PP Shri Loknathtirth Swami Maharaj

The events unfolding in the temple of Goddess Kali presaged the birth of a Divine boy in the family of the Chakravarty’s who were the priests of the Dhakeshwari temple. The wife of Chakravarty Babu, the temple priest, was sitting in front of Goddess Kali, watching her husband performing Pooja (worship). Suddenly her body was charged with a surge of Divine Energy which made her rotate like a top spinning about its axis. Her face was effulgent.

Thus with the blessings of the Divine Mother on Sunday 8th May 1892 on “Amrit Siddhi Yog” day, was born a Divine baby boy who was named as ‘Yogeshchandra’. Yogeshchandra was a very handsome and homely and had a natural attraction towards the Goddess right from childhood. He would sit in meditation with eyes closed in front of the Goddess. He had an elephantine memory and mastered all religious rituals like Sandhya, Pooja, etc. at a very early age. In the absence of his father, even in his childhood, he could shoulder the temple responsiblities.

Unfortunately the Chakravarty family had a heritage of a short span of life, and Yogeshchandra’s father too expired prematurely. Thus, Yogesh had to stop his education after fifth standard and had to seek a job. He devoted his time to Goseva (serving the cows), Matruseva (serving his mother) and Jaganmata seva (serving the Divine Mother). The shock of his father’s demise had made him introspective and he began to aspire for the eternal spiritual life. He prayed to the Goddess earnestly to give him a Guru who would guide him on the spiritual path.

Seeing his devoutedness and earnestness, the Goddess manifested herself and showed him his Satguru and also gave him the address of his residence. Bidding farewell to family Yogeshchandra left his home to meet his Satguru P.P. Atmanand Brahmachari. The Satguru conferred upon him “Brahmacharya Deeksha” as Yogeshchandra had vowed to remain celibate for the rest of his life and renamed him as Brahmachari Yogeshchandra Prakash. Later on, the Satguru also initiated him into Mahayoga / Shaktipaat Yoga / Sahaj Yoga / Siddhayoga / Kundalini Yoga by conferring on him Shaktipaat Deeksha or Vedha Deeksha.

After the Deeksha of Shaktipaat both the disciple and his Satguru went to Dhyan Sadhan Math where Satguru P.P. Shri Narayan Tirth Swami Maharaj, the Guru of P.P. Atmanand Brahmachari resided.

The Swami Maharaj was pleased to receive both his disciple and his disciple’s disciple. Brahmachari Yogeshchandra served both his Satguru and Paramguru earnestly and performed meditation in their company for a period of two years. He got a variety of divine experiences and rapidly advanced spiritually.

Thereafter Satguru Atmanand Brahmacharya took Brahmachari Yogeshchandra Prakash back to his home to obtain consent of the mother of Yogeshchandra to give him Sanyas deeksha. Yogesh’s mother gladly consented. Thereupon Yogesh obtained Sanyas Deeksha, committing himself to a life of total renunciation, from P.P. Swami Tripurling Saraswati at the age of 22 and was renamed as Swami Chinmayanand Saraswati.

Both Shri Chinmayanand Saraswati and his Satguru then returned to P.P. Narayan Tirth Swami Maharaj, who blessed both of them and placed the responsibility of spreading the Mahayoga message on the shoulders of young Chinmayanand. Satguru P.P. Atmanand now permitted Swami Chinmayanand to carve out his path independently.

Swami Chinmayanand thus set out for the Himalayas where he stayed in Tehri Garwhal performing constant spiritual practices for two years.

One day the “Chit Shakti” (Divine Power) instructed him to go to the South. Thus Swamiji left the Himalayas and reached Hathras. Here the Goddess in a vision asked him to go further South. A kind railway passenger gave him a ticket to Hoshangabad.

At Hoshangabad, some miscreants played a cruel trick upon Swamiji and recommended to him for staying a haunted house. The history of this house was that anyone who entered it was found dead the next day. But the miscreants were taken aback next day when in the morning they found Swamiji unscathed. Swamiji had not only defended himself but had also mercifully granted released to the tortured souls from their ghostly existence.

