Yoga in Thakura Nigamananda's Spiritual Journey
Yoga sadhana and realization
On the advice of guru Satchidanda, Nalinikanta went to attain the direct experience of this Vedic truth through yoga. Led by providence, Nalinikanta was able to find his yogi guru Sumeru Dasji most dramatically, in the thick and inaccessible forests near the holy place of ‘Parasuram’ (in the north-eastern India). After completing ‘yoga sadhana’ (practice of yoga) under the masterful guidance of yogiraj Sumeru Dasji, he attained the state of ‘Nirbikalpa Samadhi’ (non-dual existence/complete identification with the Cosmic Soul or the Parambramha), at once pervading the universe and transcending it. He came back from that blissful state with the realization that he is the ‘universal guru’ i.e. the ‘supreme soul’.
He then found the most satisfying answer to his query, "Who am I?"
The four disciplines
Thus Nigamananda became perfect in Tantra, Jnana, Yoga and Prema/Bhav, all the four ways envisaged in Sanatana Dharma (ever new/eternal, and universal spiritual principles based on Vedic knowledge) to reach the highest spiritual goal. During the 1905 Kumbha Mela at Ujjain, Swami Satchidananda Saraswati conferred the title of ‘paramahansa’ on Nalinikanta in recognition of his spiritual merits in a huge gathering of leading sadhus and renunciates under the auspices of the then Shankaracharya of Sringery Matha.
Sources and attribution
Source text: NSS website. Original article author not credited in the source.
Reproduced from the existing NSS website; no separate reviewer or review date is recorded.