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{{Short description|20th and 21st-century Indian yoga teacher and guru}}
{{for|other gurus called Satyananda|Swami Satyananda (disambiguation)}}
{{For|other gurus called Satyananda|Swami Satyananda (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}} {{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox saint {{Infobox religious biography
|name= Satyananda Saraswati | name = Satyananda Saraswati
| image = File:Satyananda_Saraswati.png
|image=
|caption = | caption = In later life
| religion = ]
|birth_date= {{Birth date|df=yes|1923|12|25}}
| birth_date = {{Birth year|1923}}
|birth_place= ]
| birth_place = ], Uttarakhand
|death_date= {{death date and age|df=yes|2009|12|5|1923|12|25}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2009|12|5|1923|12|25}}
|death_place= Rikhia
| death_place =
|guru= ]
|spiritual_successor= ] | guru = ]
|quote="Yoga will emerge as a mighty world culture and change the course of world events" - Paramahamsa Satyananda Saraswati 1963
}} }}
'''Satyananda Saraswati''' (25 December 1923 – 5 December 2009), was a ], ] teacher and ] in both his native ] and the West. He was a student of ], the founder of the ], and founded the ] in 1964.{{sfnp|Melton|2010|p=1483}} He wrote over 80 books, including ''Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha''. '''Satyananda Saraswati''' (1923 – 5 December 2009), was a ], ] teacher and ] in both his native ] and the West. He was a student of ], the founder of the ], and founded the ] in 1964.{{sfnp|Melton|2010|p=1483}} He wrote over 80 books, including the popular 1969 manual '''''Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha'''''.


==Biography== == Biography ==


===Early life=== === Early life ===
Satyananda Saraswati was born 1923 at Almora, ],{{sfnp|Aveling|1994|p=60}} into a family of farmers and ]s.{{cn|date=December 2014}}


Satyananda Saraswati was born in 1923 at Almora, ],{{sfnp|Aveling|1994|p=60}} into a family of farmers and ]s, the warrior caste.<ref group=S name="Saraswati 2011 pp18-23">{{harvnb|Saraswati|2011|pp=18–23}}</ref>
As a youth he was classically educated and studied Sanskrit, the ] and the ]. He says that he began to have spiritual experiences at the age of six, when his awareness spontaneously left the body and he saw himself lying motionless on the floor. Many saints and ]s blessed him and reassured his parents that he had a very developed awareness. This experience of disembodied awareness continued, which led him to many saints of that time such as ]. He also met a ] ], ], who gave him ] and directed him to find a guru to stabilise his spiritual experiences.{{sfnp|Saraswati|2004}}{{pn|date=December 2014}} However, in one of his early publications, ''Yoga from Shore to Shore'', he says he would become unconscious during meditation and that "One day I met a mahatma, a great saint, who was passing by my birthplace...So he told me I should find a guru." {{sfnp|Saraswati|1974|p=8}}


It is claimed that he was classically educated and studied ], the ] and the ]. He stated that he began to have spiritual experiences at the age of six, when his awareness spontaneously left the body and he saw himself lying motionless on the floor. This experience of disembodied awareness continued, leading him to saints of that time such as ]. He claimed to have met a ] ], Sukhman Giri, who gave him ] and directed him to find a guru to stabilise his spiritual experiences.<ref group=S name="Saraswati 2011 pp18-23"/> In another version of his life in ''Yoga from Shore to Shore'', he stated that he would become unconscious during meditation and that "One day I met a mahatma, a great saint, who was passing by my birthplace...So he told me I should find a guru."<ref group=S>{{harvnb|Saraswati|1974|p=8}}</ref>
At age eighteen, he left his home to seek a spiritual master. In 1943 at the age of twenty, he met his ] ] and went to live at Sivananda's ashram in ].{{sfnp|Melton|2010|p=1483}} Sivananda gave him the name Swami Satyananda Saraswati{{cn|date=December 2014}} and initiated him as a sannyasin in 1947. He stayed with Sivananda for a further nine years but received little formal instruction from him.{{sfnp|Aveling|1994|p=60}}


At age eighteen, he left his home to seek a spiritual master. In 1943, at the age of twenty, he met his ] ] and went to live at Sivananda's ashram in ].{{sfnp|Melton|2010|p=1483}} Sivananda initiated him into the Dashnam Order of Sannyasa on 12 September 1947 on the banks of the Ganges, and gave him the name of Swami Satyananda Saraswati. He stayed with Sivananda for a further nine years but received little further formal instruction from him.{{sfnp|Aveling|1994|p=60}}
===Bihar School of Yoga===
In 1956, Sivananda sent Satyanda away to spread his teachings. Basing himself in ], ], he wandered as a mendicant ] travelling through India, ], ], ] and ] for the next seven years (although on several occasions he said he travelled only through India{{sfnp|Saraswati|1974|p=10, 72}}), extending his knowledge of spiritual practices and spending some time in seclusion.{{sfnp|Aveling|1994|p=60}}


