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 16 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. Since 1989 he has personally initiated over 12,000 persons in Babaji's Kriya Yoga in a series of intensive sessions and retreats in over 20 countries. In 1995, he retired from a 25 year career as an economist and systems auditor to devote himself full time to teaching and publishing in the field of Yoga. In 1997 he founded 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, India and Sri Lanka, presently with 31 members.
He is the author of the book and DVD Kriya Hatha Yoga: 18 Postures, The Wisdom of Jesus and the Yoga Siddhas, and Kriya Yoga Insights Along the Path. 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. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Govindan
In October 1999 he was blessed with the darshan of Babaji Nagaraj near his ashram in Badrinath, in the Himalayas. Since 2008 he has been building an ashram there.
Since the year 2000 he has directed a team of scholars in a large scale research project encompassing the whole of the literature related to the Yoga of the Tamil Siddhars. Six publications have been produced by them to date.
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.
He received the “Patanjali Award” in 2014 for outstanding service to the field of Yoga from the International Yoga Federation/Yoga Alliance International, the oldest and largest international association of Yoga teachers. Its’ President, Swami Maitreyananda said:
"Marshall Govindan Satchidananda is not only the most famous Yoga Master of Kriya
Yoga in the world, he also has done an amazing job for Kriya Yoga, I can only compare with Paramahansa Yogananda. Govindan
Satchidananda is the spirit of Babaji"
SWAMI MAITREYANANDA president of WORLD YOGA COUNCIL of INTERNATIONAL YOGA FEDERATION" (November 5, 2012)
Jan Durga Ahlund, (B.S.Ed) has been practicing and studying Yoga since 1967. She shares her experience of Yoga as a writer, teacher of Hatha Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, and Kriya Yoga and as a Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist, which uses Yoga for emotional release. She gives Initiation seminars in Kriya Yoga, all over the world. She co-authored, performed, and produced with her husband Marshall Govindan, the Yoga video, Babaji's Kriya Hatha Yoga, Self-realization through Action with Awareness. They have also co-authored several books on spiritual Yoga. Durga developed a two-year correspondence course called The Grace Course, which is a course of Yoga and self-study. She developed and teaches a 200- hour Hatha Yoga Teacher Training Course worldwide, giving trainings in India, Canada, Germany, Estonia, Brazil and Spain. Her two latest books are “Deepening your Practice,” and “The Yoga Toolbox: An everyday guide for shaping your future.” She and her husband Marshall Govindan take students on pilgrimages to India twice a year.
For more see Durga's blog at www.seekingtheself.com
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.
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. Bachelor of Information Sciences, is the author of the books "The Yoga of Jesus", "Recovering the Being" (both available in English), "Teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother", "Teachings of the Mother", and has translated into Spanish the books "The Yoga of the 18 Siddhas", "Kriya Yoga Sutras of Patanjali" and "The Voice of Babaji", among others. His website offers many texts on Kriya Yoga and spirituality He is married and he has a 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.
For more info visit www.kriyayogadebabaji.net
Nagalakshimi (Sharanadevi) 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."
Click here to read a profile article by Sharanadevi.
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 is a member of Babaji's Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas since 2005. After his early studies of spiritual wisdom teachings and his professional years as a certified psychologist and psychotherapist in clinical and counseling settings, and a decade of intensive training in Babaji's Kriya Yoga, he has for the past two decades exclusively dedicated himself to non-profit charitable work in this lineage, to transforming awareness practice and coping with Kundalini experiences, guides pilgrimages in India, and gives Satsang and the three initiations into Babaji's Kriya Yoga in India, in German-speaking countries and worldwide. Satyananda offers personal counseling to Kriya initiates if needed on individual or psychotherapeutic concerns such as coping with challenging kundalini experiences or with Kriya practice during a crisis or challenging life circumstances.
Click here to read a profile article by Satyananda
Testimonials and insights of students - Click here for details
Click here for article - Reflections on Kriya Yoga Initiation & SadhanaPremananda (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 professor of Euskara (Basque language) at the Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea-University of the Basque Country.
