old dilapidated retreat center. I had no expectations, but Sadhana made me sit up in the front row on the first day. When Sri Svami Purna arrived everyone stood up out of respect. He walked in the room and then it hit me: a wave of prana, life force, shook my being. My heart rate increased, tears welled up in my eyes, and I felt the energy of love. I was confused as to why I was feeling this way and remember looking around to see if it was happening to others. He hadn’t even spoken yet but conveyed deep peace and vast knowledge just with his presence. This was just the first encounter over many more in Pennsylvania, California, and in India. 

The satguru is detached from the past and it is challenging to get out a full biographical story. The basics of what we know is that Sri Svami Purna has an ancient blood line going back to King Janaka from the Ramayana and the Aryans. He was born a prince in a palace like Siddharta and had private tutors while growing up. He renounced all of his royal riches and clothes after his studies. He went to go live naked in the Himalayas as a sannyasi (hermit) with wandering yogis. He befriended Rama Tirtha, who at that time was only the second yogi ever to travel to the U.S.A. in 1902. The first yogi to travel to America to teach Hinduism was Swami Vivekenanda in 1893 and then the third was Paramahamsa Yogananda in 1920. Rama Tirtha was born in October 22, 1873 and was 29 when he made that trip. He met Svami Purna in the Himalayas around 1905-1906. This would mean that Svami Purna’s birth was 1885-1890 at the latest. The current year is 2022, so if you do the math that makes Swami Purna at least 130-135 years old. This death defying, extension of life is due to the performance of tapas (austerities) and the Elixir of Immortality.

Tapas in new age spirituality is holding your center during difficult situations or difficult asanas. The actual practice of tapas is an arduous path walked by very few. It involves doing one single practice for 12-16 hours a day for 13 years. Sri Swami Purna chose to live naked in a cave at 13,000ft in the Himalayas near the source of the Ganges, at a place called Gomukh. The water of the Ganges has a unique property that isn’t found anywhere else in the world. The Ganges water contains over two dozen bacteriophages, viruses that devour bacteria, which explains the long held belief in the healing ability of the Ganges water (*discovered in 2020 by India’s Institute of microbial Technology in Punjab). Swami Purna lived off of this water for 13 years and only ate the few plants that grew at the base of the mountain. He sustained himself by building inner heat during meditation. This type of inner fire breathing or tummo as it is called in Buddhism, has been demonstrated many times by Tibetan monks, who would practice this technique to stay healthy at extreme elevations above sea level.  Living at altitudes where there is less oxygen available are the best places to live for advanced meditation practices and to extend life (*Research from the University of Colorado has shown that living at 5,000ft above sea level increases life longevity). The monks would demonstrate tummo meditation by going outside naked in the cold and wrapped in wet sheets. After a period of time the sheets would dry out and steam would be seen risingfrom them while they sat in meditation.  Here is a link to a video of a sadhu meditating at -45 degrees that was found in the Himalayas by the Indian army. 

After completing his 13 years of tapas Sri Svami Purna chose an even more difficult path by becoming a real death defier; he inoculated himself with the Elixir of Immortality; which consisted of gold, mercury, and snake venom. Everything about it sounds wrong and like bad science. I remember reading in my high school history class about its popularity amongst alchemists thousands of years ago in China. It was referred to as the Elixir of Life, because it really just extends life by making the body’s cells cells impervious to decay. This practice was eventually abandoned after Jiajing Emperor in the Ming dynasty died from alchemical elixir poisoning. 