=== Bihar School of Yoga ===
According Harry Aveling, some followers of Satyananda had established the International Yoga Fellowship Movement (IYFM) in ] in 1962 but the organisation struggled to make an impact because he spent too much time travelling and was thus unable to direct it.{{sfnp|Aveling|1994|p=60}} J. Gordon Melton says that Satyananda founded the IYFM himself in 1956. In 1964, he founded the ] (BSY) at Munger,{{sfnp|Melton|2010|p=1483}} with the intention that it would act as a centre of training for future teachers of yoga as well as offer courses for ordinary people.{{sfnp|Aveling|1994|p=61}}


In 1956, Sivananda sent Satyananda away to spread his teachings. Basing himself in ], ], Satyananda wandered as a ] through India,<ref group=S>{{harvnb|Saraswati|1974|pp=10, 72}}</ref> extending his knowledge of spiritual practices and spending some time in seclusion.{{sfnp|Aveling|1994|p=60}}
Among those who attended courses at BSY were students from abroad and students who subsequently emigrated from India. Some of these people in turn invited Satyananda to teach in their own countries. He lectured and taught for the next twenty years, including a tour of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, North America between April and October 1968. The foreign and expatriate students also established new centres of teaching in their respective countries. These people included John Mumford in Australia and ] in Denmark. With the organisation expanding into a chain of ashrams within India and without, the IYFM had 54 centres by the mid-1970s, including eight in Australia. These were all guided by Satyananda and operated on behalf of the BSY.{{sfnp|Aveling|1994|p=61}}{{sfnp|Melton|2010|p=1483}}


In 1962, Satyananda established the International Yoga Fellowship Movement in ].{{sfnp|Aveling|1994|p=60}}<ref group=S>{{harvnb|Saraswati|2011|p=159}}</ref> This inspired the establishment of ashrams and yoga centres spiritually guided by Swami Satyananda in India and around the world.{{sfnp|Aveling|1994|p=61}}{{sfnp|Melton|2010|p=1483}}<ref>{{cite web |title=International Yoga Fellowship Movement |publisher=Bihar School of Yoga |url=http://www.yogamag.net/archives/2006/gjuly06/iyfm.shtml |date=November 1964 |access-date=4 May 2019}}</ref>
===Allegations of sexual abuse===
In the mid- to late-1980s complaints of sexual abuse were made against Akhandananda Saraswati, at the time the spiritual leader of the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at ], Australia. In December 2014 the ] in Australia investigated the responses of the ashram to these complaints.<ref group=web name="RC">, including opening address, witnesses list, and transcripts of the hearings</ref><ref group=web name="RC-OS" />{{sfnp|Fife-Yeomans|2014}}


In 1964, he founded the ] at Munger,{{sfnp|Melton|2010|p=1483}}<ref group=S>{{harvnb|Saraswati|2011|p=188}}</ref> with the intention that it would act as a centre of training for future teachers of yoga as well as offer courses on yoga.{{sfnp|Aveling|1994|p=61}}
The Commission heard evidence from former child residents that Shishy, a former senior member of the ashram, allegedly subjected them to fierce beatings, and summoned teenage girls for sex with Akhandananda.{{sfnp|Brown|2014}}{{sfnp|Aird|2014}}


Among those who attended courses at the Bihar School of Yoga were students from abroad and students who subsequently emigrated from India.<ref group=S>{{harvnb|Saraswati|2018|p=3}}</ref><ref group=S name="Saraswati 2013b">{{harvnb|Saraswati|2013b|pp=8–10}}</ref> Some of these people in turn invited Satyananda to teach in their own countries. He lectured and taught for the next twenty years, including a tour of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, North America between April and October 1968. The foreign and expatriate students also established new centres of teaching in their respective countries.<ref group=S name="Saraswati 2013b"/>
Shishy herself told the Commission she was expected to have sex with Satyananda when he was visiting Australia, describing it as "on a continuum between bland and quite perverse".{{sfnp|Brown|2014}}{{sfnp|Aird|2014}}{{refn|group=note|Prior to these investigations the allegations had not been proven and Swami Satyananda Saraswati was never convicted during his life. The 1989 conviction of Swami Akhandananda was overturned in 1991. He died in 1997 due to causes related to the excessive consumption of alcohol.{{sfnp|Aird|2014}}{{sfnp|Brown|2014}}}}
{{refn|group=note|See also:
*
*
*
}}
<!---Also:
* }}
* --->


===Seclusion=== ===Rikhiapeeth===
In 1988 Satyananda handed over the active work of his ashram and organisation to his spiritual successor, ], and left Munger.{{cn|date=December 2014}} In 1988 Satyananda handed over the active work of his ashram and organisation to his spiritual successor, ], and left Munger.{{sfnp|Pidgeon|2014|p=15}}


