THE GRACE OF SATGURUNATH’S BLESSED PRANAPAT

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The sun was shining its gentle morning rays as we picked up leaves and cleaned the ashram grounds. Nature’s music – the sound of rustling trees and the cows chewing the grass – surrounded us, and the fresh air filled our lungs. What another beautiful morning it was, and for efficiency’s sake I was using two brooms to clean. When I had first come to the ashram and greeted Gurunath, he said that we had arrived just in time to pick up the leaves and clean. With this at the forefront of my mind, I pushed my arms to the brink of their strength to continuously sweep vigorously, a broom in each hand, ignoring my asthma and any fatigue. Daily, we continued to joyfully help clean the ashram grounds, breathing in the clean air as we did seva.

One day during a satsang, Gurunath was imparting the grace of Pranapat (breathing his spiritual prana through our breath in our spinal cord), when he told us that we could put our arms back to stretch. As I did this, I felt a tingling on my upper back. The tingling was so condensed and concentrated that it felt like a hand was placed on my back. Afterwards, I breathed in normally and felt an expansiveness in my chest, to a point not previously possible without Gurunath’s grace of Pranapat. I had suffered from asthma since I was a child. However, it felt as if this limitation was gone as there was no constriction in my breathing.

After the satsang was over I tested my breathing by running around the ashram grounds, and my breathing remained steady. Later that day I went swimming, and I could swim the length of the pool without coming up for air! All these things were not previously possible. With extreme gratitude in my heart, I thanked Gurunath when we were walking together on a path with others. He said it had helped to breathe in the medicinal fresh air of the ashram while I swept so vigorously, and that my asthma being alleviated shows the anti-aging benefits of being there.

Since then, I have not had to use my inhalers at all. In the past, I used a preventive inhaler daily, a rescue inhaler several times a week, and a nebulizer during particularly bad asthma attacks. I had prayed to Gurunath to help alleviate my asthma, as it had sometimes interfered with my sadhana in doing the Kriya breath. With Gurunath’s blessings this obstacle has been removed.

Jai SatGurunath! Thank you SatGurunath for your ever-present Presence in our lives. Eternal victory to Gurunath, his compassion and mercy overflows from his smiling eyes.

– With love from a devoted disciple

Message from Yogiraj Siddhanath to His Disciples

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Message from Yogiraj Siddhanath, which came on a request initiated by Senior Kriyāvān Kriyacharya Shivraj

GURUDAKSHINA

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The following is excerpted from a  question answered by Sr. Kriyāvān Kriyāchārya Shivraj and compiled by Hamsāchārya Nikhil Yadav.

Speaking of the nature of spiritual wealth, medieval Bhakti saint Mirabai has said “kharch na khootey, chor na lootey, din din badhat sawayo.” (Although it accumulates daily, it cannot be expended, nor can it be stolen away). By its very nature, spiritual wealth is “amolik” or incalculable in lesser human terms.  The saint’s message is not at all an exaggeration brought about by love and reverence alone.  At its heart lies a profound spiritual truth.  For how can something permanently inducing towards growth be compared with the impermanent material wealth that comes and goes?

Only a Satguru who knows the myriad pathways to Supreme truth can guide a disciple to the keys of this spiritual locker.  An embodiment of Divine grace, he takes upon himself negative karma thus freeing some of the obstacles lying in the path of the disciple.  He does so selflessly for the betterment of the disciple’s health and spiritual progress. It is indeed beyond the disciple’s capacity to repay the karmic debt that is incurred at least in this lifetime.  It is only to free the disciple from this karmic obligation that the tradition of gurudakshina has been authorized by Mahavatar Shiv Goraksha Babaji.

Gurudakshina is a sacred exchange of spiritual wealth with material wealth that has been necessarily completed from the Ancient of Days. To cut the cord that binds the soul to the delusion of worldly attachment, an offering of love, reverence and material wealth is given by disciple to the Master.

