Bhoganāthar or Bhogar, the Jñāna Guru of Babaji, in the poem
“Bhogar Jñāna Sagarama” (Bhogar’s Oceanic Life Story, consisting of 557 verses,
verse number 2, lines number 3 and 4), identifies himself as a Tamilian,
(Ramaiah, 1979; 1982. p. 17).[1] In the same verse he states that the great
Siddha Kālangi Nāthar initiated him in Jñāna Yoga (supreme self-knowledge).
Kālangi Nāthar was born in Kaśi (Benares). He attained the
immortal state of swarūpa samādhi at the ago of 315, and then made China the
center of his teaching activities. He belonged to the ancient tradition of Nava
(nine) Nāth sadhus (holy ascetics), tracing their tradition to Lord Shiva.
There are nine important shrines associated with this
tradition, five of which are in the Himālaya Mountains: Amarnāth (where Shiva
first taught Kriya Yoga to his Shakti partner, Parvati Devi), Kedarnāth,
Badrināth (India), Kailāsanāth, (Tibet) and Paśupatināth (Nepal).
Meanwhile, Bhoganāthar practiced Kundalini Yoga in four
stages. The first three stages arc described in a later chapter on “The
Psychophysiology of Kriya Kundalini Pranayama”. Bhoganāthar chose the Palani
Malai (mountain) in what is now southwestern Tamil Nadu as the site for
intensive yogic practice (tapas) for the final stage. He attained swarūpa
samādhi at Palani, through the grace of Lord Muruga, or the eternal youth,
“Kumāra Swāmi”.
The Kumāraswāmi temple at Palani became the epicenter of his
activities. He visited many countries astrally, and physically and through
transmigration. In one of his songs Bhoganāthar claims to have flown to China
at one point in a sort of airplane which he built: he held discussions with
Chinese Siddhas before returning to India (Kailasapathy, 1969, p. 197-211). His
visit to South America has been confirmed by accounts left by the Muycas of
Chile:
“Bocha, who gave laws to Muycas, was a white, bearded man,
wearing long robes, who regulated the calendar, established festivals, and
vanished in time like others (other remarkable teachers who had come across the
Pacific according to numerous legends of Incas, Aztecs and Mayans).” (Lal 1965,
p. 20).[2]
He convened a meeting of many siddhas just before the
beginning of the present Kali Yuga, in 3102 BC, to determine the best way for
humanity to progress along the spiritual path during the coming period of
darkness. The Yoga of love and devotion, Bhakti Yoga, was chosen as being the
best means. Bhoganāthar was entrusted by the siddhas with the task of defining
the rituals for the worship of their favorite deity “Palani Āndavar”, the Lord
(Muruga) of Palani.
Many rituals that center around the bathing (abhishekam) of
an idol of Palani Andavar with many substances, including panchaamirtam
consisting of five fruits and honey, were developed by him and continue to be
followed to this day. The idol had to be created from a substance that would
last throughout Kali Yuga.
The most resilient of known substances, granite, was known
to wear and crack after thousands of such rituals. So Bhoganāthar fashioned it
out of nine secret herbal and chemical ingredients, nava pashanam, which made
it harder than granite. Eight of the ingredients were combined in a mold of the
idol. The ninth, was added as a catalyst, to solidify it.
In recent times the scientists who attempted to determine
the composition of a small sample of the material of the idol, were startled to
find that it immediately sublimated when heated. Thus its composition remains a
mystery to date. The traces of the substance are contained in the ritual
offerings in which it is bathed. When these are returned and consumed by the
devotee, their spiritual progress is enhanced.
A mission to China and transmigration
Kālangi Nāthar decided to enter into samādhi in seclusion
for 3,000 years. He summoned Bhoganāthar telepathically from Tamil Nadu to
China to take over his mission. Bhoganāthar traveled by sea, following the
trade route. In China, he was instructed by Kālangi Nāthar in all aspects of
the Siddha sciences. These included the preparation and use of the kaya kalpa
herbal formulae to promote longevity.
After Kālangi Nāthar entered into trance, Bhoganāthar
assumed his teaching mission to the Chinese. To facilitate this, he
transmigrated his vital body into the physical body of a deceased Chinese man,
and thereafter went by the name “Bo-Yang”. “Bo” is a derivation of the word
“Bhogam” which means bliss, material and spiritual.
This bliss, for which he was named “Bo-Yang” is experienced
when the Kundalini shakti, the feminine
primordial yin energy awakens, passes up to the crown of the head, the seat of
Shiva, the masculine yang pole, in the Sahasra cakra at the summit of the head
and unites with it. The result of this integration of feminine and masculine
parts of the being, or union (“Yoga”) of Shakti and Shiva, Yin and Yang, is
Satchidananda: Absolute Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.