He has actively collaborated with the Life and Languages foundation in promoting scientific research in the field of languages, especially in aboriginal languages and cultures that are at risk of extinction by developing the exchange of solidarity projects.
Since the beginning of his training in Babaji's Kriya Yoga in the fall of 2001, he has appreciated this discipline from a perspective of knowledge, transformation and service.
Introductory lecture (Castilian or French).
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.
For more details on Mirabai click here
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.
For more details on Savitri click here
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.arents.
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)
Currently living in Grenoble - the capital of the Alps and an important center of scientific activity in France. He is a father of three grown-up daughters.
Turyananda discovered Hatha Yoga in 1992 with a French teacher whose teaching deriving from a Mexican solar tradition enlightened his being. He was initiated into Kriya Yoga in 1998 by M.G. Satchidananda on the Reunion island. He completed a spiritual retreat in 1999 before going on a pilgrimage to Tamil Nadu in 2000.
During this trip, being carried by the Indian fervor Turyananda discovered the meaning of surrender in the most profound part of his being. At the age of 36 he had discovered his path. In 2006 after many months of intense practice he became an Acharya.
On this path Babaji proposes him to go forward by letting His message flow. He gives him the sensation of awakening His thoughts and projecting them to the outside. In a way this creates the opportunity to discover Him by the continuous hatching of His word, and in this way to uncover this mystery to others. He is surprised by the impact that his words have on others and wants to believe that it is due uniquely to the benevolence of Babaji and the Siddhas.
Their message remains a compelling necessity in a world in which the 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.
Amman first learned about Babaji as a teenager in 1969 and was initiated into kriya yoga in 1970 by Yogacharya J. Oliver Black, a lay minister of SRF (Self Realization Fellowship) and direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda. In the mid 1980’s he lived with Yogacharya Black at his his yoga retreat in northern Michigan. In 2006 Amman rediscovered Babaji and has since then gained greater insight into yoga through Babaji’s Kriya Yoga. Amman has spent most of his working life in northern and western Canada in the environmental field. Amman conducts several initiations into Babajis Kriya yoga at select locations annually.
Shivadas, from Dijon, France, lives on the island of Martinique, an island in the Caribbean. Shivadas was drawn intensely to spirituality since his adolescence, when he discovered Yoga. He made several voyages to India and across Europe to train in various disciplines, including Sivananda Yoga (Advanced Teacher training in Trivandrum, India) Reiki, humanistic magnetism. He is now working as a practitioner of manual energetic therary (Poyet method). He was initiated by M. G. Satchidananda in his home town of Dijon, France in 2004. He recognized Babaji as his master, guiding him with love towards the Divine. Joining the Order signifies to him that he can retransmit with humility what are humanity’s greatest treasure. Since 2007, with his wife, Swarupu, a school of Yoga and Bharatanatyam dance in Martinique, APSARA. He may be contacted at Shivadas
Jnanashakti (Josée Sylvestre) From my earliest years, I have been fascinated by the complexity of the human being, as well as by the mysteries of life and what lies beyond this world. Being a little too clairvoyant, sensitive and perceptive, I saw and painfully felt the faults of humanity. I was overjoyed when I read with profound interest the collection of books on the lives of the saints in the school library. From that time onwards, the quest for wisdom became the ultimate goal of my life. I was only seven years old. I set what I considered to be a reasonable amount of time to achieve this goal, by the age of 30 years. Oh! How far did I misjudge the requirements related to such aspirations.
Having received a baccalaureat diploma from the university in Psychosociology of communication, I subsequently earned several other certifications in order to be equipped with some effective tools for helping and coaching others professionally, individually, spiritually, and at the organizational level. After being involved with many enterprises both in Quebec and internationally, having taught management, communication and even meditation to managers, I was blessed in 2006 to have come into contact with Babaji Nagaraj and to have learned the powerful techniques of his Kriya Yoga. Since then, the aspiration “to Be” with you, growing together towards Self Realization, has multiplied it fervor.
