Trailanga Swami Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

O, who is here to tell me about Trailanga Swami,
The saint from Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh,
The Telegu sadhaka,
A devotee of Lord Shiva
And if it be not,
Why not to call him The Walking Shiva of Benares?

Trailanga Swami, also called Tailang and Telang Swami,
The life-span of his,
His life and teachings
And philosophy of life?
Oh, we could not record it all,
Enter into!
How weak the historiography of ours!

The miracles of his many, a naked sadhaka lost in his sadhna,
Yoga,
Yogic miracles
On the hot sands, into the waters,
Walking naked in a carefree mood on the roads,
His halos had been many
And unbelievable.

Born to Narasingha Rao and Vidyavati Devi in Holia, Vizianagaram,
Shivarama relinquished the world at the age of forty
And that too after the death of his parents
And got under Swami Bhagirathanada Saraswati
Who named him Swami Ganapati Saraswati,
But later in his life
He switched to Benares through Prayag.

On seeing him walking naked,
The streets of Benares,
They put you behind the bar,
Into a prison cell,
But the padlocks seemed to be broken
And dropped down.

A sadhu, a yogi, a sadhaka, he was a non-seeker,
Used to accept what he was offered to,
Never did he ask for,
A manifestation above the five elements,
Fire could not, nor could water
As he lay beyond.