Siva Shankar Baba

Early life

Siva Shankar was born 28 January 1949, to Narayana Sharma and Vijayalakshmi in the Alangayam village, near Vaniyambadi in the North Arcot district (now comes under Vellore district) of Tamil Nadu. He went to the University of Madras, completing his chemistry and post graduations in the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (London), the Indian Institute of Road Transport (Pune) and the Institute of Rail Transport (Delhi).

Career

In 1978, Balamurugan Swami of Ratnagiri Temple asked Siva Shankar to start his own business. While this had not been Siva Shankar's plan for himself, he decided to follow his Guru's guidance. Between 1978 and 1983, Siva Shankar's business profits increased, and he was employed as a transport fleet owner & contractor, stock distributor, and a documentary commercial producer. He was on the management faculty of A.M. Jain Institute of Management, and was the founder Director of Madras Institute of Transport Technology. As a highly qualified management professional, he was involved with various government committees and the program of study committee of Anna University. He participated in various symposiums and seminars and presented several commendable papers on Management. He was also the President of The Madras Goods transport association, Managing committee member of Andhra Chamber of Commerce, Chartered Secretary of Rotary Club – Anna Nagar, IRTDA (Jakarta), Institute of Transport and Traffic Engineers, and several other organisations.

Spiritual Interest

Siva Shankar was always interested in religion and spirituality, devoting a large portion of his time travelling to different religious and holy places, visiting temples, meeting renowned saints and religious leaders (ex. Ratnagiri Swami Balamurugan Adimai of Vellore, Kanchi Mahaa Periavaal, Koti Swamy etc.). He has been on yearly pilgrimages to Sabarimala since 1968.

In January 1983, after business establishments, Siva Shankar installed a Lord Ayyappa idol in his Chennai bungalow, worshipping him ever since. In May 1983, Kanchi Kamakoti Jayendra Saraswathi Swami visited Siva Shankar's bungalow, performed pooja to the idol, and said, 'This Ayyappa idol here is very powerful. Why don't you construct a temple for Him?' Siva Shankar said that at first, he didn't take the words seriously, but in November 1983, he discussed with Balamurugan Swami the construction of the Ayyappa temple. Balamurugan Swami advised Siva Shankar to construct a temple in the southwest corner of his bungalow.

With the guidance of Sambhamoorthy Sivachariar (Head Gurukkal of the Kalikambal temple on Thambu Chetty Street, Chennai), and Swami Ramdas of Thiruverkadu, a temple was constructed and a Kumbabhishekam was done 13–15 December 1983. After the Kumbabhishekam, Siva Shankar visited Sabarimala. It is reported that he had darshan of Lord Ayyappa there on 16 January 1984. Around the same time, in Agastya Ashram at Palghat, Kalasa Abhishekam was done with the chanting of Shyamala Kanaka Sankarshini Maha mantra to Siva Shankar by the priest Nochur Swami. Vidhwan Lakshmanan, an astrologer, gave Ganapathi Mantra Upadesham to Siva Shankar, as per his guru's (Brighu Rishi) command.

Spiritual Encounters

On 26 January 1984, Siva Shankar was present at an annual Abhishekam for Lord Muruga of Ratnagiri temple, crying continuously for over an hour. Balamurugan Swami then wrote a note to Siva Shankar: “Within this month-end there will be a welcome turning point in your life. God’s blessings”. After reaching Chennai, that same night, (in the early hours, c. 3:30 AM) Siva Shankar reported that Raghavendra Swami of Mantralaya appeared physically before him, giving him a vision of his own dead body, by separating the body from the soul (out-of-body experience). This was the same experience Venkatraman had before he became Bala Ramana Maharishi. This experience is also predicted in the Siva Shankar's Sahadeva Nadi, which says "The body and soul were separated and the soul saw the body.”

Siva Shankar soon had another experience in which a snake originated from him, stood left of Lord Muruga, and vanished to become a seer with a golden face, saying, "For every full moon, Eight Rupees, Eleven Full Moons, Swaminatha Venkateswara, Swaminatha Venkateswara, Swaminatha Venkateswara." This vision indicated that Siva Shankar was to receive Ashta Maha Siddhis (In the language of Siddhas, eight rupees means Ashta Maha Siddhis.) within eleven full moon days, with the mantras of Sadakshara (Swaminatha) and Ashtakshara (Venkateswara).

Following this, Siva Shankar went to Thiruvannamalai every full moon, experiencing and receiving various Siddhis as was ordained in his earlier experiences. During the Guru Purnimas in 1984, Siva Shankar was physically blessed by Yogi Ram Surat Kumar, God Child of Thiruvannamalai. Yogi Ram Surat Kumar gave Siva Shankar mantras of Rama and Krishna and blessed him.

Ever since, Siva Shankar's interest in the world has declined and he has taken spirituality as his path in life. Having visited almost every temple and sacred worship place in India, featured articles of him chronicle his eleven visits to Mount Kailash and his seventy visits to Sabarimala.

His accessibility, care and compassion for those who reach out to him, touch many people. He does not harbor anger or hatred. All he has is love, only love. He does not discriminate based on religion, caste, creed, gender or age. He has summed up Bhagavad Gita in four words: "Flow along with life.", and to those who ask him how to deal with life's "ups and downs", he answers "I will take care".

People undergo many pleasant experiences after investing faith in him, proving that he does "take care".

His concept is "Aham Brahmasmi Tattavamasi" ("I am God and so are you"). Most so-called problems are fabrications of the mind, which does not understand your innate divinity. Once you know that you are a divine spirit in a human form, you go beyond "problems". Siva Shankar asserts "First be aware of the world you live in, establish yourself here through hard work without compromising on your values and that by itself becomes your worship to the Lord. Arise, awake, work, worship".

His life is his message. His Satsang talks offer ways we can deal with life. In this world heavily laden with strife, his is a shoulder one can lean on and know comfort.

He is also one of the only spiritual teachers that uses email, usually responding within 24 hours (except when on pilgrimages.)

Samratchana Ashram

Siva Shankar Baba established a [social, cultural, spiritual centre for self-realization, model for universal family] known as Samratchana in Chennai. Samratchana, Sree Ramarajya is a non-profit center which also offers classes for cartoon animation, embroidery, textile painting, typing shorthand, tailoring, foreign languages, music, dance, journalism and screen printing. The center also offers free food from 11a.m. to 4p.m. and computer classes at relatively low cost. Samratchana has two villages, Vengaleri and Alathur, near Thiruporur Tamil Nadu, and provides facilities like free education and medical care. Siva Shankar is the pioneer of Sree Ramarajya, (a secular commune housing 400 families), a Hindu temple, church, mosque, Buddha Vihar, and a Jain temple. He is also the founder of Sushil Hari International Residential School, (located in Sree Ramarajya Kelambakkam), Praveena Hospitals (rendering free medical service to the rural needy and nominally charged services to others), and many free medical camps.