Nor can anybody other than the Satguru decide upon the terms of this exchange.  If it is his wish that some of the techniques that he has originated be disseminated for free, then instead of having a doubting mind, the disciple should instead open his heart in acceptance to the spiritual generosity of the Satguru.  In any case, neither free techniques nor others can be given to material calculations of profit and loss. Free techniques are just as priceless and the disciple is encouraged not to measure the worth of the spontaneous outpourings of Satguru’s priceless offerings.  Some techniques are free because it is the wish of the Originator that they be free, that’s it.

On the other hand, there are techniques which are bound by the principles of spiritual lineage or parampara.  The techniques of Kriya Yoga have been passed down from times immemorial by Masters of the Kriya lineage who have laid down precise instructions of Gurudakshina that must be followed wherever practices from this hallowed tradition are taught. They have themselves said that this knowledge should not be given for free,  thus leaving no room for the exercise of anybody else’s will or discretion.

Perhaps they felt that even the Satguru faces several obstacles on the physical plane and in order to continue teaching, a necessary exchange of material well-being may ease and resolve some of the hurdles of his physical existence.  In this sense, it becomes the disciples’ utmost duty to see that the Satguru who is the Source of Spiritual Wisdom may be sustained well in his physical form.  Only then will they be able to continue to draw from the deep wells of his spiritual wisdom.  Perhaps as the originators and custodians of these techniques, it was their wish that it be NOT taught for free, that’s it. Our own petty calculations can never fathom the incalculable spiritual insight that is behind the laying down of these sacred principles.

To conclude, it may only be said that the Satguru’s Wisdom and Grace are priceless, the money and the willingness to pay for them will decide the worth of the seeker.

SAMĀRĀDHANĀ / Group Meditation: The Importance of Community Humanity

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Siddhanath Yoga Sangh Group Meditation

By Sr. Kriyāvān Kriyāchārya Shivraj (with quotes from Yogiraj)

The following is a question/answer response given by Sr. Kriyāvān Kriyāchārya Shivraj.

Question:
Is group meditation necessary and how beneficial is it?
In which stages of the Spiritual journey is it the most essential and beneficial?

Answer:
The spiritual faculties of concentration and meditation on the divine light, sound, and vibration are enhanced.  So are the feelings of faith in the Satguru’s energy transmissions for healing, transforming and enlightening the disciples with wisdom. These are faculties that are essential and required for the spiritual development of the disciples.

In the initial stages of sadhana, not all these faculties are developed in the amateur sādhak with equal strength and/or at the same time, making the practice of techniques a bit complicated or confusing.  Also, for some struggling sadhaks, stuck in a phase of life where there are a lot of karmic disturbances, mental turmoil, and emotional pains, being able to concentrate on these meditative faculties or feeling the energy transmissions bestowed by the Satguru is a very difficult task.  That’s where the spiritual family and the spiritual brotherhood of being co-disciples has a very crucial and vital role to play.

When one sits in a group meditation, then different sadhaks have different strong faculties, due to which the whole group equally and uniformly avails of the benefits bestowed by the Satguru.  Even the transmissions of Shakti-Paath, Praan-Paath, and Shiva-Paath, are felt more prominently and strongly.

Yogiraj always says that “Humanity Is Tied By The Self Same Cord Of Breath.” 

That is exactly why the spiritual energy of the Master doesn’t work on any one particular individual, but has its impact on the group as a whole and thereby the group works as a spiritual booster and propeller to the lesser attuned seekers.

When more than one or two human beings with the same faith and the same modus-operandi tune in to the same spiritual frequency, under the divine shelter of the same Master, then the possibilities of making mistakes while practicing the techniques, getting bothered and deterred by personal karmic obstacles, mental negativities and emotional pains of life, or missing out on or not receiving the Satguru’s spiritual grace are reduced and the cord of breath is stronger than a single person’s cord of breath.

In a group meditation, we are creating and harmonizing the universal principle of uniting individual consciousness to strengthen universal consciousness as a result of which we expedite the process of awakening the cosmic consciousness.  All the rough edges are well rounded off and all the bumps and ditches on the path are uniformly filled up.

That is why in the traditional sadhana system group meditations are always more helpful and beneficial for all the sadhaks whether they are “new and amateur” or “old and proficient”.  This is especially important for disciples and sadhaks who are struggling with physical/emotional/mental and karmic issues.

