HOW SiA BEGAN
  • SiA is not affiliated or connected in any manner with any spiritual or religious organisation. It is purely the product of grace of the Divine and the unbiased, unconditional infinite Ascended Masters whom Jake is connected with.
  • SiA came into existence after a series of spontaneous events that led to its creation.
  • Jake strongly does not believe in self-creation but firmly believes that everything unfolds as per one’s destiny and all creation happens through us spontaneously as the outcome of prarabdha. Jake, in this life time, has be graced to be in the vicinity of innumerable masters, both in the physical and astral spheres. Without his freewill, he has seen life taking a drastic turn from being born in a Christian family but eventually being led to spirituality and to many masters.

GRACE OF THE Physical & Ascended Masters in Jake’s life

  • Bhagwan Nityananda: Jake first came in contact with Bhagwan Nityananda in 2008 after his divorce that had led him astray into the addiction of drinking alcohol and smoking. He did not know anything about Nityananda but after reading a book of Swami Muktananda, Jake decided to meet him in Ganeshpuri and take his blessings because he liked the teachings. This was his first ever spiritual book “Parmarth Katha Prasang”. This led him to Ganeshpuri only to learn that Swami Muktananda had taken samadhi decades back! He was heart-broken as he had travelled a long way. That was when the auto guy pacified him and took him to Bhagwan Nityananda’s ashram and samadhi place. This was the first time he visited and something happened when he sat at the chair of Bhagwan. A shaktipat and some mysterious revelations which made absolutely no sense to Jake at that time. It took him nearly 8 years to later know what it was about. A spontaneous journey was unfolding in his life.
  • Mohan Swami of Sogal: This period was most crucial for Jake as Mohan Swami was his first guru, whom he loved dearly and visited ofter to learn from him. Mohan Swami had clearly told Jake that he does not prefer to be anyone’s guru nor disciple and on this condition he taught me breathwork kriyas, that later Jake found was what was exactly taught in Chidakasha Gita. For Jake, he was convinced without an iota of doubt that Nityananda had adopted him from the day he stepped into Ganeshpuri, where he had submitted his life into the hands of Nityananda. Since then Nityananda, till date, has been guiding him on his journey and leading him to various masters, places, and experiences that Jake believes is known best by Gurumandala itself and not to one’s free will or logic. Mohan Swami ji was a straight-forward master who shaped Jake’s primary years into spirituality and he even till date guides Jake unconditionally. More can be read about Mohan Swamiji here.
  • Avadhoot Shivanand: Unfolding circumstances led him to Babaji, where before he could even know what is going on in his life, found himself deeply connected to Babaji. Jake took permission from his guru Mohanji, who asked him to go with the flow in life. After coming to Babaji, Jake had the opportunity to learn about Kundalini Yoga, Shiva sadhana and Sri Vidya sadhna, in which his master was an adept in. Close to about 10 years gave Jake a deeper understanding of these sadhanas and he practiced them, which is an integral part of Chitta Shuddhi (internal purification). He later, by grace and prarabhdha was led to serve his master for about 8 years in his ashram as an employee of the organisation. Just before pandemic, Jake returned home and it was at the time his Master had decided to pull back from his activities.
  • Bhagwan Ramana: Jake’s destiny brought him finally to Arunachala Hill in Tiruvannamalai. He had first come here coming here in 2011. After that he began visiting here twice a year and then four times a year and now it is every single month. Connection with Arunachala and Bhagwan Nityananda began almost simultaneously and were the beginning and end of the spiritual seeking. Coming to Arunachala since 2011 was like being prepared slowly. After coming back from Delhi in 2019 just before the pandemic, Jake found himself frequenting between Arunachala, Kanhangad and Ganeshpuri for nearly a year. Bhagwan Ramana now re-entered Jake’s like with force because by now he had completely surrender himself to his feet and Arunachala. Jake realised that the deepest truth he had been searching all his life, is here. He completely dived into the teachings of Bhagwan Ramana and Nisargadatta Maharaj with no comeback. Today, Jake’s teachings and practices are all about the Arunachala Tatwa and the path of wisdom. His major retreats are conducted in Tiruvannamalai today by the grace of Arunachala and Ramana. Jake’s search of lifetimes ended by the divine love and grace of Bhagwan Ramana to whom he dedicates the rest of his life and work.
