Dancing Baba

It is believed that at any one time rishis and saints inhabit spots at Arunachala. Sometimes these holy people are in disguise and living invisible lives as beggars, madcaps or nondescript people. In this respect saints like the one pictured below who was known as 'dancing baba' and the 'walking no talking swami,' breezes through our lives for an instant in ways that changes and inspires.

Dancing Baba was run over by a motorcycle on the girivalam roadway near the Hanuman Temple in the second week of December 2008. His body was preserved in a samadhi constructed at the place he met his end. It is reputed that in the morning of this death whilst taking 'chai' at a roadside tea stall, he informed several people that it was the day of his departure when he was ordained to leave the body.

Excerpt by V. Ganesan

"There is a person whom I call the walking no talking swami who goes round Arunachala whenever he happens to be there. It is a pure joy just to look at him. Alone he dances around the mountain day and night!

Once, I confronted him saying; "Swami, You are ever immersed in ananda. Why don't you give us the perennial ananda in which you are always soaked and saturated?" He burst out laughing. Then he gesticulated in a powerful way, pointing his hand towards Arunachala, as if to convey, "What else is there, except ananda? That which IS, is only ananda. Everyone is submerged only in it, as if under a deluge of water. Also who is to give ananda and to whom?" He laughed again.

Waves of ecstasy reigned and looking at him, instantly filled me with bliss! This experience of bliss was the direct blessing of the walking no talking swami. And it happened without a word, sans explanations or discussions."