Niranjanananda Saraswati | |
---|---|
Religion | Hinduism |
Founder of | Bihar Yoga Bharati (BYB), Yoga Publications Trust, Bal Yoga Mitra Mandal, Sannyas Peeth |
Personal | |
Nationality | Indian |
Born |
Rajnandgaon |
14 February 1960
Guru | Satyananda Saraswati |
"Charity is helping others to overcome their needs"
(See in )
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati (born 14 February 1960) is the successor of Satyananda Saraswati, founder of Satyananda Yoga, who passed on the worldwide coordination of Satyananda Yoga to Niranjanananda in 1988.
Born in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, India, Niranjanananda is considered by his followers to be a yogi from birth. He was named 'Niranjan' (the Untainted One) by his guru Satyananda. He began his training at Bihar School of Yoga in India at the age of four through the use of yoga-nidra and practice of other yoga techniques. At the age of ten, he was initiated as a sannyasi and thereafter for eleven years he lived overseas,mastering skills in various areas, acquiring an understanding of various cultures and the way in which yoga could be accessed and understood by people in the West. From 1971, he extensively toured Europe and North and South America. This experience gave him an understanding of the Western mind and society. In 1983 he returned to India and was appointed the Head of Bihar School of Yoga. For the next eleven years, he spearheaded the research and development activities at Ganga Darshan, Shivananda Math and the Yoga Research Foundation.
In 1990, he was initiated in the tradition of Paramahamsa and in 1993 he was chosen as the spiritual successor of Satyananda. In 1993, he organised a World Yoga Convention on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the sannyasa of his guru. In 1994, he established Bihar Yoga Bharati as the centre for higher studies in the field of yoga. He founded Yoga Publication Trust in 2000.
In 2009 he received the command to embark on a new phase of sannyasa life and relinquished all administrative and public duties.
Author of many classic books on yoga, tantra and the Upanishads, Swami Niranjan is a magnetic source of wisdom on all aspects of yogis philosophy, practice and lifestyle. He ably combines tradition with modernity as he continues to nurture and spread his guru's mission from his base at Munger.
He was given the highest civilian award of the country, Padma Bhushan, in 2017 for distinguished service of high order.