  • Meeting Living Avadhutas: After Jake returned to Karnataka in 2019, he synchronistically came across many living Avadhutas like Siddhappa ji of Tumkur, Pragasan Swamigal of Kumbakonam, Anna Maharaj of Kudal, Toppi Amma of Tiruvannamalai whose blessings and grace immensely transformed his life. He also began meeting Devi Amma of Bangalore, a saint who was connected deeply with Lord Agastyar since she was a child. Her loved and guidance also shaped Jake’s spiritual life. Before beginning his retreats, Jake had sought her blessings. He meets her regularly even today. Jake’s meeting with Avadhutas has been since decades. Among the other living Avadhutas he met were Yogini Amma of Kerala, Achar Baba of Kerala, Chapamma of Andhra,
    Nagnoor Ajja of Bagalkot, Karunakar Swami of Mumbai, Yogi Baba of Mandagni Mountains in Ganeshpuri, Mookupudi Siddhar of Tiruvannamalai, Arunachala Siddhar of Tiruvannamalai, Tamilnadu, Babaji near Baba Kallinath Kutiya of Murthal, Haryana. Among the other fortune of meeting and being other revered saints were Devi Amma of Bangalore, Vidyanand Swami of Kanhangad, Amma Amritanandamayi of Kerala, Shri Shailendra Osho (Osho’s brother) in Murthal, Mooji of Portugal, Mouni Siddhar of Tiruvannamalai, Vijayanand Swami of Karnataka, Mohan ji of Kerala, Swami Parmananda of Arnal fort, Jangli Das Maharaj of Kokamtan, Sadanand Swami of Ganeshpuri, Sureshanand Teertha Maharaj of Dewas and Swami Anand Teertha of Uttarkashi,
  • Jesus Christ: Jake’s background in a Christian body gave him good connection with Jesus Christ. He was his role model in childhood and he was and is still very deeply connected to the teachings and grace of Jesus.
  • Ramalinga Swamigal: Jake has travelled many times to Vadalur, the place of Ramalinga Swami and Jake had deep affinity to this great Master because of the fascinating purity and light of Ramalinga Swami. He used to often meditate on the maha mantra “Arut Perum Jyoti……”
  • Mahavtar Baba: Simultaneously, Jake would love connecting to Mahavtar Baba, whom he believes guided him into many meditation that used to happen to him very spontaneously while Jake was serving in one of his Guru’s ashram in Delhi. Jake found himself doing many effortless sadhnas which would automatically begin happening to Jake. It was only years later that Jake discovered these were meditations taught by Mahavtar Baba. These spontaneous meditations are still a part of Jake’s life and these later were taught by Jake in webinars.
  • Ma Lalleshwari: Jake, in 2019, was unable to meditate in Ganeshpuri due to some loud programs there. By the grace of Bhagwan Nityananda, he was led from Ganeshpuri to travel with a Swami to an ashram in Mumbra, which happened to be of the lineage of Vishnuteerth Maharaj and Shivoham Teerth Maharaj, where the Swamiji introduced Jake to the lineage and sought permission for Jake to meditate there. There he came across a book on Ma Lalleshwari, which was the only book he was drawn to pick up before leaving. This book was only for their internal circulation.
  • When Jake sat with this book in Kalyan busstand, something happened. He found himself profusely weeping while reading the first chapter of the book, some deep connection with Ma Lalleshwari. For about 45 minutes, the whole existence came to a still around him. He was fully aware of his surroundings but it was as though the sound was muted. It was absolute silence despite it being a crowded place. This was the first deep experience he had about awareness. He had a shaktipat experience there and felt deep love for Ma Lalleshwari. After that he staggered and walked through the streets of Mumbai dazzled.
  • After that he has been deeply connected with Ma Lalleshwari, which later led him mysteriously to reach even Dewas, Madhya Pradesh and meet giants of this lineage and stay with them in their ashram to meditate there, even in the room of Shri Vishnuteerth Maharaj & Shivoham Teerth Maharaj. Later, he found that Vishnuteerth Maharaj was deeply connected to Bhagwan Nityananda and would visit Ganeshpuri often for his blessings. Years later he was pulled to Kashmir to visit the places of Ma Lalleshwari, who followed profoundly Kashmir Shaivism. That introduced Jake to Swami Laxman Jhoo and his teachings, and he found himself meditating in the chambers of Swami Laxman Jhoo in Kashmir. Laxman Jhoo’s ashram stands right where the Sri Abhinav Gupta once lived (foremost exponent of the school of Kashmir Shaivism with Shiva Sutras as its foundation)
  • Jake since then carried a deep desire to share this experience of awareness with others and has conducted many webinars and sessions on Ma Lalleshwari.