From September 1989 he was in Rikhia, Deoghar, Jharkhand.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lifepositive.com/body/yoga/swami-satyananda.asp |title=Paramhamsa Swami Satyananda, the Sadhana of a Sage |publisher=life-positive.com |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718223705/http://www.lifepositive.com/body/yoga/swami-satyananda.asp |archivedate=2011-07-18}}</ref> There he lived as a ] sannyasin and performed Vedic sadhanas including panchagni, an austerity performed before five blazing fires outdoors during the hottest months of the year as described in the ''Satpatha Brahmanas'' and ''Kathopanishad''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yogamag.net/archives/2002/esep02/panch.shtml |title=Panchagni – the Bath of Fire |first=Satyasangananda |last=Saraswati}}</ref> At Rikhia, Satyananda conducted a 12-year Rajasooya Yajna which began in 1995 with the first Sat Chandi Maha Yajna, invoking the Cosmic Mother through a tantric ceremony. During this event, Satyananda passed on his spiritual and sannyasa sankalpa to Niranjanananda.<ref>Past, Present and Future: consolidated history of Bihar School of Yoga, Editors Swami Yogakanti, Swami Yogawandana, 2009, Yoga Publications Trust</ref> In September 1989 he moved to Rikhia, ], ].{{sfnp|Pidgeon|2014|p=60,125}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Srivastav |first=Arun |url=http://www.lifepositive.com/body/yoga/swami-satyananda.asp |title=Paramhamsa Swami Satyananda, the Sadhana of a Sage |publisher=life-positive.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718223705/http://www.lifepositive.com/body/yoga/swami-satyananda.asp |archive-date=2011-07-18}}</ref> There he lived as a ] sannyasin and performed vedic ]s including Panchagni ("Five fires"), an intense spiritual practice performed outdoors surrounded by four fires under the Indian sun.<ref group=S>{{cite web |url=http://www.yogamag.net/archives/2002/esep02/panch.shtml |title=Panchagni – the Bath of Fire |first=Satyasangananda |last=Saraswati |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614224603/http://www.yogamag.net/archives/2002/esep02/panch.shtml |archive-date=14 June 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It was during the Panchagni sadhana that he claimed to have received the divine mandate "Take care of your neighbours as I have taken care of you".<ref group=S name="Rikhia">{{harvnb|Saraswati|2012}}</ref> There too, he conducted a 12-year Rajasooya Yajna which began in 1995 with the first Sat Chandi Maha Yajna, invoking the Cosmic Mother through a tantric ceremony. During this event, Satyananda passed on his spiritual and sannyasa responsibilities to Niranjanananda.<ref group=S>''Past, Present and Future: consolidated history of Bihar School of Yoga'', Swami Yogakanti, Swami Yogawandana (eds.), 2009, Yoga Publications Trust</ref>


During his stay in Rikhia, he undertook the task of constructing homes for the homeless, and established the Rikhiapeeth ashram.{{sfnp|Pidgeon|2014|p=56-67}} Its activities are based on the three cardinal teachings of Sri Swami Sivananda – serve, love and give through the activities of Sivananda Math, which provides free medical care and basic amenities to the people of Rikhia and the neighbouring villages, and supplies methods for the villagers to develop their own livelihood, thus enabling the development of a self-sustained society.<ref group=S name="Rikhia"/>
He died on 5 December 2009.<ref group=web name="RC-OS">Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse at Sydney, ''Public hearing into the response between 1974 and 2014 OF the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain, New South Wales, to allegations or reports of child sexual abuse made against Swami Akhandanada Saraswati, Case Study 21, </ref>

He entered into the state of ], i.e leaving the body at will on 5 December 2009{{sfnp|Pidgeon|2014|p=124-129}}


==Teachings== ==Teachings==
Swami Satyananda's teachings are based on the yoga teachings of Swami Sivananda. They emphasize an integral approach known as the Satyananda System of Yoga. They present yoga as a lifestyle to enhance the quality of life, including one's daily activities, interactions, thoughts and emotions, rather than reducing it to a practice or philosophy.<ref group=S name="">{{harvnb|Saraswati|2019|p=17}}</ref>
Satyananda's teachings emphasise an "Integral Yoga" with a strong emphasis on ], known as the "Bihar Yoga" system or "Satyananda Yoga". This system addresses the qualities of head, heart and hands – intellect, emotion and action - and attempts to integrate the physical, psychological and spiritual dimensions of yoga into each practice.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yogamag.net/archives/2000/ajan00/growth.shtml|title=The Growth of Satyananda Yoga or Bihar Yoga |first=Niranjanananda |last=Saraswati |accessdate=9 December 2009}}</ref> His system of tantric yoga involves the practice of:
* ], in the tradition following Sivananda's explanation. Kundalini Yoga is the yoga of the evolutionary energy of the universe.
* ], in the form of Tapas, Svadhyaya and Ishvarapranidhana. Tapas is the practice of austerities. Svadhyaya is study of spiritual literature and also repetition of a personal mantra. Ishvarapranidhana is self-surrender to the Lord and doing all actions as an offering unto the Lord.
* ], the repetition of sacred sounds.
* ], the practice of a state of absorption on an object of meditation.
* The four advanced stages of the Eight Limbs of Yoga as codified by ]: ], ], ] and ].


