Sri Siddheswari Peetham

Here is an article written by T. Padma:

True renunciation is a state of mind when the illusory nature of the so-called happiness in this earthly existence is understood to be a chimera, and a steady quest for inner peace is begun free from the tyranny of biological drives, mood swings and mundane considerations. By walking away from home and responsibilities no one attains enlightenment. But as so often it happens in life, ever since the time of Buddha, encounter with death precipitates in holy souls till then incipient inclination for intense sadhana in solitude, far from the maddening crowd. This was exactly how Mouna Swami (mounam means silence) became a Sanyasi.

Born in a remote village in Bapatla Taluk, Mouna Swami was adopted early in life by a devout couple Lakshmi Narasayya and Sundaramma. They named the boy Sivayya and under their care he grew up into a well educated well behaved youth. In course of time he got married and with the help of Mr. Uma Maheswara Rao, a close relative, he joined as clerk in the office of a grain merchant. He was blessed with a son and two daughters. He spent whatever leisure he had in chanting bhajans and giving discourses on Ramayana and Mahabharatha. Like a good father he settled his son in a well paying job and found good matches for his daughters and performed their marriages. Mr.Uma Maheswara Rao’s children were also brought up by him as their mother met with an untimely death.

One day one of Mr.Uma Maheswara Rao’s sons went to take his bath in the Godavari river and was drowned. The shock of this death jolted Sivayya into an awareness of the short lived nature of human life and the urgent need for finding the purpose of existence before he too was swamped by death. Shortly afterwards, one night in 1906 he left home in search of a Guru. He confided to one of his daughters that he was going away for good. To all the others he said that he was leaving home to attend to some urgent work. He visited many shrines and holy places in India. He stayed for one year in the Ashram of Ramana Maharshi and left for North India where he met Sri Achutananda Saraswathi Swami who accepted him as his disciple, gave him Sanyasa and named him Siva Chidananda Saraswathi. As advised by his Guru he went to Naimisharanya in 1908.

While roaming in that forest he came across Saint Venkatachalam Panthulu who had been meditating in a cave near Barabanki for hundreds of years. The saint imparted many yogic powers to him. Later he had spiritual guidance from the Godman “Tembe Swami” believed to be an incarnation of Lord Dattatreya. Tembe Swami passed on to him the immense spiritual lore of ancient India. Sivananda Saraswathi went to Kashmir and took on the vow of silence. He conveyed instructions to disciples through gestures or through written messages but he never uttered a word. That was how he began to be known as Mouna Swami. He stayed for a time in a cave near Panchavati. It was at this time that he used his yogic powers to lift up single handed a huge statue of Adi Sankara lying on the ground there no one knew for how long, and had it ceremonially reinstalled. Once while he was on a pilgrimage to visit the shrine of Mukambika he lost his way and when he prayed to the Deity she came in the guise of a dark complexioned damsel and guided him there. Overjoyed by Her grace he spent a few days there and when a group of merchants from Andhra went to that shrine he wrote down for them on a piece of paper the miraculous power of that shrine. He accompanied them to Mangalore and one night there was a huge cyclone and a big branch fell on Mouna Swami who was meditating under the tree. Swami was in Samadhi state and it was only the next morning that to the utter amazement of the group of merchants that he effortlessly threw away the branches and walked towards them as if nothing had happened.

He chose to settle down in Courtalam, famous for its Siva temple. Siva is worshipped in this shrine as Trikuta Chalapathi. The idol is flanked on the right side by Venu Vagvadini Devi and on the left by Parashakthi. This Parashakthi signifies Srichakram and its meru. There are fifty one Dharani Peethams and this Courtalam shrine is one of them.