BEGINNING OF SiA

  • After close to 25 years of spiritual work and exploring, in 2020 during the pandemic, Jake began conducting LiVE sessions on facebook to rid people of the fear of the pandemic and death. This began as spontaneous interactive sessions but quickly picked paced as people connected to him during this time as a source of relief from fear and distress during the lockdown. This is when he even himself realised his capacity to sit for hours without any break and do satsangs.
  • The satsangs were long and unrelated to one subject and simply covered anything under the umbrella of spirituality. People asked how to put these teachings into practice and thus began webinars. One after the other, the webinars were seen to be powerful, each webinar being unique in its own way. To give it all a stable platform, thus began SiA.
  • A platform was needed to centralise and organise the scattered work. Shifting Into Awareness was born thus. Things began to streamline. Daily satsangs started. Today SiA has close to 1000 videos on the youtube channel. Close to 1200 daily sessions, which include clarity sessions and deep contemplative sessions, have been conducted since then (each session between 1.5 to 2 hours daily).
  • Over the years, higher scriptures were introduced by the grace of Arunachala and Bhagwan Ramana and Jake taught his best surrendered to the eternal Masters, whom he owes everything to – including his satsangs, webinars and retreats.
  • Even though activities are high, but there is no binding imposed on any of the participants in any manner. SiA has never focussed on building followers and hence people keep moving in and out of it, benefiting according to their capabilities.

BEGINNING OF RETREATS & SCRIPTURES

  • Jake was blessed to once travel to the Himalayas in connection with a seva project of a Swamiji in Rishikesh, who consistently visited with his team the interiors of Himalayas, supplying groceries, warm clothes, medicines, etc to the sadhus and yogis living in the deep remote interiors of Himalayas. He travelled with the team for 7 days visiting many yogis, sadhus and Avadhuts. There a great Mahatma in a conversation with Jake asked if he had ever visited Tiruvannamalai, to which Jake said he does every few months. Then he asked Jake if he knew about Ramana, to which Jake said, he is currently connected deeply to Bhagwan. He asked Jake if he had read ever Upadesa Saram to which Jake said, he has heard about it but not read. Then the Swamiji said, that if one is going to Tiruvannamalai, then where is the need to go elsewhere. He said that Bhagwan Raman is the ultimate because his own guru from Himalayas would travel there frequently 40 years back and live for long periods in the ashram. He said that if one knows Upadesa Saram then there is no need to even read Vedas. This stirred something deep in Jake.
  • In the same trip, while Jake was returning back from Gangotri, they stopped in Uttarkashi for 2 days for their continued seva to Sadhus. Jake was on the banks of Ganga doing a LiVE on Facebook, when one of the viewer from a western country happened to send a message to Swami Anand Teerth stating that Jake is in Himalayas. Swamiji, whom Jake has never met or interacted, send a social media message to Jake asking his whereabouts in Himalayas. On responding, it was to a great surprise that coincidentally, Swamiji was also about to reach Uttarkashi. He lives mostly in Amarkantak (Madhya Pradesh) on the banks of Narmada. On asking Jake where he was staying, he answered that he was staying in Avadhoota Mandal ashram, which happened to be right next to Swamiji’s ashram! Swamiji invited Jake to come over after dinner. It was very mysterious meet and it was here that Swamiji told Jake that he has been seeing the live videos of Jake on FB and that Jake doing good divine work on facebook and that he must continue. He told Jake that what he was expounding knowingly or unknowingly, the Upanishads itself, and that he must continue. Swamiji was a parivrajaka (wanderer) and pulled away from society and living more in isolation. He was trained Vedanta under his Guru for 22 years. He then showed Jake around the ashram, introduced Jake to his Guru and then put a word into him that if Jake wanted he may do a retreat there. That is the first time Jake ever heard this world and pondered.
  • The Himalayan trip ended with Jake deciding to go straight to Tiruvannamalai after landing in Bangalore. At Sheshadri Swamigal ashram he bumped with his dear friend Ashok from Tiruvannamalai, who suggested to Jake that he do a retreat. That was it! Jake connected the dots immediately of Swami Anand Teerth suggesting in Uttarkashi about a retreat, about the Swamiji in Rishikesh telling Jake about Tiruvannamalai, Ramana and Upadesa Saram. Very next month the retreat began. Not having a clue of what to do in a retreat, Jake, just before a day of the retreat, having arrived in Tiruvannamalai was meditating in Ramanashram when he was checking his sling bag and a small booklet Upadesa Saram came out. This booklet was lying there for many months in that sling bag untouched, until now. As Jake took interest in reading it, he found himself immersed almost 6 hours in it and going through the whole document. He knew now what was the content of the retreat. For the first 5 batches in Arunachala Retreat, the Upadesa Saram was taught and is still a foundational course of SiA.
  • Along with Tiruvannamalai as the foundational base for retreats, SiA also conducted multiple retreats in other locations like Ganeshpuri, Kanhangad, Ghaziabad, Delhi, and further planning in Uttarkashi and Gorakhpur.