Yoga Blogs India

Sources: JaiBihar.com and http://yogamag.net/

Paramahamsa Satyananda who inspired millions to live the divine life took maha samadhi at midnight on December 5th.

Swami Satyananda Saraswati, the founder of the world famous Bihar School of Yoga (Munger), took Mahasamadhi on Saturday at Rikhia Dham in Deoghar.

Acoording to the tradition for Paramahansas, a shodashi puja (sixteen day ritual) will be observed at Rikhiapeeth for Paramahansaji which will culminate in the final puja on December 22.

Disciples and devotees are flocking to Rikhia to offer homage to Swamiji.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today expressed grief over the demise of Swamiji. In his condolence message, he said, Swami Satyanand Sarswati was like a star in the field of yoga. Swami Satyanand Saraswati spread the importance of yoga in the world, the chief minister stated.

The messages of the Swami were inspiring and worth following, the chief minister said, adding Swami Satyanand Saraswati established a healthy and enriched culture. He hoped that the followers of Swami Satyanand Saraswati would help in reconstruction of the society and the state.

Swami Satyananda Saraswati was born in Almora, in the Himalayan foothills. His parents were large landowners. As a young child he experienced spontaneous spiritual experiences. In 1943 at nineteen, Swami Satyananda came to live and take sannyasa from Swami Sivananda at Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh. There he served in different departments at the Ashram for over 12 years. He edited the ashram’s Hindi journal, wrote various articles and composed poems in both Hindi and Sanskrit. He wrote a translation and commentary in the English language of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad by Swami Sivananda.

Upon leaving the ashram, he wandered through India, Afghanistan, Nepal, Burma and Ceylon for the next 8 years, extending his knowledge of spiritual practices. He eventually found his way to Munger, Bihar. After establishing himself there, in 1963 he founded the International Yoga Fellowship and the Bihar School of Yoga a year later.

He taught yoga globally for the next twenty years and authored a number of books. In 1988, he retired from active involvement in yoga teaching and handed active work of his Ashram to his disciple Swami Niranjanananda. He lived in seclusion as a Paramahamsa Sannyasin performing higher spiritual and vedic sadhanas.

Disciples devotees friends and well wishers are flocking to rikhia to offer shradhanjali.

All are welcome for the blessings of Paramahansaji that were abundantly flowing to all he came in contact with during his lifetime and have now magnified a thousand fold after he abandoned his body to attain maha samadhi.

Websites of Bihar School of Yoga: http://yogavision.net, http://yogamag.net/