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Inspirers
Sri Swami Satyananda Saraswati continued...
 Thus,
by 1983, Sri Swami Satyananda Saraswati's tireless efforts to spread the
message of yoga had touched the whole world. He had also trained a core
of sannyasins to transmit the yogic techniques for different needs and
cultures, and they had established many Satyananda Yoga ashrams, schools
and centres around India and the world. Bihar School of Yoga was well
established and recognized throughout the world as a reputed and authentic
centre for learning yoga and the spiritual sciences.
More than that, yoga had moved out of the caves of hermits and ascetics
into the mainstream of society. Whether in hospitals, jails, schools,
colleges, business houses, the sporting and fashion arenas, the army or
navy, yoga was in demand. Scientific research into yogic techniques was
being conducted all over the world. Professionals such as lawyers, engineers,
doctors, business magnates and professors were incorporating yoga into
their lives. So too were the masses. Yoga had become a household word.
Now, at the peak of his accomplishment, Sri Swamiji renounced all that
he created. He appointed Swami Niranjanananda as his successor and gave
him the mandate to continue the work, and then began to gradually withdraw
from the teaching and administering of the yoga movement. In 1988, Sri
Swamiji renounced disciples, establishments and institutions, and departed
from Munger, never to return again.
He went on a pilgrimage through the siddha teerthas (spiritual centres)
of India as a mendicant, without any personal belonging or assistance
from the ashram or institutions he had founded.  At
Trayambakeshwar, before the jyotirlingam of Lord Mrityunjaya, his ishta
devata, he renounced his garb and lived as an avadhoota. And here, at
the source of the Godavari River near Neel Parbat, while performing chaturmas
anushthana, his future place of abode and sadhana were revealed to him.
He received the mandate for a new mission, to progress toward the cosmic
dimension through unbroken remembrance and repetition of the Lord's name
with every breath. On 8th September, 1989, birthday of his guru Sri Swami
Sivananda Saraswati, he heard the voice loud and clear, "Chitabhoomi",
and saw a vision of the place where he was intended to go.
Sri Swami Satyananda Saraswati did not choose Rikhia, it was chosen for
him. After leaving Munger, while roaming the length and breadth of India,
he came across many beautiful places where he was invited to take up residence.
But in keeping with his style of surrender he awaited the mandate of his
ishta and guru, which guided him to the small nondescript, unknown village
of Rikhia, on the outskirts of Baba Baidyanath Dham in Deoghar (Jharkhand),
the chitabhoomi or cremation ground of Sati, consort of Shiva.
Sri Swamiji arrived at Rikhia on 23rd September 1989, at mid-day, the
day of vernal equinox, when nature is in perfect balance as the day and
night are equal. Soon after, he lit a dhuni or fire and called it Mahakal
Chita Dhuni. Lighting a dhuni is a very ancient tradition among sadhus.
It is believed that the ash from a sadhu's dhuni is very potent, for his
entire day is spent in front of the dhuni and all his acts are performed
with the fire as witness.
 The
Rikhia that Sri Swami Satyananda Saraswati arrived in was still living
in the sixteenth century. There were no roads, electricity, telephones,
newspapers, television or shops. However, its vibrations were pure and
spiritual providing an ideal climate for the seclusion which he imposed
on himself. He began a life of intensive spiritual practice, entering
the lifestyle of paramahamsas who do not work for their flock and mission
alone, but have a universal vision. His first anushthana commenced in
1989 during Ashwin Navaratri - the performance of ashtottar-shat-laksh
(108 lakh) mantra purascharana which took him three hundred days to complete.
He gave up the geru cloth and donned the kaupeen, loin cloth, an important
hallmark in the life of a sadhu denoting that vairagya and dispassion
are an inherent part of his being. He no longer associated with any institutions,
nor gave diksha, upadesh or received dakshina, but remained in seclusion
and sadhana.
In a conclusive message, he told all, "I have nothing more to say
to anyone and no further guidance to give. For over twenty years I have
lived with the people answering their questions and helping them on their
spiritual path. Now I withdraw my responsibility. Those who are receptive,
they will surely benefit from what I have told them, but those who are
not, they will now have to find their own way."
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