This integral system combines six main branches of yoga. Hatha, Raja and Kriya Yoga are referred to as the external yogas, as they focus on improving the quality of body and mind, the expression of the senses and behavior. They aim at reconditioning and fine tuning the various aspects of the aspirant's personality. Karma, Bhakti and Jnana Yoga are referred to as the internal yogas, as they are concerned with cultivating a positive attitude towards life's situations and the expression of creativity. Here ideas and perceptions can be transformed, based on the aspirant's experience, understanding and sadhana (sustained practice), allowing a harmonious expression of one's inner qualities.<ref group=S>{{cite magazine |title=The Most Important Yogas |magazine=Yoga |url=https://www.biharyoga.net/pdfs/english/2020/feb-2020-yoga.pdf |date=February 2020 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=24–25 |location=Munger, Bihar, India |publisher=] }}</ref>
Satyananda classified and expounded the techniques given in the tantras as a series of different stages and levels of pratyahara, such as antar mouna, and different stages of meditation.<ref>Meditations From the Tantras, Satyananda Saraswati,Yoga Publications Trust </ref> He invented a technique of ], now known worldwide as Satyananda Yoga Nidra, and defined and codified the different stages of the technique.<ref>Yoga Nidra, Swami Satyananda Saraswati,Yoga Publications Trust</ref>

In this way the Satyananda system of yoga addresses the qualities of head, heart and hands – intellect, emotion and action – and attempts to integrate the physical, psychological and spiritual dimensions of yoga into each practice.<ref group=S>{{cite web |url=http://www.yogamag.net/archives/2000/ajan00/growth.shtml |title=The Growth of Satyananda Yoga or Bihar Yoga |first=Niranjanananda |last=Saraswati |access-date=9 December 2009}}</ref>

Based on the classical texts of Hatha yoga and his personal experience, Swami Satyananda presented Hatha Yoga in his widely-used and much-translated work ''Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha''.<ref group=S name="APMB">{{harvnb|Saraswati|1969}}</ref>

Swami Satyananda's name is closely associated with the modern form of ], a deep relaxation technique.<ref name="Birch Hargreaves 2015">{{cite web |last1=Birch |first1=Jason |last2=Hargreaves |first2=Jacqueline |author1-link=Jason Birch |title=Yoganidrā |url=https://www.theluminescent.org/2015/01/yoganidra.html |website=The Luminescent |access-date=11 March 2022 |date=January 2015}}</ref>


==Publications== ==Publications==
Satyananda wrote over 80 books, including ''Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha''. Since its first publication by the Bihar School of Yoga in 1969 it has been reprinted seventeen times and translated into many languages. In 1971 ''Tantra Yoga Panorama'' was published in which the concepts of tantra were outlined as applicable to the needs of today's society.<ref name="ReferenceA">Tantra-yoga panorama, Swami Satyananda Saraswati,International Yoga Fellowship Movement</ref>


