By Rajiv Roy
SHILLONG: He is 118 years old and probably the oldest living person on this earth. He is a man of simple means; he wakes up at 3 am daily and after bathing follows a routine pranayam, exercises and a walk in the temple ghats daily. Surviving on boiled foods items, he takes an oil-free diet, devoid of milk products or fruits, a practice he adopted quite early in his life.
Meet Sivananda Baba, a spiritual guru, who runs a free-for-all ashram in Varanasi’s Kabir Nagar area.
Born on August 8, 1896, as per his Passport No. J-0997766, his name has been recommended for inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records by one of his disciples from Kolkata.
The spiritual guru is currently in Shillong and has put up at Hotel Grace in Police Bazar to grant audience to those who go to him for worldly advices or spiritual awakening.
“I don’t feel that I am 118 years old as I am ever joyous,” the Baba said, while stressing about nine qualities in life that he advocates. “I have no desire, no tension, no depression, no problem, no fruit or milk, no acceptance of donation and I am a bosom friend of God,” he said, while pointing out that these are the secrets to his long and healthy life. He added that he takes four litres of water every day and said, “Each litre is meant for the lungs, kidney and liver and so on.”
Having lost both his parents on a single day at a tender age of 6, Sivananda stands witness to three centuries. He has been globetrotting for several years having disciples all over the world and is awaiting his Aadhar card number under the national population register, which he applied on August 28 last.
He said that he has opened his ashram in Varanasi for the welfare of the poor people since he had to deal with abject poverty in his childhood.
“I lost my only sister at the age of six with my parents who used to beg from door to door for alms. But I have decided not to beg and accept whatever comes my way and live on that,” he said, adding that his ashram distributes Rs 100 per person every Saturday along with seasonal fruits and ration to the poor people who go to his ashram.
“Having travelled extensively all over the globe, I could notice the difference between the West and the East. In India people have become materialistic, thinking only about money, material enjoyment and so they suffer from many diseases whereas in the West, even though the people hanker after money, they are honest and are now increasingly drawn towards the Indian Spirituality,” he said.
Asked why he refuses donations and gifts, the Baba said, “All are beggars. So I do not accept any donation from them.”
He lamented that India is moving fast on the path of degeneration without any hope in sight. “The natural calamities are a result of man’s greed,” he said.
Sivananda, who first visited Shillong in the early 1960s, was born and brought up in West Bengal and has settled in Varanasi since 1979.
He can read and write without his glasses and is free from diseases except for minor forgetfulness now and then.