Marshall Govindan Satchidananda has practiced Babaji's Kriya Yoga intensively since 1969.

He studied and practiced Kriya Yoga in India for five years with Yogi S.A.A. Ramaiah. He also assisted him in the establishment of 23 yoga centers around the world during an 18 year period. During this period he practiced Kriya Yoga for eight hours per day on average, and as a result attained Self-realization. While in India he studied the Tamil language and the works of the Tamil Yoga Siddhas. In 1980 he assisted in the collection and publication of the complete writings of Siddhar Boganathar.

In 1986 he administered the construction of a rehabilitation hospital dedicated to Yoga therapy and physical therapy in Tamil Nadu, India. In 1988 he was asked by Babaji Nagaraj, the founder of Kriya Yoga to begin teaching. This followed the completion of certain rigorous requirements to initiate others in the 144 Kriyas given to him by Yogi Ramaiah five years earlier.

In 1991, he wrote the best selling book, "Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga Tradition", now published in 13 languages. In 1992 he established Babaji's Kriya Yoga Ashram in St. Etienne de Bolton, Quebec. Classes, seminars and retreats are offered there year round. In 1995, he retired from his work as the chief systems auditor for Quebec's largest employer, the cooperative Mouvement Desjardins to devote himself full time to teaching and publishing in the field of Yoga. Since then, he has travelled extensively throughout the world guiding about 50 Kriya Yoga study groups in over 20 countries, and an ashram and publiishing office in Bangalore, India, and a lay order of teachers of Kriya Yoga: Babaji's Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas, a non-profit educational charity, incorporated in the USA, Canada and India. He has authored and published over fifteen books on the subject of Yoga, His book, the “Kriya Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Siddhas,” has been critically acclaimed, and for the first time demonstrates the close connections between Classical Yoga and the Siddhars.

Since 1989 he has personally initiated over 10,000 persons in Babaji's Kriya Yoga in a series of intensive sessions and retreats. In October 1999 he was blessed with the darshan of Babaji Nagaraj near his ashram in Badrinath, Himalayas.
He is currently co-directing a team of scholars in a large scale research project encompassing the whole of the literature related to the Yoga of the Tamil Siddhars. He is a graduate of Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He is married to Durga Ahlund.

Durga Ahlund Govindan has been practicing and studying Yoga since 1967.

She has shared her experience of yoga as a teacher of Hatha Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Raja Yoga and Kriya Yoga and as a therapist since 1984. She co-authored, performed, and produced with Marshall Govindan, the Yoga video, "Babaji's Kriya HathaYoga, Self-realization through Action with Awareness."

She developed and teaches a 200-hour Teacher Training Course for Babaji's Kriya Yoga and she developed the Kriya Yoga correspondence course, 'The Grace Course' and writes it with MG Satchidananda. She was inducted into the teaching Order of Acharyas of Babaji's Kriya Yoga in Bangalore, India in January 2003. She is married to Marshall Govindan and has two grown sons. Visit Durga's Blog www.seekingtheself.com

Rohini has practiced Kriya Yoga intensely since 1997, under the guidance and direction of M. Govindan, disciple of Babaji and author of the book babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga Tradition.

After fullfilling certain rigorous conditions over several years, Rohini was inducted into Babaji's Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas in Bangalore, India. She is now authorized to conduct first level initiations into Babaji's Kriya Yoga in Australia and abroad. She began her study of Yoga in the 1990's with Patabhis Jois, in Mysore and has raised a daughter through college graduation, managed a boutique and taught high school students.

She gives weekly classes at her home in Daylesford, Australia, and teaches Kriya Yoga in seminars all over Australia and abroad.

Shanti Ananda was born in Guatemala City, Central America.

She earned her Masters in Counseling Psychology from ASU, and has worked in the prevention and intervention field for the last 15 years. She has been studying Yoga since 1970, and was first initiated into Babaji's Kriya Yoga in 1991. In July, 2001 she became a member of Babaji's Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas. Shanti is now authorized to initiate others into the first level of Babaji's Kriya Yoga. She conducts regular satsang gatherings in her hometown of Tempe, Arizona. In July, 2001, after several years of rigourous training, Shantiananda was authorized to become an Acharya in Babaji's Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas.

She now teaches the first level initiation seminar of Babaji's Kriya Yoga in the Southwest as well as in Spanish speaking countries.