Satyananda's writings have been published by the Bihar School of Yoga and, since 2000, by the Yoga Publications Trust established by his disciple Ninanjanananda to promote his teachings.<ref>{{cite web |title=Yoga Publications Trust |publisher=Satyananda Yoga |url=http://www.sypublications.com/en/satyananda-yoga/yoga-publications-trust.html |accessdate=2014-12-27}}</ref> Among them are:<ref>http://biharyoga.net/publications/bihar-yoga-books</ref> Satyananda wrote over 80 books, including his popular 1969 manual ''Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha''.<ref group=S name="APMB"/><ref>{{cite web |title=100 Best Asana Books of All Time |url=https://bookauthority.org/books/best-asana-books |publisher=BookAuthority |access-date=26 May 2019}}</ref> Satyananda's writings have been published by the Bihar School of Yoga and, since 2000, by the Yoga Publications Trust established by his disciple Swami Niranjanananda.<ref group=S>{{cite web |title=Yoga Publications Trust |publisher=Satyananda Yoga |url=http://www.sypublications.com/en/satyananda-yoga/yoga-publications-trust.html |access-date=2014-12-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227194249/http://www.sypublications.com/en/satyananda-yoga/yoga-publications-trust.html |archive-date=27 December 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
*{{cite book |title=Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha|year=2003|isbn=978-81-86336-14-4}}
*{{cite book |title=Dynamics of Yoga: The Foundations of Bihar Yoga|year=2002|isbn=978-81-85787-14-5}}
*{{cite book |title=Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha |year=1969}}
*{{cite book|title=Four chapters on freedom: commentary on Yoga sutras of Patanjali|year=1976}}
*{{cite book|title=Japa yoga: a compilation of lectures delivered by : Paramhans Satyananda Saraswati to the students of International Yoga Teachers' Training Course from July 1, 1967 to March 31, 1968 at the Bihar School of Yoga, Monghyr, (Bihar), India|year=1968}}
*{{cite book|title=Karma sannyasa|year=1984}}
*{{cite book|title=Kundalini Tantra|year=2002|isbn=978-81-85787-15-2}}
*{{cite book|title=Meditations from the Tantras, with live class transcriptions|year=1975}}
*{{cite book|title=Moola bandha, the master key|year=1998|isbn=81-85787-32-8}}
*{{cite book|title=Nine Principal Upanishads|year=2006|isbn=978-81-85787-34-3}}
*{{cite book|title=Rikhiapeeth Satsangs|year=2009|isbn=978-81-86336-66-3}}
*{{cite book|title=Sannyasa tantra|year=1977}}
*{{cite book|title=Steps to yoga and Yoga initiation papers|year=2006|isbn=978-81-85787-13-8}}
*{{cite book|title=Sure ways to self-realization|year=2002|isbn=978-81-85787-41-1}}
*{{cite book|title=Surya Namaskara: A Technique of Solar Vitalization|year=2002|isbn=978-81-85787-35-0}}
*{{cite book|title=Swara yoga: the tantric science of brain breathing|year=1984}} (with Muktibodhananda Saraswati)
*{{cite book|title=A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya|year=2004|isbn=978-81-85787-08-4}}
*{{cite book|title=Taming the kundalini|year=1973}}
*{{cite book|title=Tantra-yoga panorama|year=1974}}
*{{cite book|title=Tattwa Shuddhi: The Tantric Practice of Inner Purification|year=2000|isbn=978-81-85787-37-4}}
*{{cite book|title=Teachings of Swami Satyananda Saraswati Vol.1–4 |year=1982}}
*{{cite book|title=Yoga and Cardiovascular Management|year=2008|isbn=978-81-85787-26-8}}
*{{cite book|title=Yoga Education for Children|year=1999|isbn=978-81-85787-33-6}}
*{{cite book|title=Yoga from shore to shore: a collection of lectures given by Swami Satyananda Saraswati in many different countries during his world tour of 1968|year=1980}}
*{{cite book|title=Yoga Nidra|year=2003|isbn=978-81-85787-12-1}}
*{{cite book|title=Yoga sagar: commemorative volume : compiled from the complete proceedings of the Paramahamsa Satyananda Tyag Golden Jubilee World Yoga Convention, 1993|year=1994|isbn=978-81-85787-91-6}}
*{{cite book|title=Yogic management of asthma and diabetes|year=1984}} (with Shankardevananda Saraswati)


{{anchor|Akhandananda}}
==Notes==
== Alleged abuse ==
{{reflist|group=note}}
{{Further|Sexual abuse by yoga gurus| Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse#Mangrove Yoga Ashram}}
An Australian Royal Commission investigated allegations of child sexual abuse at the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain, New South Wales, Australia during the 1970s and 1980s. Alleged abuses by and against multiple individuals took place between 1974 and 1989, with eleven witnesses alleging abuses in Australia, and two witnesses alleging abuses in both Australia and India.<ref>{{cite web |title=Report of Case Study No. 21 |date=April 2016 |author=Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse |page=9 |url=https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/Case%20Study%2021%20-%20Findings%20Report%20-%20Satyananda%20Yoga%20Ashram.pdf}}</ref> <ref>{{cite web |title=Report of Case Study No. 21 |date=April 2016 |author=Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse |page=29 |url=https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/Case%20Study%2021%20-%20Findings%20Report%20-%20Satyananda%20Yoga%20Ashram.pdf}}</ref> <ref>{{cite web |title=Report of Case Study No. 21 |date=April 2016 |author=Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse |page=31 |url=https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/Case%20Study%2021%20-%20Findings%20Report%20-%20Satyananda%20Yoga%20Ashram.pdf}}</ref> Two witnesses alleged that Satyananda, who was no longer alive at the time of the Royal Commission, had sexually abused them; this evidence was deemed "out of scope" and "untested", and accordingly no finding was made against Satyananda in the Australian Royal Commission's final report.<ref>{{cite web |title=Report of Case Study No. 21 |date=April 2016 |author=Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse |page=31 |url=https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/Case%20Study%2021%20-%20Findings%20Report%20-%20Satyananda%20Yoga%20Ashram.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/dec/04/yoga-ashram-didnt-consider-sex-abuse-crime-royal-commission |title=Yoga Ashram didn't Consider Sexual Abuse as a Crime |work=] |date=4 December 2014}}</ref><ref name="Paikhana Hargreaves 2017">{{cite web |last1=Pankhania |first1=Josna |last2=Hargreaves |first2=Jacqueline |url=http://www.theluminescent.org/2017/12/a-culture-of-silence-satyananda-yoga.html |title=Culture of Silence |website=The Luminescent |date=December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Browne |first=Rachel |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/paradise-lost-satyananda-yoga-ashram-is-the-subject-of-royal-commission-hearing-20141127-11v3rl.html |title=Satyananda Yoga Ashram is the subject of royal commission hearing |work=The ] |date=28 November 2014}}</ref>


