Muktananda

Muktananda (16 May 1908 2 October 1982), born in the United States to administer the global work of Sid-
Krishna Rai, was the founder of Siddha Yoga. He was dha Yoga meditation.[8] He wrote many books; sixteen
a disciple and the successor of Bhagavan Nityananda.[1] are still kept in print by the SYDA Foundation.
He wrote a number of books on the subjects of Kundalini In May 1982, Muktananda appointed two successors as
Shakti, Vedanta, and Kashmir Shaivism, including a spir-
joint leaders of the Siddha Yoga path, Swami Chidvi-
itual autobiography entitled The Play of Consciousness. lasananda and her younger brother, Swami Nityananda
who later resigned and formed his own group. Muk-
tananda died in October 1982 and is buried at Ganesh-
puri, where the Gurudev Siddha Peeth ashram houses his
1 Biography samdhi shrine.
In 1983, after Muktanandas death, William Rodarmor
Muktananda was born in 1908 near Mangalore in
printed several accusations of physical and sexual abuse,
Karnataka State, India, into a well-o family. His birth
in CoEvolution Quarterly, from anonymous female devo-
name was Krishna Rau.[2]
tees that Muktananda regularly had sex with them. He
At age 15 he encountered Bhagavan Nityananda, a wan- also charged that Muktananda had engaged in other
dering avadhoot who profoundly changed his life.[2] After behaviour at odds with wider societal norms.[9][10][11]
this encounter, Krishna left home and began his search for These allegations were conrmed by other CoEvolution
the experience of God.[3] He studied under Siddharudha Quarterly journalists,[10] while Lis Harris repeated and
Swami at Hubli, where he learned Sanskrit, Vedanta and extended Rodarmors allegations in an article in The
all branches of yoga, and took the initiation of sannyasa New Yorker (1994).[12] Lola Williamson notes that Muk-
in the Sarasvati order of the Dashanami Sampradaya,[4] tananda publicly stressed the value of celibacy for mak-
taking the name of Swami Muktananda. After Sid- ing progress on the spiritual path, but he almost certainly
dharudhas death, Muktananda began wandering India on violated his own rules.[13]
foot, studying with many dierent saints and gurus.
Sarah Caldwell argued that Muktananda was both an en-
In 1947 Muktananda went to Ganeshpuri to receive the lightened spiritual teacher and a practitioner of Shakta
darshan of Bhagavan Nityananda, the saint who had origi- Tantrism, but also engaged in actions that were not eth-
nally inspired Muktanandas search for God. He received ical, legal or liberatory with many disciples.[14]
shaktipat initiation from him at 15 August of that year.
Muktananda often said that his spiritual journey didn't
truly begin until he received shaktipat from the holy man
Bhagavan Nityananda. According to his description, it 2 Teaching and practice
was a profound and sublime experience.[5] Muktananda
spent the next nine years living and meditating in a little Central to his teachings were to See God in each
hut in Yeola. He wrote about his sadhana and kundalini- other,[15] and Honor your Self. Worship your Self.
related meditation experiences, in his autobiography. Meditate on your Self. God dwells within you as you.[15]
In 1956, Bhagawan Nityananda acknowledged the culmi- Muktananda often gave a shorter[16] version of this teaching:
nation of Muktanandas spiritual journey, and gave him a God dwells within you as you.
small piece of land at Ganeshpuri, near Bombay, instruct- According to Lola Williamson, Muktananda was known
ing Muktananda to create an ashram there.[6] The same as a "shaktipat guru because kundalini awakening oc-
year he started teaching his Siddha Yoga path. Between curred so readily in his presence.[17] Through Shaktipat
1970 and 1981, Muktananda went on three world tours, Intensives participants were said to receive shaktipat initi-
establishing Siddha Yoga ashrams and meditation cen- ation, the awakening of Kundalini Shakti that is said to re-
ters in many countries. In 1975, he founded the Siddha side within a person, and to deepen their practice of Sid-
Yoga Ashram in Oakland, in the California Bay area, and dha Yoga meditation.[18] Historically, Shaktipat initiation
in 1979 he established Shree Nityananda Ashram (now had been reserved for the few who had done many years
Shree Muktananda Ashram) in the Catskills Mountains, of spiritual service and practices; Muktananda oered
northwest of New York City.[7] Muktananda established this initiation to newcomers and yogis alike.[19] There
Gurudev Siddha Peeth as a public trust in India to admin- are several published accounts that describe the reception
ister the work there, and founded the SYDA Foundation of shaktipat from Muktananda. Paul Zweig wrote one

