Sitaramdas Omkarnath

Sitaramdas Omkarnath (17 February 1892 – 6 December 1982) was an Indian saint and spiritual master from Bengal. Addressed as Sri Sri Thakur Sitaramdas Omkarnath, where "Omkar" signifies the cosmic enlightenment and attaining supreme consciousness, he was regarded by his followers as the Avatar (divine incarnate) of the Kali Yuga.

His central teaching was the beneficence of the divine chanting (nāma) of the Hare Krishna mantra, regarded as the "Tarak Brahma Naam" (the chant of soul deliverance) in the Kali Yuga with the power to deliver liberation from the cycle of birth and death.

His disciples worship him as an incarnation of God himself and regard him as a source of spiritual enlightenment and soul succour to seekers because his life is thought to have been predicted in a manuscript of Achyutananda Dasa.

Sitaramdas Omkarnath wrote more than 150 books to promote the essence of Indian scriptures, built more than 60 temples and ashrams all across India, and founded a spiritual organisation, Akhil Bharat Jaiguru Sampradaya, which established many groups, temples and mathas. He was also the initiator of multiple magazines, including Pather Alo, Devjan, JaiGuru, Arya Nari, Paramananda, and The Mother.

Birth and childhood

Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath was born at his maternal uncle's house located in remote Keota village under Hooghly district, West Bengal, at 8:01 AM on the 6th waning lunar day, of Hindu month Falgun circa 1892. English Calendar DOB 17 February 1892.

His name consecrated at birth was Prabodh Chandra Chattopadhyay, and his birth parents were Pranhari Chattopadhyay and Mallyabati Devi. Father Pranhari was a Brahmin and worked as a village physician in Dumurdaha, Hooghly district. A childhood incidence came to be known about him once he attained his spiritual supremacy. Once as a young child, (then Prabodh Chandra Chattopadhyay) he was listening to the mahamantra HareKrishna Nama Sankirtan, and he attained "Samadhi" (spiritual communion state in altered consciousness) during the Kirtan. But as assumed by local villagers, he was thought to have fainted. However an ascetic present at the venue, told his grandmother that he has not fainted but attained samadhi. If Ganges water is sprayed on him and lord Rama's name is sung to him, he will recover from samadhi and he resumed his normal conscious state. The kuladevata (family deity) was Brajanath (Krishna).

In 1896, his birth mother Mallyabati Devi died, leaving infant Prabodh, then four years old, in the care of his extended family. Father Pranhari remarried a much younger Giribala Devi, aged 10 to 11 years at that time; who went on to dedicate her life till death, at the service of this family and raising her foster children as her own, Prabodh being the youngest. Pranhari died in 1912.

Education Omkarnath attended a village school but then determined that Dasarathidev Yogeswar of Digsui village should be his guru. Though he was admitted to the Bandel Church School to pursue Western Education, he left that school for his interest in Indian Sankritised Education system. Thereafter, he studied at Yogeswar's house, where he undertook daily chores as well as spiritual education. In 1918, Probodh was meditating at about midnight when he visualised the god Shiva along with the Durga, the Divine Mother.

Later, Omkarnath saw his previous birth on the day of Saraswati puja. Through this he came to believe that he was a worshipper of the goddess Kali in his previous life.

Spiritual quest Guru Dasarathidev had named him Sitaram, the name Omkarnath was a divine revelation which was later conferred by Swami Dhruvananda Giri. Thus, Probodh came to be known as Sitaramdas Omkarnath. He had heard the Hare Krishna MahaMantra as a divine sound during his meditation in a cave at Ramashram, Dumurdaha, Hooghly. Later, he heard a divine voice say "O Sage, dive in". Still Sitaram was not ready for giving spiritual initiation to masses, and he waited for direct command. At Puri, Orissa, Sitaram visualised Jagannath in a halo and Jagannath gave the instruction — "Go, Go, Go and give the Name". Temples were established and renovated, the poor were fed, clothes were distributed, help was given to the fathers of marriageable daughters, taking on the responsibility of lifetime maintenance of hundreds of poverty-stricken families, establishment of free schools for poor students, setting up 29 Akhanda Naam Kirtan centres across India, establishing temples and ashrams, and several other activities of the kind went on continuously.

According to Omkarnath, The teachings of Omkarnath are derived from his personal experiences, revealed in the course of continual spiritual practice. His teachings were compiled by Kinkar Omananda (alias Madhav Swamiji), one of his close monastic disciples.

Miracles Many of unexplained incidents associated with Omkarnath have been documented in books and newspapers by prominent personalities. Among these are:

The writer Nabaneeta Dev Sen wrote of a 'medical miracle' she had seen. Her father, Naren Dev, was in coma for several days but when Omkarnath came and touched him, he opened his eyes and talked and within a week had begun walking. Many newspapers of Kolkata reported a revival from death at a Calcutta Medical College. Padmalochan Mukerjee was declared dead, Omkarnath arrived, touched him and revived him in front of Sister G. Wood, who was overwhelmed by the incident. General Sujan Singh Uban described that Omkarnath had foreseen the Indo-Pakistan war of December 1971 and that during the war a supernatural power of Omkarnath had given him an extraordinary victory. Besides the national issues, Uban had felt the powers of Omkarnath in many aspects of his personal life.