In 1909, the head of Sringeri Mutt, Jagadguru Sri Sachidananda Nrisimha Bharathi visited him and requested him to have a monastery built there for yat’s as Courtalam is very conducive to meditation. Mouna Swami who remained a silent recluse all these years had to make some of his powers evident to the public for achieving the aim of having a monastery built there. All these years he used to subsist on the prasadam he bought with copper coins, from the priest. Now he started waving his open palms in the air and making coins fall on the ground in a shower. Priests and devotees began to watch this in awed wonder. Mouna Swami stayed in the temple during nights also and all these years Priests used to lock him in the temple. People now began to see him standing outside the temple. Surprised, they used to rush to the priests’ house to convey the news. On returning to the temple they could not see Swami anywhere in the vicinity. The Priest used to unlock the door and to their utter amazement people used to find Swami engrossed in meditation. Many people became devotees of Mouna Swami. One rich devotee, Sundaram Ayyar had an Ashram built for Swami in the Temple compound. While installing the statues of Dandayudhapani and Adisankara in the Ashram on 07.10.1910, Mouna Swami, with a wave of his hand materialised “navaratnas” (nine varieties of precious stones) and had those buried under the statues. While “Harathi” was being offered a radiant light emanated from the statue of Dandapani and remained visible to onlookers for a long time. Hearing of these miracles huge crowds began visiting Courtalam to have the blessings of Mouna Swami. A Zamindar whose longstanding disease was cured by Swamiji, out of gratitude built a small cottage for Swami in his garden. In a temple built by the Zamindar Swami installed the deity of Vinayaka and the whole gathering was struck with wonder during harathi because, just as in human beings, pulse beat was noticeable on the body of the statue. Swami’s transforming of copper into gold so impressed the then Governor of Madras Sir Archibald that he and his wife became ardent devotees of Mouna Swami. He established Siddheswari Peetham where music programmes were arranged on all festival days. He also gave awards once every year to deserving scholars and upholders of Sanathana dharma. He toured the country extensively and inaugurated many temples. Holy men choose the moment of their departure from the world. Mouna Swami announced the time of his leaving the physical body to all his disciples. After establishing a trust to look after the Ashram activities he sat in the yogasana posture and at the exact moment he announced he obtained Sayujyam on 28.12.1943, in the midst of chanting of Vedas and singing of bhajans by disciples and devotees. His body was buried in the temple of Dandayudha Pani and a Sivalingam was ceremonially installed on Swamiji’s Samadhi on 13.07.1951. As in Shirdi, this Samadhi is also visited daily by hordes of devotees. Sundaram Aiyer published the biography of Mouna Swami and it is read with such reverence by devotees as is normally accorded to scriptures.

Swamiji had a fair complexion. He spent most of his time in prayer or meditation. He did not need to read the birth charts or palms of devotees. With one glance at them he could say everything about the past and future of visitors to the Ashram. Strangely he never drank any water. Once in a while he used to drink coconut water or butter milk. When he first went to Courtalam he used to eat one morsel of rice. After some months he began taking only fruits and milk. During the later years he used to eat only one or two morsels of paste prepared by grinding neem leaves. In the last stage of his life he used to so deploy his yogic powers as to enable him to subsist on just air and light. Evidence is recorded of how once Mouna Swami caused embarrassment in a household by consuming all the food cooked to serve him and twenty five of his disciples. Wherever he went Swami used to take along with him the idols of the deities he worshipped daily, i.e.., Saradamba Lord Siva & his consort, Meru, Srichakra etc., He used to go into a trance-like state and shed tears of happiness while offering worship to these deities. Once, while he was performing Pooja, in the house of C.P. Ramaswami Iyer, idols in the shrine room moved about while he sat in Samadhi with closed eyes.

Mouna Swami had expert knowledge of medicines. With the help of herbs he used to cure many diseases and give relief from the pain caused by scorpion bites and snake bites. He restored eyesight to people who became blind with glaucoma and gave fresh lease of life to patients suffering from diabetes and cancer. Many people watched his using of herbs to convert base metals into gold. Once during a temple festival the cooks ran out of ghee. He amazed everyone by transforming kerosene into ghee by a simple wave of his hand. Many times the “kumkum” and the “teerdham” he gave with his hands used to work as medicines and mitigate pain.

