Muktananda
Encyclopedia
Swami Muktananda is the monastic
name of an India
n Hindu
guru
and disciple of Bhagavan Nityananda
. Swami Muktananda was the founder of Siddha Yoga
. He wrote a number of books on the subjects of Kundalini Shakti, Vedanta, and Kashmir Shaivism, including an autobiography entitled The Play of Consciousness.
in Karnataka State
, India
, into a wealthy family. His birth name was Krishna. At 15 he encountered Bhagavan Nityananda, a wandering avadhoot who profoundly changed his life. He studied under Siddharudha Swami at Hubli, where he learned Sanskrit
, Vedanta
and all branches of yoga
, and took the initiation of sannyasa
, becoming Swami Muktananda. He then began wandering India on foot.
In 1947 Muktananda went to Ganeshpuri
to receive the darshan
of Bhagavan Nityananda. He received shaktipat
initiation
from him in the early morning of August 15 of that year. Swami 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 was a profound and sublime experience.
Muktananda spent the next eight years living and meditating
in a little hut in Yeola
. He wrote about his sadhana
and kundalini
-related meditation experiences, in his autobiography published in 1970 as GURU, by Harper & Row and as Play of Consciousness in India in 1971. In 1966, Swami Nityananda
gave Muktananda a small piece of land at Ganeshpuri, near Bombay on which Muktananda developed an ashram.
Muktananda established Gurudev Siddha Peeth
as a public trust in India to administer the work there, and founded the SYDA Foundation in the United States to administer the global work of Siddha Yoga meditation. He wrote many books; sixteen are still kept in print by the SYDA Foundation.
In May 1982, Muktananda appointed two successors as joint leaders of the movement, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda
, his former translator, and her brother Mahamandaleshwar Nityananda, who later resigned and formed his own group. Muktananda died in October 1982 and is buried at Ganeshpuri, where the Gurudev Siddha Peeth ashram houses his samādhi shrine.
According to the Siddha Yoga organization,
of winter 1983. These included a number of young women who claimed to have been raped by Muktananda at the Ganeshpuri ashram. Other allegations concerned harassment of ex members who claimed to have witnessed various abuses by Muktananda, Micheal Dinga and his wife Chandra reported receiving death threats after they left which they claimed only stopped when a detective visited the Oakland ashram.
Lis Harris
repeated and extended those in The New Yorker
of November 14, 1994.
Sarah Caldwell suggests in 2001, in the academic journal Nova Religio
, that Muktananda was both an enlightened teacher and a secret practitioner of an esoteric form of Tantric
sexual yoga, and that he also engaged in actions that were not ethical, legal, or liberatory with many disciples.
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
name of an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
and disciple of Bhagavan Nityananda
Bhagawan Nityananda
Bhagawan Nityananda was an Indian guru. His teachings are published in the "Chidakash Gita". Nityananda was born in Quilandy , Kerala, South India.- Early life :...
. Swami Muktananda was the founder of Siddha Yoga
Siddha Yoga
Siddha Yoga is a spiritual path based on the Hindu spiritual traditions of Vedanta and Kashmir Shaivism. The Siddha Yoga path was founded by Swami Muktananda Paramahamsa . The present spiritual head of the Siddha Yoga path is Gurumayi Chidvilasananda...
. He wrote a number of books on the subjects of Kundalini Shakti, Vedanta, and Kashmir Shaivism, including an autobiography entitled The Play of Consciousness.
Biography
Muktananda was born in 1908 near MangaloreMangalore
Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...
in Karnataka State
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, into a wealthy family. His birth name was Krishna. At 15 he encountered Bhagavan Nityananda, a wandering avadhoot who profoundly changed his life. He studied under Siddharudha Swami at Hubli, where he learned Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, Vedanta
Vedanta
Vedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...
and all branches of yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
, and took the initiation of sannyasa
Sannyasa
Sannyasa is the order of life of the renouncer within the Hindu scheme of āśramas, or life stages. It is considered the topmost and final stage of the ashram systems and is traditionally taken by men or women at or beyond the age of fifty years old or by young monks who wish to renounce worldly...
, becoming Swami Muktananda. He then began wandering India on foot.
In 1947 Muktananda went to Ganeshpuri
Ganeshpur, Maharashtra
Ganeshpur is a census town in Bhandara district in the state of Maharashtra, India. It is situated on the bank of Vainganga River. The town is attached to the Bhandara City. The national highway 06 indicates the border of Ganeshpur. It is a Marathi-speaking town. The name Ganeshpur is indicate...
to receive the darshan
Darshan
or Darshan is a Sanskrit term meaning "sight" , vision, apparition, or glimpse. It is most commonly used for "visions of the divine" in Hindu worship, e.g. of a deity , or a very holy person or artifact...
of Bhagavan Nityananda. He received shaktipat
Shaktipat
Shaktipat or Śaktipāta refers in Hinduism to the conferring of spiritual "energy" upon one person by another...
initiation
Initiation
Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components...
from him in the early morning of August 15 of that year. Swami Muktananda often said that his spiritual journey didn't truly begin until he received shaktipat
Shaktipat
Shaktipat or Śaktipāta refers in Hinduism to the conferring of spiritual "energy" upon one person by another...
from the holy man Bhagavan Nityananda. According to his description, it was a profound and sublime experience.