Arjuna Really I do not know what to write, my past is of no real importance, and who I am is not what I've done or I'm doing. I'm an actor in a perfect drama, I do not know what tomorrow reserves me in the role play, but it doesn't really matter. I'm the wick, remember? Complete surrender to the Lord helps to bring the wax to the flame and burn to the light, that is what I feel here and now.

So, I'm not the candle or the flame, I'm not the light either, but only the means for the Divine to let Himself being experienced. What experiences in the representation of my actual life are more significant? I do not know, and probably they are so only if read in the context of past and future lives, but there is no past or future either, only space and through that space we are desperately seeking for truth, not our limited sensorial truth, but that which has no words, only a deep total experience of bliss. We can say I'm an ordinary person, born in Italy, with a love for horseback riding, living in Italy with a stressful job in an investment bank, with an expertise in NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) and hypnosis, I daily experiment all emotions everyone does, I can feel frustration, sadness, happiness, sexuality and so on.

I know how to laugh and how to cry, how to get angry and how to forgive, but moreover I never am any of these emotions, I simply can experiment and enjoy these variations like diving in the sea and playing with the waves.This is what I can say.
Om Kriya Babaji Nama Aum.

Ananda is the organizer our activities in Atlanta, Georgia and was initiated in 1993 more than 10 years ago. She is a representative of the Bell South Telephone company in Atlanta, and the mother of a teenage daughter.

Nityananda (Nacho Albalat) is a native of Valencia, on the east coast of Spain. He was initiated into Babaji's Kriya Yoga in 1997, learned the advanced Kriyas in 1998 and 1999, and since then has practiced them faithfully. He has also actively collaborated in the diffusion of Babaji's Kriya Yoga throughout Spain by organizing seminars and translating publications. He has translated into Spanish the books "Kriya Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Siddhas", "The Voice of Babaji: The Trilogy on Kriya Yoga", and the Kriya Yoga Journals since the beginning, and several initiation seminars. He was also responsible for translating and recording the video course "Babaji's Kriya Hatha Yoga: Self-realization through Action with Awareness".

He has a University degree in journalism and he has worked for several local media organizations, promoting subjects related to personal growth and spirituality in the community. He is happily married to his wife Aurora, who is also a distinguished journalist, and has one daughter.

As an acharya, his major aspiration is: "to transmit the best possible way the teachings and techniques of Babaji's Kriya Yoga." Through it, any person can manifest his potential and improve not only one's own life, but that of everyone around.

Sharana Devi of Sao Paulo, Brazil, became an Acharya in 2003.

Born in 1961, she recounts how she first met Babaji in a dream, in 1993. At that time she had no knowledge of Yoga or of Babaji. Babaji told her that he was her Guru. After this dream she began looking for information about Babaji, and found Yoganandaji's "Autobiography of a Yogi." She followed Yogananda's lessons from the SRF, for five years, and then met M. Govindan Satchidananda, who initiated her into the 144 Kriyas of Babaji's Kriya Yoga from 1998 to 2000, in Brazil and Canada. She has practiced these diligently and faithfully since then. She also completed the requirements for the Kriya Hatha Yoga Teacher Training program and gives several classes to the public every week since 2001.

Sharana Devi works as a body mind therapist since 1993. She was certified by Stanilaus Grof in Holotropic Breathwork in 1996 and uses it to facilitate the growth of those who are in spiritual emergencies or emotional problems.

Married with three children, she states that "the practice of Babaji's Kriya Yoga has completely transformed my life and the people around me."

Saraswati Karuna Devi of Sao Paulo Brazil. Born in 1948, in Egypt, of British nationality, she moved with her parents to Brazil when she was twelve. She became a seeker of God and a practioner of a Yoga as a teenager. During her first visit to India in 1981, she recognized the presence and guidance of Babaji in her life.

In 1996 she was initiated by M. Govindan Satchidananda into Babaji's Kriya Yoga in Canada, and received the second and third level initiations in 1997 and 1998. Since that time she has not stopped practicing it, and began sharing it with others while completing the Teacher Training requirements for Kriya Hatha Yoga in 2001. She teaches several classes per week in Kriya Hatha Yoga.

Trained as a Jungian psychologist, she became a student of Stanislaus Grof in the 1970's, and since then has worked intensively in private practice as a transpersonal psychologist, using his Holotropic Breathwork and related techniques. She is knowledgeable in numerous spiritual traditions and practices.

Satyananda was inducted into the Order of Babaji's Kriya Yoga in Aug 2005, in a ceremony in Germany. He had dedicated several years to intense study and practice of Babaji's Kriya Yoga and to serving Babaji's Kriya Yoga in the form of Karma Yoga, and as a translator, both at the Quebec ashram and in Germany.