Vidhyananda (Sherry Ryan) LMT, RYT is the founder of Providence Healing Arts, a Yoga Studio & alternative healing center in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. As a student of Hatha Yoga and Kundalini Yoga for 40 years, Vidhya is a certified 500 hour yoga instructor facilitating retreats and teacher trainings throughout the world. She has over 25 years of experience in the study of Ayurveda, Macrobiotics and Traditional Five Element Theory.
Brahmananda was initiated in 2001 in Vienna into the tradition of Babaji's Kriya Yoga
and in May 2013 into the Order of Acharyas. On account of Babajis graceful guidance Brahmananda's living conditions developed during
this time slowly to a red thread, how a call of Dharma: during the same time his yogic development to be a Hatha Yoga Teacher, to
participate at several Indian pilgrimages and being educated to an Acharya took part, the attachments freed themselves in job and
career, past and other karmic obstacles. With the practical experience as a former company owner and dipl. engineer of shoe technology
he meanwhile has reduced his conventional working quota to a minimum measure to dedicate his life and work to the teachings of Babaji
and Yoga. Brahmananda lives in Attersee in Upper Austria and organizes there regularly Kriya Hatha Yoga classes, Workshops and Satsang.
In the service of the Order of Acharyas he holds initiation seminars in the German-speaking area.
Maitreya (Michel Zonatto)
Since childhood Michel had felt a deep desire to know God / Truth. He was first introduced to Yoga and mysticism at the age of eight by his mother. He had his first training in Classical Yoga at eighteen and began to teach regular classes at twenty. He continued his studies in Yoga and other paths to self-realization and natural therapies, such as Ayurveda. He was initiated into various methods of reiki, meditation and vibrational healing. He received initiation and personal guidance in Vajrayana Buddhism. However, it was when he learned of Babaji and Kriya Yoga that he knew he had found his true guru and path. He felt compelled to find a lineage and a realized teacher to guide him and his sadhana. In 2009, he received the first initiation in Brazil from acharya Sharanadevi and in the same year, met his teacher M.G. Satchidananda. In 2010, he was initiated by Satchidananda into the advanced kriyas. These practices of Kriya Yoga brought him a deep sense of peace and of returning home, as he began to understand that his dedicated practice was encouraging loving and conscious action in all his daily life. In 2012, he was invited to prepare to become an acharya and after two years of intensive training he was, in November 2014, inducted into Babaji’s Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas.
Maitreya teaches classes of Kriya Hatha Yoga at the university and therapeutic centers and offers private sessions with natural therapies, deepening students knowledge in undergraduate Applied Naturology. He teaches initiation seminars, leads satsanga, kirtan, gives lectures, workshops and makes mandalas.
He is eternally grateful to the Kriya Yoga Tradition and the living Presence of Babaji in his life guiding and providing him a way to serve and fulfill his divine purpose. He is married to Lakshmi, Luana Marcanzoni Alves and lives in Palhoça, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
Kriyanandamayi, a member of Babaji’s Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas since 2015. She offers
Kriya Yoga initiation seminars in Sri Lanka, India and Malaysia in English or Tamil. In her country Sri Lanka, she manages our two ashrams
as the secretary of Babaji’s Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas Trust, organizes initiation seminars and pilgrimage tours to Katirgama and other
holy places, conducts Hatha Yoga classes, corporate and students stress management programs, acupuncture treatment, and performs sacred
ceremonies at our ashrams. After being introduced into spirituality by her parents at a very young age, she soon explored various spiritual
lineages and has practiced Hatha Yoga since 2001, and taught it regularly since 2002. Since her initiation into Babaji’s Kriya Yoga in 2006,
she dedicated her life fully to intense Sadhana of Babaji’s Kriya Yoga and to serving the local Sangha and her parental family.
