Rikhia Agaman

Rikhia Agaman
Rikhia Agaman
All
All Roads
Roads Lead
Lead to
to Rikhia
Rikhia -- Consecrated
Consecrated Land
Land
Amrit Lahari
Rikhiapeeth,
Rikhiapeeth, Jharkhand,
Jharkhand, India
India
RIKHIA AGAMAN
Swami Satyananda Saraswati

100 Years of Spreading Peace, Plenty and Prosperity
1923 - 2023 and beyond
With kind regards, and prem
Amrit Lahari - Waves Of Nectar Series

© Rikhiapeeth 2023
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, transmitted or stored in a retrieval system, in
any form or by any means, without permission in writing
from Rikhiapeeth.
Published by Rikhiapeeth
First edition 2023
Publisher and distributor: Rikhiapeeth, P.O. Rikhia,

Dist. Deoghar, Jharkhand, 814113, India
Website: www.rikhiapeeth.in
Printed at Aegean Offset Printers, Greater Noida
‘Rikhia Agaman’ is an offering to Paramguru Swami Sivananda

and our beloved Pujya Gurudev Swami Satyananda.
It is compiled and published by the sannyasin disciples,

devotees and well-wishers of Paramahansa Satyananda, as
a part of nishkam seva, selfless service.
Rikhia Agaman is produced to share the life, teachings and

inspiration of Swami Satyananda, whose light blazed on earth
from 1923 to 2009 and beyond.
RIKHIA AGAMAN
All Roads Lead to Rikhia
Rikhiapeeth is situated in a remote village, twelve
kilometres from the renowned temple town of Deoghar,
Jharkhand. It is the tapobhumi of the great spiritual
luminary and exponent of Yoga, Paramahansa Satyananda,
who is renowned world-wide for his specialised and
unparalled contribution to Yoga, Tantra and the spiritual
sciences.
Rikhiapeeth is where Swami Satyananda lived the life of a

Paramahansa Yogi, for twenty years performing long and
arduous yogic sadhanas before taking Maha Samadhi here
in 2009. In keeping with the yogic and spiritual legacy he
left behind, the sprawling ashram has evolved into a vibrant
epicentre where serious yoga lovers and sincere spiritual
seekers from all walks of life, can experience the peace,
harmony and true joy of living a Yogic lifestyle.
Ideal for those who wish to live yoga rather than just
practise it, Rikhiapeeth caters to sincere aspirants looking
for a wholistic approach to Yoga. Rikhiapeeth has also been
the centre for the relief activities of Sivananda Math and
Sivananda Ashram. Under the umbrella of these organisations
the ongoing activities vary from Yoga courses, Yoga sadhana
retreats, Yajnas, Discourses on Yoga, Tantra and Philosophy
to extensive seva (service) of the rural communities. Swami
Satyasangananda, the Peethadhishwari of Rikhiapeeth, guides
its multifarious activities which are based on the teachings of
Swami Satyananda and his Guru Swami Sivananda.
The uniqueness of Rikhiapeeth also lies in the fact that it is

set in a pure, serene, rural environment which lends fullness
to the yogic life emulated here. A great place to simply detox
and inhale Yoga while being of service to others.
v
Swami Sivananda Saraswati
Swami Sivananda Saraswati of Rishikesh is the inspirer of the
Bihar Yoga tradition. A great spiritual luminary of the 20th
century, Swami Sivananda developed yoga as a practical,
integrated subject which everyone could apply in their
lives. He wrote hundreds of books and articles on yoga and
spirituality to maintain and introduce yogic values in the
minds of the general public. His emphasis was on bringing
the spiritual and yogic teachings to all without distinction.
Embodying the spirit of service to humanity, he inspired
and guided thousands of spiritual seekers to practise yoga
and lead a divine life. Swami Sivananda inspired research
into the ancient traditions to investigate the benefits of
yoga for the development of the human personality, thus
instigating the integration of traditional yogic wisdom with
modern scientific knowledge. His eightfold path: serve, love,
give, purify, meditate, realize, be good, do good, became a
roadmap for spiritual aspirants worldwide. Today his light
spreads far and wide for the spiritual upliftment of everyone,
everywhere.
Swami Satyananda Saraswati, was entrusted by his Guru
Swami Sivananda with the mission of spreading yoga from
door to door and from shore to shore. Swami Satyananda
Saraswati became the foremost inspirer of yoga in the 20th
century. In 1963, he founded the Bihar School of Yoga to
impart yogic training to all. He authored many major texts
on yoga, tantra and spiritual life, which are now accepted as
textbooks in schools and universities throughout the world.
A modern day sage and visionary, he established yoga as part
of mainstream society, making the ancient systems of tantra
and yoga accessible to people of all faiths and nationalities for
physical, mental, emotional and spiritual evolution. In 1988 he
renounced his mission, and in 1989 he came to Rikhia to live the
life of a paramahansa sannyasin. With the sankalpa of peace,
plenty and prosperity for all, he performed long and arduous
yogic sadhanas, thus inspiring sannyasins and householders
in their spiritual journey to develop a universal vision. In 2009,
he wilfully entered into Maha Samadhi at midnight on the 5th
December and merged into Siva consciousness.
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati continues his Guru's
mission of spreading yoga around the world. He joined the
Bihar School of Yoga in 1964 at the age of four, and as President
guided the activities of BSY from 1983 to 2008. Initiated as a
paramahansa sannyasin at the age of thirty, he was anointed
preceptor in succession to Swami Satyananda by the leading
luminaries of the sannyasa tradition in 1993. Author of
many classical books on yoga, tantra and the Upanishads,
Swami Niranjanananda toured extensively nationally and
internationally. Swami Niranjanananda is a magnetic source
of wisdom on all aspects of yogic philosophy, practice and
lifestyle. In 2008 he relinquished the presidency of the Bihar
School of Yoga and all institutional responsibilities. Before his
Maha Samadhi in 2009, Sri Swami Satyananda gave Swami
Niranjanananda the mandate to explore the sannyasa lifestyle
and to revive and expound the classical yoga vidya. In 2017,
he was awarded the third highest civilian award of India, the
Padma Bhushan, by the President of the Republic of India
for meritorious work in yoga.
Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati
Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati, also known as Swami
Satsangi, is the Peethadhishwari of Rikhiapeeth as appointed
by Swami Satyananda. From the age of twenty-two, she
experienced a series of inner awakenings which led her to
her Guru, Swami Satyananda. She was initiated into the
Dashnami tradition of sannyasa on 6 July 1982 at Ganga
Darshan, Munger. Thereafter she travelled extensively
with Swami Satyananda on his tours in India and abroad
which gave her immense exposure and contributed to
her development into a scholar with deep insight into the
yogic and tantric traditions as well as modern sciences and
philosophies. A truly inspirational teacher and gifted writer,
Swami Satyasangananda is the author of major texts on
yoga and tantra. As the Peethadhishwari of Rikhiapeeth, she
received the mandate from her Guru Swami Satyananda to
implement Sri Swami Sivananda’s three precepts of serve, love
and give and she works tirelessly for the material and spiritual
upliftment of the local community. She travels nationally and
internationally carrying the light of her Guru’s teachings to all.
Offering
In humility we offer this compilation of teachings

and memories on the historic moment of Rikhia
Agaman to Sadguru Swami Sivananda Saraswati,
who initiated Pujya Gurudev Swami Satyananda
Saraswati into the secrets of yoga.
Dedication
ØãìÁ ØããñãäÌã¶ª ªãñ„ Œãü¡ñ, ‡ãŠã‡ãñŠ ÊããØãîú ¹ãã¾ãý

ºããäÊãÖãÀãè ØãìÁ ‚ãã¹ã¶ããñ, ãä•ã¶ã ØããñãäÌã¶ª ãäª¾ããñ ãä½ãÊãã¾ãýý
— ‡ãŠºããèÀªãÔã
Guru and Govinda are both before me, whose feet
shall I venerate first? Undoubtedly I shall choose
my Guru, thanks to whom I was introduced to
Govinda.
— Kabir Das
Rikhia is consecrated land as each and evey inch
has been blessed by the touch and gaze of Swami
Satyananda.
- Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati
xii
Contents
MY GURU HAS SHOWN ME THE PATH xv
PREFACE xvii
PART I: RIKHIA AGAMAN
1. Following God’s Mandate 3
2. Humble Beginnings 19
3. Deoghar: The Abode of Siva 21
4. Temple of the People 25
5. Village Life: Santhal Pargana 33
6. Rikhia the Tapobhumi: Panchagni 41
7. Darshan Purnima 49
8. Sankalpa of a Paramahansa 52
9. Swamiji’s Constant Companion 55
10. Constant Companion 57
11. Shri Panchadashnaam Paramahansa Alakh Bara 61
12. Paramahansa Alakh Bara 66
13. Tulsi: The Presiding Deity 69
14. Tulsi 77
15. Ganesha 79
16. Ganesha lives at Rikhiapeeth 85
17. Rikhia Is My Airport 89
PART II: FEASTING ON MEMORIES
18. Feasting on Memories 95
19.The Moment of Agaman 110
PART III: VISION OF RIKHIA
20. Vision of Rikhia 127
21. Sankalpa 142
22. Seva as Sadhana 144
xiii
xiv
My Guru Has Shown Me the Path
My Guru has shown me the path
He desired my body,
I gave it to him unflinchingly.
He asked me for my prana,
I offered it unhesitatingly
He said, “Will you give me your mind too?”
I replied, “It is yours forever.”
I was left with nothing,
Empty and desolate.
The dark blue sky, dotted with stars, and the moon,
That was all I had now.
Then all at once
The sun burst upon me with a song.
The restless ocean bathed me with its waves,
The thundering clouds burst upon me with rain,
The snow white swan danced before my soul.
My Guru came to me once again.
He said, “Will you give me the samskaras you have collected
life after life?”
I looked into his deep brown eyes,

Into the dark and deep abyss of his being.
For what seemed aeons, he stood before me.
Everything else began to dissolve before my eyes.
To melt and fade away.
There was unity within and without.
It is the grace of my Guru,

He who has extinguished my being
And absorbed me into himself.
My Guru has shown me the path.
- Swami Satyananda Saraswati -
xv
Preface
Peethadhishwari, Rikhiapeeth
In Vedic tradition everything is based on ‘Muhurat’, the exact

time, the exact moment when something happened. And
Rikhia Agaman, the exact moment when Swamiji arrived
at Rikhia, when Swamiji set foot on this soil, is enacted on
23rd September every year at Rikhia, since Swamiji took
Maha Samadhi in 2009. We consider that moment a very
significant, precious and sacred moment or muhurta in the
span of time. Because when Swami Satyananda first set
foot here in 1989 his destiny began to lead him to a very
important moment of his life. Of course it changed the
destiny of this place, but even Swami Satyananda’s destiny
was revealed to him here.
It was here he discovered his relationship with God. In fact

you can say that all he used to speak about was Bhakti. Bhakti
became the epicenter of Rikhia. That is the seed that Gurudev
sowed in Rikhia. So when we celebrate Rikhia Agaman we
are nurturing that exact moment, when the seed of bhakti
and the person to saturate it with prana, entered this land.
Swamiji lived here for a span of twenty years and in that time
the spiritual energy that he poured into that seed, is what
Rikhia is basking in even today.
Rikhia Agaman is a tradition of Rikhiapeeth. Rikhia is derived

from the word Rishi. In Sanskrit you can replace Kha with Sha
or Sha for Kha – so Rishi became Rikhi and Rishiya became
Rikhiya.
xvii
Rikhia Agaman means the arrival of a Rishi to the land of the
Rishis. At one time Rishis may have lived here because this
was all forest. Sannyasins and sadhus like to live in forests
with nature. So Rikhia Agaman is the arrival of a Rishi. Rishi
is a seer, a Rishi is a scientist. A Rishi has a vision and a Rishi
is able to manifest that vision.
Swamiji’s vision was peace, plenty, prosperity – happiness,

peace of mind for all, and that is what he manifested
here. The dire state of the neighbours of Swamiji was
transformed into one where they could live peacefully,
happily, without insecurity and fear, and this is the most
significant transformation. Of course houses were built and
means to earn livelihoods, to have food every day, to be
able to get their daughters married, to send their children to
school. All that happened, but the main thing that Swamiji
gave them was hope and a chance to dream, a sense of
security, a sense of peace. That is the transformation that
happened with the arrival of Swamiji at Rikhia.
Rikhia Agaman signifies Swamiji’s arrival here every year.

We lead him in at that exact moment, at 12 noon, midday.
I take the car out, I sit in it because I was the privileged
one who arrived here with him in 1989, and I have with
me Swamiji’s beautiful picture in which he looks so alive.
And exactly at 12 noon the gates open and we drive in and
Swamiji steps out. Then he is accompanied with bells, conch,
damaru, dhuni, and all the sacred items that were part of
his life at Rikhia. Then showing Swamiji the entire ashram
by walking through each and every spot which he himself
envisaged and which he himself walked through, we place
him and worship him, we sing for him and we dance for
him – this is the beauty of Rikhia Agaman. Connecting with
a very important moment in time when a great soul set foot
on this land.
Namo Narayan
xviii
This land has a destiny. Like each of us has a destiny, the
land also has a destiny, and that destiny unfolds at the right
time, at the right place, at the right moment and by the right
person. Just as it did for Rikhia by Sri Swamiji setting foot
on this land.
- Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati
xix
PART I
Rikhia Agaman
1
.
Following God’s Mandate
I am a book of many chapters, and each chapter begins

and ends somewhere. Though there is a break between the
chapters, there is continuity as far as the story is concerned.
The chapters break but the story continues.
In 1947, my Guru, Swami Sivananda said, “You have arrived

at the railway station three hours before the train is due to
arrive, so you will have to wait on the platform for three
hours. The train will not arrive before time.” I asked him when
these three hours would be completed. He replied, “In forty
years. Don’t go into a life of seclusion where you suppress
your mind, thoughts, passions, hatreds and worries. Express
them. After forty years, when your mind is completely calm
and quiet, and you have experienced all the phases of life,
then go into seclusion.”
He told me not to bother about formal sadhana, instead he

advised me to go on working selflessly for forty years. He
told me that my path would reveal itself to me very clearly
after forty years. Thus, in 1988, forty years later, I left Munger
ashram and found my path.
A Promise to my Ishta Devata

It was at Trayambakeshwar in 1963 that the chapter of my
life which led me to Munger and the propagation of yoga
was first revealed to me. It was also at Trayambakeshwar
where I made a sankalpa or promise to my Ishta Devata in
3
1963 to return and seek further enlightenment, renouncing
all I achieve or accomplish in the propagation of yoga.
Fulfilling a Promise
In 1988 I left Munger and visited a number of Siddhapeethas.
I had made a promise that when my work for the propagation
of yoga was over, I would leave. Not because of vairagya, I
have great faith in my Guru and his guidance.
Finally, in the monsoon season of 1989, I arrived at Nasik,

which is near Bombay. Sannyasins are not supposed to move
around during the Chaturmas, for a minimum of two months
during the rains. That is a rule I had never followed; this was
the first time I followed it.
About thirty kilometres from Nasik is Trayambakeshwar, the

source of the river Godavari, where there is the jyotirlingam of
Siva. I went to have darshan of Lord Mrityunjaya and sought
his permission to spend two months of Chaturmas there. A
strange coincidence brings me back after so many years to the
same place. His Holiness Mahant Shivgiriji Maharaj, the chief
of Juna Akhara at Trayambakeshwar, invited me to stay at
Neel Parvat, the very same place where I had stayed twenty-six
4
5
years ago. I have chosen to stay in a ‘goshala’ at the foot of Neel
Parvat, in a small room eight foot by eight foot, representing
everything ancient in structure, purity and simplicity.
One of the swamis came to meet me and began to cry,

“How can you live like this?” Because he had formerly
seen me living in air conditioned rooms. Also a man came
from Barcelona with his wife and she asked, “Why do you
live here? Why can’t you stay in a hotel in Mumbai and
practice?” I replied, “Then how will I have darshan of
Trayambakeshwar?”
I am alone. What shall I do here? All around me rise the

Brahmagiri hills from which the Godavari descends and
flows on to the eastern sea. While I meditate under the gular
tree outside my kutir and await his next command, I am
inspired and intoxicated by the wondrous beauty of these
Sivalingam shaped mountains on all sides. I am the bird of
the vast expanse of the sky. The Hansa has flown away.
A New Chapter Begins

