K 360 Ramsuratkumar, Yogi
food and clothing that were given to him by local
Yogi Ramsuratkumar (1918–2001), enlightened
beggar yogi of South India (Yogi Ramsuratkumar Ashram,
Tiruvannamalai)
into the MANTRA, Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram;
after a week of repeating the mantra, Ramsurat
was permanently cast into a state of God-intoxica-
tion. Referring to this permanent annihilation of
his personal identity in the divine, he often said,
“In 1952 Ramdas killed this beggar; this beggar is
no more.”
Swami Ramdas sent Ramsurat Kunwar away
from Anandashram, telling him, “You cannot live
in the ashram. . . . Remember, under a big tree,
another big tree cannot grow. Go and beg.” A
divine madness similar to that of Sri CHAITANYA
had taken over Ramsurat Kunwar, and at the cost
of great personal anguish, he was compelled to
enter the life of a wandering mendicant beggar.
For seven years (1952–59) he traveled throughout
India, finally arriving in 1959 at the foot of holy
Mount Arunachala in Tiruvannamalai, where he
lived for the remainder of his life.
Ramsurat would often visit Ramanashram,
the ashram of Ramana Maharshi. One of Ramana
Maharshi’s senior disciples, T. K. Sundaresan
Iyer, recognized the divine state of the unusual
40-year-old beggar and gave him the name Yogi
Ramsuratkumar. For many years Yogi Ramsurat-
kumar was a “hidden saint,” living on the streets
of Tiruvannamalai and subsisting entirely on the
people who recognized his radiance and sanctity.
The sublime countenance of the beggar yogi, his
spontaneous outbursts—ecstatic song, chanting
of the name of God, and blessing of all who were
drawn to him—began to capture the hearts of
seekers. By 1980 he had become widely recog-
nized by countless numbers of people, including
the American spiritual teacher Lee LOZOWICK, who
became an ardent disciple.
In 1994 the Yogi Ramsuratkumar Ashram at
Tiruvannamalai was built by his devotees. Dressed
in the ragged shawls and stained dhotis of a beg-
gar, with nothing but a country palm fan and
coconut bowl, Yogi Ramsuratkumar gave DARSHAN
twice a day in the temple of his ashram from 1994
through 2001. He did not teach by linear dis-
course, but through transmission of divine pres-
ence, instructing his disciples to repeat the name
of God, using his name, Yogi Ramsuratkumar, as
a mantra to invoke divine blessings. His vision of
the unity of all life was often given in his words
“My Father alone exists! There is nothing else,
nobody else—past, present, future—here, there,
everywhere, anywhere!
Today, darshan, chanting, Vedic rituals, and
celebrations are regularly observed at the Yogi
Ramsuratkumar Ashram. The mahasamadhi
(tomb) of Yogi Ramsuratkumar is housed there.
Farther south, a temple complex dedicated to
Yogi Ramsuratkumar is situated near the ocean at
Kanya Kumari in the small village of Kanimadam.
Completed in 1993, this temple conducts daily
BHAJANS, worship, and Vedic rituals.
Lee Lozowick has established ashrams in the
United States, France, and India where the name
of Yogi Ramsuratkumar is chanted.
Yogi Ramsuratkumar died on February 20,
2001.
Further reading: Vijayalakshmi, Waves of Love (Tiru-
vannamalai: Yogi Ramsuratkumar Ashram, 2002); M.
Young, As It Is: A Year on the Road with a Tantric
Teacher (Prescott, Ariz: Hohm Press, 2000); ———,