The psychotherapist Josna Pakhana and the yoga teacher and researcher<!--https://www.theluminescent.org/p/jacqueline-hargreaves_16.html--> Jacqueline Hargreaves write that "shocking levels of abuse were deeply entrenched"<ref name="Paikhana Hargreaves 2017" /> in Satyananda's Mangrove Mountain ashram in Australia in the 1970s.<ref name="Paikhana Hargreaves 2017" /> They state that the Royal Commission "concluded that Swami Satyananda Saraswati (b. 1923, d. 2009), the founding guru, had overarching authority at the Mangrove Mountain ashram (and its centres) in his role as head of Satyananda Yoga worldwide."<ref name="Paikhana Hargreaves 2017" />
==References==

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
== References ==

=== Primary ===
{{reflist|group=S|30em}}

=== Secondary ===
{{reflist|30em}}

== Sources ==


==Sources==
;Bibliography & printed sources
{{refbegin}} {{refbegin}}
* {{cite book | last=Aveling | first=Harry | title=The Laughing Swamis: Australian Sannyasin Disciples of Swami Satyananda Saraswati and Osho Rajneesh | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ehB5Gt2qE8C | year=1994 | publisher=Motilal Banarsidass | isbn=978-8-12081-118-8 }}
*{{citation |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-05/woman-admits-sex-with-14-year-old-boy-at-satyananda-yoga-ashram/5948046 |first=Claire |last=Aird |title=Child abuse royal commission: Woman admits having sex with boy, 14, at Satyananda Yoga Ashram |work=ABC News Australia |date=5 December 2014 |accessdate=3 January 2015}}
* {{cite book | last=Melton | first=J. Gordon | title=Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v2yiyLLOj88C&pg=PA1483 | year=2010 | volume=4 | chapter=International Yoga Fellowship Movement | edition=2nd | publisher=ABC-CLIO | editor1-last=Melton | editor2-last=Baumann | editor1-first=J. Gordon | editor2-first=Martin | isbn=978-1-59884-204-3 }}
*{{citation |title=The Laughing Swamis: Australian Sannyasin Disciples of Swami Satyananda Saraswati and Osho Rajneesh |first=Harry |last=Aveling |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1994 |isbn=978-8-12081-118-8 |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_ehB5Gt2qE8C}}
* {{cite book | last=Saraswati| first=Satyananda | title=Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha | year=1969 | publisher=Yoga Publication Trust}}
*{{citation |url=http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/violent-discipline-part-of-yoga-culture-royal-commission-hears-20141205-120qm8.html |first=Rachel |last=Brown |title=Violent discipline' part of yoga culture, royal commission hears |work=The Sydney Morning Herald-New South Wales |date=5 December 2014 |accessdate=3 January 2015}}
* {{cite book | last=Saraswati | first=Satyananda | title=Yoga From Shore To Shore | year=1974 }}
*{{citation |url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/central-coast/royal-commission-into-child-sex-abuse-hears-of-assaults-and-beatings-at-yoga-ashram/story-fngr8h0p-1227144669451?nk=fec5ce1d10df0119e89361652654a58a |first=Janet |last=Fife-Yeomans |title=Royal Commission into child sex abuse hears of assaults and beatings at yoga ashram |work=Daily Telegraph |date=4 December 2014 |accessdate=3 January 2015}}
* {{cite book | last=Saraswati | first=Dharmashakti | title=Mere Aradhya | year=2011 | publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar, India | isbn=978-93-81620-06-9}}
*{{citation |chapter=International Yoga Fellowship Movement |first=J. Gordon |last=Melton |editor1-last=Melton |editor1-first=J. Gordon |editor2-last=Baumann |editor2-first=Martin |year=2010 |title=Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices |volume=4 |edition=2nd |publisher=ABC-CLIO |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=v2yiyLLOj88C&pg=PA1483 |isbn=978-1-59884-204-3}}
*{{citation |first=Satyananda |last=Saraswati |year=2004 |title=A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya |publisher=Yoga Publication Trust}} * {{cite book | last=Saraswati | first=Satyananda | title=Rikhia, The vision of a Sage | year=2012 | publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar, India | isbn=9789381620298}}
* {{cite book | last=Saraswati | first=Niranjanananda | title=History of the Bihar School of Yoga | year=2013b | publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar, India | isbn=978-93-81620-41-0}}
*{{citation |first=Satyananda |last=Saraswati |year=1974 |title=Yoga From Shore To Shore}}
* {{cite book | last=Pidgeon | first=Barbara | title=Shakti Manifest | year=2014 | publisher=Westland | isbn=978-93-84030-29-2}}
* {{cite book | last=Saraswati | first=Shankarananda | title=50 Years of Yoga Chakra | year=2018 | publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar, India | isbn= 978-93-84753-48-1}}
* {{cite book | last=Saraswati | first=Niranjanananda | title=Raja Yoga for Everyone | year=2019| publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar, India | isbn=978-8193891872}}
{{refend}} {{refend}}

;Web-sources
{{reflist|group=web}}


==External links== ==External links==
{{Commons category|Satyananda Saraswati}}
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{{Modern yoga}}
{{Yoga}}
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{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see ]. -->
| NAME = Satyananda Saraswati
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Swami Satayananda
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Yogi
| DATE OF BIRTH = 24 December 1923
| PLACE OF BIRTH = ]
| DATE OF DEATH = 5 December 2009
| PLACE OF DEATH = Rikhia
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Satyananda Saraswati}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Satyananda Saraswati}}
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
]
]

Latest revision as of 15:29, 10 January 2025

20th and 21st-century Indian yoga teacher and guru For other gurus called Satyananda, see Swami Satyananda (disambiguation).