The Chaturmas sadhana which I did, from 14th July to 14th
September 1989, was to find out certain things and I received
two messages: one on 18th July 1989 (Guru Purnima) and the
other on 8th September 1989 (Swami Sivananda’s Birthday).
The first was what I should do and the second was where I
should do it.
On the 18th July 1989, during Guru Purnima vrat, in the

evening I sat down and said, “Lord, I have come. All
my duties are over. I am empty and unemployed. I have
nothing to do with yoga, with preaching, or with anything
else. I am a sannyasin, a free bird. I have no more missions
to perform.”
What should I do next? I want your guidance! My sadhana

was over. I wanted direction. Why should I decide?
6
The Hansa Has Flown Away
The hansa has flown away
Soaring with its wings spread
Across the infinite sky.
It is searching for its ultimate abode
Since many yugas.
Knowledge it has received in abundance
From the jnanis of the world.
Grace and blessings from the divine too.
Still today it is restlessly flapping
Its wings in search.
Looking down at its own creation
Of the three worlds
Etched across the horizon,
Yes, it is flying high
And flying ceaselessly in search,
Witnessing the world down below as leela
Alone, all alone, in the infinite sky
My soul is flying to unite with its beloved.
- Swami Satyananda Saraswati
7
I was alone. I sat down in the middle of the night, and
gradually my mind sank and I lost consciousness. Then
a storm came, a cyclone, thunder, rain, and lightning. I
experienced it all within me. Within or without is all the same,
it is just a concept. I am talking in terms of time and space. I
am not talking in terms of the body or the individual.
“Twenty-one thousand six hundred times” was the sound

that came. “Perfect the unbroken awareness of your Guru
mantra with every breath and beat of your heart. That is
your mission now.”
Later, when I came out of that state, I knew what I had to

do. I had no difficulty in understanding this. I started the
sadhana from that day. I have heard my Guru’s command;
I heard those commands which are beyond the mind, which
are in the depth of my consciousness. I heard them when I
was not even aware of my own existence.
8
So here began the next chapter of my life. Just as I gave my
whole self to the accomplishment of His previous command
to ‘spread Yoga from door to door and shore to shore’ I also
plunged deep into all that was required of me to perfect
my new mission. The past is dead and gone. Human as I
am, I may travel back into the past and circumstances may
compel me to accept associations with those with whom I
had interacted before. That too is His will. But my personal
endeavours will be to break away from the past and fulfil the
mission given to me by Lord Mrityunjaya.
God’s Mandate
On 8th of September, the birthday of my Guru, a question
which was haunting my mind from time to time was
answered. Where do I fulfil my next mission?
I could not decide where to stay. I had many options - one

was Gurushikhar at Mount Abu, another was at Gangotri,
where I was offered a cave, a kutir in Kedarnath. The swamis
at my Guru’s ashram also offered to keep me with them, and
many others. Many people invited me, but I was unable to
decide where I should go. So, I reserved my decision until
the direction was made clear to me.
On 8th September, the birthday of Swami Sivanandaji, I

woke at about two o’clock in the early morning, made a
little tea, took my bath and sat down. The sky was quiet, the
translucent rays of Ashtami were shining through the small
windows of my kutir, and I found that I was once again
enveloped by a strange light. There was total quiet and then
there was a huge storm with lightning and thunder. This
storm happened internally, not externally. My mind sank
again. I gradually lost consciousness. At 4 am the shrill voice
came saying: “Chitabhumao” - Go to my burial ground, the
smashan bhoomi. The command was clear.
Chitabhumao means cremation ground. That was all, burial

ground. Chita means burning of the body and bhumi means
9
ground. At once, I understood the meaning of what I had
heard. It was a clear instruction that I was to go to a cremation
ground.
In India, in the Vedic mythology and in the Puranas,

particularly in the Siva Purana, there are references to two
cremation grounds. One is at Varanasi, known as Siva’s
smashan bhumi. The other is this entire area of Deoghar
which, in our scriptures, is referred to as Chitabhumao, which
is considered to be the burial ground not of Siva but of Sati.
Deoghar is the second tantric seat after Kamakhya, which is
located in Guwahati, Assam.
When the voice uttered the word ‘Chitabhumao’, I also saw

the property very clearly in a vision; the building, the trees,
everything as clearly as on a television screen. There have
been so many other instances which I have attributed to
my super mind, higher mind, deeper mind, greater mind
or whatever you wish to call it. But now I did not make that
mistake. That was my God who guided me. He had guided
me from childhood.
He gave His mandate and it was going to happen. I did not

even worry about how it will happen. I had the feeling that
I am a servant, I do not have to worry. I do not have to be
anxious. If He gives me an order I will do it, then things
become easy. The servant does not have to worry. He just
has to carry out his orders. A servant has no accountability,
no responsibility. He just has to do his duty and not think
too much. Not only in the path of sadhana, but in life also,
man has no choices.
So, I did not choose Rikhia. God gave me this place. I had
never thought of this place. I did not leave the ashram and
decide to come here by my own choice, nor am I doing
anything by my own desire.
10
This place is very near to Munger; I wanted to go away from
Munger where they would not even get the faintest whiff of
my scent.
I have only to say:
O Lord, let Your wish prevail

And let You be all in all.
As long as there is life and blood in the veins,
Let Your Self be the subject matter of my speech
And let the search for You be the goal of my life.
Following the Mandate

On the 8th September 1989, at about seven o’clock, while I
was boiling my tea, Swami Satsangi arrived all the way from
Munger with Prasad of Guru Purnima, and I described to her
what I had seen. The first instruction I gave her was to find
the place for me.
I gave her a glimpse of what I had seen and described its

setting and surrounding topography and told her, “You don’t
have to stay here. Go back immediately. Go, there is a place
near Deoghar. Please go there and find it.” I didn’t have to
worry, I just told Swami Satsangi. She left barely three hours
after her arrival, in search of the place of my description.
11
I had given her a broad idea of the chitabhumao, which is a
very large area. Who could find the shirish and palash trees
that I had seen in the vision, in an area the size of Deoghar?
She arrived in Deoghar and stayed in a hotel where she
resolved to consult a knowledgeable priest the next day and
try to find the spot with his help.
Luckily the next morning at Baba Baidyanath, she met

Giridhari Panda who is the priest of the nearby Harlajori
temple. She described what she was searching for and he
took her to Rikhia. The land he showed her matched exactly
what I had described. On the very same day, the owner had
also decided to sell this property. So, He tells me to go there
and He tells him to sell. This is not a coincidence. I have had
many occurrences like this in my life.
At that time Rikhia was like the forgotten land. Barren and
pure. Simple and divine. Swami Satsangi was led to the land
ordained for me by Siva and she immediately recognised it
as the place and she had the land registered the same day.
A New Chapter Begins

On 12th September 1943, I shed all that belonged to my
poorvashram - the name, the caste, the gotra and many more
things including coat and pants to don the geru robes. It was
on this day, at Rishikesh by the banks of the Ganga, that my
Guru Swami Sivanandaji gave me Paramahansa diksha of
the Dashnami Sannyasa Order.
Forty six years later, on 12th September, 1989, by mid-

afternoon I was informed that barely two days after her
departure, Swami Satsangi had located the exact setting as
I had described to her, in Baidyanath Dham at the smashan
bhoomi of Sati, for my further mission.
On the 14th, I received the news that the property had been
acquired and I could leave Trayambakeshwar. I was far away
in the south-west of India.
12
Things happened on their own. That evening I performed the
poornahuti for the fulfilment of my prayers and the revelation
of a divine place and a clear cut path, just as Bihar School of
Yoga and Ganga Darshan had been revealed to me twenty-five
years ago in the same place by the same Lord Mrityunjaya.
Instructions to Devotees and Disciples

On realisation of my path ahead I now wish to make it clear
to all of you associated with me in the past that I am dead
and will continue to live in the smashan bhoomi of my Ishta
Devata until he has some other command for me.
There are four stages in a sannyasins life - first with guru;

second as a mendicant; third do his own work; and fourth
be free! I have fulfilled the other stages and now am at the
fourth. Now do not seek me out or hold me back. Even if you
know where I am, do not hold me back.
Gurudev’s inspiration is stirring within me. I will consider

myself free from his debt only when I have filled the hearts
of millions with his teachings and, anointed them with the
most sacred dust of his lotus feet. I have set forth and will
keep walking on the path to the final destination of absolute
truth and unforgettable beauty.
13
14
Rikhia Agaman
I arrived here in Rikhia on the 23rd September, 1989 at
twelve o’clock, midday. It was the day of the equinox, when
everything is in perfect balance; day and night are both
exactly twelve hours long.
On such a day, I set foot here at exactly midday. Was that

auspicious moment a coincidence? A few days after I arrived
I was standing here in the centre of the land when suddenly
a twelve-foot-long geru coloured serpent appeared at the
far end and it circumambulated the entire property and
disappeared into a bush just where I was standing. I dug my
trishul at that very spot and I said, “I shall light my dhuni
here.” When God gives His command, you have to tune in
and be able to understand. I named it Maha Kaal Chita Dhuni
- the original one.
When I came to this place there was nothing growing here,

it was barren. After I had been here for ten days, the work
commenced. Astrologers have indicated in my horoscope
that wherever I go, I will construct houses.
Things become so easy that you do not have to think or

struggle. When it is God’s will, everything is easy. When it
is man’s will, then you have to struggle. You can only attune
to God’s command when you stop thinking.
It is strange that I came to Rikhia, leaving all other places.

Did I know about the existence of this place? I was given the
address not by man, but by God. I am, and have always been,
a man of resources. So why stay here in Rikhia? I could have
had a very good cave in Gangotri where a helicopter could
have just dropped all my things from Delhi. It would not
have been at all difficult for me. God gave the command and
so it happened that way. I have been sent here for a specific
purpose.
15
Living for Others
I wanted to retire and live quietly in solitude. I did not
want to meet anyone, and even now I do not want to meet
anyone. The whole world can complain about me. I do not
mind. Initially disciples used to scale the walls and come in
uninvited also. That is why I keep Bholenath. Everyone here
has been stamped by him.
So now, to live only for others should be the dharma of

Swami Satyananda’s life. Since the day this thought came to
my mind, I have achieved the aim for which I left my home,
fifty or sixty years ago.
I am the continuous flow of nectar,

I am completely quiet, blissful and eternal,
I am a luminous star of bliss.
I did all sadhanas, I did everything. I read a lot, travelled

around the whole world, saw all the temples of Christians,
Muslims, Iranians and Parsis, but now here at Rikhia I have
received His order and I am meant to work for others, not
for my own spiritual salvation.
I realized that knowing the Self is necessary to keep oneself

disciplined, without any craving for name and fame, or even for
doing service and helping others. There is a difference between
the feeling of service and the feeling of the Self. If I am hurt I
feel pain, that is natural, but do I also feel pain if you are hurt?
We are all selfish, not selfless, and the path to God proceeds
from selflessness. Generosity doesn’t proceed from selfishness.
There is only one way traffic on this route. Whatever spiritual
path we follow, it must be a path of selflessness, and this has
been said in all the scriptures.
This is atmabhava, not charity. Seeing everyone in oneself

and oneself in everyone is the highest attainment of Vedanta:
16
‘Atmanipashyanti bhutani’ which means seeing the Self in all
and all in the Self as one Brahman. This has been written in the
Gita, Upanishads and Vedas and the rishis and munis have
said the same thing. Atmabhava means to feel the experience
of others as my own experience. The sorrow and sufferings of
others, the death of somebody unknown to me, the problems
of families who are strangers to me, are all felt as my own.
This is God’s mandate and my Guru’s teachings which have

blossomed and manifested in Rikhia.
17
18
Humble Beginnings
Rikhiapeeth had a very humble beginning. It was started

from scratch. There was nothing here of the 21st century. No
roads, no electricity and no shops. We used to draw pure and
clean water from the well as there were no taps. We used to
eat on leaves. That beautiful palash tree, with orange flowers,
used to grow just besides the dhuni of Swamiji, we just had
to break some leaves and eat on that. The dhuni was lit in
the early morning and Swamiji would remain at the dhuni
all day doing his japa.
There were many things to do and we were busy all day.

When there was nothing else to do, there was always the grass
weeding. I have pulled out weeds for days at a time; so much
so that when I used to close my eyes I used to see only weeds
of all different types which I had been digging out the whole
day. I told Swamiji that when I close my eyes I can only see
weeds, he said, “Your dhyana is becoming perfect!” Even in
that there was a lesson, every little thing was a lesson and
in that lesson was hidden a miracle, it was a beautiful time.
It was simple village life. Rising early and starting the

daily chores. I had to prepare bhasma for Swamiji to apply
in Panchagni. The bhasma was prepared by burning and
collecting the residue 11 times. Also special balls of cow dung
were prepared with different herbs to burn in the dhuni.
At that time the most precious thing at the Akhara was

wood. We had to collect stacks and stacks of wood for the
19
daily Panchagni. Every morning the entire area of Swamiji’s
Panchagni was smeared with ’lipai’ of cow dung, making it
fresh and clean for the day.
Almost the first thing

that Swamiji did was
to plant trees. Rikhia
land is ideal for trees,
they grow so fast
here. The Rudraksha,
Sivalingi and Gular
trees were planted
for Siva in his pooja
area, which are still
standing tall today.
The Karanja tree
was planted for Kali
next to the Akhara.
The Pipal tree was
planted for Hanuman
near Raghunath
Kutir. Tulsi was
planted near the
well for Narayana.
Worship of the trees
with Ganga jal and
incense were part of
the daily ritual.
Soon Rikhia became

Vedic bhoomi and we
started living in the
Vedic era following
the tenets of Karma,
Bhakti and Gyana
Yoga. Simple living
and high thinking!
20
Deoghar - The Abode of Siva
An Ideal Place for Swamiji
Deoghar which is also historically known as Baidyanath

Dham, is mentioned in the Siva Purana, which relates it to the
Treta Yuga, the era of Lord Ram and Ravana. Narad Muni in
his description of Baidyanath Dham to Hanuman describes it
as the only place where Lord Siva grants boons to each and
every person whether deserving or undeserving, sinner or
saint. The name ‘Deoghar’, which literally means ‘home of
the Gods’, is a modern name.
21
The climate at Deoghar is dry and congenial and this
place is considered a health resort due to the good air and
environment. Perfect for the sadhana Swamiji was to embark
upon.
Baba Baidyanath - Lord of the Doctors

The central figure around which everything revolves at
Deoghar is Baba Baidyanath, the Jyotirlingam of Lord Siva.
Carved out of a single rock, its magnificence and power draws
lakhs of people to Deoghar for worship all year round. The
word baidya means ‘doctor’, nath means ‘chief’, so you can
say that he is the Lord of the doctors.
22
Baba Baidyanath heals all the ills of life, whether physical,
emotional, psychic or spiritual.
Swamiji used to say that Baba Baidyanath is the civil court of

Lord Siva, and Basukinath, another awakened shrine quite
close to Deoghar is the criminal court. You understand that
in the civil court cases take many years to file and then be
processed. In the criminal court action is taken very fast. It
means you make a prayer here it is certainly fulfilled at the
appropriate time.
Swami Satyananda at Basukinath, 1989
23
Swami Satyananda at Basukinath, 1989
24
Temple of the People
Shravan Mela
During the month of Shravan, which falls during July and
August, the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor walk
barefoot 104 kilometres to Deoghar from Sultanganj, which
is situated on the banks of the Ganga. Millions of people, old
and young, men and women, come here on foot.
They fill a kalash with Ganga water at Sultanganj and carry

it here on their shoulders. It takes them three to five days to
reach this place and during these five days, they dress like
sadhus and live like sannyasins. They are householders from
different stratas of society - men, women and children, rich,
poor, happy, unhappy as well as people suffering mentally
and physically.
They carry the kalash of Ganga water on their shoulders and

they never place it on the ground. Throughout the journey,
they repeat the mantra, Bol Bam, Bol Bam, Bol Bam, Bol Bam.
When they arrive in Deoghar, they enter the temple and pour
all the Ganga water on Lord Siva.
This tradition has been going on for so many centuries

that, with the amount of water poured on it for so long, the
Sivalingam has flattened, as if it were thumped into the earth.
Some people also prostrate at every step of the journey.