Muktananda spent the next eight years living and meditating
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
in a little hut in Yeola
Yeola
Yeola is a town and a municipal council and a taluka headquarters in Nashik District in the Indian state of Maharashtra.Yeola is 82 kilometres from Nasik on Nasik-Aurangabad Highway and 29 kilometres south of Manmad on the Manmad–Ahmednagar road. Yeola is 35 kilometres from...
. He wrote about his sadhana
Sadhana
Sādhanā literally "a means of accomplishing something" is ego-transcending spiritual practice. It includes a variety of disciplines in Hindu, Sikh , Buddhist and Muslim traditions that are followed in order to achieve various spiritual or ritual objectives.The historian N...
and kundalini
Kundalini
Kundalini literally means coiled. In yoga, a "corporeal energy" - an unconscious, instinctive or libidinal force or Shakti, lies coiled at the base of the spine. It is envisioned either as a goddess or else as a sleeping serpent, hence a number of English renderings of the term such as 'serpent...
-related meditation experiences, in his autobiography published in 1970 as GURU, by Harper & Row and as Play of Consciousness in India in 1971. In 1966, Swami Nityananda
Nityananda
Image:Panca-tattva Altar.jpg|thumb|This is interactive image-map. Click! on lotus feet. Sri Krishna Chaitanya , Sri Nityananda Prabhu , Sri Advaita Acharya , Sri Gadadhara Pandit , Sri Srivas Pandit...
gave Muktananda a small piece of land at Ganeshpuri, near Bombay on which Muktananda developed an ashram.
Muktananda established Gurudev Siddha Peeth
Gurudev Siddha Peeth
Gurudev Siddha Peeth is an Indian ashram belonging to the Siddha Yoga organization. It is situated between the villages of Ganeshpuri and Vajreshwari, seventy miles north-east of Mumbai...
as a public trust in India to administer the work there, and founded the SYDA Foundation in the United States to administer the global work of Siddha Yoga meditation. He wrote many books; sixteen are still kept in print by the SYDA Foundation.
In May 1982, Muktananda appointed two successors as joint leaders of the movement, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda
Gurumayi Chidvilasananda
Gurumayi Chidvilasananda is the commonly used name of Malti Shetty , who is the current guru of the Siddha Yoga lineage. She is formally known as Swami Chidvilasananda or more casually as Gurumayi...
, his former translator, and her brother Mahamandaleshwar Nityananda, who later resigned and formed his own group. Muktananda died in October 1982 and is buried at Ganeshpuri, where the Gurudev Siddha Peeth ashram houses his samādhi shrine.
According to the Siddha Yoga organization,
Teaching
Swami Muktananda's teaching can be summarized in two quotations:- Honor your Self, Worship your Self, Meditate on your Self, God dwells within you as you.
- See God in Each Other.
Criticism
Some former members of Siddha Yoga have accused Muktananda of abusive behaviour which is at odds with his teachings. Stan Trout (Swami Abhayananda) repeated a story told to him in an open resignation letter in 1981, that Muktananda had molested women on the pretext of checking their virginity. William Rodarmor published an article in CoEvolution QuarterlyCoEvolution Quarterly
CoEvolution Quarterly is a descendant of Stewart Brand's Whole Earth Catalog. It eventually became the Whole Earth Review.-History:...
of winter 1983. These included a number of young women who claimed to have been raped by Muktananda at the Ganeshpuri ashram. Other allegations concerned harassment of ex members who claimed to have witnessed various abuses by Muktananda, Micheal Dinga and his wife Chandra reported receiving death threats after they left which they claimed only stopped when a detective visited the Oakland ashram.
Lis Harris
Lis Harris
Lis Harris is an American journalist and author and was for 25 years a staff writer on The New Yorker magazine which she left in 1995. She is now an associate professor of writing at Columbia University.-Major publications:...
repeated and extended those in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
of November 14, 1994.
Sarah Caldwell suggests in 2001, in the academic journal Nova Religio
Nova Religio
Nova Religio is a peer-reviewed religious studies journal that focuses on New Religious Movements. The journal is published by University of California Press, in Berkeley, California...
, that Muktananda was both an enlightened teacher and a secret practitioner of an esoteric form of Tantric
Tantra
Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
sexual yoga, and that he also engaged in actions that were not ethical, legal, or liberatory with many disciples.