Siva Puja: Beginners
Swami Satyananda Saraswati comes from the Dashnami lineage of Adi Shankaracharya, and belongs to the tribe of Swamis called for the order of Saraswati; sannyasis who are scholars living the life of a Brahmin, a knower of wisdom, and worshipping with both knowledge and devotion.    He was initiated into the worship of Chandi and the sacred fire ceremony, the yajna, as his primary system of sadhana, by his Guru in 1971. He practiced worship and meditation and undertook many forms of Tapasya and great austerities. He practiced to recite Chandi in the snows of the Himalayas and in the hot springs of Bakreswar, and actually attained to asana siddhi beyond heat and cold.    Swami Satyananda Saraswati spent fifteen years walking across the length and breadth of the Himalayas of India. On his journeys he became proficient in numerous languages including Bengali and Hindi, and he developed a deep passion for Sanskrit. Wherever he went he would learn the local systems of worship. As a result his knowledge of the mountain pathways, along with his understanding of Sanskrit roots, makes the verses of his translations come alive with experience.    His translations from Sanskrit have been translated into Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, French, German, Romanian and Portuguese, in addition to English.