Raja Deekshitar is Managing Trustee of the Shri Nataraja Temple in Chidambaram, India. He was born in the community of hereditary priests of this temple who serve Shri Shiva Nataraja, the Dancing Lord. They preserve the very ancient Vedic tradition of this temple.
His father was a great master and yogi. It is through him that knowledge of the Himalaya masters has been passed on to him from a very young age. His first experience of the Spiritual Light came to him from a wandering yogi when he was eleven years old.
Soon after that event, his life took a different turn. He developed a strong desire for formal western education. To learn English and speak to people from other parts of the world. Even in those early days the temple attracted Western visitors, and he wanted to communicate with them and broaden his outlook on the world. He finished his school education and went to university to study English Literature. He read Shakespeare and Milton. After attaining his degree he grew his hair long and followed in the footsteps of his father. He was initiated into the doctrine and tradition of the Shri Shiva Nataraja temple, and for over ten years he served Lord Shiva Nataraja and Mother Tillai Ambal (a form of the Goddess), and also the devotees, as a ritual performer.
At some point foreign visitors and researchers started coming to him, to ask him about the temple and the tradition. With some he had long discussions, and he came to realize the gulf that yawns between contemporary Western thinking and the way our ancestors approached the world. The two worldviews are apparently entirely contradictory. But the spiritual energy of his father and his masters, together with the academic knowledge from the West granted him the ability to transcend the realm of paradox. Now the time has come for a new vision to blossom and bear fruit.
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