TAPASWI BABA AS NARRATED BY SHRI AMBARISHA VARMA, WORKER OF THE RISHIS

The following was narrated by Shri Ambarisha Varma, the worker of the Rishis, one evening:

After Tapaswi Baba and Ramana Maharishi, it is only Swami Gangeshwarananda, who is able to see the reality. At the close of Treta Yuga and the beginning of the Dwapara yuga, the Rishis requested Lord Maha Vishnu to come down to the Earth, to re-establish Dharma.  

Maha Vishnu agreed to their request and descended down to Earth in the form of Lord Krishna. When He was just born, He was taken to Yashoda, who along with her son, Balarama, was brought up. For a period of twelve years, Krishna's uncle, Kamsa did not succeed in killing Krishna inspite of many attempts. Kamsa thought it is better to face Krishna and personally kill him. Thereafter both Krishna and Balarama came and met Kamsa and in the fight that ensued, Krishna killed Kamsa and other Rakshasas. The great grandfather of Kamsa was proclaimed as King of the place and peace returned to the kingdom.

The parents of Krishna thought it is time to send Krishna to the Gurukula, run by Rishi Sandipini. There, both Krishna and Balarama studied together and completed their Gurukulavasa. Time came for each student to pay his respect alongwith the Gurudakshina. The turn of Krishna and Balarama  to pay their Gurudakshina was due.

The previous night, the Gurupatni thought about what to ask of Krishna and Balarama as their Gurudakshina? Her only son had died a few days earlier. As Gurudakshina, the Rishi's wife told Krishna and Balarama that they should bring back their only son who was snatched away by Yama. Krishna and Balarama sat down in thought and decided to go to Yamaloka. They met Lord Yama for the purpose and requested him to release the Soul of the son of Sandipini, unconditionally.

Yama refused their request and said that he would not go against the rules of his Loka and the duty cast on him by the Trimurtis. He said that he was not in a position to violate the Rules. For this, Krishna said that for every Law, there is a loophole, you find that loophole and release the Soul as requested by us.

Lord Yama summoned a person who was in charge of the Laws at his Loka. He thoroughly looked into the Laws and finally declared that there are no loopholes of any kind in order to release the Soul. To this, both Krishna and Balarama became angry and repeated that for every law, there is a loophole anywhere. But the person in charge of the Laws again refused to heed their request at which Krishna cursed him to be born on the Earth as  a Lawgiver at the close of Kali Yuga, when he would realise that many loopholes exist in the Laws. Again Krishna demanded of Yama to release the Soul. Lord Yama refused again and said that he would not go against the rules of his Loka and those set by the Trimurtis.

At this, Krishna became furious and threatened to destroy the entire Yama Loka itself. He assumed His Vishwaroopa Form alongwith His Sudarshana Chakra in attendance. Seeing the form of Maha Vishnu before him, Yama quickly released the Soul of son of Sandipini.  Krishna and Balarama, alongwith the Soul, returned to the Earth and presented the son of sandipini to his parents who were overwhelmed with joy.

As Krishna and Balarama were to leave the Gurukula shortly, many of their classmates posed questions about their recent visit to Yamaloka. Among the questioners, was a great friend of Krishna, known as KUCHELA or SUDHAMA. This Kuchela enquired of Krishna- How are you sure about the Lawgiver at Yamaloka will be born on the Earth? Krishna smiled at him and said that he (Kuchela) would be a witness to the event and that Kuchela would live upto that period! Lord Krishna further gave Kuchela the job of conducting the Lawgiver back to Yama. After this, all departed to their respective homes.

Time passed on. Kuchela established his place, got married and was blessed with 27 children. He suffered from extreme poverty. His wife told him- go to your dear friend Krishna and seek help from Him. He carried a fistful of puffed grains (avalakki) for his friend Krishna. The  moment Rukmini ate a few of these grains, the hut in which Kuchela lived, turned into a golden palace. Rukmini comes to know that Krishna has done this trick through her. She asked the Lord-what are you giving your friend? At Kuchela's departure, Krishna gave him a big banquet and did not give a boon or a gift or any kind. Kuchela wondered about the purpose of his visit and anyway satisfied with the darshan of his childhood friend, returned to his residence.

There, he could not recognise anything. After a while, Kuchela thought that he was in old age and how to enjoy all the wealth given by the Lord? He comes back to Krishna with a prayer to reveal to him as to how long he would live and enjoy the wealth given to him.  Krishna says- You shall live as long as your wealth would last. To Kuchela, He handed over a letter addressed to Indra and asked him to meet Indra. Kuchela goes to Indra who received him with great hospitality and taught him the art of Kayakalpa which would make Kuchela appear as an young man of 40 years, for a period of 5000 years in future.

Kuchela returned to Krishna, thanked Him and Rukmini and lived on to beget great grandchildren and slowly all his wealth started diminishing. Later Krishna also left the Earth, Kuchela got fed up with the material life and in search of divine life, Rishis, etc., he visited Badrinath, Kedarnath and went upto Burma and due to his severe penance, he almost became a Rishi himself. In this way he spent nearly one thousand years.

Around this time, when Kali Yuga was drawing to a close, the Lawgiver at Yamaloka was born as the Late Shri Ananthamurthy, who was a Judge at Tumkur and other places. He got disgusted after finding out that the Law had several loopholes. One day during the year 1937, Kuchela (who was none other than the Tapaswi Baba was moving from place to place teaching the science of Kayakalpa to people and also treating them for rejuvenation of the body, began to search for the Lawgiver. Tapaswi Baba has also met the Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb. Tapaswi Baba had come to the Midford Gardens area of Bangalore and was told about satsang at Rana Laxman Sinhji's house.

