Next Stop: Ganeshpuri

We arrived in Ganeshpuri, a small village that sprouted up around a guru named Nityananda (1897? - 1961). It was said that he went there because of his arthritis and there were mineral hot springs right next to the temple. If you've been to our home in Sedona, you might have seen a large bronze statue in Marty's office. That is one of Nityananda which Marty had made on his last trip to India. Nityanada is best known as the guru of Swami Muktananda. To get a real flavor of Nityananda and who he was, read about Muktananda's The Play of Consciousness.

The small village of Ganeshpuri is now a pilgrimage site and you'll see in this video the temple, his home, and the place where he took mahasamadhi (died) in 1961. That was the place we sat and meditated after putting in our feet in the hot springs.

It's said Nityananda's mother abandoned him and he was found/adopted by a woman who worked as a servant. Even as a child, stories report that Nityananda seemed to be in an unusually advanced spiritual state, which gave rise to the belief that he was born enlightened. As a young man, he became a wandering yogi, spending time on yogic studies and practices in the Himalayas and other places.

Nityananda gained a reputation for affecting miracles and wonderful cures. He said, "Everything that happens, happens automatically by the will of god." He built an ashram in Kerala, and then wandered through the Maharastra state. In 1936 he went to Ganeshpuri, a tiny village with hotsprings and a tiny Shiva Temple (5' x 5'). The family that looked after the temple built a hut for him, the recognized him as an advaduta, (a person absorbed in the transcendental state.)

Nityananda didn't teach verbally: he was mostly silent. Some believe that he transmitted spiritual energy (shaktipat) to people. He could also be extremely fiery and intimidating in his behaviour, even to the point of throwing rocks - his way of deterring people who were not serious in their spiritual aspirations, or who came to him with ulterior motives.