Doing namaskara, they prostrate on the road and pray
25
with each step throughout the journey until they reach the
temple. It takes a long time, maybe a few months for them
to reach here. People suffering from incurable diseases take
this observance. This is austerity, or tapasya, perhaps it is
like a purgatory.
Man has made so many mistakes in his lifetime. In order to

eliminate the karma, he undertakes many forms of austerity
and this is one of them. This type of austerity, which is known
as prayaschit, is a part of the Vedic dharma, and it is found
in Christianity as well.
Swami Satyasangananda performing puja at Baba Baidyanath, Deoghar
26
Swami Satyasangananda performing aradhana at Sri Vidyapeeth, Deoghar
Cremation Ground of Sati

This is the cremation ground of Sati. When Lord Siva was
crestfallen at the death of Sati, he began wandering from
place to place, carrying her dead body. As he moved about,
the different parts began to drop away. In one place her
hands fell, in another her legs, somewhere else her eyes. In
the end, only her chest, where the heart is located, remained
with him, and this was cremated by the people here. That is
why this place is also called the cremation ground of Sati,
“Chitabhumao”, and is venerated as one of the sixty-four
shaktipeethas.
Due to this incident, the environment here is permeated with

the shakti of Bhagavati. Perhaps this place is special because
it is an important shaktipeeth as well as a seat for one of the
twelve Jyotirlingams of Lord Siva. Deoghar is an important
seat of both Siva and Shakti. They are eternally present here
and their influence is all pervading.
27
Deoghar is the cremation ground of Devi, the place where
her heart fell millions of years ago. It is also the birthplace
of a new Devi. The message for the awakening of women
will go out from here.
Panchagni
Usually Panchagni is done in burial grounds, that is the usual
law and system. According to the traditions in India, there are
two places that are known as burial grounds. One is Deoghar
and another is Varanasi. That is also called Chittabhumau and
this is also called Chitabhumao. This is the burial ground of
Sati and that is the burial ground of Siva. These are the two
places where Panchagni has to be done.
It is said that Sarada Devi performed Panchagni tapasya. In

history even many women have performed Panchagni. Parvati,
of course, you can say is mythological. Sarada is historical.
28
Legends of Deoghar Temple
The legends about the Deoghar Siva temple are various. One
legend is that in the Treta Yuga the demon Ravana, King of
Lanka, propitiated Lord Mahadeva and wanted him to come
over to Lanka. Mahadeva did not agree to this prayer but
told Ravana that one of the twelve emblems of His divinity,
Jyotirlingam, would be quite as effective as His presence and
that he may take it away on the condition that there should
be no break in the journey and the lingam would not be
deposited anywhere on the earth. The condition was that if
the lingam was put anywhere on the earth in the course of
the journey, it would be fixed to that spot forever.
The legend says that Ravana agreed to this condition, took the
lingam and started the journey to Lanka. The Gods dreaded
29
the effect of the lingam being established at the seat of a
demon king. A ruse was devised by Varuna, the God of the
waters, entered the stomach of Ravana and the demon had
to descend to earth to relieve himself. Later, Vishnu, in the
garb of an old Brahmin, appeared before Ravana, after his
descend to the earth, and began to converse with him. Ravana
requested the Brahmin to kindly hold the Jyotirlingam for a
few minutes so that he could relieve himself. Lord Vishnu
readily agreed to it and, as soon as Ravana turned his back
to relieve himself, he left the Jyotirlingam on the spot and
vanished.
When Ravana came back, he found that the Jyotirlingam

was firmly fixed to the earth and realized that a trick had
been played on him. He tried every possible way to remove
the lingam but failed to do so. He made his obeisance to the
lingam and daily he used to come from Lanka and worship
the divinity.
The spot where Ravana came down to earth has been

identified with Harlajori, about two kilometers from Rikhia
and the place where the lingam was deposited is known as
Deoghar.
30
31
.
Village Life: Santhal Pargana
When I came here in 1989, it was a desolate place. There was

nothing growing, not even a tree, shrub or bush; it was all
stones. The people living in my neighbourhood had no hope
for the future.
Deoghar is a land of Santhalis. Just as there are different tribes

in Madhya Pradesh and other states, similarly, the native tribe
here is Santhali. Rikhia is the tribal area of the Santhalis. This
state was once called Santhal Parganas. The Santhalis are the
indigenous tribe, the original residents, and they still live here
today. They have a great culture.
33
The Santhalis are simple and nice people. Their king wasn’t
a Santhali; he was a follower of Vedic religion, like Rama,
Krishna, Harish Chandra and others. Baba Baidyanath Dham
is a Santhali temple, but the Ganga water is brought from
Sultanganj, which is outside the Santhali jurisdiction. This is
regarded as a symbol of unity, because Sultanganj falls within
the territory of Anga. People bring Ganga water from there
and offer it here. The priest here comes from Mithila. All this
is a symbol of unity, what you call equanimity.
Santhals are the largest tribe in Jharkhand. The word

‘Santhal’ is derived from two words; Santa meaning calm
and peaceful and ala meaning man. In the past, the Santhals
were leading a nomadic life. Gradually they came to settle
down and establish agricultural communities. Santhals lead
a community life which is cohesive, organic and unified.
Santhalis love dancing. Dancing is in their blood. They have
oral traditions and songs. Rituals play an important role in
their culture.
34
The Santhalis are my neighbours. They are good people who
suffer from ignorance, illiteracy, helplessness and disease.
They are poor but loving; they have big hearts and small
bank balances. I know the villagers for eight to ten kilometres
around me, and they do everything for me. My neighbours
have been associated with the Akhara since its inception,
and over the years have worked ceaselessly to construct the
ashram.
When we started the construction, the Santhalis cleaned up

the entire area before building began and plastered it with
mud and cow dung. They are adept at using indigenous
materials, and have a very good technology. We call the
masons vishwakarmas, divine architects, because they have
given us so much assistance in constructing the ashram. The
local people also look after the horticulture and gardening,
and all live within a radius of a few kilometres from the
ashram.
35
Another surprising thing is that every building you see in
the Alakh Bara has been constructed by local people residing
within a two kilometre radius. Swami Satsangi has not even
called anybody from Deoghar. The electricity, carpentry,
civil engineering, preparation of land and planting the trees
has all been done by them. Of course, they are being paid for
that. We have local people who can construct anything. This
kutir where I live, which is constructed entirely out of mud
with a thatched roof, is an environmentally friendly house.
We utilize the services of the local people for digging

excavation, installing pipes, brick laying, electrical fittings,
welding, plumbing, carpentry and many other types of work.
They maintain and service the vehicles, tractors, truck, cycles
and motor cycles, even the UPS. We do not hire artisans
or mechanics from the cities. Everything from painting to
electrical work is taken care of by local artisans.
36
The Santhalis are intelligent and skilled, honest and
hardworking, but very independent. They are known to be
simple, and peace-loving. Mostly they rely on physical labour
for a living. They do not pilfer or shirk work. Because of their
character the quality of their work is superior, neat and clean.
We never have to worry whether or not they will turn up
when required. That is why we hold them in high esteem.
My arrival has made a substantial change in their destiny.
37
Village Life
All around me there are villages. They like me very much,
because they find that I am even poorer than them. This is
a great solace to them, because they at least have one dhoti,
but I do not even have that. I can live with them in much the
same way as they live themselves. However, if I were to live
with them like a rich man, then they would be jealous of me.
We have established a relationship with these rural people.
The inhabitants of Rikhia are innocent and simple folk. In fact,

we are like one family. They bring chapattis and vegetables
for me. Whenever they do Kali pooja, they bring Prasad
for Bholenath. Right now, they are engaged in harvesting
paddy. Out of the paddy they will make flat rice and offer it
at Deoghar temple. It is an age-old tradition to offer it there,
since I have come here, they first offer it to me. I get quintals
of flat rice.
38
The women of the villages are very sweet, they have
environmental control, without being taught or told, they
use branches of the trees and cow dung for fire.
When you are in a rural area, wherever you are, you should
think about living a very natural life. A good life, smooth
life, but you should also think of generating wealth for the
people around. That is a very important part, a very important
contribution to the society. I do not consider my work as
charity, because these people are like my family.
When I go for a stroll to the villages,

the people watch out for me and the
children say good morning. If they
miss seeing me, the children start
shouting at their parents, “Mummy,
Papa, Swamiji has gone past.” It is not
because I give them anything. Love is
reciprocal. When you give love, you
receive the same amount of love in
return. If I ignore you, you are bound
to ignore me too.
39
Ode to Mrityunjaya
Om Namo Narayanaya
O Lord Mritiunjaya!
I have worshipped you
As Kaal Bhairava with one tattwa
As kaamakshi with five tattwas
As Vishnu with flowers, fruits, water and milk.
In many forms, in many ways
And in many places
I have worshipped whatever form
You have revealed to me as your own image.
And now, at your burial ground
I will worship you with every breath.
This I promise.
40
Rikhia the Tapobhumi:
Panchagni
After coming to Rikhia I asked, ‘What sadhana will one do at

this age?’ The age for sadhana is eight to thirty years. What
sadhana will a person of seventy years do? I did whatever God
inspired me to, and that inspiration came from my inner being,
not from my mind. It came from my innermost being and that
is why I listened to it. I heard the voice with my own ears. From
inside it told me what to do and I did that. The instruction was
given like that. I hardly can believe it even today.
This only happens by the grace of God. Why me? I had a lot
of weaknesses - desire, anger, greed, ego and attachment.
These are the five fires inside the subtle body which dry up
the being of a person.
To avoid these fires and to face these fires are two different
things. I did not avoid them; I faced them and faced them well.
I faced them strongly but sometimes I felt as if I would slip.
A person who can face these five inner fires, he alone can face
the five external fires. Otherwise a sadhaka doing Panchagni
sadhana commits suicide because thereafter one really does
not survive. The best way to die is in Panchagni sadhana. It
really isn’t necessary to get your head cut off, just do Panchagni.
I am scared of heat, I can’t tolerate it and I had my room

air-conditioned in Munger. I am uncomfortable if the
41
temperature goes beyond twenty or twenty-one degrees. So
I lost hope of surviving when the mercury touched ninety
degrees. But somehow I survived.
I made a resolve to do Panchagni sadhana for five years. It

can also be done for seven years. During that difficult period,
I used to sit in between the fires, one fire, two fires, three
fires, four fires, five fires. A fire to the left, a fire to the right,
a fire to the front, a fire at the back and a fire above. Four
fires were lit with wood and the fifth was the sun. So, I had
to face five fires and these five fires that I am talking to you
about are external. I was surrounded by external fires that
were burning around me from sunrise to sunset in the hottest
months of the year. I addition, there was the fifth fire which
was the hottest of all – a hydrogen fire. The sun is hydrogen,
so hydrogen fire.
42
The Five Fires
The five external fires represent the five inner fires, the inner
state which we all have to face. That too I have faced during
my lifetime. I think you too are facing it, but perhaps you lose
the battle by falling sick. Do you know what the five internal
fires are? Kaama, desire; kroddha, anger; lobha, greed; moha,
attachment; mada, pride. These are the five fires raging inside
all of you, and you are doing Panchagni without knowing it.
The fire is raging within you. We are all burning.
Purification through Panchagni Tapas

The world of action is the world of maya, and maya will put
her imprint on each and everyone, without any expectation.
So I had to wash and cleanse the black patches of karma.
How could I do this? For a sannyasin the way of purification
is Panchagni tapas. Panchagni means ‘five fires’. The fifth fire
is the sun overhead, it is a very difficult tapas.
43
I was scared of Panchagni because I could not bear even
one fire. For me 25 degrees Centigrade was too high a
temperature. Although I could easily tolerate the cold, even
as low as 3 degrees Centigrade. I could remain naked even
in Denmark, but heat I could not tolerate. I had to decide
whether or not I could do the Panchagni tapas, the five fires
authority. I thought that if I faced the five fires and could not
bear the heat, then I would become dehydrated and sick. Then
another thought came to my mind. Tulsi, a type of basil, is
the best medicinal plant, so I chose Tulsi to be my presiding
deity, my Ishta Devi, and I started practicing pooja, worship,
of Tulsi, according to the tantric system. I decided that Tulsi
would be the presiding deity of the Akhara and then I started
practicing Panchagni.
It is a tapas of five years. One day the temperature went

up to 90 degrees Centigrade. Can you imagine how hot 90
degrees Centigrade can be? The normal temperature was 50
to 60 degrees. In the cold season, when I started the fire in
the morning, I would begin the sadhana with a temperature
of 35 degrees and then smear my body with bhasma, holy
ash. The bhasma intensified the sensation of heat, along with
the feeling of bliss.
I faced the five fires from sunrise to sunset, from 14th

January, Makar Sankranti, to 16th July, Karka Sankranti,
from Capricorn Solstice to the Cancer Solstice, during the
summer only, not during winter. There was one fire to the
North, one to the South, one to the East, one to the West
and the fifth fire was the sun above. When the wind blew
sparks I would get black marks all over my body, so I put
bhasma to protect it. I prepared a special bhasma, called
Maha bhasma, which I made with cow’s ghee and treated
eleven times with many herbs. Honey and other things
added to it. I would apply in the morning. I used no oil and
ate only once a day.
44
I was able to do it only because of the blessings of Tulsi.
I prayed to her for one thing only. I said, “Keep me fit,
that’s all, nothing else,” because I did not want to miss
this anushthan, even for one day, and I did not miss it. It
is not with pride but with gratitude that I say, since I have
come here I have not missed even one day of whatever
sadhana I have undertaken. I am not a young man, I have
snowy beard, but I can sit for ten to twelve hours without
any problems, no pain in the joints, no diabetes, no blood
pressure, no angina, no headache, no cold or fever. This is
all the miracle of Tulsi. I didn’t pray to Tulsi for money, an
ashram, magical arts, erudition, siddhis or yogic powers. I
prayed only for health and fitness.
The first year I started the fire outside. The next year I took
it in four directions: east, west, south and north. I am in the
centre and the sun is overhead. Nobody can come into the
compound at that time. If anybody comes and meets me, it is
a violation. In the beginning it was difficult, because people
used to come and bash at the gate, and I would have to come
out and meet them. Finally, Bholenath came into the picture.
He sits in the mandap, and if anybody comes, he gives me
warning. Then he goes for him, and that person leaves very
fast. Now nobody comes.
Celestial Fires
I had to decide how many years I would practice this
Panchagni sadhana, for five years, twelve years of for life. I
decided on five years and made a sankalpa. After this, the
internal fire is extended.
From Capricorn to Cancer, I have to be beside the fire all

the time. This is because the external fire ultimately takes
the form of a celestial fire. First, it is called the external fire,
then it becomes the internal, consumed fire, which is a high
energy. If I am successful, it will become the celestial fire.
What is celestial fire? Celestial fire and yoga are the same.
45
When you perform yoga practices like pranayama, you
develop that celestial fire within your body.
This is a very ancient practice which all cannot and should not
try to do; it is not permitted. When desires become weak, when
passions become very weak, when you don’t want anything
from anyone for any purpose, and can manage just with one
meal and little sleep, then you can practice this sadhana.
The temperature rises daily from sixty degrees to seventy

degrees Celsius. The human body can stand such heat for
one day, one week or possibly for one month, but for years
together it is not possible. You would die of dehydration or
some other problem, but I did not die!
46
One day, the temperature rose up to ninety degrees Celsius.
I have a thermometer which is also used in the bread oven.
That day the wind was blowing. Sixty degrees is normal. In
the early morning when the sun rises, it is thirty degrees. So
from sunrise, I seat for three hours, then take a bath. Then
again at midday, I sit when the sun is descending.
Throughout this period of sadhana, I have been very healthy.

I believe I will continue to be healthy, because my Guru
said, “Unless you have worked out your karma, do not
practice. Wait for forty to forty-five years.” From 1947 to
1989 is forty-two years. My main sadhana is awareness of the
breath, and synchronizing the mantra with it. All the time
there is constant awareness of the breath, synchronized with
the mantra, mostly seated in this posture. I can also recline,
keeping the yoga danda in this posture and keeping this little
friend, the mala, with me all the time. She is my life partner;
that is the main thing. My ultimate aim is non-stop awareness
of mantra and breath, for twenty-four hours, from four o’clock
in the morning of one day until four o’clock in the morning
of the next day; 21,600 breaths, mantras. I always pray:
“O Lord, do me this one favour.

When the breath stops, let my last word be Your name”.
In 1990, in addition to Panchagni, I added another sadhana.

I undertook to complete one hundred and eight lakh
(10,800,000) repetitions of the mantra of my Ishta Devata. This
took me three hundred days, and I worshiped Tulsi daily.
Rules for Panchagni Sadhana

There are rules regarding food. During that period we take
more liquid diet, more salt and sugar. The food should be
sour and cooked with onion, garlic and ginger. You have to
prevent dehydration, otherwise when you sit in sixty degrees
Centigrade your body loses water and dehydrates.
47
The main rule is that you are not to meet people. Complete
solitude is required. Special bhasma or ash is prepared and
applied. Such bhasma is called Maha bhasma and is made
of pure cow dung cakes and reeds.
It may be done from childhood or later on in life. At an older

age there is more risk to life involved. When a sannyasin
enters the paramahansa stage he has to do this sadhana,
although not all do. If I had not wished to do it, then I
would not have done so. It is not compulsory but, in a sense,
Panchagni is the knowledge of atonement.
However intelligent a man may be, if he goes into the coal pit
he will have black marks on him. I cannot say that I have come
out untainted. Therefore, I had to do Panchagni to cleanse
myself. Everyone has to do penance. I did it for more than
five years. Now I will sit in bliss.
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Darshan Purnima –
Paramahansaji’s Supersonic
Flight Take Off
A few months after Sri Swamiji’s arrival in September he

commenced his sadhana of Panchagni. The vedis were made and
the wood stocked up. Sitting there in kaupeen under the open
skies smeared with bhasma the Paramahansa was beginning his
flight into the limitless Akasha. The fires were lit early morning
just before sunrise and he remained there till sunset immersed
in Naam Smaran, remembrance of the Guru mantra.
Before entering his life of total seclusion he sent out an open

invitation to devotees, disciples, friends, admirers, to have
his darshan while he sat in Panchagni. That was his way of
saying goodbye. He called it Darshan Purnima. The darshan
started at 6 am when the gates of Paramahansa Alakh Bara
opened to the sound of the Damaru, to dispel the tamas
and the Shankh to invoke the Sattwa. These were the sacred
symbols of Paramahansa Alakh Bara.
Devotees thronged in large numbers and the never ending

line extended almost up to Deoghar. In a single line they
filed past his Panchagni vedi offering their Pranams, love
and devotion. It was a never ending line and at dusk when
Swamiji rose from his Panchagni and we closed our gates
there were still devotees turning up hoping to have darshan.
49
It was a highly charged atmosphere that day. In total silence
devotees walked through Paramahansaji’s tapobhumi
bowing before the Trishul in front of his Panchagni. That day
the sleepy villages of Rikhia came alive with people from all
over the world.
Everyone collectively observed Mouna. Offerings were not

accepted and devotees had to enter empty handed. It is only
when you are empty that you can be filled with grace! At the
departure gate as devotees went out they received the Prasad
of bhasma and read the sign with Sri Swamiji’s Aadesh “Phir
mat Aana - Don’t come again.”
From then on for nine long years the Tapasvi Paramahansa

remained in Naam Smaran amidst the fires.
50
51
Sankalpa of a Paramahansa
Peethadhishwari Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati
Hansa means Swan and Paramahansa is the Great Swan.