Satya, who is trained as a Clinical Psychologist has worked as a psychosomatic therapist and as an Industrial Psychologist in various corporation settings in Germany. But, it has been his spiritual pursuits and aspirations, which have created the overriding direction in his life, since 1997. During this time he pursued a study of the spiritual wisdom of the world, eastern psychology, Vedanta and Yoga and taken several personal pilgrimages to India.

Presently, in addition to giving Kriya Yoga initiation seminars, mainly in German speaking countries, Satyananda offers psychological and spiritual counseling and consultation to initiates (or on personal request their friends) on an individual basis for personal affairs, such as: spiritual growth, finding and developing personal potential and new dimensions of a yogic lifestyle or partnership, coping with a spiritual crisis, acute conflict or chronic stress management, preparation for spiritual psychotherapy, handling or psychosomatic-energies symptoms, and processing towards physical and mental health.

Vyasa first became interested in Yoga as a university student in Toronto, where he learned hatha yoga and meditation. As he matured, Vyasa fulfilled his life as a spouse, father and in a successful real estate career. As mid-life approached, he was moved to look for a way to continue his growth and self-awareness with all that is entailed in modern life as a householder. Gradually he made changes that led him to retire from his career and earn an independent living, to devote his time to charity hospice work and to maintain a practice of Kriya Yoga. Vyasa has been initiated into Babaji's Kriya Yoga and, as an acharya, welcomes all those who are sincere in learning the scientific art of God-Truth union.

Ishvarananda (Ingvar Villido) became an acharya of Babaji's Kriya Yoga in May 2007, during a cermony attended by over 100 persons of the intentional community, Lilleoru, near Tallin, Estonia, which he founded fifteen years earlier. He is the spiritual director of this community and has for many years taught couses in developing awareness and higher consciousness. He has practiced and taught Yoga for more than 20 years. He has received initiations from several lamas and yogis from Tibetan buddhist traditions. Shri Muniraj, disciple of Herakhan Baba, has authorized him to conduct havan (yagya) fire ceremonies. These are conducted regularly at the Lilleroru community temple and yagna peetam. He has made several pilgrimages to India, both north and south. He is a skilled herbalist, community leader, and teacher of spiritual arts and sciences.

Ishvarananda was the managing director of a private company for several years. In his youth he served in the Soviet army for several years. He is now constructing an Eco Village with fourteen homes and a community center, following plans approved with a grant from the European Community. He is married, and the father of three children.

Dayananda was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1953. From the age of 15, he has been passionately engaged in spiritual study and the practice of tai-chi, Buddhism and Yoga. He was initiated into Babaji's Kriya Yoga by Yogi S.A.A. Ramaiah in 1986 in Washington, and received his second initiation from him in Yuma, Arizona in 1987. He received the third initiation, into the balance of the 144 Kriyas in 1991, from M. G. Satchidananda in Quebec. Ever since he has remained in close contact, sharing his experience and karma yoga with Satchidananda. He became a member of Babaji's Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas on June 24, 2007. With the arrival of his retirement in two years, he will dedicate his life to service to the Divine and to Kriya Yoga.

Nandi Devar began his diverse spiritual training from the age of 16. He studied and practiced both Japanese and Tibetan Buddhism. Sogyal Rinpoche taught him Dzogchen. He worked 7 years with S. Salpietro, a Sufi guru. He practiced martial arts for 6 years with a great master. It was after this master died that he felt the need to find some strong tools for personal transformation. He found them in Babaji's Kriya Yoga in 2002, when he was initiated by MG Satchidananda. He was certified in both Kriya Hatha Yoga and Shivananda Yoga and began to teach Hatha Yoga in 2003. His longing to free the personal self into the universal self increased, and what followed was a period of intense sadhana of the 144 Kriya techniques. His prayer that the divine would provide guidance for his life was answered when four weeks later, Satchidananda asked him to join the Order of Acharyas.

Nandi is a professional dancer, with an academic degree and has worked for many years as dance instructor. As a choreographer, he both developed dance theatre and performed with the company. He, and his wife Shakti are now running their own Yoga and Dance studio in Düsseldorf/Germany.

Premananda (Joseba Imanol Idoyaga) of Bilbao, Spain was born and raised in a devoted Christian family, and educated in the values of love and forgiveness. As a young man, he practiced the spiritual exercises prescribed by the St.Ignatius of Loyola. He aspired to dedicate his life to a religious order, until he married and had two children.