Transformation of his physical body
Bhoganāthar decided to overcome the limitations of the
Chinese body, with its degenerative tendencies, and prolong its life through
the use of the kaya kalpa herbs long enough for the effect of Kriya Kundalini
Pranayama and related yogic techniques to bring swarūpa samādhi. In his poem
Bhogar Jñāna Sutra 8, verse number 4, he describes vividly what happened after
carefully preparing a tablet using thirty five different herbs:
With great care and patience I made the (kaya kalpa) tablet
and then swallowed it:
Not waiting for fools and skeptics
who would not appreciate its hidden meaning and importance.
Steadily I lived in the land of the parangis (foreigners)
For twelve thousand years, my fellow!
I lived for a long time
and fed on the vital ojas (sublimated spiritual energy)
With the ojas vindhu I received the name, Bhogar:
The body developed the golden color of the pill:
Now I am living in a world of gold
(based upon translation by Yogi S.A.A. Ramaiah, 1979, p.
40-42).
He chose three of his best disciples and his faithful dog,
and took thorn to the top of a mountain. After first offering a tablet to the
dog, the dog immediately fell over dead. He next offered it to his leading
disciple, Yu, who also immediately fell over dead.
After offering it to the two remaining disciples, who by
this time were extremely nervous, and who promptly hid their tablets rather
than swallow them, Bhoganāthar swallowed the remaining tablets and also fell
over unconscious. Crying with grief, the two remaining disciples went down the
mountain to get material to bury the bodies. When the disciples returned to the
spot where the bodies had been left lying, all that was found was a note, in
Bhoganāthar’s handwriting, which said:
The kaya kalpa tablets are working.
After awakening from their trance
I restored faithful Yu and the dog.
You have missed your chance for immortality. (Ibid.)
This kaya kalpa enabled Bhoganāthar to transform the Chinese
body over a period of 12,000 years, during which time it developed a lustrous
golden color. (The physiological transformation to the state of swarūpa samādhi
was, however, completed only later, at Palani in the final phases of Kriya
Kundalini Yoga and related practices. These phases will be described in chapter
11. Bhoganāthar’s own graphic description is recorded in the poem at the end of
this chapter Initiation into Samādhi.)
In this poem Sutras of Wisdom — 8. he sings prophetically of
the taking up of the practice of pranayama in modern times by millions of
persons who would otherwise have succumbed to drug abuse:
Kriya Babaji, disciple of Bhogar
Bhogar Nath and his young disciple Babaji Nagaraj at
Kataragama, illustration from Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga Tradition
Kriya Babaji shrine, Kataragama
Will chant the unifying verse of the Vedanta.
Glory to the holy feet of Uma (the Divine Mother of the
Universe. Shakti),
Will instruct you in the knowledge of the sciences, ranging
from hypnotism to alchemy (kaya kalpa).
Without the need for pills or tablets, the great scientific
art of pranayama breathing, will be taught and recognized
By millions of common people and chaste young women.
Verse no. I (based upon translation by Yogi S.A.A. Ramaiah,
1982, p. 40).
Becomes known as Lao-Tzu, founder of Taoism
After this incident with the Chinese disciples, Bo-Yang
became also known as Lao-Tzu, and was accessible for nearly 200 years, and
trained hundreds of Chinese disciples in Tantric Yoga practices, wherein semen
and sexual energies are conserved and sublimated into spiritual energies. The
advanced techniques which he taught involve raising the energies from the
mūladhāra cakra corresponding to the perineum up to the sahasrara cakra during
sexual intercourse with a spiritually minded partner, resulting in sublimated
energy, tejas. manifesting throughout all the cells of the body. In the fifth
century B.C., Confucius met Lao-Tzu Bo-Yang and afterwards said of him:
I know a bird can fly, a fish can swim, and an animal can
run. For that which runs, a net can be fashioned; for that which swims, a line
can be strung. But the ascent of a Dragon on the wind into heaven is something
which is beyond my knowledge. Today I have met Lao-Tzu, who is perhaps like a
Dragon. Among the Chinese, particularly, the Taoists, the Dragon is the symbol
of Kundalini Shakti, the primordial force.