According to legend if you give a mixture of milk and water
to a Swan it can accomplish the rare feat of sifting out the
milk from the water. A Paramahansa too can sift the real
from the unreal, the seen from the unseen, the manifest
from the unmanifest, thus rising above the mire of duality.
A Paramahansa truly abides in the Self. For even while
interacting with the external world a Paramahansa’s gaze is
turned inwards.
A Paramahansa dwells in the state of awareness which has

transcended opposites. Night or day, hot or cold, praise or
insult, love or hatred, wealth or poverty, friend or enemy,
youth or old age, success or failure, joy or sorrow, good health
or disease, society or seclusion, knowledge or ignorance, do
not bind a Paramahansa.
52
A Paramahansa is simultaneously aware of both external
as well as internal events and experiences, having complete
control over both dimensions of awareness with the same
intensity, focus, clarity, attention and memory. In other
words, even in the deepest state of meditation, a Paramahansa
can know the minutest detail of what is happening externally.
One can easily say that a Paramahansa is one who has
mastered the dual awareness.
The sadhana of a Paramahansa is Endurance. He endures

abuse, censure and anger without reacting, responding or
being affected by it anyway. He is free from the six waves of
desire. He is free from the notion of being superior or inferior.
He does not judge others. He is Sat-truth, chit-consciousness,
ananda-bliss.
Ordinary mortals desire only for themselves or for those who

belong to them. But a Paramahansa desires only for others.
Even the fruits of his endurance a Paramahansa does not
accumulate for himself but distributes to others in the form
of blessings.
In the world the Paramahansa is most rare. If there is one

he is ever pure. He is the veda purusha, or one in whom
knowledge flows freely. He is ever contented. He does
not bow to anybody. He is free from goal or no-goal. He is
detachment personified.
This is the life Paramahansa Satyananda lived at Rikhiapeeth.

The fruits of his endurance of the five fires he did not reap
himself, but distributed freely and lovingly to his world
family and especially to the impoverished and needy in the
surrounding areas of Rikhiapeeth. Only a Paramahansa like
him can have such a large hearted sankalpa.
53
54
Swamiji’s Constant Companion
During his Panchagni sadhana, Swamiji had a constant

companion at Rikhiapeeth and that was a beautiful German
Shepherd Alsatian. Dog is the vahan or vehicle of Bhairava
and as Panchagni is smashan sadhana in which Bhairava
has a strong presence dogs have to be present as a part of
the sadhana.
He remained with Sri Swamiji all the time. Besmeared with

bhasma he too used to sit in Panchagni beside Swamiji all
day. Nobody could go near, he would not allow anyone close.
The only two people he would allow were Swami Niranjan
and me. He was magnificent, he looked so royal. Whenever
anyone came to Rikhia they first thought of Swamiji and then
they thought of him, is he anywhere around?
In fact he was a most auspicious creature, a Godsend. The

distribution of clothes and essential items to the villagers by
55
Sri Swamiji was done through Bholenath Readymade Store,
which believe it or not was this wonderful dog’s creation.
It was always full! When we had distributed everything,
I would go there and check that it was completely empty,
to inform Swamiji that we have distributed each and every
thing to the villagers. By evening there used to be another
truckload and it used to fill up again immediately. And it
is like that until today, the Bholenath Readymade Store is
always full. Even today the grace is flowing – that is how
auspicious Swamiji’s companion was.
He was the most loving, loyal, dutiful companion of Sri

Swamiji. He was a witness to Sri Swamiji’s Panchagni and
remained by his side in tapasya. Sri Swamiji said, “Dogs are
amazing disciples, they are loyal and obedient, and have a
perfect blend of opposites. They can be lazy and then alert
within a second, they can be loving and gentle and fierce as
well. They are greedy but if refused they are content as well.
They are 24/7 on duty! They have only One Master!!!”
Today he is still enshrined near Swamiji’s Samadhi Sthal and

even today roams the Akhara protecting us all. We all love
him very much and always will.
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Constant Companion
During Panchagni I had a pedigree Alsatian dog, a breed

which is kept in an air-conditioned room during summer, but
he was living with me within the heat range of Panchagni.
He used to sit in the Panchagni with me.
57
When I used to sit for long hours in Panchagni, with
temperatures soaring to 100 degrees Centigrade, he used to
sit by my side. He never left my side, no matter how hot or
uncomfortable it was. He used to smear himself with bhasma,
wear a rudraksha, and sit with me. You can say that he was
a witness to the Panchagni sadhana I did in Rikhia.
The presence of a dog is essential in Panchagni. It is a necessity

because the dog is the vehicle of Bhairava. Just as the vehicle
58
of Siva is Nandi and the vehicle of Vishnu is Garuda, in the
same way, in the tantric tradition a dog represents Bhairava.
He represents that aspect of tantra which is esoteric.
You see, every sadhana is both exoteric and esoteric. The

exoteric is what you can comprehend with your eyes, ears,
nose, touch and taste. To comprehend the esoteric, one has to
have a different eyesight, a different nose, a different hearing,
a different sense of touch and taste. There is a lot taking place
in the different spheres that exist immediately around us,
but we cannot comprehend that because we do not have the
ability. Dogs have a sixth sense. They can immediately pick
up higher frequencies. Therefore, the presence of a dog is
mandatory in higher esoteric sadhanas such as Panchagni.
In the tantric tradition, Bhairava represents an inner state of

experience, and the dog is the vehicle of Bhairava. What do I
mean by inner state? Happiness is an inner state, sorrow is an
inner state, meditation is an inner state, samadhi is an inner
state. What about the dreams you have at night? They too
represent an inner state. The inner state is a position which you
take at a particular time of your life. Sometimes you are happy,
sometimes you are not. In other words, your thoughts, feelings,
emotions, dreams, perceptions, understanding, all signify
your inner state at that particular moment. In the same way,
Bhairava is a highly refined esoteric inner state of being that
is experienced when the mind transcends the barriers of time.
Hindus worship Bhairava as God. There are special temples

made for Bhairava, and he assumes different forms: Kala
Bhairava, the destroyer of time, Ananda Bhairava, the blissful
Bhairava, Unmatta Bhairava, the intoxicated Bhairava,
Vijnana Bhairava, the Bhairava of specialized knowledge.
The literal meaning of Bhairava is the howling sound that

the dogs make. Sometimes, at night you hear dogs howling
loudly. That is what Bhairava means. Bhairava is an inner
59
state of being in spiritual life where you produce a sound
without knowing it or hearing it. Sometimes, you cry out in
dreams, don’t you? Many times you cry out loud in dreams,
but you don’t know that you are crying. So, what do you call
it? Bhairava.
In the same way, in meditation when your awareness pierces

through the veils and enters subtler dimensions, it encounters
the sound of howling, wailing or barking. There is no one in
your room, but you can distinctly hear the sound of a dog.
So, in tantric esoterism, the dog represents Bhairava and
during Panchagni, which is a smashan sadhana, it is essential
to represent Bhairava. Therefore, I kept a dog.
He came to me for the Panchagni and the day my Panchagni

sadhana finished, he left his body the same night. He just
came, put his head on my lap and departed. There is a
Samadhi, a tomb for him here at Rikhia because I remember
him. I should remember him because he was my companion.
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Sri Panchadashnaam
Paramahansa Alakh Bara
In the early days this place was not known as Rikhiapeeth.

Sri Swamiji called it Paramahansa Alakh Bara which literally
means the invisible home of a Paramahansa.
First of all there were no roads and even if visitors made it here
they found the gates closed as Sri Swamiji was in sadhana.
Villagers were in and out but as he had renounced Gurudom
and all associations of the past even disciples could not enter as
he was entering into the life of a Paramahansa, and his sadhana
of Naam Smaran. It truly was an invisible home.
61
A little while after Sukhman Marhi came up on the opposite
side of the road and much to the joy of devotees a Darshan
Manch was made for them to climb up and have a glimpse
of the tapobhumi.
The Sri Panch of Paramahansa Alakh Bara are enshrined at

the front gate. They are Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh, Ganesh
and Bhavani. The kalash is for Brahma, the conch for Vishnu
and the trishul for Siva, Bhavani and Ganesh are enscripted
as yantras on each side. That is how they are represented at
the gate which stands tall at the entrance.
62
As the saying goes -
“Sada Bhawani dahini
Sanmukh rahe Ganesh
Panch Dev raksha kare
Brahma Vishnu Mahesh.”
The tenets or four pillars of Parmahansa Alakh Bara given by

Sri Swamiji, are tyaag - renunciation; samarpan - surrender;
shraddha - faith; atmavishwas - firm belief in oneself. A
Paramahansa is one who can separate the real from the
unreal, one who can rise above duality, one who sees all as
equal. Sri Swamiji received the diksha of Paramahansa at a
very young age from his Guru who told him that he would
live the life of a Paramahansa later in life. His Guru’s words
fructified at Rikhia.
On entering the Paramahansa life Swamiji donned the black

kaupeen or loincloth and black became the dress code of
the Akhara. He kept the yoga danda a symbol of his vows
of austerity and sadhana. He grew his hair and smeared his
Maha Kaal Chita Dhuni, 1990
63
Parna Kutir, 1990
body with bhasma. He ate from the khapar which is made

from the shell of a coconut. He stayed in the open at all times,
day or night, summer or winter.
Then he lit the first fire, which he called the Maha Kaal Chita
Dhuni. There the tapasvi sat in hail, rain or storm immersed in
mantra. Seeing the frequency of rains and stormy conditions
a small open thatched shed was made for him just behind the
dhuni so that his sadhana would go undisturbed beside the fire.
A small thatched kutir, Parna Kutir, was made to stock wood

and essential items that were needed for sadhana. Parna
Kutir was destined as the place that would later become his
Samadhi. It is as if even now laid to rest beside the Maha Kaal
Chita Dhuni he is still immersed in mantra.
Each morning at 4am when it was still dark the sound of Sri
Swamiji’s damaru would be heard which signalled he was
seated in sadhana. He would be up much before that bathing
in cold water and preparing for the long hours of sadhana
which he did each day. Gradually Paramahansa Alakh Bara
transported itself to the Vedic times and truly became the
land of Rishis.
64
Rikhia, 1989
Parna Kutir and Akhara, 1990
Akhara, 1991
65
Paramahansa Alakh Bara
Paramahansa Alakh Bara is a sannyasa ashram, although

not only sannyasins live there. In grihastha or householder
ashram, everyone lives according to their social background,
but those instincts should not enter the ashram premises. All
ashrams in India follow the rules of the gurukul tradition.
People of all faiths and castes can come. If you come to
the ashram, live by its rules. Whether you come for health
management course, sannyasa course, as a guest, detective
or thief, you will have to observe the decorum of the ashram.
The time is coming when the ashrams in India will be filled to

capacity. India will become a place of shelter and security for
people from the West. A global market is being opened in India.
When it is completely open, large number of brilliant young
people will come. Their culture and mentality is changing.
The ashram is the best place for foreigners to live; they find a
detached community, an opportunity to do kirtans, bhajans
and sadhana, work to do and food to eat. In the past, ashram
rules were framed for Indian society, but now they need to
be re-framed for a global society. The rules in Paramahansa
Alakh Bara are for a global society. The growth of society
should now centre around the ashrams. The twenty-first
century will be the century of sannyasins and ashrams. We
can foresee this and you should all be ready for it.
I have established an Akhara which is for universal brotherhood.

No distinction of caste, colour, religion, or of gender.
66
Alakh Bara means invisible boundary and in fact the
traditional ashrams were Alakh Baras in remote places
where there was absolutely no access to the public, very
much like this place. Later on they became integrated with
society and were known as ashrams but the tradition is of
the invisible house where higher spiritual sadhanas can
be done undisturbed and uninterrupted.
In the sannyasa tradition there are seven acharyas. They

accepted the Paramahansa Alakh Bara as a new order
which would give people the concept of the highest
vedic principles of tyaga, vairagya, sadhana and so forth,
without any effort. Without Sri Swamiji even desiring
it the Alakh Bara came to be recognized as the eight
order of sannyasa. It is definitely changing the concept
and the tradition of sannyasa more and more and I feel
that Paramahansaji is just being an example of how far a
person can go in spiritual life.
- Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati
67
68
Tulsi:
The Presiding Deity
The first feature of our Akhara is the worship of Tulsi.

The second feature of this Akhara is the recitation of
Ramacharitamanas. We preach only Tulsi puja and daily
chanting of the Ramacharitamanas for forty minutes. In
Munger I was a yoga teacher, but now I am starting a new
tradition of worship and devotion.
This is the Paramahansa Sampradaya, in which worship of

Tulsi for health is a must. Health is the first need of every
human being, whether a beggar or a millionaire, a sannyasin
or a householder. This is not what Satyananda is preaching,
but the teaching of the scriptures. One way of attaining sound
health is by worshipping Tulsi, the queen of all medicinal
herbs.
69
When I came here, I installed Tulsi in a shrine and put her
in charge of the good health in the Akhara. You do not
even have to eat the leaf, just pray to her for sound health. I
decided to make Tulsi the Ishta Devi, presiding Goddess, of
this place. I planted Tulsi here and she is the ruling Goddess
of this place.
I only made one sankalpa when I came here. Please let me

not be ill and it has been granted. I have not been ill even
one day since I have been here. An illness would have
caused a break in the sadhana. Therefore I made Ma Tulsi
the Ishta Devata of the Akhara. Just as a married woman
maintains ties not only with her husband, but also with other
members of the family – someone is her brother, another
is her nephew – in the same way, Tulsi is Devi Ma, Mother
Goddess, to me.
My Guru mantra is different, my favourite God is Rama, and

I worship all of them. I do not have any difficulty with that.
I do not think too much or become too intellectual. Tulsi is
the Devi Ma of this place for the simple reason that I want
to remain healthy.
I have never been ill in my life. I have never had a cold,

cough or fever. I have never taken medicine although I have
knowledge of all the medicines. Now, I do not wish to miss
even one day of my sadhana. If I have a cold and cough, I
will not be able to perform my sadhana, and my anushthan,
my resolution to practice, will be broken.
Tulsi is the symbol of health. She is the mother of all medicinal

plants. I pray to her only for health. Even if I die I will not be
bothered, but falling ill, calling the doctor, taking medicine
all the time is not good for a sannyasin. That goes against
his stature. I am not at all afraid of dying – everyone has to
die one day, no one can escape that. Death is certain, though
sickness is not. It is not necessary that we must fall ill.
70
Now the question comes up, if you eat only once a day, if you
eat pure and natural food, wake up and bathe on time, how
can you fall sick? I have seen so many sattwic people who not
only fell ill, but died of cancer. Even if they do not eat spicy
food, eat pickles, drink tea or coffee, they fall sick and take
medicines all their lives. So I thought to myself, “You will
not find any difference in spite of your sattwic life until you
receive blessings. There is no guarantee that you will remain
healthy only because of your sattwic life.”
This is the reason why I established Tulsi as the presiding

Devi of Rikhia when I came to this place, and started her
worship according to the rules. Whether Tulsi is effective or
not. This depends on our faith.
71
It is necessary to have Shaligram along with Tulsi, but we did
not have a Shaligram. I said, “That is fine. We will bring Tulsi
and Shaligram will come on itself.” Soon after we received
bags of Shaligram. A stranger sent them from Nepal, and a
sackful has been stored. I understood then that the resolution
of worshipping Tulsi was the right one. There was only one
problem before me – I should not miss even a day of my
anushthan.
I feel that the genetic build I inherited from my parents is

excellent. I am a very good genetic specimen. I have never
been ill. I have written many books on various illnesses and
I know a lot about medicines. Yet I have never experienced
72
illness myself. Earlier, even if I felt a bit unwell, it would not
make much difference to me. I would just rest and fast and
be fine again. However, here I could not miss even a day of
sadhana. That is why I selected Tulsi Devi.
I could have chosen Ganesha, Chandi, Siva or any other

God or Goddesses. What was most important for me was
not to get a cold, cough or headache for even a day, and
that is very difficult at the age of sixty-five. It would be even
more difficult for a man who has always led a five-star life.
My room was air-conditioned with automatic temperature
control. I cannot tolerate heat at all. I could not bear heat
over twenty-five degrees. However, nothing happened to me
during Panchagni. No dehydration, no fever, no dysentery. I
used to get sound sleep. Through God’s grace, I used to sleep
in the open on a cement platform. I wanted excellent health
and Tulsi is the symbol of good health. She is the queen of all
medicinal plants. I used to worship Tulsi and blow the conch
every day before sunrise and before sunset.
Mother Tulsi
Tulsi is a botanical plant. It is basil. Each plant has got some
property which is known to the pharmacists. Tulsi has got
many properties. Tulsi has got a property to resist disease.
Chemically-based antibiotics are also used for the same
purpose, to counteract disease. In India Tulsi is considered
to be the killer of all pains and diseases and to be the most
important of all plants and herbs.
Indians have cherished the Tulsi since time immemorial.