1
2 3 BIBLIOGRAPHY
such account of receiving shaktipat from Muktananda.[20]
In Gurus of Modern Yoga, Andrea Jain, in her chapter
on Muktananda, quotes an anonymous source, who de-
scribes his moment of shaktipat, when he was 19 years
old, conferred by Muktananda with a wand of peacock
feathers in 1975:
I almost jumped when the peacock feath-
ers, rmly but with a soft weightiness, hit
me repeatedly on my head, and then gently
brushed my face as [Muktananda] [...] power-
fully pressed one of his ngers into my fore-
head at a spot located just between my eye-
brows [...] I'm honestly somewhat reluctant
to write about what happened next because I
know that whatever I say will inevitably dimin-
ish it, will make it sound as if it were just an-
other powerful experience. This was not an
experience. This was THE event of my spiri-
tual life. This was full awakening. This wasn't
knowing anything, because you only know
something that is separate from you. This was
being: the Ultimate - a fountain of Light, a
dancing, ever-new source. Utter freedom, ut-
ter joy [...] Completely fullled, completely
whole, no limits to my power and love and
light.[21]
3 Bibliography
Light on the Path (1972), Siddha Yoga Publications,
ISBN 0-914602-54-3
Mukteshwari: The Way of Muktananda (1972),
SYDA Foundation
Getting Rid of What You Haven't Got (1974), Word-
press ISBN 0-915104-00-8
Ashram Dharma (1975), SYDA Foundation, ISBN
0-911307-38-9
I Love 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 from the Vijnana
Bhairava (1978), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN
0-914602-27-6
I Welcome You All With Love (1978), Siddha Yoga
Publications, ISBN 0-911307-65-6
In the Company of a Siddha: Interviews and Con-
versations With Swami Muktananda (1978), Siddha
Yoga Publications ISBN 0-911307-53-2
The Nectar of Chanting: Sacred Texts and Mantras
Sung in the Ashrams of Swami Muktananda (1978),
SYDA Foundation, ISBN 0-914602-16-0
Play of Consciousness: A Spiritual Autobiography
(1978), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-
81-8
Satsang with Baba : questions and answers between
Swami Muktananda and his devotees (1978), Vol-
umes 1 5, SYDA, ISBN 0-914602-40-3
Kundalini: The Secret of Life (1979), Siddha Yoga
Publications, ISBN 0-911307-34-6
To Know the Knower (1979), Siddha Yoga Publica-
tions, ISBN 0-914602-91-8
Meditate (1980), State University of New York
Press, ISBN 0-87395-471-8
Kundalini Stavah (1980), SYDA Foundation, ISBN
0-914602-55-1
The Perfect Relationship: The Guru and the Disciple
(1980), SYDA Foundation, ISBN 0-914602-53-5
Reections of the Self (1980), Siddha Yoga Publica-
tions, ISBN 0-914602-50-0
Secret of the Siddhas (1980), Siddha Yoga Publica-
tions, ISBN 0-911307-31-1
A Book for the Mind (1981), SYDA Foundation
Does Death Really Exist? (1981), Siddha Yoga Pub-
lications, ISBN 0-911307-36-2
Lalleshwari (1981), SYDA Foundation, ISBN 0-
914602-66-7
Where Are You Going?: A Guide to the Spiritual
Journey (1981), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-
911307-60-5
I Have Become Alive: Secrets of the Inner Journey
(1985), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-
26-5
From the Finite to the Innite (1990), Siddha Yoga
Publications, ISBN 0-911307-31-1
Mystery of the Mind (1992), SYDA Foundation
The Self is Already Attained (1993), Siddha Yoga
Meditation Publications, ISBN 0-914602-77-2
Bhagawan Nityananda (1996), Siddha Yoga Publi-
cations, ISBN 0-911307-45-1
Nothing Exists that Is Not Shiva: Commentaries on
the Shiva Sutra, Vijnana Bhairava, Guru Gita, and
Other Sacred Texts (1997) Siddha Yoga Publica-
tions, ISBN 0-911307-56-7
 3

4 References [19] Brooks, Douglas; Durgananda, Swami; Muller-Ortega,

Paul; Mahony, William; Rhodes-Bailly, Constantina; Sab-
[1] S.P. Sabharathnam Douglas Brooks. Meditation Revolu- harathnam, S.P. (1997). Meditation Revolution: A His-
tion: A History and Theology of the Siddha Yoga Lineage. tory and Theology of the Siddha Yoga Lineage; Agama
Agama Press, 1997. ISBN 978-0-9654096-0-5 Press; p 93. ISBN 0965409600.