There have been many instances in recorded history of people living to the age of 122.  According to new research from a Singapore based company called Gero, science says it is possible to live to 150. There have been many legends of alchemists and yogis living even past this age. The book “A Himalayan Yogi,” mentions yogis of advanced age like; Abdul Gaffar (400yrs old) and Hithal Mishra from Varanassi (aka Trailangya Swami 280yrs old * click here for bio on Wikipedia). The book is focused on and the teacher Guru Bhagwan (150yrs old) and Swami Baba Lokenath (160yrs old  Click here for bio on Wikipedia). There are a few other recoded lives of supercentarians. In 1912, it was reported by Sadhu Sundar Singh that there was a 300 year old Christian hermit living in a Himalayan cave known as the Maharishi of Kailash. In the book Falun Gong, it states that there was a person from Japan named Mitsu Taira who lived to be 242 years old, and a monk named Hui Zhao (526-815 CE) who lived to be 290. The annals from the Fujian Province record the life of (Chen Jun in 881-1324 CE) who lived to be 443 years old. Click here for reference on Wikipedia

One day in Ojai, California we were having satsang (spiritual discussion) with the satguru Sri Svami Purna. He told us about the path that he had chosen and that half of those that attempt it perish because they weren’t purified or strong enough. The yogi who performed the surgery on Sri Svami Purna also had it successfully performed on him. Sri Svami Purna explained that they first make a packet that contains the gold, mercury, and snake venom; and then the skin around the arm is cut and peeled back over the bicep; the surgery includes placing the packet between the two muscles, so that the contents slowly seep into the bloodstream. The body responds to this constant micro dosing of poisonous substances by strengthening the immune system. He then rolled up the sleeve of his dhoti and revealed a scar that went all around the bicep of his arm. He told us that he couldn’t tell us his age because he didn’t want to destroy our perception of reality. Sri Svami Purna has no birth certificate because they weren’t available in India when he was born. Birth certificates became available under British rule in 1886 and only became mandatory by India in 1969, so there is no real way of knowing his exact age. Himalayan yogis who have been practicing life extension secretly for thousands of years and they are still active today. 

Another powerful guru came into our lives after our first experience with ayahuasca. The shaman, Don Diego, who is also known as spiritual teacher Rudra (aka Rudrabhishkam). He conducts medicinal ceremonies and leads pujas (ritual worship) in the Hindu tradition around the world. Rudra channels the energy of the maha siddhar Kodi Thatha Swamigal, who comes from the Tamil Nadu region of South India. A siddhar is one who has acquired siddhis, supernatural powers, through the performance of rigorous yoga technique and prolonged periods of tapas. Kodi Thatha became well known locally in South India because he stood in Vrksasana (tree pose) for 12-16 hours a day for 13 years straight. Really, he always had that leg in the same position even when sitting or sleeping. One leg grew very strong and thick like a tree trunk, and the other leg was like a weak branch because he never switched sides. Meanwhile, the whole time he was engaged in mantra. This kind of devotion attracted followers who would feed him and massage his legs. Overtime he would develop siddhis and use them to bless his devotees. Siddhars were well known for their use of alchemy and medicine. Kodi Thatha became known as a maha siddhar due to the many people he had healed and assisted on the spiritual path. None of the locals knew his name or where he came from, so he was given the name Kodi Thatha. ‘Kodi’ is the name of the string that is tied through a cow’s nose so that they can be guided. ‘Thatha’ means great grandfather. Thus, Kodi Thatha is one who gently guides devotees with the loving energy of a great grandfather. 

Kodi Thatha extended his life by practicing the yoga of consciousness transference. When his physical body was no longer of use to him, he shed it and projected his consciousness into another body. He left his second body after several years and now projects his consciousness into several of his devotees that channel his energy. I had read about this in many yoga texts like the Yogas of Naropa. I thought they were all fanciful tales that might have some meaning but were impossible to take seriously. All of that changed after my encounter with Rudra when he channeled the maha siddhar Kodi Thatha at Skanda Yoga Studio. I had heard about him channeling a great sage from one of our students, but I honestly thought she was just confused or was a delusional cult groupie. I was wrong.