He is a graduate in psychopedagogy (the study of psychological education) and computer engineering. He worked for ten years as a computer analyst and later as a teacher in public schools. More recently he became a teacher trainer and lecturer in education centers.

He became an initiate of Tibetan Buddhism and made a pilgrimage to the Himalayas before beginning his initiation and training in Babaji´s Kriya Yoga in 2000. Since completing the teacher training course in Kriya Hatha Yoga, in 2003, he has organized many Kriya Yoga classes, seminars and satsangs in the Basque country.

His main motivation is to serve, and now to do so through Babaji´s Kriya Yoga. Kriya Yoga has been a great support to him during difficult periods, even removing from him the notion of being "difficult."

Valmiki (Mikel Agirreazkuenaga) is a long time student of languages. He is currently a professor of linguistics in the University of theBasque region in Spain. Since 1998 he has worked with the Foundation "Life and Languages" based upon thework of Dr. M.M. Sanchez Carrion, to sustain language cultures- Since beginning his training in Babaji´s Kriya Yoga in 2000, he has come to appreciate it as "language of transformation and service." He has attended many seminars in Babaji´s Kriya Yoga and a Kriya Yoga pilgrimage to India.

He has been sharing his knowledge and love for Babaji´s Kriya Yoga in the Basque region of Spain for several years since completing his training as a teacher of Babaji´s Kriya Hatha Yoga. He is married and has one daughter.

Skanda Vel (Ed Nichols) was introduced to esoteric teachings at a young age by his mother. Inspired by Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi, Skanda was initiated into Babaji’s Kriya Yoga by M.G. Satchidananda in 1998, and has practiced with increasing intensity ever since. He received the 2nd Level initiation in 1999, and the advanced training in 2005. In 2006, he attended the Hatha Yoga Teacher training intensive led by Durga Ahlund, and teaches hatha yoga weekly. Upon invitation to become an acharya, he met certain intense requirements with discipline over the course of one year. Skanda has participated in both the North and South India pilgrimages as well as traveled on his own personal Himalayan adventures.

While studying Biology at C.U. Boulder, Skanda traveled to Brazil to celebrate the new millennium. There, he discovered the popular Amazon superfruit acai and co-founded SAMBAZON, pioneering the introduction of acai to North America. SAMBAZON adheres to organic and fair-trade principals, and is well recognized for its unique model of market driven conservation and social responsibility.

Skanda feels “the degree to which one surrenders to the divine is directly proportional to how beautiful one’s life unfolds”. He looks forward to helping sincere seekers unlock their potential through the grace of Babaji’s Kriya Yoga.

Skanda lives in the small mountain town of Nederland, Colorado, where he hosts and conducts initiations from both his home and the home of his long time Kriyaban friend, Chistopher (Krishna) Brod. His home is an hour from Denver, and 18 miles from Boulder.

Mirabai (Lourdes Planas Calvo) She began to practice Yoga in 2002 and was later initiated into Babaji's Kriya Yoga. This was an important turning point in her. Since then she has participated in several initiations at the second and third levels, and has completed her certification in Babaji`s Kriya Hatha Yoga Teacher Training program. She has also made three Kriya Yoga pilgrimages to India, two in the South and one in the Himalayas. She completed her graduate degree in Nursing during the 1970`s. She is also a physiotherapist since 1984 and received a degree in Social and Cultural Antropology in 2003. Now she is studying for a Masters degree in naturopathy. She has worked as nurse in hospitals and in outpatient departments. From 1977 to 1981 she worked in health services for children under the age of five in Sierra Leona, Western Africa. Professionally, she has introduced yogic techniques to deal with stress for groups of people that suffer from anxiety, depression and other psychosomatic problems. She is married and mother of three children.

Savitri (Maria Rosa Blasco) She was initiated in 2001, and since then she has practiced with enthusiasm the techniques of Babaji's Kriya Yoga, and has participated several times in second and third level seminars, in the Hatha Teacher Training and in pilgrimages to India. She studied Medicine and works as family doctor in Public Assistance, combining it with the practice of Homeopathy. She teaches seminars to deal with the stress and writes articles for national magazines about health and self-help. As an Acharya she thinks that the practice of Babaji`s Kriya Yoga can improve the lives of many people, and for her it's a privilege and an honor to be able to share the teachings with others. She lives and works in Girona, near Alicante, 100 km south of Barcelona.