Tulsi is a very sensitive plant. The green and black Tulsi are
the most prominent varieties. In Greece it is planted before
each house. This is their tradition. It is similar to ours. They
also put the icon of Christ near it, but this is common only in
the countryside. Not in the cities. They make a small parapet
and plant it. You can also see this in Thailand, where they
even put it in coffins.
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Tulsi is the presiding deity of the Paramahansa Alakh Bara.
And Akhara is a special place of sadhana. Every Akhara has
its own special deity and here Tulsi, the queen of medicinal
plants, is the Ishta Devi.
On 23rd September 1989, when I first arrived at Rikhia, a large

geru coloured snake perambulated around the property and
disappeared. I realized that the spot where the snake had
vanished would be the place for my dhuni, or sadhana fire,
so I ignited my dhuni there and it is smouldering even now.
Then I made a small shrine for Tulsi near the well, because
Mother Tulsi is the presiding deity for the Akhara because
Sri Baidyanath is the civil surgeon and Tulsi, is the best of
medicinal plants. She is the head of all the departments of
pharmaceutical flora.
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I had thought about what the biggest obstacle to my sadhana
could be. I am a man of truthful heart and robust, sturdy
body. Once I decide something I am fully committed to it
and my determination in anushthan never falters or flags.
But interruption can come from physical sickness like
coughs and colds. This is the dharma of the body. Old age
and sickness can bring me down from a five star level to a
no star level.
So I prayed to Tulsi for sound health at the beginning of my

Panchagni and anushthan sadhanas, “Mother, from today
you are the health minister of this Akhara. I am embarking
on a very difficult task in this period of my life and I need
to be free from disease.” I did not want to miss even one
day of the anushthan. And I did not miss it. I say this with
gratitude, not pride.
Panchagni was an austerity of five years, and I was able to

do it only because of Tulsi’s blessings. I have remained in
perfect health. Although the temperature during Panchagni
sometimes reached 90 degrees Centigrade, never once did
I become dehydrated. Since I started worshiping Tulsi for
good health she has blessed me with perfect fitness. This is
the direct result of Tulsi worship.
All the ornaments that I give to the newlywed girls of the

locality belong to Tulsi. They are offered to her first and
foremost. Whenever you give a golden bracelet, nose ring
or hair ornament, you are in fact offering it to Tulsi as she
is the owner of this property. Everything is first dedicated
to Tulsi and then later presented to the young brides. For
an intellectual, Tulsi is just a plant, but for me she is a Devi.
Worship of Tulsi
I worship Tulsi twice a day, I do it regularly and I like it very
much. Such worship does not require a good intellect, but it
requires a good heart.
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One who has neither a good intellect nor a good heart, know
him to be a poor, deprived person. One who has a good
intellect but no heart is like a fancy sweet shop where the
sweets lack sweetness. What can you really do with high
intellect? Do you love your wife with your intellect or your
heart? Is hate for your enemy intellectual or emotional? Love,
hate, mercy and lust are all manifestations of the heart, not
the intellect.
You can say, “The world was created, there is matter,

therefore, there should be God.” Your approach may
be epistemological, theological or ontological; all these
approaches are intellectual. God is. You can’t prove it and you
can’t disprove it. You may believe it or not. Nobody is forcing
you to believe that God exists. The best thing, therefore, is to
make God a matter of heart. Spiritual life, sadhana, bhakti
or God are matters of the heart, not the intellect. You can
approach them easily with the feeling of faith. When you
want to write books, use the intellect, but when you want to
feel for yourself, the heart is best.
That is why I worship Tulsi twice a day. I made her the Ishta
Devi, the tutelary deity of my Akhara. There is only one
prayer I submit to her, “Keep me healthy as long as I practice
spiritual life. The moment you see there is something wrong
and that I have moved away from spiritual life, take this body
away.” What is the use of this body? It is a 1923 model and
there are many later models. I am putting this in a witty way,
but I am speaking from my heart.
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Tulsi
The Tulsi puja established by Sri Swamiji continues daily at Rikhiapeeth
Soon after Swamiji set foot on Rikhia soil, this barren land
which was full of all kinds of weeds, rough grass, stones and
dried cracked mud, began to sprout Tulsi. And the Tulsi that
manifested was Shyam Tulsi, the Tulsi with the dark bluish
hue which is found in Badrinath - Shyam Tulsi. All over this
land, all over the property, the Shyam Tulsi began to spring
up. Swamiji took that as a blessing and made Tulsi Ma the
Ishta Devi of Rikhiapeeth.
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Then Shaligram arrived, which is the symbol of Vishnu and
is found in the Gandaki River. Each year ‘Tulsi Vivah’ was
performed by Sri Swamiji, a simple, beautiful and sanctifying
ritual of the wedding of Tulsi with Shaligram.
Sri Swamiji would say that Tulsi is ‘Aushadhi Ki Rani’

the queen of healing herbs. Before starting his sadhana Sri
Swamiji took a sankalpa before Tulsi Ma and prayed to her
for uninterrupted Panchagni sadhana which he did for nine
long years here at Rikhiapeeth.
He perfomed Tulsi puja each morning and evening. It is

one of the purest rituals one can imbibe and follow. In the
morning he would bathe the Tulsi with Ganga jal and offer
incense and in the evening deepak and arati. Then the sound
of Sri Swamiji blowing the conch would resound in the air
and in avahaniya mudra he would offer his prayers. Purity
filled the air around us!!
Swami Satyasangananda during Tulsi Vivah, 2020
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Ganesha
Ganesha is my Gurubhai. Once a boy was selling images

of Lord Ganesha made of clay. Swami Satsangi purchased
one and showed it to me. The same day three more images
of Lord Ganesha were received from Delhi, some made of
ashta dhatu, eight metals and some of stone. Then I realized
that this had some great significance. So all four idols of
Lord Ganesha were installed here in Ganesh Kutir, where
Lord Ganesha resides. Then I thought, since Lord Shankara
cannot come, he has sent his son, Ganesha. Lord Siva is my
Ishta Devata and I am his devotee, thus Lord Ganesha is my
Gurubhai. Lord Siva told me that he could not come as he
was too busy, but he was sending his son and my Gurubhai.
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He told me further to serve him well, since he is not like
his father. Lord Siva is unconcerned about his comforts. He
takes ganja and is always in an avadhoota state. You cannot
clean the place when he is around. On the other hand Lord
Ganesha is tip-top and likes to eat well. Ever since he arrived,
my way of thinking has entirely changed. I have to serve Lord
Ganesha and so I have to prepare nice food now. Khichari
is a thing of the past. Now someone comes to prepare puris,
parathas, halwa, cake and chocolate for him. Lord Ganesha
is very fond of modaks and the deity who is fond of modaks
gives us prosperity in return. Lord Ganesha has a big belly
and without a big belly you cannot enjoy all this.
Since it is a question of keeping Lord Ganesha happy, I have

to keep that bhava, that feeling, that whatever he wills I do. I
have often heard the voice of the Lord. I have received many
things in my life on hearing such commands. One of the
reasons for my success can be attributed to that.
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When I propagated yoga like a bulldozer in the West and had
the scientists shave their heads, it was possible only because
I knew where to go and where not. I always received full
instructions from Him.
Ganesha is the auspicious manifestation of Siva. Each

devata has its manifest and unmanifest side. Parvati’s
parents disapproved of Siva and opposed the marriage.
She performed the Panchagni to marry him. Ganesha is her
beloved son, born of her. Since Ganesha came here we named
this Kutir, Ganesh Kutir. This Kutir is made of mud. I live 4
months in this Kutir and 8 months in the open.
I keep one Ganesha here which I have named Ganesha

Ramani, because Ramani signifies the people who live around
me. In the kitchen is Ganesha Bhattacharya, because there
are many Bengalis in this area and Bengalis like sweets a lot
like Ganesha. In my bedroom is Ganesha Iyer, because my
Guruji was an Iyer and Ganesha Ali who represents unity.
Since Ganeshaji has come here, there has been an improvement

in our diet. Now delicious food is being prepared here.
Someone from Dhanbad brought a trekker load of basmati
rice, so for months together we have eaten basmati rice. Since
Ganeshaji likes to eat good food, he has made arrangements
for himself. However, we are the ones who eat it. For us, it is
prasad. Today a new Ganesha has come from Italy, a dancing
Ganesha. Ganesha is the embodiment of total knowledge.
Kartikeya, the other son of Lord Siva, was an ordinary person,
but Ganesha is learned. He enjoys studying, reading and
writing. He worked as Vedavyas’ steno in order to write the
entire Mahabharata epic.
I worship Ganesha, bathe him and give him food. I give him
new cloths every year. At the end of the winter I will remove
them and give him summer clothes. The clothes I have taken
off him I will give to some of you. Every year if you come,
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I will give you more. This cloth is not for any purpose; it is
just an icon. Just keep it in the place where you do pooja,
worship, or where you meditate, or where you keep your
holy book, whether it is the Bible, the Koran, the Ramayana,
the Guru Granth Sahib or any other book. Just keep it there.
It is an icon, it is auspicious and it will remove so many of
your problems.
Often there are no problems but we feel that there are.

Although there are problems, the ones we see are not the real
problems. But still we always feel problematic. Everything
is a problem for us. God doesn’t come for that. Sometimes a
child cries and cries, but the mother does nothing. Only when
necessary will she say, “Hey”, and take charge. In that way,
God too definitely removes our problems when needed most.
My father was an Arya Samaji and did not worship

statues. My Guru was a Vedantin. He used to say, “Aham
Brahmasmi,” and there were no statues in his ashram. But my
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life became such that I had to worship them. Lord Ganesha
came to me and said, “Even if you do not accept me, I am your
guest.” How can I not accept him? Within twenty-four hours
a statue of a Madrasi Ganeshji, another Bengali Ganeshji
and yet another Muslim Ganeshji arrived here. Now what
alternative did I have but to worship them? But since I do
not know pooja, I only offer agarbatti, incense stick, to each
of them. After that a big change occurred in my life.
God came to me as a super washing machine. Lord Ganesha

came to me as a washing machine and transformed me into
a sheet of cloth. Now I am clean after being washed.
Ganeshji is my Gurubhai, Guru brother, and it is a privilege

for me to live with him. He is my Gurubhai because I am a
worshipper of Sivaji, and Ganesha is his son. We are both
bhaktas of Lord Siva. Ganesha is such a big man, such a great
person. This is why I am telling you that I stay with Ganesha,
just as you may tell me that you stay with the Prime Minister
or the President. It is high level talk - I am a guest of Ganesha.
Am I not a great man?
Ganesh Kutir, Rikhia 2020
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Ganesha lives at Rikhiapeeth in
Ganesh Kutir
Here in Rikhia, at
the Tapobhumi of
Gurudev, Ganesha is
the most important,
because Guruji
installed him here.
He is Gurudev’s
Gurubhai. For
twenty years Sri
Swamiji did the
worship of Ganesha,
and this continues
till today. He even
built Ganesh Kutir
for him, so we have a
house for him. Since
then Ganesha kept
arriving and now
we have an army of
Ganeshas.
Swamiji used to say, “Ganesha stands for good food, comfort,

luxury. Ganesha is always wearing silk dresses, you will
always see him dressed well, in satin and silk. And he loves
laddu and good food. From the day that the worship of
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Ganesha started here in the Akhara, our kitchen changed.
Before that we were only eating khichari, but as soon as
Ganesha came, idli and dosa, pulao and puri started coming
in, and it happened on its own. So I knew that Ganesha wants
to come.”
Ganesha Fulfils the Needs of His Devotees

Ganesha is very playful. So it was good to welcome him to Sri
Swamiji’s Tapobhumi and have him around. He effortlessly
removes all that obstructs the path in a most playful and
joyous manner. This he did at Rikhia by fulfilling the needs
of Sri Swamiji’s impoverished neighbours. Not only did he
fix our kitchen and menu, soon the villagers started receiving
food, clothes, houses, medicines and even opportunities to
earn a living.
What are the needs of the people of Rikhia? Food, medicine,

clothes, warm socks, shoes. Swamiji used to say, “They
don’t need chocolates, they don’t need candles – these
are for spoilt people. They need the basic necessities.”
Sri Swamiji thought about them every day, that was his
main concern. Whenever I met Swamiji he would say to
me, “The children must have shoes, socks, warm clothes,
school uniforms, pens and notebooks.” That is all he used
to talk about. He included everyone in his thoughts and
by the grace of Guru and Ganesha the lives of the villagers
began to improve.
We believe that Ganesha is a part of our ashram and that he

lives here with us that his how intimately we feel his presence.
On 21st September 1995 we woke up in the morning and
were flooded with the news of Ganesha drinking milk all
over the world. I ran to the fridge to check the milk that was
kept there for Sri Swamiji’s dog and found the whole bowl
empty. Ganesha did not wait for us to offer him some milk
he simply opened the fridge and helped himself and left a
thank you note!
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The Ganeshas which Sri Swamiji installed at Ganesh Kutir
are most special as Paramahansaji himself performed their
prana pratishtha and worshipped them daily waking them
each morning with Ganga jal, incense and arati. This tradition
continues even today.
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Ananda Utsav, annual worship of all the Ganeshas of Rikhiapeeth
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Rikhia is my Airport
I have left Munger now and settled here. This is my airport.

My aircraft will fly away from here. I have not come here
from my own desire; I was asked to come. The villagers
have accepted me with love. There are no mosquitoes here.
It is very peaceful. At night you can experience absolute
silence and stillness. There is very little electricity and it is
disconnected at night. Everyone is asleep by eight o’clock.
I left home and never turned back. I left my Guru’s ashram

and never went back. I left Munger and never went back. One
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day I shall leave this place and never come back. I do not have
the habit of going back. I have never practised looking back.
What is the use of looking back? How many times have I been
born? How many parents have I had? How many times have
I enjoyed pleasure and borne sorrow? How many friends and
enemies have I had? Where are they now? Whom should I
search for? Even in this birth how many friends have I had?
Where have they all gone?
Life is transitory. You have to forget the past. If you don’t, then
eventually one day everything will be sealed in a crypt by itself.
Sometimes when you have a deep connection with someone,
it manifests again in a later birth in some form and a little bit
of interaction takes place. Apart from this, no one is related
to anyone in this world. We come with a gust of wind, meet
on a shore and then separate to go our own ways. We are all
guided by the winds of karma. Therefore, I have maintained
a steady attitude in life. I accept the fact that people meet me
and then go away. A sadhu is nobody’s friend. When offered
a smoke, he shares a puff and then slips away.
Even a donkey leaves his footprints behind. Yes, a Guru is a

donkey and the disciple is a dog. Their natures are akin to the
donkey and the dog. The donkey leaves footprints behind.
I am also leaving behind an impression or two. They are
memories, footprints in the sands of time.
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.
.
PART II
Feasting on Memories
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.
Feasting on Memories
When I arrived with Swami Satyananda at Rikhia, an obscure

village in Jharkhand, I felt if I was slipping back into the 16th
century - no roads, no electricity, no phones, no newspapers,
no cars, no busy streets, no hospitals, a few dilapidated
schools looking desolate with only a few ragged unkempt
children, wearing torn and tattered clothing.
That was the Rikhia we entered on 23rd September 1989.

