Bhagawan Nityananda

Bhagawan Nityananda (November/December, 1897 – 8 August 1961) was an Indian guru. His teachings are published in the "Chidakash Gita". Nityananda was born in Koyilandy (Pandalayini), Madras Presidency, British India (now in Kozhikode district, Kerala).

Biography

Childhood Details about Bhagawan Nityananda's birth are relatively unknown. According to his disciples, Nityananda was found as an abandoned infant in Tuneri village, Koyilandy, Madras Presidency, British India by a lady named Uniamma Nair, who was married to Chathu Nair. The Nair couple adopted this child and took care of him along with their own five children. Nityananda was named as Raman by his foster parents. The Nair couple were farmers, who also took care of the farms owned by a wealthy lawyer named Ishwar Iyer, who greatly trusted them. Nityananda's foster father died when he was three and his foster mother when he was six. Before dying she handed over her responsibility of Nityananda to Ishwar Iyer.

Spiritual life

Even in childhood, Bhagawan Nityananda seemed to be in an unusually advanced spiritual state, which gave rise to the belief that he was born enlightened. He was eventually given the name Nityananda, which means, "always in bliss".

Before the age of twenty, Nityananda became a wandering yogi, spending time on yogic studies and practices in the Himalayas and other places. By 1920, he was back in southern India.

Settled in southern India, Nityananda gained a reputation for performing miracles and curing the sick. He started building an ashram near Kanhangad, Kerala state. The hill temple and Ashram in Kanhangad are now pilgrim centres. The Guruvan, a forest in the hills nearby where Bhagawan sat on penance, is now a pilgrim retreat. In one of his talks, his student Swami Muktananda said that Nityananda’s Guru was an unknown Siddha from Kerala.