What is death? What is immortality? Is the death of the physical body the end of life? What is the meaning of Moksha, that the scriptures speak of?
An advertisement appeared in “The Hindu” newspaper in the year 1910. It was titled “Those who do not want to die may approach me”. Most dismissed it as an impossible claim. There were very few who understood the wisdom behind the words.
The Masters of Yoga maintain a single stream of continuous consciousness while living. They continue to exist in this state of awareness even after the death of their physical body. They are still “alive” on the higher planes and they retain the choice of taking birth again in the physical world. They have achieved freedom from birth and death having exhausted all of their karmas. This is the real meaning of immortality or “Chiranjeevatva”. For a Master, death is but a change of clothing. For the ordinary man, death is the end.
Master C.V.V promised immortality to those who followed him.
The Life of the Master
Master C.V.V was born into a family of Niyogi Brahmins on 4th August 1868 in Kumbhakonam, Tamil Nadu, India. He was named Canchupati Venkata Rao Venkaswamy Rao by his parents. His father was Kuppuswamy and mother was Kamalamma. They were migrants originally from Andhra Pradesh who had settled in Tamil Nadu.
He led the life of a normal householder up until his 38th year and was married twice due to the death of his first wife. He rose to prominence from his 38th year onwards and found that people would often be attracted into his presence. He soon became a guide and leader to many and already had mastery over certain occult processes. He had the innate ability to raise others into higher states of consciousness and would often send his wife Venkamma into a state of samadhi where she would merge successively into the subjective states of planetary, solar and cosmic consciousness.
The Halley’s comet visited Earth in the year 1910. On the same night, neighbors reported seeing a bolt of lightning hitting the Master’s house and they rushed to investigate. They found him in deep meditation exuding a magnetic presence which caused them to also experience a meditative state by simply being in his presence. After that incident, his ability to affect his surroundings increased significantly and people would experience feelings of peace and bliss near him.
In the coming years, the Master began a campaign to train a select group of people to be transmitters of spiritual light and consciousness to the world. The date was May 29th 1920. The initials of his name – “C.V.V” were given to his disciples as a mantra with which they could invoke the presence of the Master. Once invoked, the Master’s energies would flow into the medium repairing and rectifying his physical, astral and etheric bodies. The disciples were asked to invoke these syllables at 6 AM and 6 PM everyday. Since that day, his disciples celebrate May 29th every year as May Call Day.
The Master taught that the practice of Yoga is absolutely compatible with family life and that spiritual practice does not require one to remain unmarried. “Repair the vehicle during the night and live in it during the day” was one of his favorite sayings. It means that one must rectify faults with the physical body, mind and senses while actively fulfilling one’s duties to his family and nation.
The Master performed innumerable miracles in his lifetime including curing chronic and incurable diseases and raising people from the dead. These incidents are well documented but he did not attach much importance to them as they were not his main teachings. He instead taught that there exists a process by which one can neutralise past karma. He called his path of Yoga, Brukta Rahita Taraka Raja Yoga.
This is not a new form of Yoga. It teaches the royal path of Raja Yoga adapted to this day and age. He taught that surrender and performing service are the two sure methods of neutralizing one’s Karma. He further taught that the state of Moksha is to be attained while still living and not after death. Perfection was his promise to those who followed him.
May the Master bless us all.