Group meditations are a vital support system at all levels of existence.  Sometimes suffering the pain becomes much less and easier because of the strength of the united core of prana, and the heightened awareness and faith in the Satguru.

Traditional group meditation is called SAMĀRĀDHANĀ.

What Happens to the Soul After Death?

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By Yogiraj Siddhanath

Is Death the final goal of life or is there life after death? And if there is life, what are the turns and twists and evolutionary journey in life after death, until the soul is reborn again? This question has long perturbed humankind caught between medical sciences which have for long tried to prolong life, thinking it to be the only one, and the rishis and yogis who have claimed to conquer ultimate Death freeing themselves from the unending cycle of birth and death.

For realised beings of the Vedic era, there is no “after death”, because for the soul there is no death, so how can there be “after death”? What normal people call death is in reality only the end of the physical body. The earth known as Mrityu Lok, is the plane of mortality, where life ends with the decay and death of the physical body perceived by our five senses.

The journey of the soul after death, which in India we call devachan or devasthan was originally discovered and intuited by the ancient sages of India thousands of years ago, and one can find the details of this in the Brahmanical rituals of the shraad. Narratives of near-death experiences in modern times have validated many of the stages in this journey.

According to the Sanatan system of knowing, the soul though itself an immortal entity residing in a physical body, has a lifespan. This lifespan differs from individual to individual, as per their personal karma. According to its lifespan, the soul lives in the physical body, does good deeds, neutral deeds, bad deeds, living according to the karma released to it for this lifetime. Then comes old age, the body starts to decay and like our garments get old and torn and must be discarded, the body too is discarded by the soul.

Here begins the journey of the soul after the death of the physical body.

At the first instance, the soul leaves the outermost coat, which is the physical casement, or the physical garment, but the coat of its subtler emotional and mental garments remains. The body is burnt, the physical body, the garment, which is not the soul — the apparent self is burnt, and the true self, the soul, covered by its passions, emotions and the mind passes out of the body.

For seventy-two hours after the body shell is burnt or buried the soul remains in the plane called the Pret Lok. The soul hovers in the burial or cremation ground as the emotional, mental and intuitional body disengages itself from the physical and ethereal body while working out its grossest karma, those that are closest to the physical body.

On the third day, according to the shraad ritual the soul is offered food that it enjoyed when in the body. It’s laid out so that the spirit, which is there, satisfies its last leftover desires, to move from Pret Lok to the next plane, called the Pishachya Lok.

Once in the Pishachya Lok, the soul works out the subtler karmas of its emotional and passional body, satisfying its carnal desires before it can break through the Pishachic shell. To facilitate the breaking of the shell a ritual is performed on this day to release the soul from its limited passional and emotional consciousness, to get it into a state of mental consciousness. When that puja is done, the shell breaks.

Around the tenth day the soul, having more or less satisfied all its desires starts its transition to the Pitr Lok, the plane of the ancestors. Here the ancestors and in the case of disciples their Satguru will appear to lead the soul through the maze. Even though most of the residual karmas are worked out, in the initial stages even of Pitr Lok some differences and bitterness are resolved. Nullifying all its karma the soul gets purer and joins its ancestors, those who are enlightened.

The soul then finally rests in the Dev Lok, the heavenly spheres. After working out all its good and bad karmas the soul rests. This is its journey from the earthly terrestrial sphere of Bhur, to the intermediate astral stage of Bhuvaha to the celestial heavenly sphere of Svaha.

Then again it reincarnates, descending from Svaha, to Bhuvaha to Bhur, taking once again, an intuitional body, then a mental body, an emotional then an etheric body, and finally a physical body in the womb of a mother who is most suitable for its karma.  Parents who will give the maximum facilities for its spiritual evolution are chosen by the soul.

This not just a belief in India, it’s a fact and many have had firsthand experience of it. So death is nothing to be afraid of.

“Why do people think of me what I am not supposed to be?

They call me death and yet I take them to Eternity.

