page_title: Shivabalayogi
section_title: Death
hierarchical_section_title: Shivabalayogi / Death
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of Shivabalayogi's body taken on April 2, 1994, shortly before it was interred in the Samadhi (tomb) in Adivarapupeta, India. This light with concentric circles was not visible to the eye but appeared on the negative. Photo taken by Tom Palotas.
context_page_description: Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj is a yogi who attained Self-realization through twelve years of arduous tapas, meditating in samādhi for an average of twenty hours a day. Tapas is the most advanced stage of meditation in which one remains absorbed for long periods in the non-dualistic state of consciousness known as samādhi.
  After he completed tapas, he assumed the name Shivabalayogi, which some devotees had already begun to use for him. The name means "Yogi devoted to Shiva and Parvati." Shiva is God in the form of a yogi. Bala is one of the many names for Parvati, God in the form of a yogini. The name reflects that Shivabalayogi is a manifestation of both the male and female aspects of the divine. The female aspect represents the invisible energy of the Divine through which the entire creation operates, while the male aspect represents the pure consciousness of existence beyond all imaginations. Generally, devotees called him simply "Swamiji" meaning "respected Master". In common parlance, a bala-yogi is a child yogi, a yogi who has started living as a yogi from childhood. Such a yogi is specially venerated, as in the adage "A saint in youth is a saint in truth".
context_section_description: Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj passed on, or "entered Mahasamadhi", in Kakinada, India, on March 28, 1994. Although it was not evident to onlookers, he had been on dialysis since 1991 and for some fifteen years he suffered from diabetes and an injured foot which became infected and never healed. Throughout this time he worked tirelessly to inspire people on the spiritual path.
  Shivabalayogi often told devotees that yogis do not "die" in the ordinary sense.  They drop their physical bodies through mahasamadhi (the great samadhi), but their presence remains available. "If I am not within the bounds of my body I am more available to you", and he often gave Jesus as an example.
  On April 2, 1994, his body was interred at the ashram in Adivarapupeta near the place where he sat for almost ten of his twelve-year tapas. That tomb is now the Adivarapupeta samadhi.
caption: Shivabalayogi Light Body, April 2, 1994
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