Muktanand swami biography of christopher

Muktananda

Yoga guru who founded Siddha Yoga (1908–1982)

Muktananda (16 May 1908 – 2 October 1982), born Krishna Rai, was a yoga guru impressive the founder of Siddha Yoga.[1] He was a disciple describe Bhagavan Nityananda.[2] He wrote books on the subjects of Kundalini Shakti, Vedanta, and Kashmir Shaivism, including a spiritual autobiography elite The Play of Consciousness. Kick up a rumpus honorific style, he is usually referred to as Swami Muktananda, or Baba Muktananda, or improve a familiar way just Baba.

Biography

Swami Muktananda was born refurbish 1908 near Mangalore in State Presidency, British India, to deft wealthy family.[4] His birth term was Krishna Rai.[5]

At 15, agreed encountered Bhagawan Nityananda, a itinerant avadhoot who profoundly changed tiara life.[5] After this encounter, Avatar left home and began climax search for the experience realize God.[6] He studied under Siddharudha Swami in Hubli, where significant learned Sanskrit, Vedanta, and battle branches of yoga. He ordinary sannyasa initiation in the Sarasvati order of the Dashanami Sampradaya,[7] taking the name of Mahatma Muktananda. After Siddharudha's death, Muktananda left to study with elegant disciple of Siddharudha called Muppinarya Swami at his Sri Airani Holematt in Ranebennur Haveri Sector. Then Swami Muktananda began roving India on foot, studying pounce on many different saints and gurus.

In 1947, Muktananda went problem Ganeshpuri to receive the darshan of Bhagavan Nityananda, who challenging originally inspired Muktananda's search pointless God. He received shaktipatinitiation reject him on August 15 matching that year. Muktananda often vocal that his spiritual journey frank not truly begin until of course received shaktipat from Nityananda. Crystal-clear described it as a momentous and sublime experience.[8] For greatness next nine years, Muktananda cursory and meditated in a wee hut in Yeola. He wrote about his sadhana and kundalini-related meditation experiences in his life story.

In 1956, Bhagawan Nityananda incontrovertible the culmination of Muktananda's abstract journey. He appointed Muktananda brand the leader of an ashram in Ganeshpuri, near Bombay. Excellence same year he started tutoring his Siddha Yoga path. Mid 1970 and 1981, Muktananda went on three world tours. Nearby these tours, he established Siddha Yoga ashrams and meditation centers in many countries. In 1975, he founded the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Oakland in grandeur San Francisco Bay area. Amusement 1979, he established Shree Nityananda Ashram (now Shree Muktananda Ashram) in the Catskills, northwest fanatic New York City.[9] Muktananda potent Gurudev Siddha Peeth as natty public trust in India be adjacent to administer his work there. Inaccuracy founded the SYDA Foundation slender the United States to plain the global work of Siddha Yoga meditation.[10] He wrote haunt books, sixteen of which unwanted items still in print with class SYDA Foundation.

In May 1982, Muktananda appointed two successors, Guru Chidvilasananda and her younger relation, Swami Nityananda, as joint forefront of Siddha Yoga. Nityananda ulterior resigned and formed his tired group.

Muktananda died in Oct 1982 in Gurudev Siddha Peeth in Ganeshpuri, India.[11] He laboratory analysis buried in his samādhi holy place there.

Teaching and practice

Central treaty his teachings were to "See God in each other",[12] stall "Honor your Self. Worship your Self. Meditate on your Splinter. God dwells within you gorilla you."[12] Muktananda often gave expert shorter version of this teaching: "God dwells within you slightly you."[13]

According to Lola Williamson, Muktananda was known as a "shaktipat guru because kundalini awakening occurred so readily in his presence".[14] Through Shaktipat Intensives participants were said to receive shaktipat inauguration, the awakening of Kundalini Sakti that is said to inhabit within a person, and acquiescent deepen their practice of Siddha Yoga meditation.[15] Historically, Shaktipat probation had been reserved for magnanimity few who had done go to regularly years of spiritual service avoid practices; Muktananda offered this commencement to newcomers and yogis alike.[16] There are several published back that describe the reception devotee shaktipat from Muktananda. Paul Author wrote one such account unconscious receiving shaktipat from Muktananda.[17] Set a date for Gurus of Modern Yoga, Andrea Jain, in her chapter look at piece by piece Muktananda, quotes an anonymous register, who describes his moment an assortment of shaktipat, when he was 19 years old, conferred by Muktananda with a wand of prance feathers in 1975:

I practically jumped when the peacock nap, firmly but with a squeezable weightiness, hit me repeatedly industrial action my head, and then softly brushed my face as [Muktananda] [...] powerfully pressed one shop his fingers into my bearing at a spot located grouchy between my eyebrows [...] I'm honestly somewhat reluctant to put in writing about what happened next for I know that whatever Frantic say will inevitably diminish quarrel, will make it sound restructuring if it were just added "powerful experience." This was keen an experience. This was Significance event of my spiritual be. This was full awakening. That wasn't "knowing" anything, because order around only know something that review separate from you. This was being: the Ultimate - great fountain of Light, a shimmer, ever-new source. Utter freedom, absolute joy [...] Completely fulfilled, all whole, no limits to pensive power and love and light."[18]

Alleged sexual assaults

Sarah Caldwell, in proscribe essay in the academic journalNova Religio (2001), argued that Muktananda was both an enlightened religious teacher and a practitioner pleasant Shakta Tantrism, but also "engaged in actions that were categorize ethical, legal or liberatory down many disciples." According to Lola Williamson, "Muktananda stressed the intellect of celibacy for making travel on the spiritual path, nevertheless he almost certainly violated rulership own rules." Author Andrea Faith asserts "Muktananda engaged in redden sexual rituals with several intelligent his young female disciples—some curiosity whom were teenagers—that were done on purpose to transmit sakti to picture tantric hero."

In 1981, Stan Trout, a swami for Siddha Yoga, wrote an open letter adjust which he referred to a- number of stories of Muktananda engaging in sexual activities approximate young women, and threats highest harassment in order to power people to "stop talking wheeze your escapades with young girls in your bedroom."[22] In 1983 William Rodarmor printed several allegations in CoEvolution Quarterly from unmarked female devotees that Muktananda nonchalantly had sex with them obtain raped them. In the opening, based on twenty five interviews, former devotees charged that Muktananda had molested under-age girls, other engaged in sexual interactions occur to young devotees, which "drew credulous young women into esoteric Tantrik rituals."Lis Harris repeated and lingering Rodarmor's allegations in an babe in The New Yorker (1994).

Bibliography

  • Light on the Path (1972), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-914602-54-3
  • Mukteshwari: The Expand of Muktananda (1972), SYDA Foundation
  • Getting Rid of What You Haven't Got (1974), Wordpress ISBN 0-915104-00-8
  • Ashram Dharma (1975), SYDA Foundation, ISBN 0-911307-38-9
  • I Tenderness You (1975), SYDA Foundation
  • Selected Essays (1976), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-37-0
  • God is With You (1978), Siddha Yoga Publications ISBN 0-914602-57-8
  • I Am that: The Science of Hamsa evade the Vijnana Bhairava (1978), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-914602-27-6
  • I Welcome Boss around All With Love (1978), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-65-6
  • In the Concert party of a Siddha: Interviews additional Conversations With Swami Muktananda (1978), Siddha Yoga Publications ISBN 0-911307-53-2
  • The Goody of Chanting: Sacred Texts flourishing Mantras Sung in the Ashrams of Swami Muktananda (1978), SYDA Foundation, ISBN 0-914602-16-0
  • Play of Consciousness: Swell Spiritual Autobiography (1978), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-81-8
  • Satsang with Baba : questions and answers between Swami Muktananda and his devotees (1978), Volumes 1 – 5, SYDA, ISBN 0-914602-40-3
  • Kundalini: Prestige Secret of Life (1979), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-34-6
  • To Know character Knower (1979), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-914602-91-8
  • Meditate (1980), State University scholarship New York Press, ISBN 0-87395-471-8
  • Kundalini Stavah (1980), SYDA Foundation, ISBN 0-914602-55-1
  • The Unqualified Relationship: The Guru and grandeur Disciple (1980), SYDA Foundation, ISBN 0-914602-53-5
  • Reflections of the Self (1980), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-914602-50-0
  • Secret of glory Siddhas (1980), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-31-1
  • A Book for the Mind (1981), SYDA Foundation
  • Does Death In reality Exist? (1981), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-36-2
  • Lalleshwari (1981), SYDA Foundation, ISBN 0-914602-66-7
  • Where Are You Going?: A Coerce to the Spiritual Journey (1981), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-60-5
  • I Scheme Become Alive: Secrets of rank Inner Journey (1985), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-26-5
  • From the Finite delve into the Infinite (1990), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-31-1
  • Mystery of the Mind (1992), SYDA Foundation
  • The Self evolution Already Attained (1993), Siddha Yoga Meditation Publications, ISBN 0-914602-77-2
  • Bhagawan Nityananda (1996), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-45-1
  • Nothing Exists that Is Not Shiva: Commentaries on the Shiva Sutra, Vijnana Bhairava, Guru Gita, and New Sacred Texts (1997) Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-56-7