Swami Satyananda had chosen this place for his life of seclusion
according to a mandate he had received while performing
austerities at the jyotirlingam of Siva at Trayambakeshwar
near Mumbai. Soon after he arrived, Sri Swamiji plunged into
a sadhana and undertook the sankalpa of performing many
arduous practices such as Panchagni and mantra anusthan.
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It was during this time that our neighbours began knocking on
our door for help, they were hungry, they needed medicines,
shelter and clothing. The very basics that we take so much for
granted were unavailable to them. We started helping them
in whatever way we could and help started pouring in. Our
work began in full swing when, in 1995, Swami Satyananda,
accepting that as the will of God, gave us the green signal
to start this work in earnest in an organized and systematic
manner, with the attitude of an aradhana, or worship of God
in living form.
Rikhia Transformed
Today, when you see the same place and the people, especially
the children, you may not believe the condition they were in
hardly ten years ago. They would qualify perfectly for a
before and after advertisement if you know what I mean!
How did it all happen? The very same children, who at that
time did not have the confidence to look you in the eye and
answer a simple question like what is your name, today are at
the helm of the Rikhia ashram, speaking wonderful English,
designing the ashram calendars, conducting all multifarious
programs, singing soul stirring kirtans, conducting yajnas
with perfect intonation of Sanskrit mantras which would
make even a pandit sit up and listen. It all happened because
Sri Swamiji stepped into their lives and changed their destiny
forever by showing them how to dream.
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Reliving the Memory
Swami Satyananda came into the lives of everyone like a
full force gale, and he lifted everyone up. That was Swami
Satyananda, and on each 23rd September we relive that
experience of his coming to Rikhia, and the more alive that
experience of reliving becomes, the more you will feel his
presence. This is a way of elevating your mind.
We are reliving the memory of a great soul, a great force, a

great energy, and if you are able to rejuvenate that experience,
if you are able to relive it in its entirety with the same richness,
with the same tapestry, with the same ambience, with the
same colours, with the same flavor – the smile, the look, the
walk, the voice, the words – then that richness of experience
will elevate you. It is a very rich level of experience. If you can
recreate and relive something you have experienced before
in its totality, that is dhyana, that is meditation. At least that
is how I understand it, and how Swamiji explained it.
This is a moment for us to forget about ourselves entirely

and remember that force, which touched our lives in such a
profound way that we are not the same as we were before it
touched us. So we pay our obeisance, our gratitude to that
force. This is the level of feeling that we should all have at
this moment – gratitude and surrender. Gratitude, surrender,
and a feeling of strength, because by connecting to that force
in this way, you actually gain from it. The strength comes to
you, the strength of the Guru tattwa flows into you. It just
flows, and you cannot stop it. If you go into an air-conditioned
room you will become cool automatically. You can’t stop it.
In the same way, that Guru tattwa just comes into you, and
you get a feeling of enormous strength from it. That is what
I am experiencing and that is what all the people here in
Rikhia have been experiencing for the last twenty-five years.
They say that God came into their lives. That is what the
villagers say.
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They are innocent people. They don’t know intellectual
philosophy. They are simple, innocent people, yet they say,
“God came into our lives.” This is because their whole life
was changed from the moment Sri Swamiji entered their lives,
this gave them tremendous strength and self-confidence.
Their awareness was elevated when Sri Swamiji stepped
into Rikhia, and after that Rikhia was never again the same.
It was the day of the equinox, when day and night are in
perfect balance; twelve hours in the day and twelve hours in
the night and he came at midday. So you see, even the planets
were supporting his arrival here. Everything – the nature,
the planets, the whole universe was supporting his arrival.
He marched in here like Rama marching to Chitrakut, and
everyone was taken aback by that moment. This land was
taken aback by his footsteps and never again was anything
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the same after that. It happened in such a simple and pure
way, there was no element of impurity in it. It was pure,
simple, natural and humble.
Today, when we look at the photos of Swamiji doing

Panchagni, we are in awe and we think, “Did Swamiji do
this?” Yet for us back then, it was such a natural scene. We
used to see him like that every day. It was so natural to see
Swamiji with all this bhasma, with the damaru, with the
shankh and the fires. It was so matter of fact to see him as
a tapasvi. But now when we look at the photos, we look at
them in awe, “Did this really happen?” That is the importance
of memory. With memory you can relive that moment, that
connection, when a great force descended and lived here.
Swamiji lived here twenty years, and twenty years was a long
time for him to live in one place. His whole life, he never lived
that long in any place, not in his home, not in Rishikesh, not
in Munger. He was always moving in and out and in and
out, but here he lived uninterrupted. For twenty long years
he lived in Rikhia, and so you can imagine the kind of benefit
that this place derived from his coming here.
Many people may not have even seen him. Some have heard
him, others have heard about him, and for them the experience
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will be different. But they too will feel the importance of this
moment. They too will feel something very special about this
moment. They may not understand it in the way that those
of us who met him and knew him do, yet they will still be
swept away and carried by the importance of this moment.
This is the muhurta, the auspicious moment of Rikhia
Agaman. We are all together in this, offering our love and our
memories to Swamiji with joy and bliss. Offer all memories to
him, even if it is not a good memory, don’t worry. Guru, like
Siva, has the power to consume everything. He can consume
the poison, and he can also refine it for you and purify you.
So whatever memory you have, offer it to him today. Today
is the day – don’t miss it, don’t lose it.
Destiny of a Land
Whatever is ordained to happen in anyone’s life, try as you
might to oppose it, it will happen. Rikhia was a barren and
desolate place when we first arrived. There was nothing here
and we had nothing. So when Swamiji told us that we had to
start the work, we had to start from scratch - we didn’t have
anything as simple as a needle. We had to start collecting
things and using our creativity but when there is a mandate
like the one Swamiji received then it becomes possible.
Rikhia 1990
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In the early days we used to live in mud huts or out in the
open. You should have seen the Rikhia of that time, it was
absolutely beautiful. It was so simple but it had such an
incredible energy and vibration, radiant and vibrant. The
buildings started to come up because an infrastructure was
needed. I knew nothing about construction, I didn’t even
know that there had to be a foundation to make a building
Rikhia 2021
101
or about bricks, sand and cement. This was an immensely
challenging task in front of me. There was nobody here so
single-handedly I had to do it. Every time Swamiji used to
say, “Okay, now here you make this,” and as soon as it was
finished he used to give me plans for something else to be
constructed. So that is how the work started here brick by
brick. Sannyasins used to drive the tractor to the river to
get the sand to make bricks ourselves and provide some
employment to the local villagers.
Tremendous effort was made. When I went out into the

villages at that time, there were no roads. I walked or went
by tractor – no car could negotiate that terrain – in order to
collect data in the villages. I gathered information like names,
villages, family members,
the type of houses they lived
in, livestock and diseases.
Swamiji said if you want
to help them then you must
give them what they need,
not what you want to give.
So the main focus was on
what requirements were
really essential. At that time
they needed food, shelter,
medicine and employment.
Rikhiapeeth has been
evolving according to
the needs of the locality
ever since. The condition
he placed was that there
should be no commerce, it
had to be an act of love.
This land has a destiny.

Like each of us has a
destiny, the land also has
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a destiny, and that destiny unfolds at the right time, at the
right place, at the right moment and by the right person.
When Paramahansaji set foot in Rikhia, the destiny of this
place changed forever. I never knew that one little rikshaw
ride from Deoghar would land me in this gravitational pull
and sweep me off my feet.
When I first came to Rikhia, I came on a rikshaw. You know,

we give rikshaws every day, and that day when we were
sitting on the rikshaw, I suddenly remembered my first
journey to Rikhia was on a rikshaw. I came here before
Swamiji. Swamiji sent me on this mission to discover the
place which he had seen in his meditation, far away from
here, in Trayambakeshwar, and then he told me, “Now you
go and discover this place, this is what I have seen.” I came
here on the rikshaw, and everybody warned me, they said,
“No, no, no. That place is too interior and isolated.” Nobody
used to come here, people of Deoghar did not know Rikhia.
They said, “No that is not a place that you should go alone.”
I paid no heed to them as my Guru’s mandate was most

important to me. So I came by rikshaw, it took 45 minutes to
an hour. As I was coming here I gradually felt all the tensions
dropping, all the stress dropping, feeling totally relaxed
and in tune. Even at that time I could feel that the place was
ready, vibrant for the arrival of Swamiji. Although there was
nothing here at that time, but even then it was beautiful.
That is called rugged beauty. Nothing is there but there is a
vibration, and energy, a purity. That is what I experienced
when I first came here.
Rikhia may have a humble beginning but there is one thing in

abundance in Rikhia, and that is peace. You know, the things
which God gives free, you just have to look for it, if you take a
walk down the road, you feel a sense of all the tension dropping
in Rikhia, even the die-hard feel that something is dropping
off, and after a few days here they say, “I don’t know why but
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I am feeling lighter, I am feeling unburdened as if something
heavy is dropping off.”
Rikhia is not an ordinary place.

It is a highly charged spiritual field.
When Paramahansaji came here he only magnified that
more and more.
Choosing to Remember
The 23rd September 1989 is Rikhia Agaman, the day that
Paramahansaji first stepped foot on this soil and its destiny
changed forever. Every 23rd of September is Rikhia day. It
is happy day. And it is also memory day.
You know, the food for mind is memory. We feed on our

memories – we relive the same memories our whole life. You
still relive memories that happened many years ago. Right
now I am reliving a memory that happened thirty one years
ago. Memory is so personal. This is my memory – it is not
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your memory or his or her memory. It is my memory and
how much I can keep that alive within me depends on me.
The intensity of reliving it increases if it is alive in me, and
this moment is so alive.
We have to choose what to remember. There are many things I

don’t remember, and there are moments I have chosen to hold
onto, and those I relive again and again. In fact, I remember
clearly these thirty-one years, and I would love to relive them
again and again with Swamiji. And not just in this life, but
in every life, I would relive every moment, because every
moment with him was full of knowledge, every moment was
full of inspiration.
Swamiji used to sit the whole day at the Sanatan Agni Vedi
and the Maha Kaal Chita Dhuni. He would sit in his langoti
and do his japa. It was so hot and there was nothing here.
It was not like it is now, it was barren, dirty, full of weeds.
There was a small kitchen where he would cook, and we
would watch him and learn because none of us knew how
to prepare food. He had a set time of 40 minutes to prepare
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the whole day’s food, and it was so tasty. I have never eaten
anything more tasty than that, really. Whatever he prepared,
it was always simple and very tasty.
The whole day he would be sitting here, out in the open. He

never had any house, he lived out in the open, and at night,
too, he would be here, where we are sitting now. That is how
sacred this place is. And where the Samadhi is there was a
kutir where he would keep his damaru and the shankh and
other puja items. He never stayed there, but he kept those
things inside because he could not leave them out in the rain.
He lived out in the open, and every day there was thunder,
lightning and rain. Those were the early days of Rikhia.
And that visual of Swamiji sitting there doing his japa, those
visuals, those moments come alive.
Every chapter of Swamiji’s life is very significant, and he gave

the most valuable treasures. If you start talking about it, there
is no end. In Rikhia, he gave the most important lesson of all.
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And not just a lesson, he gave an experience. In Rikhia Sri
Swamiji initiated the possibility of opening the heart. He set
that wheel in motion here, at the Hridaya Peeth, the place
where Sati’s heart fell. This is most significant.
Bhakti, bhakti, bhakti – that is what he spoke of all the time

here. Rikhia is very important because it was not just a
philosophy that he gave, or a teaching that he gave, he gave
the indication for the further evolution of mankind. Do you
want to remain within the animal instincts of greed, fear,
enmity and aggression? He said, “If man wants to evolve
further, then this is the way.”
Memories of this type have to stay alive, you have to hold

onto them – and all other memories you can wipe out, erase.
The more these memories come alive in you, the more focused
you will become and the more you will become aligned. But
we don’t remember all this. We remember when somebody
hurt us, when somebody betrayed us, when somebody
disappointed us, or insulted us, or when we were unhappy
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or sick or in difficulties. We remember those things more.
Memory is what your life is built on, and also your future.
What will you carry with you? Just your memory. You’re not
going to carry this body, you’re going to carry your memory
in the form of a hard disc, your karmas.
So you have to be selective about memories, and hold those

memories which can give you a push forward, such as Rikhia
Agaman. Rikhia Agaman is the seed of a revolution that was
planted here. Not a revolution with guns and ammunition
and bombs but a heart revolution. That is what happened in
Rikhia, and that is why it is so special. Because ultimately
that is what we have to do – we have to open the heart space,
we have to connect.
Guru is the connecting force, he is the one who connects us.

Guru has connected all of us, and how did he connect us?
With a vision. And that vision is very large. Guru expands
our awareness and gives us a very big picture of how things
can be for us in our lives.
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So, every year we celebrate Rikhia Agaman. Earlier we used to
celebrate it in a simple way. We would walk in with a picture
of Sri Swamiji held high so Swamiji sees everything when we
bring him in. There were only three of four of us back then,
but now it has become a big drama! Somebody rings the bell,
another person holds the umbrella, we sprinkle flower petals
and Ganga jal. It’s good, it should be like a drama, a real-life
drama. Let’s see. And who knows maybe the Rikhia Agaman
will take place again. This is his promise.
Re-living the moment of Rikhia Agaman - Midday 23rd September 2021
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The Moment of Agaman
The 23rd of September is the agaman day of Sri Swamiji

coming to Rikhia, and it is the agaman day of him entering
our lives as well. So, it’s a double celebration, not only of
the place, which is external, but also of the presence, which
is internal. The moment Paramahansaji met someone was
the agaman of Swami Satyananda in that person’s life. This
remains undisputed. The moment his eyes connected with
your eyes, that was the moment of agaman in your life. Just
the eye contact with him was enough to welcome Swamiji into
your life. That was the beauty of his eyes, of his personality,
of his nature, of his presence. The life of Sri Swamiji was a
mirror, showing everybody their own, true self. The president
of a nation could look into that mirror and talk, a thela-wala
could look into that mirror and talk, a child could look into
that mirror and talk, and even God could look into that mirror
and tell him what to do. And even though he is not around,
it keeps happening through the images and the photographs.
And the same inspiration, the same connection, is experienced
by people even today.
He arrived in Rikhia on 23rd September in 1989. What

happened when he came to Rikhia? The destiny of Rikhia
changed. What happened when he came into our lives? Our
destinies also changed, and that is why we are here, living a
destiny created by him for us. Lives were touched, destinies
changed and they unfolded, wherever he went. So it is that
moment of connection that we should always remember and
relive.
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A New Vision for Humankind
Rikhia agaman opened a whole new view, a new vision
for humankind at large. What Sri Swamiji initiated here is
something that I can very safely say was not yet seen by the
world. Everything in his life had a very specific purpose,
always for the upliftment of people. Rikhia evolved as a
means of uplifting the people and installing the spiritual
precepts and the teachings and vision of Swami Sivananda,
and these have become the aim and lifestyle of the place. This
is the need of all society at present and also for the future, as
the situations deteriorate and mind sets get imbalanced. This
experience and this lifestyle, which Swamiji established here
is going be very much in demand by the citizens of our globe.
As Swami Satsangi said, this is a time of memories, and

memories are also smritti, one vritti of chitta. So if it is a
repeat, it has to have something good about it. And truly, for
us who have known Sri Swamiji, every memory is cherished
because in each memory of every moment, just by being in
his presence, there was so much to imbibe. And memories
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take you back to the moment, they make you relive and
reabsorb, reanalyse, re-imbibe those precious moments in
time that we spent with our master. And it is this that keeps
the connection. For those who have not seen him, it may be
difficult to know what we experienced and feel, but still they
catch onto the feeling and also experience the subtlety and
the essence of this connection. In this manner, the connection
and the inspiration live on.
For me it has been a very interesting journey, because I was

born in the lap of Sri Swamiji and I stayed with him till the
age of fifty. Fifty years in the physical presence of a master
is a very rare experience to have. And for fifty years, I saw
Paramahansaji in all the roles that he played. Throughout
his lifetime, from his life at home to living in his Guru’s
ashram, later on at Munger, and then in Rikhia, his every
moment was dedicated to the welfare of the other person.
Not a single moment can I recall when he said, “This is my
time, my moment.” I am sure that people who have seen
him will agree and confer that he never once thought about
himself. And in fact, if people thought about his needs he
would say, “No, you have to think of others.” He was a
person who lived a totally different life which nobody can
even imagine, because there is no example in the world at
present.
It is only through commitment, surrender, devotion and

dedication that one can achieve all that. Swamiji had that
commitment to the path that his Guru had shown him – and
the path was sannyasa. Yoga was incidental on the way, the
mandate of his Guru, which he had to fulfil. But when that
mandate was accomplished, Swamiji lived his sannyasa
life. It was here in Rikhia, as a sannyasin, as a tapasvi, and
in the way he lived his life that the radiance of his being
illuminated the world around him. Let us celebrate these
precious memories and be happy for his luminosity in our
lives.
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Light of Inspiration
The 23rd of September is a day of historic importance for
Rikhiapeeth, for it was on this day that our Guruji first
stepped onto what was then a barren land. Rikhiapeeth is
not a property. Rikhiapeeth is the spirit that connects us with
him. We are part of that spirit, and it is his eternal and ever-
luminous presence that we are able to feel today. This is an
experience that we should always cherish in our lives, for it
is an experience which connects us to beauty, to something
positive, uplifting and fulfilling.
Swami Satsangi is the only one present today who actually

witnessed this moment. Sri Swamiji entered here by car with
her. It was 12 o’clock, midday. She was blessed with the divine
boon of being the witness to the auspicious moment when
he first arrived in Rikhia.
When our Guruji came here his aim was not to establish
an institution. He came here because he received a
mandate and instructions from his Ishta Devata, Bhagawan
Trayambakeshwar. He did not come to fulfil a desire; he came
to fulfil the divine mandate and divine sankalpa that were
revealed to him. He came here for solitude, and he lived as a
renunciate, as a dedicated tapasvi living a life of austerities.
Even when he lived with his Guru in Rishikesh, Sri Swamiji

lived a life of renunciation. With Swami Sivananda he became
very simple, innocent and pure. He surrendered his head to
his Guru, and about this he has said, “The day I surrendered
my ego at the lotus feet of my Guru, my mind became calm
and doubts and questions had no place in my life. I know I
had reached my Guru, my ultimate abode.”
It was that thought, that flame that guided him throughout

his life. With faith and conviction he dedicated himself to
serving his Guru, fulfilling his instructions and mandates.
There are many sannyasins who do not believe in the Guru,
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who do not agree with what Guru says. Under the guise of
dedication they manipulate the sankalpas of Guru to serve
their own selfish means.
Sri Swamiji was not one of those disciples who use Guru
as a stepping stone to fulfil his own desires. Our Guruji, Sri
Swami Satyananda, was a rare jewel who not only followed
the instructions of his Guru to the letter, he also left behind
a parampara, a tradition, with a philosophy and principles
we could follow for the welfare and upliftment of society
and mankind.
Living with a Siddha

It is very rare that people get the opportunity to live at the
same time as that of a siddha. To live with such a being,
under the umbrella of his affection, love and protection, is
the greatest fortune. People who lived in Rama’s time might
have not recognized the importance and significance of his
incarnation, yet today history sings the glories of Sri Rama.
Today people bow down to those fortunate people who lived
in Ayodhya or Chitrakut when Sri Rama was there. They
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bow down to those people who had darshan of Sri Rama. We
have not seen Rama, however we have lived in a time when
luminaries like Swami Sivananda and Swami Satyananda
took birth. We have had the good fortune of knowing the
people of this great parampara, this great lineage. They have
touched our lives and made our lives beautiful, and they are
still guiding us.
Once, Lord Krishna met a Rangrez, a cloth dyer, in Mathura.

