For a long period, Shri Praveen Radhakrishna withheld his Guru's name from public knowledge. He had been invited to over a dozen podcasts — some with audiences in the crores — and had considered each one as a potential first platform for the revelation. The answer he received from Devi was clear and humbling: there is no bigger channel than the one you already occupy. And so, with his Guru's permission and with Devi's kriya (divine action) as the enabling force, he names his Guru publicly for the first time — Shri Shyamaka Gupta, known as Sadhak Shyamaka, the youngest disciple of Shri Bama Khepa of Tarapith.
What Is a Gupta Sadhak?
The world produces two kinds of spiritual figures. The first loves the stage — the limelight, the audience, the megaphone for devotion. The second is placed under a vow of secrecy by the adesh (command) of their own Guru during initiation and austerity. A gupta sadhak (hidden practitioner) does not make this choice for themselves. The vow is given. Breaking it before the Guru wills it is a violation of the transmission itself.
Why remain hidden? Several reasons converge:
- A deep vairagya (dispassion) toward fame and social recognition.
- An absolute refusal to "sell" Devi or Her vidya (knowledge).
- An anti-societal stance developed through decades of tapasya that makes engagement with public performance spiritually impossible.
- The specific instruction of the Guru — not personal preference, but adesh.
Shyamaka has remained in the shadows precisely because his Guru commanded it. Senior disciples have occasionally posted about him; dedicated channels have paid quiet tribute to him. But he himself has never sought the light. Shri Praveen's role — one that Shyamaka's Guru had apparently already prophesied — was to be the one who would one day speak his name into the world. Today is that day.
From the Boardroom to the Cremation Ground
Decades ago, before his transformation, the man who would become Shyamaka was a wealthy and respected businessman. He ran a thriving law and audit firm — 50 employees, cars, bungalows, all the external trappings of a successful life. He was also, throughout all of it, an intense devotee of Maa Kali, silently reciting her name even across boardroom negotiations.
The rupture came in Nepal. During a business visit, he entered the Garbhagriha (sanctum sanctorum) of the Pashupatinath Temple in the early morning hours. He embraced the Shivalinga — and from within the silence of that embrace, a voice spoke: "You are wasting your time chasing frivolous things. Leave this now and get out."
He did not weigh the consequences or discuss next steps with anyone. He handed his firm to his business partner and walked out. He was married, with two children.
Here Shri Praveen pauses to honor a woman who is rarely mentioned but whose spiritual stature is enormous: Guru Amma, Shyamaka's wife. She moved from a bungalow to a small hut without complaint. She fed her children when there was almost nothing — and somehow, through Devi's grace, money appeared at exactly the moments it was most needed. Behind the Kapalika wanderer was a woman whose quiet endurance held an entire family together.
The Mahashamshana of Tarapith
Shyamaka eventually settled in the Mahashamshana (great cremation ground) of Tarapith — one of the most powerful Shakti Peethas in India and the Sadhana ground of Shri Bama Khepa. He spent years in meditation on burning funeral pyres.
One encounter stands out. A sick boy came to the cremation ground and was eating the mud of the ground to cure his cancer — an extreme act that had unexpected results. When the boy fainted, Shyamaka revived him through the power of his accumulated tapasya. The boy, upon recovering, delivered a message: "You will not find a Guru here who can satisfy your thirst. You must perform the Sadhana of Bama Khepa."
This pointed directly at the buried samadhi mound of the great Guru — the Ugratara mound, a hill composed entirely of the compressed ash of generations of funeral pyres. Shyamaka began meditating there intensively. One stormy night, an old man directed him to use a larger asan (meditation seat) than usual. In the torrential rain and thunder, two dogs came and rested their heads on his thighs, sheltering on his seat. And in the peak intensity of that convergence, a figure appeared — lifted him onto a half-burnt body — whispered a mantra into his ear — and vanished. That mantra became his Guru Mantra. That was his initiation.
Why Bama Khepa Is Called Bamakala
The name Bama Khepa — or Bamakala — carries a specific theological explanation. After Shiva consumed the cosmic poison at the churning of the ocean (Samudra Manthan), the pain was so immense that he wandered in agony. Maa Tara took him onto her lap and fed him from her divine breast milk to soothe him. In that moment, Devi's longing arose to see Mahadeva as her own son. That longing manifested as the avatar of Bama Khepa: the child of Devi, the one who transcends all Shastras and Vedas, the one through whom all knowledge flows back to Kali from whom it originally came. Shri Shyamaka is the youngest disciple of this living embodiment.
Documented Feats of a Hidden Master
In a tradition that does not perform for audiences, the deeds that filter through are nevertheless staggering:
- A thousand-day havan (sacred fire ritual) of the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra.
- Over a thousand women who were medically told they could not conceive have given birth through his grace and blessing.
- Stopping a cyclonic storm over Bengal through coordinated havans by his disciples.
- Being physically present in his home hundreds of kilometers away while being simultaneously sighted by advanced Aghoris at the Tarapith cremation grounds — seen there with full physical form.
He cannot be bought. He cannot be flattered. When someone has offered him money, he has thrown it back at them.
The Voice at 3:30 AM: How Shri Praveen Recognized His Guru
At age 23, Shri Praveen was torn over a Rottweiler puppy he deeply wanted — the family was against it, and the situation was emotionally intense. Late at night, a voice spoke clearly in his room in Hindi: "Soja" (Sleep). He asked no questions, felt no fear, and immediately fell asleep.
The next morning, through an unlikely sequence of events, the puppy became his — but at the cost of his housing. He ended up in a 600-square-foot place with a cot and the dog. He carried this experience for years, unexplained.
When he finally sat before Shri Shyamaka for the first time, he recognized the voice immediately. The same voice. The one from his bedroom at 3:30 in the morning. The Guru had been present years before Shri Praveen even knew him.
In that first meeting, Shyamaka tested him directly: "Your house might get destroyed. Your career might get destroyed. Are you okay with that?" Shri Praveen replied that he had no gotra (lineage) and no identity to protect — that he was simply a burnt body walking into the cremation ground. Shyamaka smiled and said: "I will give you my gotra. You are my spiritual son."
Conclusion: A Vow of Perpetual Witness
The debt of the disciple to the Guru cannot be settled by wealth, by ritual, or by performance. The only Guru Dakshina Shri Praveen can offer is this: as long as his own name is spoken as a Kali Sadhaka, the name Shyamaka will be spoken alongside it.
Shyamaka is no longer gupta. His name will be known for the next two thousand to five thousand years. The living prana of Tarapith walks somewhere in Bengal, beyond the reach of cameras and followers — but no longer beyond the reach of history. May the grace of Bama Khepa, descending through the lineage of Shri Shyamaka, bless all who receive this teaching.