Annapurna Ma, (Marcia Micheli, of Sao Paulo, Brazil)
It was in 1995 through a dream that I first became aware of Kriya Babaji in my life. The dream was both beautiful and specific and I was shown my strengths and weaknesses. At that time I began to experience periods of purification and releases from strong attachments. Three years later, I received the first and the second initiations from Satchidananda in Brazil. The Kriya techniques felt familiar, like coming home. At the end of the first initiation Satchidananda asked me if I would give classes of the 18 Kriya Hatha Yoga Asana. Ever since, I've been doing so, as a source of joy.
Babaji's Kriya Yoga has given me access to my deepest nature and Babaji's energy has supported me during all the years I dedicated to guiding and attending to the three lives, which I had the honor to carry in my womb and watch grow.
In 2010, I received from Satchidanda the third initiation and, in 2012, I attended the Kriya Hatha Yoga Teacher Training, in Canada, with Durga and Satchidananda. It was in 2014, while on a group pilgrimage in India that Satchidananda surprised me by inviting me to become an Acharya. The flow of Babaji's love in all aspects of my life brought me to accept.
It seems that Babaji has influenced me in all the significant choices I have taken in my life. I know that becoming a member of the Acharya's Order is another significant beginning. I begin with the joy of a child in front of the immensity of life.
I am deeply grateful to my professors Satchidanda and Durga for their love guidance and for being a constant source of inspiration; I thank my family and friends who have always motivated me.
I hope and pray that I am able to live my life as an expression of service to Babaji and Babaji’s Kriya Yoga.
Jai Babaji!
Gurudasan
Born as Gowri Varadhan in Salem, Tamil Nadu (India), to parents Shri. Radhakrishnan and Shrimati. Kalavathi, Gowri obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Information Technology and works as an investigative data analyst. His study of spirituality began during his teen years when he was introduced to the writings of Swami Vivekananda and he grew especially drawn to the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi and Seshadri Swamigal of Tiruvannamalai. Being from the Tamil culture, Gowri greatly appreciates the various Tamil Siddha traditions and their perspective potentials in the context of God Realization. He is also initiated into Sri Vidya Sadhana. Understanding Advaita through the eyes of Ramana, Gowri was able to also understand and appreciate other schools of philosophy such as Dvaita and Vishisht Advaita as different perspectives of the same truth.
In the early 2000’s, Gowri found the Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahamsa Yogananda, which introduced him to Mahavatar Babaji and Kriya Yoga. This, along with Babaji and 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga Tradition, by Marshall Govindan convinced him that Kriya Yoga was a perfected, scientific and authentic lineage of teachings of the Yoga Siddhas available for mankind to attain Self-realization. In the year 2008, he was initiated into Babaji's Kriya Yoga (both First and Second initiations) by Marshal Govindan Satchidananda and has been practicing ever since.
In 2011, he was initiated into all the 144 Kriyas in Bangalore, which were taught in three initiations and also took the intensive Babaji’s Kriya Hatha Yoga Training at the Quebec Ashram.
Gowri has been studying, practicing and training to be an acharya for many years. He has served as translator in a number of Kriya Yoga initiations in India for the benefit of Tamil speaking population not comfortable with English. He married in 2014, and he and his wife Kiran currently live in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He offers free Kriya Hatha Yoga classes every week there and leads Kriya Yoga Satsangs where group sadhana is practiced followed by discussions on spiritual matters.
Gowri is deeply grateful for the support, guidance and encouragement received from MG Satchidananda ji, Durga ji, Satyananda ji, Nandi Devar, Vyasa and above all Sadhguru Babaji and Paramaguru Agasthiar. Gowri also feels the blessings of being born to parents who have supported him so whole-heartedly every moment of his life.
Ganapati
If I had to summarize my entire life story in a short sentence, I would say that it made me a disciple of Babaji. I was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1951. And, since 1982, I am married with Marcia (acharya Annapurna Ma). This happy marriage gave me three children, Milena, Pedro and Marcela, and two grandchildren, Marina and João. I work professionally as a journalist, writer and teacher.