Satyananda Saraswati
In later life
Personal life
Born1923 (1923)
Almora, Uttarakhand
Died5 December 2009(2009-12-05) (aged 85)
Religious life
ReligionHindu
Senior posting
GuruSwami Sivananda Saraswati

Satyananda Saraswati (1923 – 5 December 2009), was a Sanyasi, yoga teacher and guru in both his native India and the West. He was a student of Sivananda Saraswati, the founder of the Divine Life Society, and founded the Bihar School of Yoga in 1964. He wrote over 80 books, including the popular 1969 manual Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha.

Biography

Early life

Satyananda Saraswati was born in 1923 at Almora, Uttaranchal, into a family of farmers and kshatriyas, the warrior caste.

It is claimed that he was classically educated and studied Sanskrit, the Vedas and the Upanishads. He stated that he began to have spiritual experiences at the age of six, when his awareness spontaneously left the body and he saw himself lying motionless on the floor. This experience of disembodied awareness continued, leading him to saints of that time such as Anandamayi Ma. He claimed to have met a tantric bhairavi, Sukhman Giri, who gave him shaktipat and directed him to find a guru to stabilise his spiritual experiences. In another version of his life in Yoga from Shore to Shore, he stated that he would become unconscious during meditation and that "One day I met a mahatma, a great saint, who was passing by my birthplace...So he told me I should find a guru."

At age eighteen, he left his home to seek a spiritual master. In 1943, at the age of twenty, he met his guru Sivananda Saraswati and went to live at Sivananda's ashram in Rishikesh. Sivananda initiated him into the Dashnam Order of Sannyasa on 12 September 1947 on the banks of the Ganges, and gave him the name of Swami Satyananda Saraswati. He stayed with Sivananda for a further nine years but received little further formal instruction from him.

Bihar School of Yoga

In 1956, Sivananda sent Satyananda away to spread his teachings. Basing himself in Munger, Bihar, Satyananda wandered as a mendicant through India, extending his knowledge of spiritual practices and spending some time in seclusion.

In 1962, Satyananda established the International Yoga Fellowship Movement in Rajnandgaon. This inspired the establishment of ashrams and yoga centres spiritually guided by Swami Satyananda in India and around the world.

In 1964, he founded the Bihar School of Yoga at Munger, with the intention that it would act as a centre of training for future teachers of yoga as well as offer courses on yoga.

Among those who attended courses at the Bihar School of Yoga were students from abroad and students who subsequently emigrated from India. Some of these people in turn invited Satyananda to teach in their own countries. He lectured and taught for the next twenty years, including a tour of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, North America between April and October 1968. The foreign and expatriate students also established new centres of teaching in their respective countries.

Rikhiapeeth

In 1988 Satyananda handed over the active work of his ashram and organisation to his spiritual successor, Niranjanananda Saraswati, and left Munger.

In September 1989 he moved to Rikhia, Deoghar, Jharkhand. There he lived as a paramahamsa sannyasin and performed vedic sadhanas including Panchagni ("Five fires"), an intense spiritual practice performed outdoors surrounded by four fires under the Indian sun. It was during the Panchagni sadhana that he claimed to have received the divine mandate "Take care of your neighbours as I have taken care of you". There too, he conducted a 12-year Rajasooya Yajna which began in 1995 with the first Sat Chandi Maha Yajna, invoking the Cosmic Mother through a tantric ceremony. During this event, Satyananda passed on his spiritual and sannyasa responsibilities to Niranjanananda.

During his stay in Rikhia, he undertook the task of constructing homes for the homeless, and established the Rikhiapeeth ashram. Its activities are based on the three cardinal teachings of Sri Swami Sivananda – serve, love and give through the activities of Sivananda Math, which provides free medical care and basic amenities to the people of Rikhia and the neighbouring villages, and supplies methods for the villagers to develop their own livelihood, thus enabling the development of a self-sustained society.

He entered into the state of Mahasamadhi, i.e leaving the body at will on 5 December 2009

Teachings

Swami Satyananda's teachings are based on the yoga teachings of Swami Sivananda. They emphasize an integral approach known as the Satyananda System of Yoga. They present yoga as a lifestyle to enhance the quality of life, including one's daily activities, interactions, thoughts and emotions, rather than reducing it to a practice or philosophy.

