THAPAS(PENANCE)

Thereafter during 1914,at the age of 33 he reached Cheenthalar ,a remote forest area near Peerimad in Idukki District where the mystic went on to a deep meditation and intense penance which lasted for a period of 2 years,11 months and 22 days, (beginning from 16-11-1915 to 7-11-1918)underneath an alexandrian laurel tree,for the realization of the Divine Light which he had experienced at the age of seven. This place is now known and referred to as " Thapogiri"While he sat for hours in the same posture in the solitude,he was guarded by wild animals and a hug cobra.There occurred many miracles during the period of this deep penance .He had experienced Massages from God through Divine vision (Darsanam),prophesies (Pravachanam),voice from the heaven or sky (Assareeri),Dreams (Swapnam) ,Revelations ect from the unknown Divine power ,and all the questions and problems regarding man, heaven and hell were solved for ever. As a saint of great spiritual achievements he acquired wisdom and knowledge through the communion with God .Thus after this intense meditation he attained the heavenly enlightenment which was the birth of the kaliyuga Avathaara,the Savior of Humanity, the Jnana Khalki . His last days in THAPOGIRI were very similar to the days of the enlightenment of Sidhartha .Sidhartha became awakened under the "Bodhi tree of Gaya and became Gautama Budha.Likewise Narayanan became enlightened of the eternal spiritual knowledge under the laurel tree in Thapogiri at Cheenthalar forest and attained Athma Bodhodayam and became Sree subhananda .Since then he assumed himself the name Swami Subhananda.He realized himself that in the inner self of every individual,sparks the Heavenly Light Jeevatma*which is burning ,but latent in him, hidden by maya*.He wanted to enlighten the light of self realization in each and every ignorant soul and make them wise.

As Swami Vivekananda had said "Kerala is a Mental Asylum ",a land of innumerable untouchable and unapproachable castes and social inequalities of the worst type, where lakhs of people lived in utter poverty and ignorance and as slaves with out any of the basic amenities of life or human right .They lived like numb driven cattle born to work and suffer for the upper class and they were even bought and sold in markets as slaves.Swami Subhananda had immense sympathy for these poor and the afflicted that he declared himself as their friend and savior. After his Thapas he bid farewell to the cobra and tiger who befriended him ,and Gurudev reached "cherukole"a small village located in chennithala Panchayath in mavelikkara Taluk of Aleppey District in kerala ,South India, and started a spiritual mission center in 1918.He addressed spiritual gatherings and conveyed His teachings for the liberation of the downtrodden .Swami Subhananda started his noble mission of liberating the untouchables from the misery they suffered due to evil practices.
He severely condemned hypocrisy and exposure in meaningless religious rituals and customs, superstitions ,exploitation and discrimination in the name of religion, the social injustice inflicted on the poor and depressed and suppressed and all other wrongs found in the society. He Was Indignant to social injustice, inequality, cast and class discrimination to arrogance and human vanities and
many other social evils of man sprouting out of ignorance and superstition.He mingled with the underprivileged and so called untouchables ,to educate them and to enlighten them that God has on distinction between and that all creations are equals to Him.


Guru indeed did not belong to any organized religion and His vision was far beyond any community or religion .Because of existing social structure during His time ,Guru favored for the upliftment of the downtrodden communities especially within the 'religion' Hinduism prevalent during that time. Subhananda's religion was so simple and devoid of all sophistry. The ideas and ideology of subhananda and his philosophy ,the concept of unity and solidarity of mankind is practical and his influence is so powerful in purifying the lives of his followers.His own life was pure and simple and full of kindness for the poor and helpless. Besides his spiritual mission he did many miraculous divine powers over nature and to his needy followers with different mundane and spiritual problems. He proved that he could cure disease ,caste out evil spirits, escape from the threats and dangers from the enemies, stop rain during public meeting and do such other wonderful and miraculous things. Due to these unbelievable super human deeds he came to be known as a miracle-worker among the public , and more and more people were attracted towards him.

He declared that there is only one Supreme Spirit and that is the creator, protector and savior of all mankind.He said in unequivocal terms that one need not go far or wander in search of God. God,who is everywhere ,is also within oneself. There is no heaven and hell other than this world .Evil action begets hell in life and spirituality leads to heavenly bliss. man's destiny depends entirely on his actions. it is only faith and inner purity ,and not visiting temples and holy places or making holy pilgrimages that is essential for spiritual attainment.