Mouna Swami had mastery over many occult powers. He used to float on water and air. Once in the house of Venkata Ramana Iyer, who later wrote his biography, Swami performed Khanda Yoga. Venkata Ramana saw the head and several severed body parts of Swami lying about separately. A few hours later they all became attached once again and Swami resumed his normal routine. A few disciples received instruction on Yogic powers from Swami. He had the power to be physically present at the same time at different places. He attended functions at the same time both at Madras and Amba Samudram. In 1912 he told a group of devotees that he had to attend a spiritual programme at Kanya Kumari. His presence at Kanya Kumari was made visible to the devotees as on a movie screen. More astounding than this was his continuing to be with them and making the prasadam from the Kanya Kumari temple appear in their extended palms. One Mr. Chettiar from Kilpauk, Madras, had no children and he sought Swami’s blessing. Swami gave him some prasad out of which a statue of Bala Krishna materialised. Within one year Chettiar was blessed with a son. Once after a brief stay at Coumbakonam Swamiji came to the station to catch a train bound for Kurtalam. The train was already speeding away. Swami just looked at it and it came to a grinding halt. No one could explain how it stopped or why it started again the minute Swami boarded it. When news of Ramaswami Iyer’s death was conveyed to Swami he rushed to Iyer’s place. After applying Vibhuthi to the body Swami stood meditating with his thumb pressed at the central spot between Iyer’s brows. After some time Iyer revived and sat up as if awakened from sleep. For six months after this Swamiji suffered from high fever and from this disciples gathered that out of compassion for Iyer Swami took his illness on himself.

In 1912 Swamiji was invited for a visit by the King and Queen of Sanduru. While he stayed with them Swamiji told them that a temple built by their ancestors was now lying buried in a nearby forest. He took them there and showed them the spot. The King gave instructions for workers to clear the ground and dig at that spot. His instructions were followed and soon a temple was uncovered exactly as predicted by Swamiji. The royal couple bowed down to him and requested him to give them a glimpse of how he looked in his younger days. With a smile he gave them permission to take a photograph of him. When developed the film showed a young sanyasi in his 30th year. No one could explain how the camera could capture a snapshot from the past. In 1916 the king of Bhadrachalam asked Swami if it was really possible for a yogi to materialise gold. Swami closed both his hands and opened them and the king was stunned to find a gold nugget in one hand of Swami and Kumkum in the other. His mode of payment to workers building temples at his command was also unique. In the evening time when workers approached him for their daily wages he used to point to different trees and ask them to dig there and take the money they’d find there. It was a mystery to everyone as to how or by whom the exact amount of the wages was buried under those trees ! Hearing about Swami’s rescuing people like Adi Sarma and Iyer from the clutches of death many Christians and Muslims also used to visit Courtalam to seek Swami’s blessing. Hundreds of testimonials from them are available attesting to Swami’s mercy and love of humanity irrespective of race, caste or creed. Once the governor of Madras Lord Pentland came with his wife to Courtalam to have Swamiji’s darshan. He spent nearly forty five minutes with them and while they were leaving he presented them two big garlands made of roses and a big basket of apples. Neither those types of roses nor those apples were available anywhere in or around Courtalam and everyone wondered as to how or from which place Swamiji got them. Another foreigner, J.C. Malone, was a frequent visitor to Swamiji’s Ashram. He and his wife used to offer daily worship to a statue of Lord Vinayaka Swamiji materialised for them. Even after they went back to England they used to send monthly money orders for the upkeep of the Ashram. Whatever Swami said invariably came true. Once he told a Muslim youth that he would have offspring only through a second marriage. The youth went away saying he was not contemplating second marriage. Unexpectedly his wife died. He married again and was blessed with a son and he came with his family to prostrate at the feet of Swamiji.

His teaching methods were original and to the point. Explaining the need for detachment he once dangled from the roof holding the beam with both hands. Though the beam and the hands were not made of the same material, during their coexistence they create an illusion of oneness. Human relationships also are similar illusions. When the mind clings to them they appear indivisible from the personality but will vanish the minute the mind stops clinging to them. He used to say that detachment is a must for spiritual progress and that man can attain Samadhi state only through renunciation of earthly attachments. His advice to disciples was to strive incessantly for peace but never for worldly possessions. A Jnani, according to Swamiji, would uncomplainingly accept every experience in life with equanimity while an unevolved person falls an easy prey to feelings of elation and depression without realising their purely temporal nature. He gave pride of place to Grihasthasram in the pursuit of spiritual sadhana. Citing the example of Janaka he used to say that as long as a householder does not stray from the path of righteousness and as long as he lived in the midst of samsara without allowing it to invade his inner being, he is sure to achieve union with the Divine. Talking about the quickest way to achieve this goal he always used to say that heartfelt prayer and surrender to the Divine Mother would fetch her to the devotee as surely as a cow hurries to minister to the needs of its calf.