For more than three decades, I am researching intensely different spiritual traditions. As well as its connections with philosophy, sciences and arts. My study and my experience convinced me that “All is One”. And, based on this monistic conception, I have written five books and a large number of articles, published in the media or in my personal blog.
I became an atheist before the age of 14 and continued to be an atheist until 28. During this time, I had two remarkable spiritual experiences. The last one definitely dismounted my materialism and brought me back to the spiritual path. Before that, I came to know about the existence of Babaji, through the Autobiography of a Yogi, of Paramahansa Yogananda. Years later, I had the grace of experiencing his presence directly, in a session of “Holotropic Breathwork", coordinated by my friend and psychologist Doucy Douek (acharya Saraswati Karuna Devi).
In 1998, by the hands of Satchidananda, I was initiated in the Kriya Yoga. And, despite all the instabilities of the practice, the unshakable connection with Babaji maintained me on the way. My wife, which is much more intuitive and assertive than me, has helped me a lot to overcome the hesitations and move forward in the practical life and the spiritual path. Her love is a daily source of nutrition.
Vivekananda
Initiated in Paris in 2006 with M.G. Satchidananda, Vivekananda
found in Kriya Yoga much more than he hoped. Seeking a
complement to his practice then, he discovered a complete
and harmonious way.
Babaji's Kriya Yoga is gradually becoming his heart of practice.
He had continued with the 2nd and 3rd initiations and had
participated several times in each of them.
Being already convinced of the liberating, unifying and
transformative effect of Kriya Yoga for the individual and
humanity, it is really during the 3rd initiation that the pieces
of the puzzle are put in place and that he is struck by the genius of the method.
In 2011, he attended teacher training in central Canada, in
Saint-Etienne de Bolton.
In 2017, he participates in a pilgrimage in southern India.
(On June 30, 2018, at a ceremony following a yagna
mantra, he joins the Babaji Kriya Yoga acharyas order and
is authorized to transmit the first initiation.
"It is an immense blessing and a great joy to share this teaching").
He is married to Isabelle, curator and restorer of sculptures
and art objects.
They have a daughter born in 2009. Isabelle has another
daughter born in 1999.
He was born in the Loire (42), near Saint-Etienne in 1980.
Since 2005, he lives in Côte d'Or (21) near Dijon.
He works as a yoga teacher and energetic practitioner. He also works as a night watchman in a cancer center.
Vasudeva
I started my career with a major Japanese trading firm. I was doing fairly well for nearly 20 years and was nominated as a CEO of one of subsidiary companies in my early forties. However, it did not take me long time to realize the meaning of ‘Ye cannot serve God and mammon’ because I soon suffered from autonomic imbalance. I searched for a more realistic career for myself within the same company and obtained professional certifications in Internal Audit and as a computer auditor. In mid-fifties. I received the first initiation in Babaji’s Kriya Yoga in 2010, and the second and the third initiations in 2011. I also received the teacher training course in 2012 in Quebec and started teaching Kriya Hatha yoga classes in Tokyo in 2013. After my retirement from the trading company in 2014, I considered farming while practicing yoga. But in order to help as many people as possible and to make the rest of my life an offering to Babaji, I accepted M. G. Satchidananda’s invitation to fulfill the requirements to become an Acharya of Babaji’s Kriya Yoga. In recent years, I was also one of the main members of a team which translated the book The Voice of Babaji into Japanese. I am married and have two daughters. I am a graduate of Tokyo University
Dharmadas
Dharmadas has been practicing Babaji’s Kriya Yoga since 2013 and became an acharya in 2019. He is a loving husband and father. He and his wife Allison, also a teacher of Babaji’s Kriya Hatha Yoga, are parents of 4 children. He has worked as a pediatric dentist in Boise, Idaho USA since 1999.
