Yogi Vishnu Panigrahi
Yogi Vishnu Panigrahi has been steeped in spiritual life since he was a child. His grandfather encouraged him to meditate and pursue spirituality with honesty and purity, and built a Radhe-Krishna temple in their village in Odisha, where young Vishnu would often serve food and water to wandering sadhus.
In the larger town ten kilometres away, he would skip school to attend the satsang of several swamis, among them Swami Avdheshanand Giri of Haridwar. He found a kalyana-mitra — a friend on the noble path — in a boyhood friend who would meet him at 3 a.m. in secluded places to meditate and chant Adi Shankaracharya’s Moha Mudgaram, to dispel their fears and cultivate vairagya.
On Sundays and holidays, Vishnu served poor patients at the nearby hospital, washing and caring for those waiting for and recovering from treatment on the cement floor. One day he met an old man with worm-infested wounds on his legs who had long been overlooked; for days Vishnu cleaned his beard and cared for his every need, and the grateful man blessed him.
