the atmosphere at home was very conducive to the study of the vedas, upanishads, puranas and mantras and other spiritual techniques. at the age of five he began formal schooling as well as a formal spiritual education and completed both with degrees in engineering and ayurveda. with the blessings of his parents and the grace of sadguru shri dattatreya he had studied both worlds - the physical, visible and rational, as well as the spiritual, subtle and omniscient. and further, he studied and researched the indian traditions, ayurveda and other vedas, puranas, mantra and tantra (verbal and physical techniques), yoga, astrology and music, to understand their essence and see how they can be applied to enrich various spheres of life.
 

since the year 1965, he has been writing under the pen name 'aum swarupa', and established a centre for meditation under that aegis. he has given diksha (spiritual initiation) to many into the aum chanting meditation practice called 'santulan om meditation' or som yoga, and inspired their spiritual development. a large number of his disciples, both in india and abroad, now practice this meditation technique. this seven-fold technique's most important features include social service and group meditation. since 1982, dr. tambe conducts an annual seminar in the monsoon, where he focuses on the science and rationale of spirituals subjects, and demonstrates their practical aspects as well.
 

dr. shri balaji tambe has, over the years, developed both som yoga, for meditation, and a special yoga technique called santulan kriya yoga (sky). numerous people, through many centres, both in india and abroad, continue to benefit from these systems.

over the last forty years, dr. tambe has been untiringly lecturing on subjects from the ancient scriptures and sciences, and the shrimad bhagawad geeta, the ramayana, mahabharata and ayurveda. in the sphere of health, apart from practicing and spreading ayurveda, he regularly conducts concerts on healing music, spreading its health effects, in india and abroad. and in following ayurvedic instructions in an uncompromising manner, and through his research and experiments, dr. tambe has evolved a complete and holistic system of healing. the mastery of yoga and ayurveda is, it seems, embedded in his being.
 

to bring life in balance he has established the atmasantulana way of life. its purpose is not merely to cure disease, but to increase health, and enhance one's entire outlook towards life. in 1982, on the basis of the vedic gurukul lifestyle, he established, in the peaceful, pure and spiritual environs of karla, the atmasantulana village. he has since constantly been evolving practices that help keep life in balance. dr. tambe's ability to present ancient and complex spiritual concepts in extremely easy terms endears him even to new generations.