In the year 1932, on ‘Maagh Shukla Vasant-Panchami’, by the time 8:00AM in the morning at Kashi, was born “ShivNarayan” in the ‘Bharadwaj Gotra’ ‘SarajuPari Brahmin Kula’.
In the year 1948, on ‘RamNavami’, at the Lakshman-Kila in Ayodhya, ShivNarayan ji received ‘ShivDeeksha” from ‘Swami KaraPatriJi Maharaj’ and received the name “ShivChaitanya”.
In the year 1950, on the ‘Ashvin Krishna-Paksha Dwitiya-Tithi’, a pan-Bharat ‘Tirth Yatra’ began including Kashmir and Nepal, which started from and concluded back in Kashi.
After the pan-Bharat ‘Tirth Yatra’, on MahaShivRatri, “ShivChaitanya” ji did ‘Nandi Shraddh’ and chanted ‘PanchAkshari MahaMantra Jaap’ throughout the night.
Later he also performed ‘SarvaTyag Yajna’ at Kashi and walked till ‘NagEshwar kshetra’ of Ayodhya, chanting ‘Ved Mantra’ along with other Brahmins. It was a bliss to behold the ongoings. After visiting NagEshwar, he returned to Kashi visiting VishwaNath and then journeyed towards the UttaraKhand. Eventually he reached at the DhaulaGiri mountain, near MuktiNath of Nepal, and beginning ‘ghor Tapasya’.
Being there for five years in the DhaulaGiri ‘gufa’, “ShivChaitanya” ji completed two ‘BrahmGayatri Punashcharan’. On the night of the completion of ‘BrahmGayatri Punashcharan’, a ‘JataDhari Mahatma’ visited him in his ‘swapn’ and said, “After paying a visit to the ‘PashuPatiNath ji’ in Nepal, you begin ‘Tapasya’ at ‘ShivPuri’.” Following the words received from his ‘IshtDev’, “ShivChaitanya” ji began his ‘Ram ShadAkshariMahaMantra’ ‘Punashcharan’ at the ‘UttarRameshvaram, ShivPuri, Nepal’ and completed it’s five ‘Punashcharan’ in three years. On the same night of its completion, the same ‘IshtDev’ visited in his ‘swapn’ and said, “Begin your ‘Tapasya’ at ‘KedarNath ji’.” “ShivChaitanya” ji did ‘darshan’ of ‘KedarNath’ and began his ‘Tapasya’ at a nearby ‘gufa’. Staying in the ‘gufa’, he completed seven ‘Punashcharan’ of “OumNamahShivay” ‘PanchAkshariMahaMantra’ within a span of four years. On the same night of its completion, ‘IshtDev’ said in ‘Swapn’, “Visit the ‘VaishnaviDevi’ in Jammu and do “AimHrimKlimChamudayaiVichche” ‘NavArn MahaMantra Punashcharan’ staying at a nearby place.” Accordingly, “ShivChaitanya” ji began his ‘Punashcharan roop MahaYajna’ at a nearby ‘gufa’ after having visited ‘Vaishnavi Devi’. On the night of its completion, “ShivChaitanya” ji again received a message from his ‘IshtaDev’ in ‘Swapn’ following which he went to visit ‘BadariNarayan Vishnu’ and began “OumNamoBhagavateVasudevay” ‘MahaMantra jaap’ at the ‘Bhrigu gufa’. He completed five ‘Punashcharan’ of ‘VishnuMahaMantra’ in in three years. He then saw in ‘Swapn’ that he was doing ‘darshan’ of ‘KaalBhairav’ in Kashi, his ‘IshtaDev’ was also there in the ‘mandir’ premise who said, “Where are you Come to Kashi.”
Having visited ‘BadaraiNarayan’ ji in the morning, “ShivChaitanya” ji arrived at Kashi. He took ‘snan’ at the ‘Manikarnika Kund’ situated at the ‘ManiKarnika ghat’ in Kashi and there after completing ‘sandhya’ he was doing ‘sadhana’ with ‘PanchAkshari MahaMantra jaap’ sitting over a nearby terrace-platform. In a divine experience “ShivChaitanya” ji ‘as if’ witnessed the presence of ‘Mata AnnaPoorna’ and with a start he started doing ‘Bhavani Stuti’. He also received ‘Bhavani’ ji’s ‘Prasad’, after which he never felt hunger thirst pain or sorrow and got drenched in eternal bliss.
After doing ‘puja’ at VishwaNath ji, he went to meet ‘Guruvar Shri KaraPatri’ ji at the ‘KraPatriDham’ situated at the ‘Kedar ghat’. With the blessing of Guru ji, “ShivChaitanya” ji received ‘Sanyas Diksha’, with which he received the name “ShivAnand Saraswati”.
On ‘BhairavAshtami’, as “ShivAnand Saraswati” ji was taking a bath at the ‘Assi ghat’, Kashi-commissioner “ShivShankar” ji was enquiring about ‘Kashi Yatra’ and took him to ‘Assi ghat Purohit’ “BaijNath TriPathi” ji. Soon a “Kashi-Yatra Mandali” developed and ‘Yatra’ began taking place every Sunday.
~ a summary of “ShivAnand Saraswati” ji’s biography. Reference book “Kashi Gaurav”, publisher : Shri Master Khelarilal Shital Prasad