Due to lack of athmabodha* and righteousness when the world deteriorates to the condition of hell, God incarnates in human form and gives Jnana *or knowledge to mankind destructing evil and establishing Dharma* through righteous deeds and thereby saving the world from the clutches of hill.He declared that Lord Himself has taken birth in the lowest Sambava caste in order to eradicate thwe injustice prevailing in a cast ridden society .Like Sree Narayana Guru ,he proclaimed that man is 'One' and there cannot be any difference due to caster or community. The work he initiated assumed proportions of a huge spiritual renaissance movement .Gradually more and more people took refuge at His feel and got attracted to His divine power and large crowds attended the prayers. Prayer meetings and congregations at the Cherukole Ashram became frequent,attracting people of all religions ,castes and creeds from far and wide. He could give peace and security to all of them who were suffering from distresses due to sins, diseases and recurrent attack of devils.He advised his followers to worship One God and to discard evils from within. He had to face stiff resistance and vehement opposition from the so called upper caste class. He went round the country like a wandering mendicant Bhikshamdehi*wearing only a loin cloth and nothing else. How ever, Swami Subhananda was determined to establish truth and righteousness, Sathya Dharma, and continued it with increasing vigor, and Gurudev by his divine wisdom, destroyed the ignorance of mankind and taught them to be conscious of the Atma*, which is God with in oneself. Gurudev advised them to abandon all evil thoughts, get purified and thereby attain Bliss.ie;Moksha during one's life time itself.


Being born in the 'lower caste' the Sambava Community, Gurudev and his followers were vehemently opposed, threatened and ridiculed by the upper class questioning their rights to preach Vedantha. His Holiness had to struggle for existence , in abject poverty , facing all sorts of oppositions. Yet Gurudev ardently fought superstitions and campaigned against caste ism and untouchability which were rampant at that time and continued the march of "Aswamedha" capturing "atmas" ,and spontaneously comforting, counseling, consoling, purifying, enlightening and uplifting them with "Athmabodha",by directing them from the darkness of ignorance towards the light of knowledge. To achieve this purpose He founded the organisation Athma Bodhodaya Sangham, and began to set up several Subhananda Ashram which stand for ideals which are acceptable to people of all walks of life, cutting across the barriers of caste, creed, religion and nationality .It helped to mold with humanity and rationality of believing in the great holy principle of Advaitha, One Caste,One religion and One God .it spreads the message of love and compassion,to propel a renaissance of indian culture and holistic values. Thus the Athma Bodhodaya Sangham ,as its name implies helped the people to see the way to self-realization and attainment of Salvation.


The life of Subhananda Gurudev spanned a period of 69 fruitful year 1882 (April 28th) to 1950(July 29th).Subhananda gurudev ,attained Maha Samadhi at the age of 69 ,in 1950 at Trivandrum,the capital city of Kerala ,and His body was buried at Kottarukavu Ashram ,Mavelikkara .He was a unique personality, an unmatched thinker,a social reformer ,an embodiment of truth ,and the philosopher and Acharya of Kaliyug .He was God Incarnated ,truly the tenth Avatar of Lord Mahavishnu*, undoubtedly the Kaliyug Kadgi for all his devotees.

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*Jeevathma;The individual sol .

*Maya:The power that makes God 'appear' as the Universe . The true nature of the cosmos we can see .In Sanskrit, the world means 'illusion, but that does not mean that it is imaginary. Instead, since it is what we can see, we must deal with it and live with it.

*Athmabodha;Divine or spiritual knowledge.'

*Jnana;The sanskrit term for "knowledge".

*Dharma;In Sanskrit, Dharma means 'that which upholds(creation)most commonly it used to indicate that which is responsible for the harmony of the Universe .Other meanings includes righteousness ,virtue, duty, responsibility, right contact.

*Bikshamdehi; One who lives by begging.

*Athma;The spirit , individual,universal,self or pertaining to spirit,soul ect.

*Mahavishnu; One of the Hindu Trinity. God in the from of the preserver of the universe. He is said to descend to earth ten time as the 'Avathars ' for the good of mankind.
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(Courtesy;Adv.P.K.VijayaPrasad,M.A.,LL.B.- SREE SUBHANANDA GURUDEV&ATHMABODHODAYA SANGHAM,A brief life history and the Teachings of Sree Subhananda Gurudev)