Luckily, he endured enough suffering in his early life to make him a determined and sincere seeker. After years of chasing happiness through sports, academics, as well as the collection of titles and degrees, he was still left unsatisfied. During rehabilitation after a bicycle accident, Dharmadas discovered a practice of Hatha yoga, that while helping with his physical recovery, piqued the seeker in him, and he started down a path of inquiry regarding the history and origin of yoga, inevitably leading him to Babaji. The rich variety of techniques, the authenticity of the teachings, and the synergistic approach to this integral yoga inspired him to pursue this path. After receiving the 1st and 2nd initiations, he knew he was home. His practice continued to intensify, under the guidance of M.G. Satchidananda, as he participated in the 3rd initiation, the Kriya Hatha Yoga teacher training, and a pilgrimage to Badrinath.
When asked what has changed with Babaji’s Kriya Yoga, he responds, “Life is lighter and more joyous. Others noticed the change in me before I could myself. There is now a feeling of connection, an ease to life.” It is now with deep appreciation for all that Babaji’s Kriya yoga has done to transform his life, that he passionately shares these teachings with others. He has a unique ability to convey the techniques so that anyone, with a bit of grit and aspiration, can mold and manifest a better life.
For more info visit kriyayogaboise.org
Chaitanya
Chaitanya (Christian Ebner) was born in Austria and has been dedicated to Yoga and Meditation practice as well as the transmission of the teaching for more than a decade. A journey into the unknown that took several years had changed his life so profoundly, that henceforth Yoga became the center of his life. During that time he co-founded a Yogacenter in Cusco, Peru, where he lived and taught Yoga for some years. His spiritual quest lead him to the initation into Babaj’s Kriya Yoga in 2014. After 7 years of devoted Kriya Sadhana, longer Tapas periods at the Ashram in Quebec as well as in Badrinath, India, he was inducted into the Order of Acharyas. Currently he lives in Austria with his famliy where he founded a Yoga Ashram called KriyaMandiram. Besides monthly Satsang and weekly Yoga Courses and Group Meditations the Ashram offers regular Silent Meditation Retreats as well as initations into Babaj’s Kirya Yoga.
Nandi
Nandi was born in Spain where he lived in different cities before settling in Canada when he was 10 years old. The deep sense of freedom, sustained awe and happiness that he experienced in those formative years became a beacon that he endeavored to keep in sight through calm or choppy waters. Yves was introduced to Hatha Yoga at the Ottawa Iyengar studio around 2008. He ramped up his practice over the years until he had the privilege of being initiated by Satchidananda to the 144 Kriyas of Babaji’s Kriya Yoga at the Québec Ashram between 2017 and 2019. That opened the door to the deeper, pristine, profound and timeless teachings of Yoga. He integrates the teachings of Babaji’s Kriya Yoga to his professional and personal life, gratefully experiencing the integral impact of his Sadhana and developing the growing confidence that Yoga is the key to unlocking the challenges of our period.
Narada
Founder and Mentor of Espaço Flor das Águas Ashram in Brazil, Narada is a meditation and yoga teacher, devotional musician and therapist. He lives in community, sharing a simple life, supported and instructed by universal ethical values. He continually studies and practices meditation, drawing inspiration from the teachings of Christ, Babaji, Krishna, Buddha and many other Masters.
Narada began his path in Babaji's Kriya Yoga in 2011, participating in numerous initiations, retreats and pilgrimages. His visualizations of "Ashram" led him to transform Espaço Flor das Águas ("Flower of the Waters") into a center for the elevation of consciousness, which has Kriya Yoga as one of its central pillars.
As the mentor of Espaço Flor das Águas, he cultivates a fertile ground for Babaji's legacy to flourish, organizing 1st, 2nd and 3rd initiations, teacher trainings, silent retreats, satsangs and a daily Kriya Yoga sadhana, in person and online. In keeping with Narada's purpose, the Flor das Águas community is composed of yogis and kriyabans who assist in this service of maintaining a sacred ground where many seekers come to meet.
As a Yogi, mystic and professor of spiritual arts and sciences, Narada is dedicated to assisting in the holistic development of humanity. Anchored in his commitment to Kriya Yoga, his mission is to support, welcome and serve others, through devotional music, retreats, celebrations and experiences, providing a favorable and healthy environment for self-inquiry, reflection and transformation.