This integral system combines six main branches of yoga. Hatha, Raja and Kriya Yoga are referred to as the external yogas, as they focus on improving the quality of body and mind, the expression of the senses and behavior. They aim at reconditioning and fine tuning the various aspects of the aspirant's personality. Karma, Bhakti and Jnana Yoga are referred to as the internal yogas, as they are concerned with cultivating a positive attitude towards life's situations and the expression of creativity. Here ideas and perceptions can be transformed, based on the aspirant's experience, understanding and sadhana (sustained practice), allowing a harmonious expression of one's inner qualities.

In this way the Satyananda system of yoga addresses the qualities of head, heart and hands – intellect, emotion and action – and attempts to integrate the physical, psychological and spiritual dimensions of yoga into each practice.

Based on the classical texts of Hatha yoga and his personal experience, Swami Satyananda presented Hatha Yoga in his widely-used and much-translated work Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha.

Swami Satyananda's name is closely associated with the modern form of yoga nidra, a deep relaxation technique.

Publications

Satyananda wrote over 80 books, including his popular 1969 manual Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha. Satyananda's writings have been published by the Bihar School of Yoga and, since 2000, by the Yoga Publications Trust established by his disciple Swami Niranjanananda.

Alleged abuse

Further information: Sexual abuse by yoga gurus and Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse § Mangrove Yoga Ashram

An Australian Royal Commission investigated allegations of child sexual abuse at the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain, New South Wales, Australia during the 1970s and 1980s. Alleged abuses by and against multiple individuals took place between 1974 and 1989, with eleven witnesses alleging abuses in Australia, and two witnesses alleging abuses in both Australia and India. Two witnesses alleged that Satyananda, who was no longer alive at the time of the Royal Commission, had sexually abused them; this evidence was deemed "out of scope" and "untested", and accordingly no finding was made against Satyananda in the Australian Royal Commission's final report.

The psychotherapist Josna Pakhana and the yoga teacher and researcher Jacqueline Hargreaves write that "shocking levels of abuse were deeply entrenched" in Satyananda's Mangrove Mountain ashram in Australia in the 1970s. They state that the Royal Commission "concluded that Swami Satyananda Saraswati (b. 1923, d. 2009), the founding guru, had overarching authority at the Mangrove Mountain ashram (and its centres) in his role as head of Satyananda Yoga worldwide."

References

Primary

  1. ^ Saraswati 2011, pp. 18–23
  2. Saraswati 1974, p. 8
  3. Saraswati 1974, pp. 10, 72
  4. Saraswati 2011, p. 159
  5. Saraswati 2011, p. 188
  6. Saraswati 2018, p. 3
  7. ^ Saraswati 2013b, pp. 8–10
  8. Saraswati, Satyasangananda. "Panchagni – the Bath of Fire". Archived from the original on 14 June 2009.
  9. ^ Saraswati 2012
  10. Past, Present and Future: consolidated history of Bihar School of Yoga, Swami Yogakanti, Swami Yogawandana (eds.), 2009, Yoga Publications Trust
  11. Saraswati 2019, p. 17
  12. "The Most Important Yogas" (PDF). Yoga. Vol. 9, no. 2. Munger, Bihar, India: Bihar School of Yoga. February 2020. pp. 24–25.
  13. Saraswati, Niranjanananda. "The Growth of Satyananda Yoga or Bihar Yoga". Retrieved 9 December 2009.
  14. ^ Saraswati 1969
  15. "Yoga Publications Trust". Satyananda Yoga. Archived from the original on 27 December 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2014.

Secondary

  1. ^ Melton (2010), p. 1483.
  2. ^ Aveling (1994), p. 60.
  3. ^ Aveling (1994), p. 61.
  4. "International Yoga Fellowship Movement". Bihar School of Yoga. November 1964. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  5. Pidgeon (2014), p. 15.
  6. Pidgeon (2014), p. 60,125.
  7. Srivastav, Arun. "Paramhamsa Swami Satyananda, the Sadhana of a Sage". life-positive.com. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011.
  8. Pidgeon (2014), p. 56-67.
  9. Pidgeon (2014), p. 124-129.
  10. Birch, Jason; Hargreaves, Jacqueline (January 2015). "Yoganidrā". The Luminescent. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  11. "100 Best Asana Books of All Time". BookAuthority. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  12. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (April 2016). "Report of Case Study No. 21" (PDF). p. 9.
  13. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (April 2016). "Report of Case Study No. 21" (PDF). p. 29.
  14. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (April 2016). "Report of Case Study No. 21" (PDF). p. 31.
  15. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (April 2016). "Report of Case Study No. 21" (PDF). p. 31.
  16. "Yoga Ashram didn't Consider Sexual Abuse as a Crime". The Guardian. 4 December 2014.
  17. ^ Pankhania, Josna; Hargreaves, Jacqueline (December 2017). "Culture of Silence". The Luminescent.
  18. Browne, Rachel (28 November 2014). "Satyananda Yoga Ashram is the subject of royal commission hearing". The Sydney Morning Herald.

Sources

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