Oh, this paradox of ignorance

Deludes humanity.”*

Now we come to the most important part, what happens to a sincerely practicing yogi progressing along the chosen path in this process of life and death, in the terrestrial plane and afterlife? A meditating yogi, depending upon the practice and because of the speed of the evolutionary practice of yoga works out the karma of the devachan, life after the death of the body, while in the body itself. The yogi does not go through the planes of bhuvaha and svaha, the yogi does not travel through the pret and pishachya lok nor the pitr lok. Some even transcend the dev lok, consciously leaving this body to merge into the finality of the Supreme Conscious Being.

*From Yogiraj Siddhanath’s poem, “Death”

Note: This is a reprint of an article published January 18, 2019 in the online publication, The Pioneer.

For more of Yogiraj’s profound wisdom, meet him at an upcoming event or watch his YouTube videos!

Way of the White Swan, the journey of the jeevhamsa

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By Yogiraj Siddhanath

Progress into the inner recesses of the brain

The journey of our soul can be summed up as the cycle of the involution of Consciousness through mind into matter and then its subsequent evolution from matter into mind and Consciousness.

The human soul, in order to complete its cycle of evolution first descends and gets engrossed in the various sheaths of the body, the mental sheath, the emotional sheath, the etheric sheath and finally in the womb the material sheath of flesh and bones. Forgetting its true nature, it gets more and more restricted as in relative sequence by various permutations and combinations of molecules it becomes more and more dense. In this descending arc of involution called the Pravritti Marg, the soul sinks more and more into the material world, garnering the experiences of joy and sorrow, right and wrong, bad and good, garnering experiences in the world of relativity in the material world.

After being buffeted by raag (attractions) and dvesh (repulsions), the joys and miseries of the material world and satisfying the lust for life, the inner-spirit of the soul-swan pushes it towards its own evolution, the Nivritti Marg, the inward path of return. This is the evolutionary path of renunciation and detachment from all worldly pleasures of samsara. Here the soul consciousness begins to withdraw itself from the grosser sheath of matter to the subtler spheres of the mind. Moving to complete its cycle of evolution it ascends, and becomes more and more transparent by yogic and spiritual practices, the flame of its soul expresses more and more of its innate spiritual radiance. The jeevhamsa begins its inner yogic ascent through ever more refined and ever more expanded spheres of consciousness to get to the god-essence, the divine in-dweller that lies at the core of its own Being.

The evolution of the human consciousness is the most comprehensive enterprise ever undertaken by the Yogis, compared to which the greatest of human achievements pale into insignificance. A journey inwards unsurpassed by any journey into outer space.  In the human brain exist the lateral ventricles in the shape of a swan poised in flight, with its wings thrust forward and its head pointing to the back. When a Hamsa Yogi, through yogic meditation and pranayama, activates the kundalini energy, these ventricles in the brain open up. The two petals in the agnya chakra corresponding to the pituitary gland open first. The yogi at this stage experiences hamsa consciousness of being breathed by the Divine in-dweller, the universal prana.

As the yogi further continues and progresses in the hamsa meditation, the third eye opens up in the agnya chakra and the yogi goes into the ecstasy of sarvikalpa consciousness. Then penetrating the star in the third eye the hamsayogi expands into the state of nirvikalpa consciousness, dwelling in the cave of Brahma, the brain’s third ventricle. The evolution of the human consciousness does not stop there. The awareness of the yogi evolves further beyond the I-ness of humanity to settle in the spaces of the lateral swan-like ventricles of the brain. Then in a final push the mighty hamsa, the soul wins its wings to final freedom and liberation. The corona radiata of the brain light up with divine effulgence and the yogi takes flight into cosmic consciousness. Experiencing the total divinity of and beyond creation, gaining the ultimate knowledge of Tat Tvam Asi, the yogi merges into Niranjan Nirvan, the final nirvana of the Kaivalya Samadhi. Having attained the enlightenment of the Buddha and the Christ such beings come back to this world only as an Avatar.

This is where we are going, in spite of ourselves.  Because the whole warp and weft of the cosmic flow, the galactic swirl, the universal swirl is towards Divinity.  And because the whole swirl and sway and swing and rhythm and music of the universe is towards Divinity, we cannot help but flow in that direction.