At Hoshangabad, P.P. Gulavani Maharaj became the disciple of Swamiji. Swamiji conferred Shaktipaat Deeksha upon him and several others. They all experienced the Divine Power operating upon themselves and were amazed at these experiences. Thus Swami Chinmayanand started spreading the Siddhayoga message.

After sometime Swami Chinmayanand obtained “Dandi Sanyas” from his Satguru and was renamed as Shri Loknath Tirth on 30-1-1927 Poush Vadya Dwadashi day. He travelled to various parts of India, propagating Siddhayoga. In between his travels he would go and stay in Kashi. His life was controlled by the Divine Mother and he would confer “Shaktipaat Deeksha” wherever he ordained it.

The Swami had tremendous spiritual knowledge, knowledge of Tantra, Mantra, Siddhis (Powers) such as distant hearing and seeing (clairvoyance and clairaudience), knowledge of Divine healing as well as healing with plants, herbs, etc. He never liked to perform miracles for popularity and yet people were attracted towards him tremendously. Sometimes he would behave in such a way as to invite criticism and insult in order to practice developing tolerance and also to scare away excessive crowds of people. He also composed religious poetry, shlokas and sung them in a melodious voice. His routine started at 4 a.m. in the morning with several hours of meditation followed by bath and bhiksha (simple food). His food habits were very simple. After a short rest in the noon, he would start reading, writing and meeting visitors, etc. He would go for a walk in the evening. Then he would perform Sandhaya, partake a frugal dinner and conduct hymns and discourses. He preferred to retire early.

Shri Swami had a fatherly affection for his disciples. He had a divine power to foresee calamities that would befall them and sometimes he would alert them in advance and present himself at the spot of the calamity to reduce their distress and help them.

Although Swamiji disliked performing miracles, there are several instances of his doing so when required. Those interested in knowing more about these it may refer to his biography. Many of them were healing miracles, besides others.

Swamiji was free from attachment pleasures. Once when Swami Tripurling Saraswati offered him the position of a Cardinal Designate of a rich prestigious Math (Spititual institution) at Dhakka. But he declined. One of his disciples had created an Ashram for the residence of Swamiji. But this disciple later faced financial crisis, as he had ignored a forewarning by the Swamiji. Seeing the disciples plight, Swamiji sold off the Ashram to help him to pay his debts. In the last moments of his life, he admitted to one of his disciples that although he had several spiritual powers, even those of lowering, increasing body weight, floating on water, etc. besides the earlier mentioned ones he never did use them for any personal material benefit of his disciples because doing so would have proved an obstruction to true spiritual welfare. He said that in today’s world, purity in action was very difficult and that the Shaktipat Yoga way of life is guaranteed to ensure spiritual progress in the present difficult times.

Throughout his life, Swamiji’s health would often deteriorate, but he would always remain in a joyous mood despite his ill health and never changed his routine. Later, in Feb’1955 he called together his disciples in Kashi and told them about his intention to leave the earthly body and how to manage the matters after his demise. He asked them to put his body in a stone box and leave it in the Ganga. He also told them to perform a Pooja of goddess Kali and give offerings to 54 virgins. He told them that they would see a sign at that moment.

On Wednesday 9th Feb. 1955 at 12 p.m. Swamiji gave up his earthly body, The functions as instructed by him were carried out.

On the 14th day thereafter 54 virgins sat in a row on wooden seats. Plates of food were placed before them. At that time, as mentioned by Swamiji before his passing away, a miracle took place. A flame of light emerged out of the statue of the Goddess and floated before the eyes of each of the virgins and traversed back to the Goddess. Everyone prostrated to this Divine light. Thus, the Emperor of pure consciousness Chaitanya Chakravarty P.P. Shri Loknath Tirth Swami Maharaj was liberated and attained MOKSHA.