Year 1990 His Divine Holiness At Age 12

Photos

Photos-For-The-Year

Shortly after His enlightenment experience at the age of 12, The young Avatar's Yoga Guru Yogananda Puri arranged for a photoshoot to take portrait pictures of Him. This is the first ever picture of The Avatar in samadhi in Tiruvannamalai, His birth place.

He would apply vibhuti (sacred ash) in 16 places on His body as per the Hindu tradition. He is sitting on a deer skin given to Him by Yogananda Puri.

The photographer who took this picture was the same person who witnessed and captured Him in levitation while training with Yogananda Puri.

One can see in The Avatar's own handwriting, the words Sulumunai Dhyanam (meaning Kundalini meditation) in Tamil on top, and His name A.Rajasekaran at the bottom. The studio where this was taken is Kala Studio as evidence by the label in the bottom right corner.

It was behind this photograph that The Avatar had drawn a picture of Himself in answer to a question as to how He would look when He grew up.

His pet, Mani with his grandmother.

HDH remembers Mani in a hilarious and heartelt way. Recently, in satsang he told that whatever food his mother kept for Swami while He was immersed in deity decoration was, Mani would eat.

This is a spontaneous portrait The young Avatar drew of Himself when a family member asked Him how He would look when He grew up. He drew this on the rear of the photograph that His Yoga Guru Yogi Yogananda Puri organised to take of Him when He was 12 years old, seated in a meditative posture.

One can see that at that young age, He has clearly drawn the turban on His head that He wears today, and the sacred ash and vermillion on His forehead that can always be seen.

1990 January - This is one of the string of beads that The young Avatar wore during His pilgrimage trips to Sabarimala, a hill-top temple in Kerala visited by lakhs of devotees by foot after a 48-day austere lifestyle before the pilgrimage.

He went twice with His elder brother and father's elder brother Kumarasamy periappa as a larger group of people in 1989 and 1990. The third time was when He went with His paternal grandmother Anusuya Ammal in 1991, when they visited several other important temples as well.

The dollar in this string is Lord Ayyappan, the presiding deity of Sabarimala. It was customary to wear two strings every year.

1990, Aug 15 - This wooden box was the cash box of father of HDH. He took it and used it. The Rudraksh bead string inside it was given to Him by Kripananda Variyar, a great spiritual teacher from Tamilnadu, South India.

He used to give many spiritual talks in Tiruvannamalai which HDH never missed as a child. A yearly festival (on August 15) for which He was an assured guest speaker was the Arunagirinathar Tiruvizha (Arunagirinathar festival) celebrated in the name of Arunairinathar, a great saint and devotee of the Hindu God Muruga.

The Avatar says, "I learnt pure Tamil listening to his talks."

During one such talk during the Arunagirinathar Tiruvizha, he was talking about how one should wear the Shiva linga on the body and never separate it from the body. After the talk, HDH went up to him and asked how the two can ever be separated because the linga was Mahadeva, Shiva - our very soul! He was shocked and asked HDH with folded hands whether like how Lord Muruga came to dispel Saint Avvayar's ignorance, He had come to dispel his ignorance.

After the encounter, he put on HDH, this rudraksh string that he was wearing.