Niranjana
Niranjana discovered Babaji's Kriya Yoga in 2004, at the age of 21, during an initiation with Satchidananda. This meeting was decisive for the course of her life, and the practice of yogic sadhana immediately became the central axis of it.
During the past 17 years, she made multiple trips, and had the chance to study with several Acharyas of this lineage in different countries. She has been teaching Kriya Hatha Yoga since 2011 and collaborates with kriyabans around various projects related to Kriya Yoga. She is eternally grateful to these teachers, for their trust and their teachings.
She works as a contemporary art teacher and travels regularly as part of initiatives related to Babaji's Kriya Yoga.
The encounter with this authentic lineage is undoubtedly the most precious gift of this life.
Chandradevi
Chandradevi (Chinmayi) began her research in 1997 after a life changing experience through meditation. She found Yoga in 2003, some years deep in Hatha and Raja Yoga before finding out about Babaji’s Kriya Yoga in 2008. In a flow of unfolding events, she has been teaching Yoga for over a decade, organised and supported initiations, translated and distributed publications on Babaji’s Kriya Yoga, participated in projects for the worldwide Kriya community. It comes as great honour for her to keep serving global Guru’s mission.
Click here to read a profile article by Chandradevi.
Muktananda
From a young age the world around, me didn't really make sense. Watching the way my family and peers lived and described what life was about. Something inside just didn't feel this was right for me.
This began to change after meeting my best friend at high school. His parents introduced me to var-ious concepts of spirituality and gave me my first yoga book at the age of thirteen. Life started to have another layer of meaning, which has sent me on a continuing journey these past 35 years. Incorporating the founding of three yoga studios, on-going learning, training, and teaching of vari-ous lineages of Yoga all over the world. From my beginnings in Iyengar Yoga, to Ashtanga Yoga and Hatha Yoga, many things were learnt, and each tradition gave me another piece of the puzzle.
Contracting meningitis in 2012 and being bed ridden for six months, with many health complica-tions and emotional forces at play, I was in recovery for the next 18 months, intensely searching deeper healing.
Babaji’s Kriya Yoga arrived in my life. Healing unfolded on many layers. Once introduced to the daily Sadhana practice of Babaji’s Kriya Yoga it repaired the nervous system, uplifted the body and mind and opened a doorway inside of me that was previously locked. An emptiness inside that something was missing had been uplifted through the practice.
Four initiations seminars followed, a Babaji’s Kriya Hatha Yoga Teachers training, the process of becoming an Acharya incorporated through trips to the Ashrams in Canada and India. It is all with much gratitude to Babaji, Satchidananda and the Acharyas of Babaji’s Kriya Yoga and all that take part in enabling this opportunity of the completeness of Babaji’s Kriya yoga to be shared and be a part of this undertaking and community.
Gayatri
Born in Danemark in 1966, from an Algerian father and a danish mother, the life early shows her diversity, impermanence and try to learn detachment. She has been raised between a strict education, with a lot of ethics and on the other side a lot of freedom and tolerance. The meeting of the opposites. When she was a teenager, Gayatri had mystics experiences [out of the body, clairaudiance], but without any understanding of the real meaning of what was happening.
She left all this by side and her adult life was with a full time job for a big publisher in Paris, then in Geneva, without any real consciousness and a work full of heavy responsibilities. A trip in India offered her the opportunity to live again an experience of transcendance, which awoke her faith and since this day, it never went away.
It was the door for deeper researches. First through a lot of books about the masters of India, then through the teachings and practices of kundalini Yoga, coming from Yogi Bhajan.
After came the call of Babaji. The sound of the name of Babaji was like whispered in her ears, without even knowing who he was.
After this period, life guided her to Marshall Govindan, who initiated her to Babaji's Kriya Yoga in 2005.