He said to him, “Oh, Rangrez Baba, please give me a bucket
full of colour. I also want to dye the cloths of the people!”
The Rangrez said, “Alright, just pick up any bucket of your
choice. Take it wherever you want and colour whomever and
whatever you want to colour.” So Lord Krishna took a bucket
of colour and stood on the corner of a square, and started
calling out, “Who wants to get their clothes coloured? Come
and get your clothes dyed in the colour of your choice!” One
man came, gave his angavastra and asked him to colour it
red. Krishna took the cloth and dipped it in the bucket, and
when he took it out the angavastra was coloured red. Seeing
this, another man came and asked him to colour his cloth
green. So Krishna took his cloth and dipped it in the same
bucket. When he took it out, the cloth was green. Another man
came and asked Krishna to colour his dhoti pitambari, bright
yellow. Krishna dipped into the same bucket and the dhoti
was pitambari in colour. Like this, many people came to him
and got their clothes coloured in the colour of their choice.
However, there was one man standing in the distance,

silently witnessing and observing all that was happening.
Finally, he approached Krishna with a cloth. Krishna asked
him what colour he wished for, and the man answered
humbly, “Sir, I have been observing you for a long time.
You have only one bucket of colour, but you are colouring
everybody’s cloths whatever colour they desire. I would
like you to colour my cloth with whatever colour you have
in that bucket.”
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This beautiful story illustrates the quality of a saint, a tapasvi,
a siddha, a great man. He will colour your life with whatever
colour you desire. He will colour your life according to your
social, mental, spiritual needs, according to your desires and
cravings. Guru is also like that. He fills your life with colour
according to your desires, in order to give you happiness and
peace and to inspire you to be positive and creative in your
expressions in life. Guru inspires you and makes sure that you
move from the negative expressions towards the positive and
creative expressions in life. For a man to be endowed with
divine qualities and spiritual awareness is a great wonder,
because he gives you a direction and a path to tread upon.
A Divine Mandate
Sri Swamiji came here to fulfil the divine mandate of
performing austerities and sadhana of naam-smaran
with every breath, and it was during these sadhanas that
he received the three principles of Serve, Love and Give
revolution. He did not do this to establish an institution; he
did it to offer society a better way to live. This revolution is
now fructifying in Rikhia, in the lives of kanyas and batuks
who were brought up under his protection and who have
lived their lives in his embrace, and in the lives of all the
people living in the nearby villages who have received his
love and affection in bounty. It was the grace of this great
sannyasin that a new life, a new philosophy, a principle and
a sadhana were established in this place.
Even though he left his mortal frame, this work has not
stopped. In fact, it has become more vibrant and alive through
the lives of the kanyas and batuks and the people of Rikhia.
The sankalpa of Serve, Love and Give, the samskara and the
flame that he kindled in their hearts, is making their lives
brighter and brighter. This is the flame of the austerities he
performed, and it has transformed this whole place from a
barren land to a tirthsthan, a holy place recognized all over
the world. Only a saint can give such a gift to the mankind.
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Whether you understand it or not, whether you accept it or
not, there is a miracle taking place within you, on the mental
plane and behavioural dimensions, and it is happening
spontaneously here in Rikhia. You have received the light
in your path, and now you have a way to come out of the
vicious circle of negativity and embrace positivity in your life.
Each 23rd September we commemorate that very moment
when our Gurudev, Sri Swami Satyananda, came to Rikhia
and lit the flame of inspiration in our lives. This memory has
the power to inspire you to tread upon the path of light, and
your goal in life should be to live and express your karmas
and interactions as he has guided you. May we keep the flame

alive and continue to walk the path and may we continue to
do the work he has given us, following his guidelines and
principles.
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There is nothing more to say. Don’t try to think or analyse,
do not try to connect with your intellect and mind, with your
brain and senses. Just be in his presence. That is enough. Just
be in his ambience and feel him, experience him and be with
him. Just merge. That is the best way you can experience his
presence in your life, through the spirit that is shining in
Rikhiapeeth. When he came here, he lit a jyoti. Let us merge
with that light.
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Roots of Rikhia
Look at what happened in Rikhia, and understand what
has happened in the past. There are many people now
who are new to the inspiration that Sri Swamiji created,
who have come to the ashram after Sri Swamiji’s Maha
Samadhi and who have not had contact with him. There
are also many who knew him whilst he was in Rikhia and
have been the witness of the development and growth,
both external and internal, here in Rikhiapeeth. There
are few who recall his time pre-Rikhia where he worked
to propagate and spread the message of yoga from door
to door and shore to shore, following the mandate of his
Guru, Swami Sivananda.
Even before he learnt of yoga, something unique happened

in Paramahansaji’s life. Just as a seed has all the potential
contained within the shell, in order to express the potential,
the seed has to break the comforts of the shell and sprout.
It becomes a little gentle plant, a strong young plant and a
sturdy old plant. When it reaches maturity, at whatever stage
it is destined, flowers and fruits appear. The appearance of
the fruits begins another cycle in this journey of the tree.
We have witnessed the same thing in the life of our Guru,
Sri Swami Satyananda is the epitome of the completeness
of yoga. Paramahansaji used to say to think about Swami
Sivananda is yoga and we say that he is the epitome of the
completeness of yoga.
Awakening the Destiny of Rikhia

Rikhiapeeth was a very special place whose destiny was
waiting to be awakened with the arrival of Sri Swamiji,
who was guided to this destined place by no other than the
Ishta Devata of Sri Swamiji, Lord Siva. And when he came
here, it was to live the life of isolation and seclusion, not
to establish Rikhiapeeth or Sivananda Math or Sivananda
Ashram or any such peripheral organization.
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He arrived at Rikhia because he was guided. Possibly he
did not even know what was in store for him, because each
moment was revealed to him as he immersed deeper into
the awareness of the cosmic power, cosmic self, called God.
Do you think God only exists or will appear in the gross

form, in the gross plane, created in your image? God can
take any form. It can appear to you the way you want it to
appear but in reality what is it? The physical, the material
is not the answer to the experience of the godly nature, the
godly quality, the godly perception. He said it was necessary
to go beyond body into the subtle flows and discover the
godly nature. To go further beyond that into the causal, then
the transcendental and discover the flow of divine nature
permeating each and every atom of the visible and invisible
dimensions and universes.
Sri Swamiji expressed such things very clearly. You can read
about it in the books, like Bhakti Yoga Sagar, where his own
words describe what he felt, understood, realized, and what
he lived. Everything is there in black and white. We have the
written, verbal and visual records of what he contributed to
Rikhiapeeth, from which we are all benefiting from today.
Paramahansaji said he heard a clear voice saying, “Satyananda,

provide for your neighbours like I have provided for you.”
Sri Swamiji called Swami Satsangi and a few of the earlier
sannyasins and told them, “This is the mandate which I have
received. You have to fulfil this mandate.”
Strength and Foundation of Rikhia

Swami Satsangi plus the very few here at that time became the
energy, strength and foundation on which Rikhiapeeth was
established. In the early days the first mandate was “Provide
for your neighbours, like I have provided for you.”
At that time there were Swami Satsangi and one or two

others here, living a very rugged, rough and detached life.
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On the gate there used to be a sign ‘Do Not Come Again’. Sri
Swamiji used to explain that, “I have come here for sadhana,
not to meet with anybody. If I had to meet with anybody,
why would I leave the institutions which I had created?
Leave me alone. When you come, you are disturbing me in
my isolation, in my seclusion, in my remembrance, in my
sadhanas.” Nobody was allowed to enter.
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He was following a call, the call of destiny. He was following
the mandate of God. He was living the life of a sannyasin
and not as a friend or companion to anyone, a life to which
he had committed to in the early twenties before you were
born. His commitment to sannyasa was complete and
total. His commitment to yoga was complete and total. His
commitment to his Guru was complete and total.
The day he came to Rikhia, he renounced all of his clothes,

smeared bhasma on his body, and sat down in a dilapidated
building which was the only structure standing, where
Raghunath Kutir is now. He sat there and started his practices
which included pranayamas, mantras, japas, meditations, and
his own invocations to which we were never a party. It was
his life, his sadhana. All of these previous sadhanas gradually
built up until his commencement of Panchagni.
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What for? Was it his choice? No. Sri Swamiji said, “I was
told to give, to provide for the neighbours what God had
provided me with. I had been provided with the right
comforts of shelter, food, health, clothing, the basic luxuries
of life. Fans, electricity, fridges or an AC are not required to
live life naturally.”
He gave the mandate to Swami Satsangi, while he was

engaged in his own sadhana, and she used to get everything
done. If you remember in the early Sat Chandis, while I used
to be with Paramahansaji in the program, Swami Satsangi
with her two helpers, Tetu and Kartik, used to stand on
a chair near the gates in Tapowan, calling the names of
two thousand villagers to get them in a respectable line
through which they would come to receive their prasad.
Every Chandi her voice used to go hoarse. That was the
effort they put in.
Paramahansaji knew that what God wanted was being done

through Swami Satsangi. She was capable and she was
truthful to her Guru. Many are capable but few are truthful.
They live in the hypnosis of “I am being truthful about
myself”, but in real life many things are hidden. Everyone
is like that, many times you hide and justify your wrong
actions in order to save your own skin and put the blame on
somebody else. Sri Swamiji could trust Swami Satsangi. She
would never falter in her commitment.
Therefore he gave the message, the mandate of Serve, Love

and Give as the foundation stones of Rikhiapeeth. Sri Swamiji
made her the Peethadhishwari, the empress of all she surveys,
in the spiritual sense, not in the material sense, and believe
me that is true. Since then Swamiji’s Shakti has just increased
every year. He gave the mandate of Serve, Love and Give for
Rikhiapeeth. He gave the teaching of atmabhava to everyone
as the highest experience of yoga.
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PART III
Vision of Rikhia
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Vision of Rikhia
I came to Rikhia on 23rd September 1989. I pitched my tent,
then I made a small kutir, a grass hut. The instructions were
clear “Keep away from disciples, money, gurudom. Eka
Niranjan. Just remain alone, in absolute solitude.” That is the
dharma of a Paramahansa. I am not a head of an institution,
I am not a Guru. I am an individual. I should not and do not
want to be a Guru. I do not want to give advice.
After coming, things became clearer and my cataract

vision was corrected. A metamorphosis took place in my
personality, way of life and destiny. I changed my teaching
and my way of thinking.
Slowly all the unnecessary things began to drop away. I do not

mean things related to the world, but those that constituted
intellectual knowledge and academic information. After
coming to Rikhia, I was enlightened and discovered my
relationship with God. For fifty to sixty years I did not know
it. No. But I have now discovered that relationship.
Now I will not make any prayers to God because He knows

what I need. What do I need? I do not need anything. I do
not have to run an institution. I have no dreams. I have no
ambitions. I am God’s servant.
Life began to be simpler. My mind became totally and

singularly absorbed only in Ramacharitamanas. I gave up
reading other books and writing. I would get up at midnight,
take bath and sit down to recite, continuing through the day
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up to four in the afternoon. Then I would sleep for two hours
and on waking up resume the recitation, as if in one breath.
Thus I would take fourteen or fifteen hours to complete the
Ramacharitamanas. This is a simple sadhana.
After arriving at Rikhia I took a sankalpa to complete ten

million and eight hundred thousand mantras, which means
that at the rate of ten to twelve hours a day, it would take
me three hundred days, almost a year. It was a lovely year.
That year I did not meet anyone; I was in total seclusion
and isolation. I used to sit in the Akhara and do my mantra.
Sometime after I had completed the mantra purashcharana,
I suddenly started doing japa. I didn’t know what was
happening, but I went on doing it. I was not tired, I was not
aware, I was not unconscious. When I became aware it was
evening. Ten or twelve hour had passed and I had not known
what I was doing. The shrill voice came again, “Take care of
your neighbours as I have taken care of you.” It is practically
the same as Christ’s message of “Love thy neighbour.” That
is all.
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This was not an idea. This was God’s mandate. It was not
hallucination. It was a mandate and I heard it very clearly! I do
not experience strange psychological states. I am a perfectly
normal person, but that set me reflecting on His words.
God had given me the idea during that first year, when I came
out from the Panchagni sadhana. God told me, “I have given
you shelter; you too give shelter.” I have a small kutir. That
is the facility my God has provided me with. I will provide
others with the same facility, because He has ordered it.
I told myself, “Satyananda are you very selfish? Will you eat
all the sweets yourself? Will you have darshan of God all by
yourself? What is the use of the atmajnana that you attain?
How can the world benefit by your spiritual gain and self-
realization? You are very selfish, give up selfishness.” I said
to God, “Show me the path. I am blind. Tell me what to do.
To give them clothes is not enough. Money is not enough,
money cannot buy love. I cannot purchase love and give it
to somebody.”
Thenceforth, God began to show me the path. He said,

“Give blankets to those who are fighting the cold.” Slowly
the guidance came in clear terms. The message was clear. I
then told the sannyasins to increase their activities. I said,
“There are people in the village who should get clothes, sick
people who should get free medicine and a few boys and
girls who should get help or a scholarship for education.
Also, those who are unemployed should somehow earn
twenty or thirty rupees daily so that they can make both
ends meet. For that, rickshaws or thelas should be given. So
there is a lot of activity here now and we intend to increase
the activity further.”
I started distributing Prasad at the end of the year to rickshaw

drivers, thela drivers, labourers and beggars. I made a
sankalpa to do ten million eight hundred thousand rounds
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of japa before Chaturmas ended. It took me three hundred
days and it was very difficult.
Here, within three days my store was full, I thought, “Let

this be Karna Chaura. Instead of giving gold we will give
clothes.” Sometimes we get clothes or blankets from here
and there, so our work goes on and we distribute them in
the villages. In a year we give Good Luck kits to about two
hundred girls. I thought, “Although I have not married, I can
surely give dowries.”
To distribute everything requires time and planning. We

have to make a list of every member of each household in
every village: who is the head, who is the son, who is the
daughter, who is getting married. This information is fed
into the computer, and then bundles are made according to
the list and distributed by trucks, tractors and cars. Plenty of
manpower is required for this work. It takes more than three
days to prepare bundles for one village and that too is done
with the help of the local people. Swami Satsangi has taken
up this and works tirelessly day and night.
World Family
The idea of helping others is very easy to have, but when
it comes to implementing it, is not an easy job. It requires
organizational skills and so many great qualities. Difficulties
arise, despite being a renunciate. A sannyasin should
abide by the dharma of a sannyasin, otherwise it is useless
to change the garb, name or sect. Sannyasa has only one
dharma - to work for the welfare of others and that is their
only work.
Saints are not born for salvation, for gaining knowledge or for
mere worship. Saints are born to prepare the ground for the
arrival of God. If I am born for the Lord, then I must complete
the groundwork for him. If each saint or sannyasin takes
moral responsibility for the development of one panchayat
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in India, there will be no need for a five year plan because
we have plenty of resource. Everything is possible where
there is goodwill.
The world family begins with your own next door neighbours.
The world family starts from your own village, from the
people in your immediate neighbourhood. Don’t talk about
Vedanta as long as their misery, shocking condition and
abject poverty does not touch a chord in your heart, as long
as their suffering does not become part of your suffering,
their difficulty does not become your difficulty, their pangs
of hunger do not become your pangs!
Of course, the definition of neighbour may change later,

it may not be just Rikhia or Deoghar. That depends upon
my capacity. Those who say, “This is mine and that is
thine” belong to the lower category, but for people who are
generous, open hearted and broad minded, the whole world
is one family, even though it may be split into many different
countries.
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A Blank Cheque
God has asked me to do the work that is being done in the
villages of Rikhia, so I am doing it. He provides me with the
means, and as long as he asks me, as long as I live, I will do it.
The Goddess Lakshmi has given me a blank cheque. Why talk

about one or two lakhs; I ask for crores, tens of millions, and
she gives it to me! Lakshmi has assured me, “Satyananda,
if you do as I tell you and spend this money for others, my
bank is open for you. The day you use this money for your
personal enjoyment, the cheque will bounce.”
This is absolutely true. The cheque of many preachers they

bounce because they spend it on themselves. Our primary
obligation is to others, towards ourselves is secondary.
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Serve, Love, Give
Swami Sivananda’s fundamental philosophy of life was
service. His priorities were: “Serve, love, give, purify,
meditate, realize.” Meditation was at the end of his list, a long
way off. Whereas you start your spiritual life with meditation,
my Guru’s spiritual life started with service and culminated
in meditation. The beginning of spiritual life stems from
service to humanity.
Swami Sivananda used to say that just as there is an education

system from kindergarten to university, similarly there is a
schooling system in spiritual life. The first level is service, the
second is love, the third is give. God exists, so you have to
think about Him. You have to meditate and pray. You have
to purify your heart. I asked “But how?” He said that the
kindergarten of spiritual life is service. What comes next?
Loving others. Then the next class is give, give and give.
This is primary spiritual schooling - serve, love and give.
This elementary class of spiritual life will prove very useful.
After this, Swami Sivananda said that we should purify the

self - purify the mind, heart, intentions and actions. Practice
ahimsa, non-violence, satya, truthfulness, brahmacharya,
sensual restrain, aparigraha, non-possesiveness, tapasya,
austerity, asteya, honesty, saucha, cleanliness, santosha,
contentment, and so on. Purification means that just as you
clean your dirty clothes by putting them in detergent, so you
put your heart in detergent, soak it and clean it.
Swami Sivananda said, “Suffering and pain is the crucible

into which nature throws a man whenever she wants to make
him a sublime superman.” You have to accept pain. Don’t be
afraid of suffering. Don’t depend on the things of worldly
life. Riches will not go with you.
Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of
a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”
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You should not depend on wealth as your security in life.
Security in life is purification.
After purification, Swami Sivananda spoke of meditation.

