Satyananda Saraswati

**Satyananda Saraswati** (25 December 1923 – 5 December 2009), was a Sanyasi, yoga teacher and yoga guru in both his native country, India and the West. He created the Bihar School of Yoga in 1964 after studying under Sivananda Saraswati, the founder of the Divine Life Society, He wrote over 80 books, including the popular 1969 manual _Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha_.

### Early life

Satyananda Saraswati was born at Almora, Uttaranchal, in 1923 - his family was a family of farmers from the caste of kshatriyas, the Hindu warrior caste.

He is said to have received a classical education and studied the Upanishads, the Vedas, and Sanskrit. He claimed that when he was six years old, his awareness abruptly departed the body and he saw himself lying motionless on the ground, marking the beginning of his spiritual experiences. He encountered saints of the era like Anandamayi Ma as a result of this ongoing experience of disembodied awareness.  He claimed to have encountered Sukhman Giri, a tantric bhairavi, who offered him shaktipat and advised him to seek a guru in order to stabilize his spiritual experiences. He claimed in _Yoga from Shore to Shore,_ another account of his life, that he would drop out while meditating 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."

He moved out of his house at the age of eighteen in search of a spiritual guru. He met his guru Sivananda Saraswati in 1943 when he was twenty years old, and he moved into Sivananda's ashram in Rishikesh. On September 12, 1947, on the banks of the Ganges, Sivananda inducted him into the Dashnam Order of Sannyasa and bestowed upon him the name Swami Satyananda Saraswati. He remained with Sivananda for another nine years, but received only a few more official lessons.

### Bihar School of Yoga

Satyananda was sent by Sivananda in 1956 to propagate his teachings. Satyananda settled in Munger, Bihar, and traveled around India as a mendicant, expanding his understanding of spiritual practices and isolating himself for a while.

Satyananda founded the International Yoga Fellowship Movement in Rajnandgaon in 1962. Ashrams and yoga centers led by Swami Satyananda were founded in India and other countries as a result of this.

He established the Bihar School of Yoga in Munger in 1964, with the goal of providing yoga classes and serving as a training facility for aspiring yoga instructors.

Students from other countries and those who later migrated from India were among those who took classes at the Bihar School of Yoga. Satyananda was invited by some of these individuals to teach in their respective nations.  For the next twenty years, he gave lectures and taught. From April to October 1968, he traveled around Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, and North America.  Additionally, the international and expatriate students founded new educational institutions in their home nations.

### Rikhiapeeth

Satyananda departed from Munger in 1988 and gave his spiritual successor, Niranjanananda Saraswati, responsibility for the ongoing operations of his ashram and organization.

He relocated to Rikhia, Deoghar, Jharkhand, in September 1989. There, while living as a paramahamsa sannyasi, he engaged in vedic sadhanas, such as Panchagni ("Five fires"), an intensive outdoor spiritual exercise under the Indian sun, encircled by four fires. He claimed to have received the heavenly mandate during the Panchagni sadhana "Take care of your neighbours as I have taken care of you". He also led a 12-year Rajasooya Yajna there, starting with the first Sat Chandi Maha Yajna in 1995 and using a tantric ceremony to invoke the Cosmic Mother.  Satyananda gave Niranjanananda his sannyasa and spiritual duties during this occasion.

He started the Rikhiapeeth ashram and took up the mission of building homes for the needy when he was in Rikhia. The three cardinal teachings of Sri Swami Sivananda—serve, love, and give—are the foundation of its operations. Sivananda Math offers free medical care and basic amenities to the residents of Rikhia and the nearby villages, as well as ways for the villagers to establish their own means of subsistence, thereby facilitating the growth of a self-sufficient society.

On December 5, 2009, he passed away.  According to devotees, he had attained the condition of Mahasamadhi, which allows one to leave the body at will.

## Teachings

Swami Sivananda's yoga teachings served as the foundation for Swami Satyananda's teachings.  They highlight a comprehensive method called the Satyananda System of Yoga.  Instead of confining yoga to a practice or theory, they promote it as a way of life to improve one's everyday activities, interactions, ideas, and emotions.

The six primary branches of yoga are combined in one comprehensive approach.  Because they concentrate on enhancing the quality of the body and mind, the expression of the senses, and behavior, Hatha, Raja, and Kriya Yoga are known as the external yogas.  Their goal is to refine and recondition the different facets of the candidate's personality.  Because they focus on developing a positive outlook on life's circumstances and the expression of creativity, Karma, Bhakti, and Jnana Yoga are known as the internal yogas.  This allows for a harmonious expression of one's inner attributes by transforming ideas and perceptions depending on the aspirant's experience, insight, and sadhana (continued practice).

The Satyananda approach of yoga seeks to include the physical, psychological, and spiritual aspects of yoga into each practice by addressing the attributes of the head, heart, and hands — intellect, emotion, and action.

In his widely used and extensively translated work _Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha_, Swami Satyananda introduced Hatha Yoga based on both his personal experience and the classical literature of the practice.

The contemporary practice of deep relaxation known as yoga nidra is strongly linked to the name of Swami Satyananda.

## Publications

Satyananda authored more than 80 books, including the well-known _Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha_ guidebook from 1969. The Bihar School of Yoga and the Yoga Publications Trust, founded by his pupil Swami Niranjanananda, have both published Satyananda's writings since 2000.

- 1969 _Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha_
- 1997 _Dynamics of Yoga_
- 1976 _Yoga Nidra_
- 1995 _Past, Present, and Future, a Consolidated History of the Bihar School of Yoga_ (edited)
- 1982 _Taming the Kundalini_
- 1984 _Swara Yoga_
- 1998 _Bhagavad Gita_ (translation)
- 1998 _Kali Puja_
- 1999 _Yoga Education for Children_
- 2000 _Shree Maa – The Guru and the Goddess_
- 2001 _Sri Annapurna Puja and Thousand Names_
- 2001 _Ganesh Puja_
- 2001 _Laksmi Puja and Thousand Names_
- 2001 _Siva Puja: Beginners_
- 2001 _Surya Namaskara: A Technique of Solar Vitalization_
- 2006 _Steps to Yoga_
- 2006 _Sure Ways to Self Realization_ (vol. 1)
- 2007 _Kundalini Tantra_
- 2007 _Yoga and Kriya_
- 2008 _Dynamics of Yoga: The Foundation of Bihar Yoga_
- 2008 _Meditations from the Tantras_ (vol. 1)
- 2009 _Vedic View and Way of Life_
- 2010 _Chandi Path_
- 2010 _Durga Puja Beginner_
- 2010 _Ganesh Puja_
- 2011 _From Birth to Death_
- 2011 _Light on the Guru and Disciple Relationship_
- 2011 _Rudrastayi_
- 2011 _Sundar Kanda_
- 2013 _Prana Vidya_
- 2015 _Shiva Puja and Advanced Yajna_