Within each one of us is this mystic, inconceivable, indescribable silence and love, and the urge to return to this natural state, the Sahaj Samadhi.

“Beyond the gates of death I glide – untied
Into regions sublime – surpassing causation, space and time.
Here Eternal bliss is King by name of Sat Chit Anand,
Whose life is loving Brahmananda.”

Note: This is a reprint of an article published January 4, 2019 in the online publication, The Pioneer.

** Yogiraj will be back in Europe, the U.S. and Canada in the spring and summer of 2019! You can join him now at events in India! Learn more at our Siddhanath Events Page.

Smoke, Seva, and Surprises at Mt. Shasta

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Yogiraj meditating with disciples at the Upper Sacramento River by Mt. Shasta.

Yogiraj meditating with disciples at the Upper Sacramento River by Mt. Shasta.

Despite smoke from the nearby fires obscuring views of Mt. Shasta, the Shasta retreat held many delightful surprises for the participants. For the benefactors, one wonderful moment came while taking a boat ride in Lake Siskiyou. Yogiraj promised that the air would clear enough for them to be able to see Mt. Shasta. And sure enough, at one moment on the trip, the grateful benefactors could see the majestic mountain peeking out from the smoky haze.

On Saturday morning of the retreat, Hamsas had another delight at the Dunsmuir Botanical Gardens. After teaching theGoraksha Gayatri mantra, Yogiraj told the Hamsas to meditate by the nearby Upper Sacramento River for 15-20 minutes. Hamsas scampered to find rocks to sit on by the bank of the gushing river. When they opened their eyes, some people were astonished to see Yogiraj himself seated nearby on the riverbank, seated in still meditation. So they quickly closed their eyes again, experiencing a deep and powerful meditation.

Those who visited the merchandise tables were delighted to browse a beautifully illustrated picture book, A Master Stroke by Divine Destiny, written by Guruma Shivangini. It tells the story of her birth into a royal family to her marriage with Yogiraj, after which she has led a life of seva (selfless service). The book reveals many of Guruma’s personal mystical encounters with sages and saints.

But the crème de la crème was the opportunity to purchase a copy of Yoga Patanjal, Yogiraj’s experiential rendition of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. This beautiful, little gilded book fits nicely in a purse or pocket and contains Yogiraj’s own spiritual revelations. The highlight of the retreat was when Hamsas lined up to have their copies of the book personally signed by Yogiraj.

Much love and effort were poured into the two books authored by Yogiraj and Guruma. Our Satguru and his beloved are both shining examples of the theme that Yogiraj discussed during the Shasta retreat, which is “Accept the world as it is and get on with the job at hand.”

Seva

Seva was a resounding theme at Mount Shasta.  Seva is selfless service, done without any thought of reward or payment.  Even the most menial tasks, undertaken with the right attitude, is Seva.  Seva dissolves the ego.

Yogiraj often asks us to consider which ashram seva dissolves the ego more: cleaning the temple or scrubbing the toilets?  The answer is the latter.  It is not that one must choose the more difficult or least enjoyable task. Rather, the less we resist something we don’t enjoy doing, the more we have to set aside this dislike in order to do it. If we approach our tasks without resistance, and simply “get on with the job at hand” the service becomes selfless. Every task we do, whether picking up leaves from the lawn, throwing away garbage in the meditation hall, receiving other Hamsas at registration, setting up for a satsang, breaking down after satsang, becomes seva if we do it without self.

The most difficult seva is to remain where you are or to go where you must go when you have agreed to undertake a task at that “Most Particular Time” when Yogiraj gives a spontaneous satsang.  That longing to remain near Yogiraj or to be with Yogiraj is great, but seva means you are to get on with the job at hand.  So go do that job!  Give yourself entirely to service, without thought for whether or not a particular act of seva serves you.

Seva is not reserved for events.  If Yogiraj’s mission is to evolve humanity, then we must strengthen Community Humanity; we must ourselves participate in Community Humanity. This too is seva.

Finally, seva can also be a way of living.  How many moments in your day can you serve without ego?