He said that meditation is like going to college, it is higher
education. In meditation or prayer you enter a state of shanti,
peace or tranquility, where you become one with God. There
is only God in front of you, because God is everywhere. He
exists in every particle. Finally, comes realization.
So, serve, love and give are elementary education. Purify is

intermediate education, and meditation is college education.
Realization is postgraduate education. This is the curriculum
of spiritual schooling. Swami Sivananda gave me the mantra
- serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realize, be good, do good,
be kind, be compassionate, bear insult, bear injury. This is
very difficult, but it’s the highest sadhana!
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It took me many years to emulate my Guru and practice his
principles. He used to say, “Whatever you have, give it to
others. It does not belong to you.” I never understood him
then, but now I do. Nothing belongs to me, nothing is mine.
I am just a medium.
Atmabhava
What is the first thing in Vedanta? Atmabhava. “One who
finds me in all beings, one who finds all in me.” It is written
in the Ishavasya Upanishad: “Let your suffering be my
suffering, my suffering be your suffering.”
If we do not expand the atmabhava, the sense of selfhood,

then all the sadhana is useless. Atmabhava means feeling
for others like you do for yourself. When your son falls sick,
what happens to you? Yet when somebody else’s son falls
sick in your neighbourhood, you say, “Give him antibiotics.”
That’s all. You do not think beyond that, nothing happens
in the heart. Nothing happens in the head either. You go to
sleep peacefully although his son is still sick. You have done
your work, applied this medicine, called that doctor. You can
make the phone calls, you may even take him to the doctor
by ambulance, but the feeling that you get when your child
is sick doesn’t come. Why not? Atmabhava is not there.
Thinking of others may be a very good quality but it hardly

requires any talent. “Let everyone be happy”- how long
does it take to think that? It takes not time or skill to feel
that. Your thoughts are very good and you have prayed for
everyone to be happy, but what have you actually done?
To implement that positive thought you should live like a
sannyasin for few days. You will obtain two advantages
from this. One advantage is that others will benefit. The
other is that you will realize that one can live like a sannyasin
as well as manage the household, run the factory, industry
or even the government.
135
You can do everything more efficiently when you live like a
sannyasin with the feeling of dedication and non-attachment.
Every action can be done in the spirit of sannyasa. This is
written in the Gita as well.
This is what a sadhu should do. Every sadhu must do it. The
growth of society should now centre around the ashrams.
The number of the twenty-first century is three and this is
the number of sannyasa also. In this century there will be a
large number of sannyasins. Why? Because otherwise the
governments will not manage.
We are working for rural development and all the work will
be done first for Rikhia county. Of course the whole of India is
our county, but once we start here others will also understand
how good work for humanity is possible through yajnas and
how good people from far away places meet each other at
yajnas. Those who cannot come by train will use the airstrip
which is being planned in the nearby town of Deoghar. One
day there will be an airport and you can come easily.
136
It is better to live in the villages and teach the local people
some skills that will help them to improve their conditions.
Now in Rikhia we have employment plans for all the
women, including carpentry, electrical work and farm work
with the newest methods. You can teach the woman how
to sew fashionable clothes in the latest styles and then find
a market for these garments in the city, sell them there and
send them money order back to the village. There will be
work for old women too and education for little girls. There
should be some art and attainment possible for women and
girls.
Charity Begets Poverty

This is not charity. Charity begets poverty. In order to help
people, you should make them self-sufficient; give them an
opportunity to build their skills; give them auto-rickshaws
and teach them to drive so they can earn forty or fifty rupees
daily. That is more than enough for them to live on. You can
also build houses for the villagers. First you have to get coal
to make bricks, then bake them and use them for construction.
It takes two months or more to build one house. A civil
engineer is also needed for the construction work, to decide
on the area, how to make the pillars, where to put the rods,
the structure of the foundations, the height of the plinth. All
these things have to be looked into.
Ask the people of Rikhia. I came here in 1989 and since then
change has taken place. Do you remember how it was here
when I entered Rikhia in 1989? The ladies did not even have
enough cloth to cover their bodies! If you enter a colony and
the ladies are not clad properly due to poverty, what does it
mean? That they are still living in the primitive age. This was
just one aspect of their plight and condition when I arrived.
People say openly that for days at a time they had no food to
eat. There are people who say, “Swamiji our daughters did
not eat for two or three days.” Now their daughters who have
been born after I came here have a nice time.
137
Earlier during the day no one would pass this way. Today,
Rikhia is slowly entering in the 21st century. We have PCO’s,
mobile networks, satellite connections, cyber cafes, internet,
shops, traffic. Nowadays at least fifty to a hundred scooters
pass by. And even nice, bright, well-dressed children in
school uniforms going to school and ladies wearing nice saris
and woolens in winter.
As you can see, now things have turned. You have seen the
boys and girls of Rikhia. You should have seen them before.
Today, the children speak English, chant in impeccable
Sanskrit and have developed many other talents. They are full
of surprises. Some of the girls even go by bicycle to Deoghar
to study in college. The change is very apparent. The parents
too have undergone a transformation. They are comfortable
and happy, not in dire need as they were when I came in 1989.
This change has taken place not because we give them many
things, but because the children, the kanyas and batuks
who come here, have somehow brought prosperity to their
families.
Qualification is one thing, ability is another, but one thing

is sure, when someone gets the blessing of God that person
becomes someone. We understand that knowledge alone
does not give success in life. Without the grace of God and
without His blessings, that knowledge stagnates and dies. In
two years we have seen a total change of scene.
Prasad Means Happiness

When God gives the order, his servant works for him. In this
way it should be understood that I am not serving society
but obeying God. What is being distributed at this program
is not donation, it is Prasad. What does prasad mean? Prasad
means happiness, delight and joy.
On Kartik Purnima, when both of my anushthans are over,

I offer prasad to the Lord. That prasad is neither fruits nor
138
sweets, bel leaves nor Tulsi leaves. It will be ten thousand
items of clothing for women, children and men. Rickshaws
and thelas for the strong young men and auto-rickshaws for
the educated men. Marga Sheersha is the best month of the
year and we choose it for distributing the prasad.
The question arises as to whether my compassion is misused.

No, my dharma is simply to love you. Now it is up to you to
decide what your dharma is. How can I decide your dharma?
How can I say you must love me in return? You never say,
“Love me.” Is there any such phrase in the world? There is a
139
phrase, “I love you” but I have never heard anyone say, “Love
me.” Yes I love you because it is my duty, but whether you
love me or hate me or kick me, what you do is your duty. You
can say, “I hate you, you are a damned fool!” It’s up to you.
“God, give me enough so that I can give to others”- this

should be your prayer. Do not pray only for your own
television set and motorcycle. It is said that a boy went to
the curd shop and asked for an earthen pot. The curd seller
said, “An earthen pot is not available for free. Give me half
a rupee.” So, the boy went to his father who said, “Buy the
curd for half a rupee and you will get the earthen pot free.”
You have been given such a good opportunity to gain virtue.

It is your good fortune that instead of giving only to your
own you can give to so many. Hold fast to your faith in God.
Whatever methods I have adopted over the years, whether

yoga or the activities in Rikhia, were only means to fulfil this
sankalpa. All of you must learn to live for others apart from
making individual resolutions.
All is your Desire

I am a gift of God and I have realized this in my life. My
speech, my mind, my life are gifts of God. Everything in
me – the goodness, the evil, the intelligence, the idiocy, the
genius – all are gifts of God. So I will think and behave like
Him. I can’t be God but I can definitely think about how
God thinks.
Here in Rikhia God has given me two directions, “Love your

neighbours as I have loved you” and “Help your neighbours
as I have helped you.” These are His orders and He will
also implement them. I am Your chariot and You are the
charioteer. I am a machine and You are the mechanic. I am
your vehicle and You are my driver. I will go where You take
me. All is your desire.
140
141
Sankalpa
I have always prayed with the sankalpa for the wealth, long
life, good health, success and prosperity of everyone. Let
everyone be happy, let everyone be healthy, let everyone
look upon everyone else with equanimity and may no one
ever feel any pain or sorrow.
May all be happy, may all be free from disease. May all receive
the auspicious blessings of God. May no one experience
suffering and if there is suffering then feel happy because
God’s grace, Mother’s grace, the grace of the Divine, is in us.
Sarve bhavantu sukhinah,

May God make them prosperous,
Sarve bhavantu niramaya,
May God make them free from disease,
Sarve bhadrani pashyantu,
May God remove all the sickness and ill of their family,
Maa kashchit dukha bhagbhavet.
And let them enjoy bliss, peace, happiness and health.
The Rikhia ashram will now be known as Rikhiapeeth. Peeth

means ‘seat’, an apt term for Rikhia as the instructions given
by Swami Sivananda have culminated and fructified here.
He gave me three instructions, “Serve, love, give”. These
precepts became the sadhana to be perfected in my life, and
took a definite form when I came to Rikhia.
To help others grow and become better in all respects, external

and internal, social and personal, is my sankalpa. Rikhia is an
ashram in the original sense of the word, because here a lifestyle
is lived. Swami Satyasangananda is the first Peethadhishwari,
or acharya, of Rikhiapeeth and has been given the sankalpa
142
that the three cardinal teachings of Swami Sivananda will be
practiced and lived here. This is the future vision of Rikhia.
Just as you have Govardhan Peeth or Sharada Peeth,

this is a different Peeth called Rikhiapeeth. Its mantra is
Aim Hreem Kleem. It has just been born. It is not even
registered, just naming ceremony has taken place. We will
have it constitutionalized, we will have a memorandum,
an association and make it acceptable to the country and
people. It will not be a Hinduistic institution. It will have a
spiritual tone, not a secular tone. I think that people say they
believe in secularism without thinking about what it means.
So Rikhiapeeth will have a spiritual tone, and at the centre
of its spiritual tone will be the masses.
The salt of the earth are the poor people. Eighty percent
of India is poor. They make up eighty percent of Rikhia
panchayat too. It is these people we have to keep in mind.
They live a pathetic life, and we have to do something to raise
their standard of living. What is written in your newspapers
and books is rubbish. Unless you are able to bring happiness
to each and every person, your philosophy is a farce. It is
meaningless. Your religions are futile.
The responsibility of religion is to help mankind, but it has

never done that. Just read history. Religions have failed in
this and history bears witness. The greatest wars were created
by religions. The worst genocides were caused by religions.
So what should be your approach to religion? At this point
of time we have to see whether to re-establish religion,
reconstruct religion, or reject it. We are thinking individuals.
If there is a cobra in your house, how will we deal with it?
We cannot say, “It is my mother’s pet.” Religions have to
come to man’s rescue, and not create more problems. Peace,
shanti, and non-violence, ahimsa, should be the slogan, aim
and purpose of religion. This is the religion we are talking
about in the mantra Aim Hreem Kleem.
143
Seva as Sadhana
The seva that emerged out of Rikhiapeeth was born out

of Sri Gurudev’s sankalpa which was universal in nature.
His vision was for universal peace, plenty and prosperity.
When a universal force of sankalpa is created for the good
of many, that becomes very mighty and sustains itself
just as a mighty river like Ganga sustains itself, despite
so many bathing in it and drawing from it.
So the seva here at Rikhiapeeth is not done with the bhava

or feeling of charity. It is done with the same sincerity
with which a yoga sadhaka would practice his sadhana.
Here seva is the sadhana because it was born out of the
sankalpa of Serve, Love and Give, which is the seed sown
by Swami Sivananda. Imagine that!
Swami Sivanandaji sowed the seed of Serve, Love and

Give in Rishikesh almost one hundred years ago. His
144
beloved disciple Swami Satyananda did not allow that
seed to diminish or perish, he nurtured it and allowed it
to blossom at Rikhia.
Here at Rikhia he manifested that sankalpa and thousands

and millions joined in the sankapa of serve, love and give
and the effects as you know have been far reaching. The
sankalpa of a visionary is not an individual one. It is not
an individual thing. This is not the age of the individual;
this is the age of association. What one person can do is
so limited. But twenty people can do so much more.
Serve, Love, Give

The way to atma, the effulgence within you, is through
serve, love, and give. Just as there are rules and conditions
in everything, serve, love, and give, when practised in a
particular manner, will move you closer to atmabhava.
The result is proof positive here at Rikhiapeeth and it
is something I could not have imagined when we first
arrived here. At that time my Guru was saying it so I
believed it to be true. That is the kind of faith you have
to have in Guru. It is what his Guru told him.
145
146
Free as a Bird
Once you have surrendered
To the Guru completely,
You become as free as a bird,
Able to fly anywhere
Or do anything.
So do not be afraid of surrender.
Commit yourself,
And discover inﬁnity.
147
There were so many events in my life where I always
thought I was the doer, the main entity, that whatever
happened was because of me. But today, after fifty to sixty
years, I have realized that God is the doer and whatever
has happened in my life is all due to Him. He made
me do all these things. What a fool I was! Had I known
earlier that He was making me do all these things, at least
I would have enjoyed all those years. But today it is all
bliss. The pursuits of my spiritual life are fulfilled and I
do not require anything now. Give your darshan to me
if you so will, otherwise I do not deserve it. For it is His
will that prevails. I am only His servant and a servant
has no choice.
148
Rikhia Agaman
Amrit Lahari
Spreading Peace, Plenty and Prosperity

1923 - 2023

Rikhia Agaman

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Rikhia Agaman

Swami Satyananda Saraswati

With kind regards, and prem

Amrit Lahari - Waves Of Nectar Series

Publisher and distributor: Rikhiapeeth, P.O. Rikhia,

Printed at Aegean Offset Printers, Greater Noida

‘Rikhia Agaman’ is an offering to Paramguru Swami Sivananda

It is compiled and published by the sannyasin disciples,

Rikhia Agaman is produced to share the life, teachings and

Rikhiapeeth is where Swami Satyananda lived the life of a

The uniqueness of Rikhiapeeth also lies in the fact that it is

In humility we offer this compilation of teachings

ØãìÁ ØããñãäÌã¶ª ªãñ„ Œãü¡ñ, ‡ãŠã‡ãñŠ ÊããØãîú ¹ãã¾ãý

- Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati

I looked into his deep brown eyes,

It is the grace of my Guru,

- Swami Satyananda Saraswati -

In Vedic tradition everything is based on ‘Muhurat’, the exact

It was here he discovered his relationship with God. In fact

Rikhia Agaman is a tradition of Rikhiapeeth. Rikhia is derived

Swamiji’s vision was peace, plenty, prosperity – happiness,

Rikhia Agaman signifies Swamiji’s arrival here every year.

- Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati

I am a book of many chapters, and each chapter begins

In 1947, my Guru, Swami Sivananda said, “You have arrived

He told me not to bother about formal sadhana, instead he

A Promise to my Ishta Devata

Finally, in the monsoon season of 1989, I arrived at Nasik,

About thirty kilometres from Nasik is Trayambakeshwar, the

One of the swamis came to meet me and began to cry,

I am alone. What shall I do here? All around me rise the

A New Chapter Begins

On the 18th July 1989, during Guru Purnima vrat, in the

What should I do next? I want your guidance! My sadhana

- Swami Satyananda Saraswati

“Twenty-one thousand six hundred times” was the sound

Later, when I came out of that state, I knew what I had to

I could not decide where to stay. I had many options - one

On 8th September, the birthday of Swami Sivanandaji, I

Chitabhumao means cremation ground. That was all, burial

In India, in the Vedic mythology and in the Puranas,

When the voice uttered the word ‘Chitabhumao’, I also saw

He gave His mandate and it was going to happen. I did not

I have only to say:

O Lord, let Your wish prevail

Following the Mandate

I gave her a glimpse of what I had seen and described its

Luckily the next morning at Baba Baidyanath, she met

A New Chapter Begins

Forty six years later, on 12th September, 1989, by mid-

Instructions to Devotees and Disciples

There are four stages in a sannyasins life - first with guru;

Gurudev’s inspiration is stirring within me. I will consider

On such a day, I set foot here at exactly midday. Was that

When I came to this place there was nothing growing here,

Things become so easy that you do not have to think or

It is strange that I came to Rikhia, leaving all other places.

So now, to live only for others should be the dharma of

I am the continuous flow of nectar,

I did all sadhanas, I did everything. I read a lot, travelled

I realized that knowing the Self is necessary to keep oneself

This is atmabhava, not charity. Seeing everyone in oneself