We all went to see the Tapaswi Baba, who appeared to be around 40 years of age and those elder to him in age, were bowing down before him. One visitor who was one hundred years old said that, he had seen Tapaswi Baba when he (the visitor) was twelve years old and that Baba had looked the same through out.

Tapaswi Baba visited Mysore, where he met with Meher Baba. To this Meher Baba, Tapaswi Baba taught 59 out of 60 vidyas excepting one vidya. Meher Baba secretly learnt the remaining vidya, went to England and got himself proclaimed as the Messaiah, Jesus Christ etc.  After a while, only Indians were found to be his followers. He was made to leave that country, he returned to Bangalore and took up his residence in a house at Mysore Road. Here also he repeated the same thing. The beautiful Parsi women of the city would flock to him, leaving their husbands to do the cooking in the kitchens. Tapaswi Baba sent him a warning to mend his ways through the then Dewan, Shri Mirza Ismail. Meher Baba did not heed to the advise of Tapaswi Baba and continued in his ways.

Meanwhile, the Eaglets Group headed by Rana Ramachandra Sinhji, located land as directed by Vishwamitra Maharishi at Divya Giri, near Nandi Hills. We got busy with our exams etc., and lost touch with Tapaswi Baba for a while. During this period, Tapaswi Baba had come into contact with late Shri Ananthamurthy. He was in close contact with Tapaswi Baba till 1947, got retired and wrote the autobiography of Tapaswi Baba. In the year 1943, Tapaswi Baba was continuing to treat people with Kayakalpa. In 1943, Vishwamitra Maharishi told the worker that the worker should not see Tapaswi Baba and in case the worker does so, Tapaswi Baba shall die.

In the year 1954, the worker got married and certain relatives on his in-laws' side broke the news of the marriage of the worker to Tapaswi Baba. He said- how did he marry without telling me, call him! I was under a lot of pressure to go and meet him. Finally, time came when I had to go and meet Tapaswi Baba at the house of the owner of Chandra Bhavan Restaurant. There, I drew three lines in chalk at his room and told him that- if you leave this place by crossing these lines, you will not return to the city. He roared out in laughter, took me inside the puja room, initiated me and later left for North India. I used to enquire about his health now and and then. In about three months' time, Baba was operated for removal of a cancerous tumor, which operation was performed without the use of anesthesia for nearly three hours.

Tapaswi Baba said he would fix a date and time for leaving his physical body. At an evening in November of 1954, nearly 5000 people had gathered at the sunset time. The doctors had pronounced that the Baba is healthy and that he would not die. Baba performed Pranayama and quit his physical body!

Late Shri Ananthamurthy was a great disciple of Tapaswi Baba. On 23.11.1974, his last day came. The time was around 6 PM. As he was speaking to his son Sachidananda over phone, he noticed the Yamadhootas. He felt uneasy, rushed to his bedroom and lay down upon his bed. As he was observing, there was a mini fire in the bougainvillea plant inside the compound. He saw his Guru, Tapaswi Baba, seated in a chariot. Ananthamurthy came out of his body and joined Tapaswi Baba, inside the chariot. The Yamadhoota said he would take Ananthamurthy with him. Then Tapaswi Baba spoke to the Yamadhoota, who left the place.

First, the Soul of Ananthamurthy was taken to Satya Loka, where several Rishis had gathered and were awaiting the arrival of Tapaswi Baba. Special treatments were given to the Soul of Ananthamurthy which involved treatment through the rays of Seven Suns in order to estroy his intellectual body, etc.

After this, Tapaswi Baba took him to Vishnuloka. Maha Vishnu smiled at him and asked him whether he had now realised that every law had a loophole. Maha Vishnu tells Tapaswi Baba to escort the Lawgiver back to Yama and him over to Yama. After carrying out the instructions of Lord Maha Vishnu, Tapaswi Baba returned to Surya Loka.

The End of Narration by the Worker.

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Notes by H N Ananda Giri - briefly about Shri Sachidananda, 
the only disciple of Tapaswi Baba:

May it please your goodself, Swamiji!

Swami Sachidananda (with whom Shri Ananthamurthy was speaking on the phone in his last moments) was born on 30.07.1929.

He is the son of  Late Shri Ananthamurthy. Shri Sachidananda was initiated into Sanyas by Tapaswi Baba at an young age. Ever since his initiation, he has been connected with the Worker and his family. He is the Father Figure in the worker's family and has been leading a very active life, both in worldly matters and spiritual realm

Shri Sachidananda, fondly known to all as "Swamiji", was elected as an MP (Rajya Sabha) for three terms - (A) 10.04.1978 to 09.04.1984, (B) 04.09.1991 to 02.04.1992 and (C) 03.04.1992 to 02.04.1998. Swamiji was closely associated with Late Shri Kengal Hanumanthaiah and Late Shri Devaraj Urs, former Minister of Railways and former Chief Minister of Karnataka, respectively.

Swamiji, has his ashram "Vishnu Dham" in Nandi Hills, Bangalore. He was instrumental in getting the Lord Krishna's marble idol, at worker's puja room, from Mathura. Swamiji is a highly respected person in various political parties and he is a worshipful figure in spiritual institutions, the world over. 

Swamji has established the Freedom International School at Bangalore, over two decades ago. Swamiji arranged for the visit of  Late Smt Indira Gandhi, to the worker's house near Nanda Theatre, Jayanagar, just after she had contested the Lok Sabha elections from Chikmagalur constituency.

I offer my humble pranams at the feet of Swamiji and seek his blessings!