Swami Sivananda, the 119-year-old man, claimed by his disciples to be the oldest living person on earth, visited Dhakeshwari National Temple on Thursday.
His disciples call him Sivananda Baba.
Born on August 8, 1896, in Haripur village under Bahubal thana in what is now Habiganj district to Shreenath Goswami and Bhagabati Devi, Sivananda has disciples all over the world.
One of his disciples from Kolkata has already taken a move to include his name in the Guinness Book of World Record as the world’s oldest man.
Dr Paritash Chandra Debnath, one of the organisers who arranged his visit to Bangladesh said: “Baba will spend one more day in Bangladesh. Tomorrow (Saturday) he will leave for Bajitpur, Kishoreganj and the day after he would leave for India where he runs an ashram in Kabir Nagar.”
On his visit to the temple leaders of the Hindu religious community arranged a discussion where Sivananda’s fans, devotees and people of Hindu community went there to seek his blessings.
The speakers at the programme said their “spiritual guru loves to lead a life of simplicity. He wakes up at 3am 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. He can read and write without his glasses and is free from diseases, one of them said.
According to the speakers at the programme, he was adopted by Bishnab Omkarananda Goshwami in 1901 in Nabadwip under Nadia district in West Bengal.
As he lost her parents on the same day of his visit to home in 1903, he returned to the Ashram in Nabadwip.
In 1907 he had his initiation in the Ashram.
In the later days after the death of Omkarananda, he ran welfare activities in different places in India. In 1977 to 1979, he spent his time in Kashi before he went to live in Brindaban.
The speakers said he advocates nine qualities in life: no desire, no tension, no depression, no problem, no fruit or milk, no acceptance of donation are, among others.
Sivananda is witness to three centuries. He has been having disciples and preaching all over the world for several years. From 1925 to 1959, he spent his days in France, Greece, Malta, Japan and other foreign countries.
He opened his ashram in Varanasi for the welfare of poor people since he had to deal with abject poverty in his childhood, the speaker told the audience.
Mohanagar Sarbajaneen Puja Udjapan Commitee’s President JL Bhowmick, General Secretary Narayan Goshwami, Nirmal Chatarjee, Chandra Kundu, Tapas Pal, Paritosh Chandra Debnath, Gopal Chandra Debnath, Tapan Kumar Debnath, among others, spoke on the occasion.
Manindranath Pal conducted the discussion.
After the speech people went over to him to seek his blessings.