Nagaraj (Otsuki Norihiko) was born and raised in Sendai, north-eastern part of Japan. He was initiated into Babaji's Kriya Yoga in 2000, learned the advanced Kriyas in 2001 and 2002. In 2003, he completed the teacher training course in Kriya Hatha Yoga in Quebec and taught Kriya Hatha Yoga in Japan for some years. He returned to the Quebec Ashram in 2008 for 6 months to do tapas for 8 to 12 hours per day and to translate the Grace Course into Japanese.

Since he was a child, Nagaraj has asked the questions why we are here, living on this planet Earth and what are we here to do? He feels Babaji’s Kriya Yoga answered his questions and that everybody should attend Initiation seminars in Babaji’s Kriya Yoga, as it is a means to living a true and wide life. Nagaraj is a wonderful teacher and we are very pleased that he will be teaching Babaji’s Kriya Yoga in Japan.

Nagaraj graduated from a university in Tokyo majoring social psychology and worked as a teacher for many years. He worked at a private school tutoring children with physical, mental or emotional challenges and also counseling their parents.

Siddhananda (Sita) Born in Brazil in a family of spiritual seekers, I grew up in the spirit of Yoga, mystical Christianity and the precious teachings of Tibet.

Through my explorations of the world and human nature as well as through my studying of sacred literature during long sea voyages, pilgrimages and retreats, I learned to recognize the universal presence of an essence which animates and unites all of us.

I have been a teacher, a translator and a builder and organizer of several different enterprises. I have raised my five children in love and by example.

Since my decisive encounter with Babaji’s Kriya Yoga, I have participated in several pilgrimages to India and completed its teacher training program. Since then I have taught Kriya Hatha Yoga. I also offer a complimentary therapy based upon sound and DNA programming.

Turyananda (Thierry Morfin) Born in 1964 in Valence, in the Rhone Alps of France. I am married with three children, three beautiful daughters. Since 1989 I have lived in the France’s Overseas Department Reunion Island which is in the middle of the Indian Ocean, 800 km east of the big island of Madagascar, and 200 km east of the better known island of Mauritius. In Reunion I work as the Director of a company whose headquarters is in in Grenoble, France, and which specializes in construction projects underwater and on cliffs and other inaccessible places.

I discovered Hatha Yoga in 1992 and I was initiated into Babaji’s Kriya Yoga in 1998 during a visit by M. G. Satchidananda to Reunion Island. The following year I received there the second initiation. The year after that, in 2000, I participated in the Kriya Yoga Pilgrimage to south India. This was a revelation for me, as I was able to discover in the deepest part of my being the ability to surrender, thanks to the devotional experiences I had in India. Never before had I been transported by such a long lasting joy. From the age of 13, when I developed a passion for climbing cliffs and exploring subterranean caverns, I had found moments of joy when attaining a goal, but nothing which lasted. So at the age of 36 I have found my path.

Today, I am astonished by the impact of the words I speak may have on others, due to the grace of Babaji and the Siddhas. In this path which Babaji has charted for me, by allowing me to share his message, I have the feeling that it is His thoughts which are projected outwards. It is as if, in a certain manner, this permits the discovery of his Words as they are continuously given birth and thus to unveil the mystery for others. The teachings of Babaji and the Siddhas abides as an overruling necessity in this world where lost, sprawling humanity must find its way home to that which Is, that which we truly are, with the help of wise shepherds, if not smugglers.

Ganga Auer has a teaching degree from Hungary, and she began her spiritual journey when she moved to Canada in 1990. Ganga has practiced Yoga intensively since 1995. She started to teach Hatha yoga in 1998 and since then has taught it for thousands of hours. After searching for Truth for many years, in March 2000, when she attended the first initiation in Babaji’s Kriya Yoga in Toronto, Babaji answered her call. She also found her spiritual family. Since then she has sincerely practised the 144 kriyas. Ganga participated in the first Kriya Hatha Yoga Teacher Training with Durga Ahlund in 2001. She is also certified as a teacher of Kundalini Yoga, and in Hatha Yoga by the Esther Myers Yoga Studio, Toronto, Canada. In November 2004, Ganga opened her studio, the Yoga Room, in Barrie, near Toronto, Canada. She has a great passion for teaching yoga. Her goal is to continue to help others to have happier and healthier lives by expanding their Yoga practice from the mat or cushion into everyday situations. She loves to learn and share her knowledge with others. May the loving grace of Babaji guide us on our path towards Self-realization.