 

** Yogiraj will be back in Europe, the U.S. and Canada in the spring and summer of 2019! You can join him now at events in India! Learn more at our Siddhanath Events Page.

Dreamweaver Experience 2016

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Lovingly dedicated to Yogiraj Satgurunath Siddhanath on his birthday, May 10, 2018
Humbly presented in an introduction
before the Satsang in Toronto, July 21, 2018.
By Brad Smith –  Devotee, Canada – 2018

Note: The Dreamweaver experience described in this article will be given by Yogiraj at these two upcoming retreats:

In September of 2016, while attending a retreat at Stony Point Center in the state of New York, I had a wonderful experience with Yogiraj Siddhanath called the “Dreamweaver.” This is given by Yogiraj at some of the extended retreats.

On the first evening of the retreat, Yogiraj explained that we may experience a dream, or we may not, but that he would be working on our chakras during the night to help us speed up our spiritual evolution. He had cautioned that we would get what we needed, not necessarily what we wanted. As instructed by Yogiraj, at 2 a.m. we came to the meditation building and meditated in front of Yogiraj’s picture to connect with him. Then we returned to our rooms. I had no expectations as I drifted off to sleep.

As I entered the dream state, I became aware that I was standing in the large grassy area beside the meditation building. I saw Yogiraj standing about 20 feet away from me dressed all in white and radiating this breathtakingly beautiful, “cottony” white light that appeared to have a texture and feel to it.  There was a white soccer ball in front of me on the grass and I kicked it to Yogiraj.  As the soccer ball reached him, it began to glow the same beautiful cottony white and was transformed into a ball made of light.  Yogiraj then kicked the ball of light to me, and I had to run a little to the side to intercept it.  As the ball touched my foot, a wondrous surge of light energy rushed up into my body to the top of my head.  But it wasn’t just light. It was filled with beautiful wordless truths about my journey in life.

There was so much information in the light, I haven’t even scratched the surface in decoding all of what was contained in it.  I felt as though I was in a euphoric state of higher knowingness, and even though I remember having realization after realization, I can’t tell you even one of them specifically since I can’t access them as I am right now.

After I ran to get the soccer ball and the light rushed into my body, I kicked the ball back to Yogiraj. This process repeated itself over and over. Sometimes I would have to run farther or faster to intercept the ball. Other times I would only have to move a few steps to access this wonderful light energy being given to me. Just like in all of our lives, there are days that are very challenging, and we have to run father for that ball. Then there are other days that are wonderful, where the ball comes right to us with little effort.

There were two messages from the experience with Yogiraj that resounded very deeply within me that I can put into words:

1. If you work at it, like running to get the ball, you will succeed in the game of life.

And in particular:

2. If you maintain effort with your Kriya practice, you will succeed in gaining this wisdom.

I remember thinking immediately after the Dreamweaver experience, when I was not yet fully awake, that the wordless truths from that soccer game encompassed not only my life but the connectivity of all life from the sub-atomic, to the gigantic.  I believe that the rest is for me to discover through Kriya Yoga under the guidance of Yogiraj Siddhanath.

If you haven’t been empowered into Kriya Yoga by this Master, please do yourself a favor and do so. It could end up being the most significant decision you make in this life.

 

Yogiraj Honored as Chief Guest at Sherwood College’s 149th Founder’s Day

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Yogiraj receiving an award at Sherwood College, where he was honored as chief guest.

By Arnab Datta –  Devotee, UK – 2018

“Mereat Quisque Palmam”. These Latin words meaning “Let each one merit his prize” adorn the gates of Sherwood College, a school nestled in the beautiful hills of Nainital in the northern regions of India. Founded in 1869, it has seen many illustrious people of India from the nation’s first Indian Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, the most recognized and Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, and the foremost master in Kriya Yoga, our very own beloved master, Yogiraj Satgurunath Siddhanath.

Yogiraj was in the 1962 final year batch (class 12). He was a swimmer par excellence and was awarded a certificate of courage for his rescue efforts in a drowning incident. He was also an excellent gymnast, boxer, and bodybuilder in his school and college days. In many of his satsangs globally, Yogiraj often reminisces of the good old days in Sherwood and it had been a long-cherished wish to visit Sherwood.