One night in the studio, a couple of days after drinking ayahuasca, we were having a small puja (worship ceremony) and then Rudra started to chant the Lalita Sahasranam (1000 names dedicated to the goddess Lalita). I didn’t know what was happening and had never experienced anything like that. The constant chanting really started to rattle my being and I felt uncomfortable. I thought that this guy was going to go on chanting forever and so I quietly ducked out and went upstairs to my apartment. After some time Sadhana came up and exclaimed “THATHA IS HERE!!!” I dropped what I was doing and ran back downstairs to the studio. When I got there my jaw dropped because the person I was looking at wasn’t the same person that I had been sitting with while chanting. His back had rounded up over his shoulders and his head had dropped. His movements were slow and stiff like a 90 year old person. His voice had also completely changed. Thatha was taking time to give darshan (spiritual sight and communication) to those who were in attendance. He gave consultations, answered questions, and gave blessings. There were several Skanda Yoga students present that evening who witnessed the transformation, the channeling, and received blessings. This was just the first of many more encounters with the great mystical swami from South India. 

The practice of consciousness transference is the 6th and final technique written about in the Yogas of Naropa. The practices start by building personal internal energy and then learning how to extend it externally. One of the most famous stories of consciousness transference is the story of the sage Shankara when he almost lost a debate to Ubhaya Bharati, the wife of sage Mandana Misra. Philosophical debates in ancient India were taken very seriously, because the loser would have to practice the teachings of the victor and become his student for a year. In addition to that; all of the students of the losing teacher also had to follower the victor. Shankara never lost a debate and had gained a fierce reputation and many, many followers. He swiftly defeated the ritualist, Mandara Misra, but his wife declared that she should also have the opportunity to debate Shankara if she was expected to follow him also. He agreed and Ubhaya Bharati began to ask questions about intimacy, love, and relationships. Shankara didn’t have any answers to the woman’s questions, since he had been living as a renunciate. He asked for a recess, which was given to him, so that he could do research and find the answers.

Shankara knew that there was an old dying king in the region, so he found an isolated cave where he could meditate and leave his body. He projected his consciousness like a radio signal into the king’s body. The dying king received the signal and sprang back to life to the complete shock of his wives. Shankara stayed in the king’s body until he had gained all the answers that he needed. He left and went back to his own body and then resumed the debate. Ubhaya Bharati was satisfied with his answers and submitted to his teachings. This is how Shankara became the conqueror of the four corners of India and never lost a debate. He however left his body through mahasamadhi at the young age of 33 just like Rama Tirtha, the friend of Sri Svami Purna. The Maha Siddhar Kodi Thatha is believed by many to be the reincarnation of the great sage Shankara.

Another guru that is important in the lineage of Skanda is the Maha Siddhar Bhogarnathar (aka Bogar). He was an alchemist that constructed a statue of Murugan (aka Skanda) at the temple of Palani. It was an amalgamation of 9 different poisons (known as navapashana) that give the appearance of being made of stone. Everyday it is bathed in milk and water, but it has not worn away. Nobody knows how it was made or what exactly it was made from, but devotees drink the run off milk for its healing properties. Sadhana and I have been blessed to have witnessed two pujas to Bogarnathar’s statue, and have drank the run off milk. I also was asked by the locals to perform a yoga demo at his final resting place.

The mainstream yoga tradition holds that Bogarnathar was the creator of the Elixir of Immortality. I asked Sri Svami Purna about this and he insisted that it was created in the Himalayas and then spread to China and South India. There are others that believe that Bogarnathar brought it back from China to South India. The legend is that Bogarnathar took the Shiva/Shakti philosophy from South India and traveled to China to spread the teachings. He had many difficulties teaching because everyone was skeptical since he was a foreigner. So, the story goes that he shed his body and took over the body of an elderly Chinese man. He assumed the name Lao Tzu and taught Shiva/Shakti philosophy repackaged as Yin/Yang and he called it Taoism. The legend maintains that he transferred his consciousness several times and lived for several centuries. The maha siddhar Bhogarnath is the only yogi who is believed to have practiced consciousness transference and inoculated with the Elixir of Immortality.