[2] Baba Muktanandas Meditation Revolution Continues
Ten Years After His Passing. Hinduism Today. Octo-
ber 1992. Retrieved 1 June 2006.
[3] Douglas Brooks, Swami Durgananda, Paul E. Muller-
Ortega, Constantina Rhodes Bailly, S.P. Sabharathnam.
Meditation Revolution: a History and Theology of the Sid-
dha Yoga lineage. (Agama Press) 1997, p.32
[20] Paul Zweig, in John White (editor), Kundalini, Evolution,
and Enlightenment (ISBN 1-55778-303-9)
[21] Andrea R. Jain, Muktananda: Entrepreneurial Godman,
Tantric Hero, Chapter 9 of Gurus of Modern Yoga,
edited by Mark Singleton and Ellen Goldberg, Oxford
University Press, 2014

[4] John Paul Healy (2010), Yearning to Belong: Discovering

a New Religious Movement, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., p.9 5 External links
[5] Muktananda, Swami (1978). Play of Consciousness. Sid- Ocial SYDA website
dha Yoga Publications. ISBN 0-911307-81-8.
Media related to Siddha Yoga at Wikimedia Com-
[6] http://www.answers.com/topic/swami-muktananda
mons
[7] Brooks, Douglas; Durgananda, Swami; Muller-Ortega,
Paul; Mahony, William; Rhodes-Bailly, Constantina; Sab-
harathnam, S.P. (1997). Meditation Revolution: A His-
tory and Theology of the Siddha Yoga Lineage; Agama
Press; ISBN 0965409600.

[8] Muktanandas Legacy. Hinduism Today. April 1995.

Archived from the original on 22 May 2006. Retrieved 1
June 2006.

[9] Rodarmor, William (1983). The Secret Life of Swami

Muktananda (Reprint). CoEvolution Quarterly (winter).

[10] Lola Williamson (2010), Transcendent in America:

Hindu-inspired Meditation Movements as New Religion,
NYU Press, p.115

[11] John Philip (2009), Yoga, Inc.: A Journey Through the Big
Business of Yoga, Penguin Group (Canada) (), p.179

[12] Lis Harris, The New Yorker, O Guru, Guru, Guru, 14

November 1994

[13] Lola Williamson (2010), Transcendent in America:

Hindu-inspired Meditation Movements as New Religion,
NYU Press, p.114

[14] Sarah Caldwell (2001). The Heart of the Secret: A

Personal and Scholarly Encounter with Shakta Tantrism
in Siddha Yoga (Reprint). Nova Religio. 5 (1): 951.
doi:10.1525/nr.2001.5.1.9.

[15] Essential Teachings. Retrieved 2014-07-09.

[16] Reverend Eugene S. Callender, Nobody is a Nobody,

(Amazon) 2010, p.290

[17] Homegrown Gurus, edited by Ann Gleig and Lola

Williamson, chapter 4, Swamis, Scholars and Gurus by
Lola Williamson, page 87

[18] Brooks, Douglas; Durgananda, Swami; Muller-Ortega,

Paul; Mahony, William; Rhodes-Bailly, Constantina; Sab-
harathnam, S.P. (1997). Meditation Revolution: A His-
tory and Theology of the Siddha Yoga Lineage; Agama
Press; pp 135-152. ISBN 0965409600.
4 6 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

6 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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Muktananda Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muktananda?oldid=764129834 Contributors: Ahoerstemeier, Charles Matthews,
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Rsrikanth05, Mikeblas, Yogiraj, SmackBot, HalfShadow, Schmiteye, Bluebot, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, , Rack-
lever, Dreadstar, Wizardman, Ohconfucius, Dl2000, Wikipost, Lighthead, Cydebot, Gatoclass, Orlando F~enwiki, Keraunos, James
Arjuna, Ekabhishek, Bakasuprman, Waacstats, Sud Ram, Fabrictramp, CommonsDelinker, Trusilver, Adavidb, Sugamya, Mhannigan,
VolkovBot, Bacus15, IPSOS, Jackfork, Billinghurst, Vritti, Sardaka, AdhunikaSarvajna, Roland zh, Ishancharliehayes, Pricesg, Hope-
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Cocoru, Lightbot, Drpickem, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, AnomieBOT, Piano non troppo, Chuckiesdad, Ramilsh, Materialscientist, Citation
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