This wish crystallized in a majestic way when Sherwood had the honor and privilege of inviting Yogiraj as the chief guest at this year’s 149th Founder’s ceremony. Beloved Guruma also accompanied him. The event started with skating, a swimming and diving show, exhibitions of various societies, a Horsman Wing (junior school) Production and the Middle School Production.

Yogiraj led a deeply spiritual and wonderful session with the parents in the chapel, where he spoke about his experiences and read a few of his poems, such as “Maya”.

The Batch of 1993 was also there to celebrate their 25th-year reunion.  They presented a bell for the Horsman Wing which was inaugurated by Yogiraj.

It was a brilliant event, showcasing the unbelievable levels of physical fitness, artistic talents, and creativity that the school promotes and encourages. No wonder it churns out such shining stars year after year, and it is undoubtedly true that the most luminous of those stars blessed the school with his presence this year.

 

 

Yoga Patanjal, an Experiential Revelation

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By Jyoti Subramanian –  Devotee, India – 2018

Yogiraj’s birthday this month marked the birth of his new book, Yoga Patanjal. More than a scholarly rendition of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the book is an experiential revelation of Yogiraj’s realizations. Yoga Patanjal will be sold at Yogiraj’s 2018 World Tour events.

Very briefly in Yogiraj’s own words, “To facilitate your entry into the highest spheres with your satguru, I have taken considerable pain and effort to make available this gold-gilded pocketbook for you, as I love you. I am always there for you and even if you understand one verse in the book I will be happy, though all of you are capable of much more.”

The book was formally released post lunch on May 10th at the Siddhanath Forest Ashram in Pune after the disciples finished their morning Kriya Yoga practice session with Yogiraj. Present at the launch were Yogiraj’s mausi (meaning “like a mother”, a term used for one’s mother’s sister in India) and his sister, Durga. Yogiraj handed the first book to his aunt whom he referred to as his mother and then to his sister and Gurumata. The disciples received the book with all their blessings after that.

It is understood in the annals of Sanatan philosophy that the birth and manifestation of a satguru is the result of a collective yearning of humankind for the realization of the self and the divinity within. Satgurus of certain lineage come from time to time to guide, tweak and point the way towards speedier evolution for contemporary seekers. In short, according to Yogiraj, one deserves the guru one gets!

May 10th is the birthday of our Satguru Yogiraj Siddhanath who was born on this day in 1944. Disciples and sadhaks make their way to the Siddhanath Forest Ashram on this day to express their devotion and gratitude to him, who has shown them the way from ignorance to eternal truth, from darkness to light and from death to divinity. In a deeper and esoteric manner on this day the disciples are also born anew. So instead of “Happy birthday to you”, Yogiraj asked his disciples to sing “Happy birthday to me”, which they did very joyously, understanding their oneness with him.

The auspicious day started, as it usually does at the ashram, with the disciples making their way to the dining area and the morning satsang over breakfast and tea. Yogiraj at that time revealed that his book, Yoga Patanjal, was ready and would be available to the disciples later that day. He then went on to give a powerful message blessing his disciples and humanity in general with nuggets gleaned from this book.

The contemporary satguru brings to light ancient knowledge and wisdom which is still extant and pertinent in a language understandable to modern-day seekers. He cautioned seekers to concentrate on the living spirit rather than perusing the dead letter, an instruction that is very precious for the sincere spiritual aspirant.

Being in the presence of a householder satguru is an enchanting experience for the disciples and they got to see the simple and loving interchange of dialogue between him and Gurumata in the evening when she wore a sari presented to her by Yogiraj for this occasion. The happiness between them was palpable and spilled over to the disciples many of whom are enmeshed in the trammels of daily familial living. Disciples dressed in their finery for the evening of celebration. Gurumata began the arati, which is the waving of a lamp in devotion to the satguru. She then passed the lamp to other disciples.

The kids, of whom there were many, of course, had eyes only for the cake. The evening ended with sharing of prasad (blessed food) and dinner.