Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas: Difference between revisions

Kashinath was born in winter of 1878* (Footnote 1) in Durgadi, a village in [[Bihar]], India, to Sampatti Devi Mishra and Ramdahin Mishra.  His parents named him ''Kashinath'' after [[Shiva|Lord Shiva]]. Prior to his birth, his mother reported having a vision of [[Krishna|Lord Krishna]].  Devotees in India regard such visions as auspicious signs indicating the coming of a ''great being''.

According to his devotees, Kashinath displayed extraordinary physical prowess,  emanated exceptional spiritual energy, and sometimes demonstrated what Westerners call “miracles”.  People witnessed him as a centenarian demonstrating difficult yogic postures – like head stands – and walking so fast that young people had to jog to keep up with his extraordinary pace.

 

Even after he became physically debilitated, Kashinath reportedly emanated an intense [[shakti]] energy field.  People (and even objects) touched by or near him were long imbued with this transformative energy. In ''"Death, Dying and Beyond"'' Kashinath told how three or four different people who attempted to help him during his NDE experience immediately fell unconscious into deep meditative states when they touched his body. Only after he returned to his body to help them were they able to awaken from these states.

Kashinath occasionally demonstrated "miracles" to foster faith in the Divine. Many of those "miracles" were anecdotally reported by his devotees.<ref>See e.g. his biography ''"This House Is on Fire: The Life of Shri Dhyanyogi”  by Shri Anandi Ma.'' and spiritual Memoirs of Ron Rattner [http://sillysutras.com/category/rons-memoirs/]</ref> In his writings and lectures, Kashinath explained that yogic powers (''siddhis'') might be attained via control of life-force energies, but that they were seldom displayed; that such powers are used ''"sparingly and on occasion for humanitarian and other discretionary ends,"'' but not ''"for self-aggrandizement."      ~ Light on Meditation, Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas, page 71:''

Kashinath was especially interested in scientifically demonstrating yogic powers of mantra and of mind. Accordingly, he presided over scientific demonstrations of how [[pulse]] and [[blood pressure]] readings of meditators could be influenced by his chanting of powerful [[Bīja|Bija]] (seed) Mantras. Kashinath reportedly demonstrated that he could at will increase or decrease his own blood pressure by his yogic powers.