At the end of his mission to China, about 400 BC,
Bhoganāthar, with his disciple Yu (whom he also gave the Indian name Pulipani)
and other close disciples, left China by the land route. As recorded in the
Taoist literature, at the request of the gatekeeper at the Han Ku mountain pass
Lao-Tzu crystallized his teachings. He did so in two books, the Tao Ching, with
37 verses, and the Te Ching with 42 verses (MacKintosh, 1971).[3]
In book two he says ‘Do good to him who has done you injury’,
which was also said by the contemporary Tamil Siddha, Tiruvalluvar in his
Tirukkural (Tiruvalluvar, 1968). Taoist yoga traditions continue to seek
physical immortality using techniques remarkably similar to those taught in
Tamil Shiva Yoga Siddhānta.
Return to India
Along their way, they visited several shrines in the
Himalayas and Kāmarūpa, the famous Tantric Shakti shrine in Assam.[4] He
composed his greatest work of 700,000 verses near Mt. Kailasa with the
blessings of Lord Shiva. It was later abridged to 7,000 verses, and is known as
Bhogar Sapta Kandam. He later visited Gaya, India and Arabia.
Upon his return to Tamil Nadu he introduced the Chinese
salts and chemistry, which he called Cīna-cāram and porcelain making. He
submitted his 7,000 verse manuscript for evaluation to his guru, Agastyar at
Courtrallam and to an academy of siddhas there. It was endorsed by all of them
as a great work.
Following this, many siddhas, including Konkanavar,
Karuvoorar, Nandeeswar, Kamala Muni, Satta Muni, Macchamuni, and Sundarandar
became his disciples to study the sciences of kaya kalpa and yoga. He
eventually turned over his teaching mission to Pulipani.
Establishes shrine at Katirkamam and attains swarūpa samādhi
After performing tapas at Sathura Giri, and Shiva Gin, he
went to Katirkamam in Sri Lanka to perform tapas and win the grace of Lord
Muruga. Under inspiration from the Lord he established the famous Yantra
shrine, representing the 1,008 petalled lotus cakra, which blossomed in Bhogar
there. Next he went to Palani where he attained swarūpa samādhi. He retired to
Katirkāmam, where Babaji Nagaraj met him around 211 AD.
Second Mission to China
Later, after the period of the Six Dynasties (220 to 590
AD), Bhoganāthar returned with some Tamil disciples to China. He left his
mission in Tamil Nadu with Pulipani, the Chinese Siddha. During the
construction of the Brihitīswarar Shiva Temple in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu, around
900 AD.
Bhoganāthar advised its builders as to how to raise the
eighty ton capstone to the top of the temple, more than 200 feet high. This was
done through his disciple Karuvoorar and another Tamil disciple who acted as
intermediaries and through messages tied to the legs of courier birds, like
today’s homing pigeons.
At Bhogar’s suggestion a gradient ramp five miles long was
built, up which the stone was pulled to the top of the temple. This was one of
the most remarkable engineering feats of all times. About this time he also
advised the King of Tanjore to build a small shrine dedicated to one of his
greatest disciples, Karuvoorar, behind the Bhrihiteeswarar Shiva Temple.
Current Activities
While Bhoganāthar is reported to have left the physical
plane at Palani, he continues to work on the astral plane, inspiring his
disciples and devotees, and even in rare instances he transmigrates into
another’s physical body for specific purposes.
When Vibhishan defected, Rama took him under his protection. He then had a talk
with the various army chiefs some of whom disagreed with Rama. Instead of
punishing them, Rama got them to accept his decision. Everybody felt that their
opinions had been heard and that their objections had been clarified. Empowerment of subordinates to question his decisions was a key and
unique quality of Rama which contrasted with Ravana who never allowed anybody
to contradict him.
Rama was a prince who interacted freely with the people. Rama did not have any
biases regarding developing relationships with people of a lower social status.
Thus he accepted the hospitality of the chief of the fisher folk and allied
with the forest tribes who were out of the light of normal society. In fact,
Rama gave them positions of equality. This was not only due to the war
conditions since he maintained the same relationship when he won the war. Not surprisingly, he received great loyalty from all.
Following Sita's kidnap, Rama wandered poor and ruined in the forests searching
for Sita. The Ramayana is full of touching details of Rama's sadness and his
memory of Sita. Yet this grief did not prevent him from searching for partners
even when the enemy was unknown. Rama maintained his courage even at the darkest hours and in doing so
inspired his army to not only continue the unequal fight, but also win it.
Rama brought ethical decision making in all areas of his life. There
are many leaders who make a sacrifice once in order to build credibility and
then use it to make unethical decisions later relying on the knowledge that
their initial sacrifice would make them immune to attacks. When Ravana paraded
to battle on the first day without sufficient preparations and was rendered
weaponless by Rama, he was allowed to return to his fort because Rama followed
the code of loyalty that an unarmed enemy should not be attacked.
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