Satchidananda Saraswati (; 22 December 1914 – 19 August 2002), born C. K. Ramaswamy Gounder and usually known as Swami Satchidananda, was an Indian

yoga guru Modern yoga gurus are people widely acknowledged to be gurus of modern yoga in any of its forms, whether religious or not. The role implies being well-known and having a large following; in contrast to the old guru-shishya tradition, the moder ...

and religious teacher, who gained fame and following in the West. He founded his own brand of Integral Yoga, and its spacious

Yogaville Yogaville, or Satchidananda Ashram, is the Buckingham County, Virginia headquarters of Satchidananda Saraswati's organisation. Ashram The ashram was founded in 1980 by Satchidananda Saraswati, whose western notability stems from his opening ...

headquarters in Virginia. He was the author of philosophical and spiritual books and had a core of founding disciples who compiled his translations and updated commentaries on traditional handbooks of yoga such as the ''

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali The ''Yoga Sutras of Patañjali'' is a collection of Sanskrit sutras ( aphorisms) on the theory and practice of yoga – 195 sutras (according to Vyāsa and Krishnamacharya) and 196 sutras (according to others, including BKS Iyengar). The ...

'' and the ''

Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' ( ...

'' for modern readers. In 1991, multiple female members of staff made allegations of sexual manipulation and abuse, more coming forwards after an initial protest. No legal complaints were filed, and Satchidananda denied all accusations.

Early life and education

Satchidananda Saraswati was born C. K. Ramaswamy Gounder on 22 December 1914, Note, the publication date of the obituary was Wednesday, August 21, 2002, wherein it was noted that the subject died "on Monday". in Chettipalayam, a suburb of

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbat ...

city in

Tamil Nadu, India Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language— ...

, on December 22, 1914, "to a family of wealthy landowners". According to his authorized biography (published by his eventual U.S. organization, Integral Yoga), his father, Sri Kalyanasundaram was a landowner and poet; his mother, Srimati Velammai was deeply spiritual. It further states that his parents affectionately called him ''Ramu'', that their home was a meeting place for poets, musicians, and philosophers, that wandering ascetics and holy men received free food and lodging at their home, and that their presence deeply influenced Satchidananda. He studied at an agricultural college.

Early career pursuits and marriage

Satchidananda began working in his family's automobile import business, learning how to weld. At age 23 he became a manager at India's National Electric Works. He was a temporary manager of Perur Temple, and met his wife there. He married and had two sons; his wife died suddenly 5 years into his marriage.

Spiritual pursuits

After the death of his wife, Ramaswamy travelled throughout India, meditating at

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...

s and studying with spiritual teachers including a brief period with

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...

. He was initiated into pre-

sannyasa ''Sannyasa'' (Sanskrit: संन्यास; IAST: ), sometimes spelled Sanyasa (सन्न्यास) or Sanyasi (for the person), is life of renunciation and the fourth stage within the Hindu system of four life stages known as '' A ...

in the Ramakrishna Thapovanam and given the name Sambasiva Chaitanya. While at the

ashram An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (<

Ramana Maharshi Ramana Maharshi (; 30 December 1879 – 14 April 1950) was an Indian Hindu sage and '' jivanmukta'' (liberated being). He was born Venkataraman Iyer, but is mostly known by the name Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. He was born in Tiruchuli, T ...

. He left the Sri Ramana Ashram when he could not bear the suffering of Ramana's arm cancer and treatment procedures. He travelled to

Rishikesh Rishikesh, also spelt as Hrishikesh, is a city near Dehradun in Dehradun district of the Indian state Uttarakhand. It is situated on the right bank of the Ganges River and is a pilgrimage town for Hindus, with ancient sages and saints meditat ...

, a holy town in the foothills of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

on the banks of the

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

. There, he discovered his

guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan- Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverential ...

Sivananda Saraswati Sivananda Saraswati (or Swami Sivananda; 8 September 1887 – 14 July 1963) was a yoga guru, a Hindu spiritual teacher, and a proponent of Vedanta. Sivananda was born Kuppuswami in Pattamadai, in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. He stu ...

, founder of the

Divine Life Society The Divine Life Society (DLS) is a Hindu spiritual organisation and an ashram, founded by Swami Sivananda Saraswati in 1936, at Muni Ki Reti, Rishikesh, India. Today it has branches around the world, the headquarters being situated in Rishikesh. ...

, who ordained him into the sannyasa in 1949 and gave him the name Swami Satchidananda Saraswati. The name

Satcitananda ( sa, सच्चिदानन्द, IAST: ; also Sat-cit-ananda or ) is an epithet and description for the subjective experience of the ultimate unchanging reality, called Brahman,Devadutta Kali (2005), Devimahatmyam: In Praise of the Godde ...

( sa, Saccidānanda) is a compound of three Sanskrit words, , and , meaning essence, consciousness and bliss, respectively. The expression describes the nature of

Brahman In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...

