Sishyapoojitha Amrita Jnana Tapaswini

Her Holiness Sishyapoojitha Amrita Jnana Tapaswini, the spiritual head of Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram is the greatest female spiritual guru now living in the world. I shall explain how. After Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru merged with ‘Adi Sankalpam’ (the Primordial Light) on May 6, 1999, Sishyapoojitha Amrita Jnana Tapaswini carries forward the mission of the Guru. Guru’s Will is implemented through the lineage of spiritually accomplished disciples and Sishyapoojitha Amrita Jnana Tapaswini became the first among such venerable disciples (Sishyapoojitha) through her life of renunciation and self-sacrifice. In the history of avatars and prophets nowhere one could find the continuity of the stream of ‘visions’ after the lifetime of those Mahatmas as in Santhigiri. Secondly, a woman has never been able to climb the spiritual heights beyond Devi-devas and angels as in the case of Sishyapoojitha Amrita Jnana Tapaswini.

Sishyapoojitha (Radha in her previous stage of life) was born as the eldest daughter of Sri Chellappan Pillai and Ratnamma at Kallar Pattam Colony, Idukki. Her birth was marked by unique incidents. Sishyapoojitha looked like an ordinary child but had exceptional qualities. She remembers having a unique kind of vision during her childhood. In her sleep as well as waking state she saw deities, celestial beings, great souls like rishis and gurus. Some of them gently touched her and spoke to her. A wave of compassionate love and joy always filled her heart. She did not know its meaning but knew it was something special. One day her parents and a few family members went on a pilgrimage to Palani (the famous temple town associated with Subrahmanya). Sishyapoojitha was only seven years old then. She and her Uncle stayed back in the house.

At dawn, the Uncle asked Sishyapoojitha: ‘Child, light the fire and boil water for tea. I am going to milk the cow’. Sishyapoojitha started removing ashes from the fireplace. She briefly glanced through the window and her eyes fell on the ground at the far end of the courtyard. Noticing some movement there she looked intently - the earth came loose and a beam of light emerged from the ground. While she looked on, the light changed itself into many colors, - blue, red and yellow and the full figure of Muruga (Subrahmanya), the family deity appeared. The deity was blessing her. Sishyapoojitha kept looking with rapt attention.

The Uncle came to the kitchen with milk and called her out and the vision broke. She realized that she had just been through a big experience. She did not feel like narrating this to others. When she stepped out holding a broom to sweep the courtyard, she saw a white light from which a human face looked at her affectionately. She tried to shift her eyes but saw it everywhere. She could see it even on the bags of spices that her father had stored in the shed adjacent to the house. She experienced extraordinary joy and elation. The more she saw the face, the greater was her desire to see it again and again.

One evening, when the father returned home from work, he talked about a meeting he had with a Swami. When Sishyapoojitha listened to the description of the Swami, she said quickly, ‘I have seen the Swami’. The father took it to be the prattle of a child. But the next morning he realized that she spoke the truth. Sishyapoojitha went to see the Swami along with her parents. While the others were washing their feet before entering the Ashram, Sishyapoojitha straight away went to the ‘Swami’ (in the seventies people addressed Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru as ‘Swami’) and prostrated before Him. She stood before Him with folded hands. She was elated to realize that the face she saw in her visions was that of the ‘Swami’. ‘You have seen me, isn’t it’? Guru asked her with deep affection. Sishyapoojitha nodded and said ‘yes’. When the Guru asked how she had seen him, she described her experience. Guru sank in meditation for a while, and then, calling her parents near, gave them some advice.

Guru was camping in Kallar Ashram. Sishyapoojitha spent her day in the Ashram and returned home at night. On the third day, a family came to see Guru. Guru called Sishyapoojitha and directed her to call upon the ‘face’ she always saw in the vision and seek information about this family, their intention and the deities they worshipped. Sishyapoojitha prostrated before Guru and sat down with her eyes closed. Within a few seconds, she got up and told Guru what she saw. The details Guru found out from the family after that matched with what Sishyapoojitha saw. Some other children also, who were with Guru in those days had the faculty of vision.

Two years passed. One day Sishyapoojitha wrapped a pair of clothes intending to go with the Guru to His Ashram at Thiruvananthapuram. Even Guru’s disciples discouraged her saying that Guru was in the habit of beating and scolding children. They said that she would not get enough to eat. And worst of all, she would not get a place to sleep even. The child listened to all this smiling, without uttering a word. Her decision was final.

Guru trained Sishyapoojitha in the ashram way of life. He also sent her to school and college. When she had completed pre-degree she realized that she need not spend any more time in college. Such worldly pursuits were a waste of time as she had some important divine assignment for which she was born. In the year 1984, Sishyapoojitha received the vow of renunciation (sannyasa) from the Guru and became a member of the Guru Dharma Prakasha Sabha – the Association of Sanyasis, which Guru had formed. She was now rechristened Janani Amrita Jnana Tapaswini and lived in the Ashram carrying out the spiritual work assigned to her by the Guru.

Sishyapoojitha Amritha Jnana Thapaswini receives revelations and transcendent visions from the Light of the Almighty through the medium of Guru and imparts this knowledge for the guidance of devotees. She gets revelations about the past, present, and future of all souls through this faculty of transcendental ‘vision’ (darshan) and guides seekers in the right path of karma and dharma. Jay Mata Sishyapoojitha Amrita Jnana Tapaswini