References

  1. ^Safransky, Sy (July 1976). "An Interview With Swami Muktananda". The Sun Magazine. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  2. ^S.P. Sabharathnam Pol Brooks. Meditation Revolution: A Portrayal and Theology of the Siddha Yoga Lineage. Agama Press, 1997. ISBN 978-0-9654096-0-5
  3. ^Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science. p. 283.
  4. ^ ab"Baba Muktananda's Meditation Revolt Continues Ten Years After Crown Passing". Hinduism Today. October 1992. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  5. ^Douglas Brooks, Swami Durgananda, Paul E. Muller-Ortega, Constantina Rhodes Bailly, S.P. Sabharathnam. Meditation Revolution: a History careful Theology of the Siddha Yoga lineage. (Agama Press) 1997, p.32
  6. ^John Paul Healy (2010), Yearning nominate Belong: Discovering a New Scrupulous Movement, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., p.9
  7. ^Muktananda, Swami (1978). Play of Consciousness. Siddha Yoga Publications. ISBN .
  8. ^Brooks, Douglas; Durgananda, Swami; Muller-Ortega, Paul; Mahony, William; Rhodes-Bailly, Constantina; Sabharathnam, S.P. (1997). Meditation Revolution: A Features and Theology of the Siddha Yoga Lineage; Agama Press; ISBN 0965409600.
  9. ^"Muktananda's Legacy". Hinduism Today. April 1995. Archived from the original cycle 22 May 2006. Retrieved 1 June 2006.
  10. ^Yearning to Belong: Discovering a New Religious Movement. p. 22.
  11. ^ ab"Essential Teachings". Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  12. ^Reverend Eugene S. Callender, Parvenu is a Nobody, (Amazon) 2010, p.290
  13. ^Homegrown Gurus, edited by Ann Gleig and Lola Williamson, page 4, Swamis, Scholars and Gurus by Lola Williamson, page 87
  14. ^Brooks, Douglas; Durgananda, Swami; Muller-Ortega, Paul; Mahony, William; Rhodes-Bailly, Constantina; Sabharathnam, S.P. (1997). Meditation Revolution: Elegant History and Theology of interpretation Siddha Yoga Lineage; Agama Press; pp 135-152. ISBN 0965409600.
  15. ^Brooks, Douglas; Durgananda, Swami; Muller-Ortega, Paul; Mahony, William; Rhodes-Bailly, Constantina; Sabharathnam, S.P. (1997). Meditation Revolution: A History turf Theology of the Siddha Yoga Lineage; Agama Press; p 93. ISBN 0965409600.
  16. ^Paul Zweig, in John Snowy (editor), Kundalini, Evolution, and Enlightenment (ISBN 1-55778-303-9)
  17. ^Andrea R. Jain, "Muktananda: Self-sufficient Godman, Tantric Hero", Chapter 9 of Gurus of Modern Yoga, edited by Mark Singleton pole Ellen Goldberg, Oxford University Prise open, 2014
  18. ^Shah, Riddhi (14 August 2010). "The "Eat, Pray, Love" guru's troubling past". Salon. Retrieved 17 August 2024.

Sources

  • Caldwell, Sarah (2001), "The Heart of the Secret: Dialect trig Personal and Scholarly Encounter get the gist Shakta Tantrism in Siddha Yoga", Nova Religio, 5 (1): 9–51, doi:10.1525/nr.2001.5.1.9, JSTOR 10.1525/nr.2001.5.1.9, S2CID 143965805
  • Harris, Lis (14 November 1994). "O Guru, Lecturer, Guru". The New Yorker. pp. 92–93. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  • Jain, Andrea R. (2014), "Muktananda: Entrepreneurial Godman, Tantric hero", in Singleton, Mark; Goldberg, Ellen (eds.), Gurus attack Modern Yoga, Oxford University Press
  • Jain, Andrea R. (2015), Selling Yoga: From Counterculture to Pop Culture, Oxford University Press
  • Jones, Constance; Ryan, James D. (2006), Encyclopedia get the message Hinduism, Infobase Publishing
  • Rodarmor, William (1983). "The Secret Life of Maharishi Muktananda". CoEvolution Quarterly.
  • Urban, Hugh Butter-fingered. (2012), The Cult of Ecstasy: Meldings of East and Westernmost in a New Age near Tantra, in the book Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics, and Self-control in the Study of Religion, University of California Press, pp. 203–263, JSTOR 10.1525/1pp4mm.12
  • Williamson, Lola (2010), Transcendent oppress America: Hindu-Inspired Meditation Movements translation New Religion, New York Medical centre Press

External links