Satyananda Saraswati

Satyananda Saraswati Biography

Satyananda Saraswati was a monk and yoga instructor who hailed from Almora. He lived during the period, 25 December 1923 – 5 December 2009. He was a disciple of Sivananda Saraswati, and Niranjanananda Saraswati is his spiritual successor. Satyananda Saraswati was the founder of the Divine Life Society and Bihar School of Yoga in 1964, and has also authored 80 books related to religion, spirituality and yoga. Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha is his most noticed work.

Satyananda Saraswati was born 1923 at Almora, of present day Uttaranchal. He belonged to a rich zamindar family. He learnt Sanskrit, the Vedas and the Upanishads during his young days. He began to have spiritual experiences at the age of six, and he also got blessings of many sadhus. At age eighteen, he left his home to seek a spiritual master. Two years later he met his guru, Sivananda Saraswati. He stayed with his guru in his ashram in Rishikesh, and was initiated him into the Dashnam Order of Sannyasa on 12 September 1947. He came to known as Swami Satyananda Saraswati after that. He stayed with guru for 9 more years.

In 1956, as told by guru, he set for a journey to preach the teachings of his guru. Apart from different parts of India, he also travelled in many other countries like Afghanistan, Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka for the next 7 years to spread his message. In 1962 Satyananda established the International Yoga Fellowship Movement in Rajnandgaon. In 1964, he founded the Bihar School of Yoga at Munger. In 1993 Niranjanananda Saraswati was chosen as the spiritual successor of Satyananda. He died on 5 December 2009.

Published: July 28, 2018

Updated: July 28, 2018