Raman Nambiar was born in 1879 in Vadakarai to Karunakara Kurupp and Mathavi Ammal.
At the age of nine, he left home and reached a madam set up by Kanoor Swami only to be brought home again.
Since he could not get answers to his questions, he ended his schooling. He served as a teacher in Kalaripayat in Malabar.
Again, he left home at seventeen. His relative Ananthan Nambiar got him a constable’s job at his station.
He got married. When he returned home from his duty one day, he found his wife had died at their home. This incident made him think hard about life and its impermanence. This incident was the starting point of his spiritual career. A new leaf began for him. He was soon to become Gnana Pitha Shivananda Paramahansa.
After performing the last rites for his wife, he headed for Tunjathu Ramanujar’s samadhi and sat in meditation.
Then he continued his meditation at the Panjavarnam Cave in Palani. Siddha Bhogar appeared in front of him and gave him initiation.
He left on a pilgrimage to the Himalayas on 5 January 1910.
He returned from the Himalayas in 1913 as Swami Shivananda Paramahansa.
In 1914, he went on a pilgrimage throughout India. He was in Pavanagar, Peshawar, Tirusoor, Savakadu, and Kadathanadu before establishing Samapanthi Bhojana Sangam in 1921. This was later renamed Siddha Samajam.
His contemporaries in Kerala at that time were Mangara Ramananda of Malabar, Brahmananda Yogi of Alathoor, Swami Thapovanam, Narayana Guru, Satambi Swami, and Satananthar of Kottarakarai.
Gnana Pitha Shivananda came to Malaya in 1937 and set up the Siddha Vidhya Sangam in Setapak in Kuala Lumpur.
He started a Siddha ashram on a 7 ½ acres of land in Tasik near Kroh in Perak which devotees donated.
Then he left for India.
His devotees started the Swami Shivananda Paramahansa Dhynana Mandram in Bagan Serai, Perak.
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| Photo courtesy of http://spiritualcbe.blogspot.in |
Source of information: SIDDHA VEDA SINTHANAIGAL by Pa. Subaiyah, published by Shivananda Paramahansa Dhyana Mandram, Malaysia.