These stories of extreme life extension through yogic means suggest that the true potential of the human body as a vessel for spirit are unknown, except to satgurus and maha siddhars that practice tapas and alchemy. Their wisdom is still practiced to this day and Sri Svami Purna has assured us that he has written down the recipe for the Elixir of Immortality, and that the knowledge is safe, even if it is not meant for us. He would tell us that trying to fit everything we need to do in life feels like rushing to finish an exam at school before the bell rings, but he would then assure us that it can be done, and that it is up to us to do the work. 

In the west there is the view in society that you only live once, and so everything has to be done in this lifetime and our value is the totality of everything that we have accomplished. However, in eastern societies that practice Buddhism and Hinduism there is the acceptance of reincarnation as a fact of life. When you have many lives to live then there are many opportunities to learn all that is needed and your value will always amount to zero because the path is eternal. There is a story that demonstrates this from the conquest of Alexander the Great. When Alexander was travelling along the Indus River he saw a yogi sitting in lotus position staring at the ground. He had his translators yell to the man, “What are you doing?” The Yogi replied, “Experiencing nothingness. What are you doing?” Alexander replied, “I’m conquering the world.” Both men responded with laughter, each thinking the other was a fool. Alexander of the opinion that this yogi was wasting his time. The yogi thought to himself, “What is the point of conquering the world? It’s pointless. It will only remain to be conquered again and again.” The yogi had perceived through the illusion of maya and was experiencing true freedom and liberation. Alexander eventually realized that this yogi possessed great wisdom after further conversation and offered him a position as one of his counselors, which of course, the yogi politely refused. 

 The goal of all yogis is not to extend their lives through supernatural means. That is a very difficult path walked by very few. However, there are also many tales of yogis who have consciously discarded or shed their body through meditation early in life because they want to return to the bliss of union with the Creator. There are many instances of this from the book, A Himalayan Yogi, also Parmahamsa Yogananda wrote of yogis consciously leaving their body in his classic text, Autobiography of a Yogi. In one instance a yogi sends note cards out to his friends to come join him for one last meal and tea in his garden before he departs earth. Then the yogi would go sit in meditation and consciously leave his body. This is what Rama Tirtha (Svami Purna’s friend) did after his tour from teaching in America. He returned to India and then left his body on the exact same religious holiday celebration that he was born on, which was Deepawali, the festival of lights. (October 22, 1873-  October 17, 1906). When yogis leave their body consciously it is known as performing mahasamadhi, or the great bliss, which is also the term used for their final resting place. 

I know these stories are a lot to take in. I would tell them to my children when they were young and more likely to accept what I was talking about without doubting me. This completely backfired on me when I was invited to come to my daughter’s third grade class for parent occupation day. I followed a line of parents with impressive jobs and started to feel really nervous about my presentation. I performed a very advanced yoga asana demonstration that was full of handstands, arm balances, and tik-toks. To my surprise the kids weren’t impressed at all. The only questions they asked me were, “How much money do you make?” and “Why does it look like you’re wearing your pajamas?” So, my daughter decided to help me out and said, “Tell them about your teacher, you know, the one that is 130 years old.” Then she said, “Now tell them about his friend, you know, the one that left his body.” The look on this teacher’s face said it all. I was some crazy person filling their child with crazy ideas.

I thought it was all crazy when I read about it and heard about it in my spiritual community. Then I experienced the true magic and possibilities that the yoga path unfolds and feel compelled to speak from my own experience. There are still many mysteries left to discover about human potential. Sri Svami Purna is still alive to this day, and could live for a considerable time more. I believe that he could even outlive me. Everyone wants to fight the ageing process but nobody wants to believe that the way of the mystic and a life of restraint provide the best results. Sri Svami Purna would teach that we all have the freedom to create our own world and how we want to experience life. The path of yoga presents the tools for transformation and the gurus and maha siddhars are catalysts for transformation.

References:

Wikipedia: longevity myths

A Himalayan Yogi, by Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachariand 

Sri Svami Purna Maharaj - Adhyatmik

Ayahuasca - http://sachavacay.blogspot.com/p/shaman.html

Sri Maha Siddhar Kodi Thatha - Shiva Nagar Hermitage