Through the teaching of Babaji's Kriya Yoga, through the 3 initiations and the Teacher Training course, she found answers to all the questions about existence, which stayed without real answers since she had this mystics experiences as a teenager. She never stops practicing since this time, going deeper and deeper in Babaji's arms, discovering more and more in each initiations until the Teacher Training Course done in Canada. Years by years, she was exploring the wonderful tools of transformation given by Babaji's Kriya Yoga.
In 2013 began an ascetic period of her life, with a lot strong sadhana and a lot of tapas during 3 years. Until this day of summer 2016 when Marshall Govindan invited her to follow the Acharya's path.
After 2 years of preparation, Gayatri joins the Order of Acharya in June 2018.
It's a Grace and a privilege to serve and transmit for today's humanity the ancient knowledge of the Siddhas and offer to people the precious tools of transformation synthesized in a complete teaching by Sat Guru Babaji Nagaraj.
Gayatri is a happy mother and grand mother. In 2003, she opens the center Sattva, in Haute Savoie, France, 25 km from Geneva, as an Ayurvedic Therapist (specialised in Dinacharya, nutrition, body treatments, psychology and Pranatherapy) guiding hundreds of persons during all these years, working also as Yoga Teacher and Ayurvedic Teacher for The European Institute of Vedic Studies. Now, teaching Ayurveda for EIVS is her main activity and serving Babaji as a teacher of Kriya Yoga. Om Kriya Babaji Nama Aum.
Tara
Since childhood I’d always wondered what the meaning of life was. A person is born, grows from a child to an adult (usually going through all kinds of troubles), marries and has children, and finally dies after a certain period of time. Where is the meaning in all this?
The answer didn’t come to me during adolescence. Life went on and I got busy, but the question was always there and unsatisfied feelings of senselessness crept at the back of my mind, however good life may seem in the moment.
The books of Nan Huai-Chin (Chinese Buddhism Master) were a real eye-opener for me. The truth contained in this book resonated with me so deeply. I began to look for a path and was guided to Babaji’s Kriya Yoga (initiated by Satchidananda) and naturopathy in 2016.
I came to realize that our talents and strengths were given to us for the purpose of serving others. Walking the path ourselves, then light it for others also helps us overcome our weaknesses. As both Kriya Yoga and Naturopathy have greatly helped me physically, mentally and spiritually, I'm inspired to share these knowledge & experiences with other truth seekers.
Ramadevar
Ramadevar, Acharya in Babaji’s Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas, offers seminars with initiation into Babaji’s Kriya Yoga in India, and is a Trustee of Babaji’s Kriya Yoga Ashram and Publications Trust. He is born into a traditional Sri Vaishnava family with inclination towards spirituality starting at a young age, which also led him into studies related to mind control and healing. He is an experienced Banker, having worked in the largest public and private sector banks in India, married with two sons and stays in Mumbai. Now he is dedicated to intense study of Babaji’s Kriya Yoga and to serving its mission and the Sangha in India.
Ramdas
Ramdas (Armound Mahmoudi) was born in Iran into an Armenian family in 1971. After migrating to several countries. His family finally settled in Los Angeles where he was initiated into Babaji's Kriya Yoga in 2003 and has been devoutly practicing the art since then.
He was initiated into the Order of Acharyas in 2024. He stays committed to practicing Babaji's Kriya Yoga and initiating willing souls into the practice.
Currently, he resides in Providence, Rhode Island with his family where as a professional dentist he manages his own dental practice and teaches Babaji's Kriya Yoga.
Neela Saraswati
Neela Saraswati is a member of Babaji’s Kriya Yoga Order of Acharya and offers initiations into Babaji’s Kriya Yoga, satsang meetings, Kriya Hatha Yoga classes and lectures. After having studied economics in the US and Europe and having worked for an auditing firm and taught economics at the University, she now lives with her family in Munich and works in the field of Science. Neela Saraswati has been practising yoga for more than 30 years and has studied Western and Eastern philosophies in depth. In 2016, she discovered Babaji's Kriya Yoga, to which she has dedicated herself intensively ever since.
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