.Devadutta Kali (2005), Devimahatmyam: In Praise of the Goddess, Motilal Banarsidass, , page 365, Quote: "Saccidananda, being-consciousness-bliss, a threefold epithet attempting to describe the unitary, indescribable Brahman". In all, he studied under Sivananda for 17 years. Along with Vishnudevananda, he became one of Sivananda's best-known missionaries. During the early 1950s and into the 1960s, Satchidananda and Satchidananda Saraswati jointly headed the Trincomalee Thapovanam, one of Sivananda's ashrams in the hill country of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. His devotees opened Satchidananda Thapovanam in Kandy in October 1955. Here, Satchidananda taught yoga, conceived and implemented innovative interfaith approaches to traditional Hindu festivals, and modernised the ancient mode of living that renunciates had followed for many years. For instance, he drove a car to teach throughout Sri Lanka, wore a watch to be on time, and actively engaged the questions of seekers. These modernisations were ridiculed by some in the orthodoxy, but he felt the changes to be necessary natural extensions and serving tools for betterment in his spiritual yogic work. He loved flying airplanes and helicopters.

Coming to America and Woodstock

Filmmaker

Conrad Rooks Conrad Rooks (December 15, 1934 in Kansas City, Missouri – December 27, 2011 in Massachusetts) was an American writer, director and producer most well known for his 1972 filmed adaptation of Hermann Hesse's novel '' Siddhartha''. Early lif ...

paid for Satchidananda to fly to New York in 1966, and artist

Peter Max Peter Max (born Peter Max Finkelstein, October 19, 1937) is a German-American artist known for using bright colors in his work. Works by Max are associated with the visual arts and culture of the 1960s, particularly psychedelic art and pop art. ...

, who had been working with Rooks, introduced him to his many friends; Satchidananda eventually stayed for five months. In August 1969, Satchidananda flew in to the

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

music festival by helicopter directly to the stage, arriving in orange robes, long hair, and flowing beard, and sitting down in

lotus position Lotus position or Padmasana ( sa, पद्मासन, translit=padmāsana) is a cross-legged sitting meditation pose from ancient India, in which each foot is placed on the opposite thigh. It is an ancient asana in yoga, predating hatha ...

to speak. He gave the opening address, giving a nod to

Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intr ...

's 1893 speech in Chicago by greeting the crowd with "Brothers and Sisters of America", telling the crowd that music was "the celestial sound that controls the whole universe", and leading chanting of "Hari Om ... Rama Rama". He was received rapturously by the crowd. In 1970, he opened a branch of his Integral Yoga Institute, on 770 Dolores Street, San Francisco. In 1973, Columbia Records produced a vinyl double LP ''Swami Satchidananda'' that featured a kirtan and a talk (not at Woodstock) by Satchidananda based on questions asked by students. The back cover illustration showed a photograph of the swami at Woodstock. The album was re-released in digital format as: ''Swami Satchidananda: The Woodstock Years''. Satchidananda became a US citizen in 1976, having arrived on a visa stating that he was a "Minister of Divine Words".

Global travels

In over fifty years of public service, Satchidananda made eight world tours and logged nearly two million miles of travel around the globe. "I don't belong to any one country or organization", he often said. In 1971, he made the first of several visits to Australia and New Zealand, as part of his second world tour. In late 1979, he opened the first Nambassa Festival in New Zealand, inspired by the Woodstock Festival. In 1975, he made his first South American trip, visiting Venezuela including giving a lecture at the

Central University of Venezuela The Central University of Venezuela (Spanish: ''Universidad Central de Venezuela''; UCV) is a public university of Venezuela located in Caracas. It is widely held to be the highest ranking institution in the country, and it also ranks 18th in ...

. In Europe, Satchidananda was often a guest speaker at programs sponsored by institutions such as the

British Wheel of Yoga The British Wheel of Yoga was set up in 1965 by Wilfred Clark as a co-ordinating body for yoga groups throughout Britain that welcomed all schools of thought. It provides level 4 yoga teacher training leading to the Certificate in Yoga Teaching a ...

and the Italian and German Yoga Federations. From the late 1970s he spoke each year at the European Union of National Yoga Federations conference in

Zinal Zinal is a village in Switzerland, located in the municipality of Anniviers in the canton of Valais. It lies at an elevation of above sea level in the Swiss Alps in the ''Val de Zinal'', a valley running from the Zinal Glacier, north of Den ...

, Switzerland for fifteen years. He traveled to Eastern Europe twice, as part of a citizen-diplomacy delegation. In 1985 and 1986, he went to Finland and the Soviet Union for 10-day tours by two peace organizations. He made yearly tours of India and Sri Lanka, and traveled in Asia and the Middle East to speak at yoga, peace, health, and other conferences.

Integral Yoga

Satchidananda taught a blend of

hatha yoga Haṭha yoga is a branch of yoga which uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel the vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some haṭha ...

and yoga philosophy which he named

Integral Yoga Integral yoga, sometimes also called supramental yoga, is the yoga-based philosophy and practice of Sri Aurobindo and ''The Mother'' (Mirra Alfassa). Central to ''Integral yoga'' is the idea that Spirit manifests itself in a process of involu ...

. In 1971, he began training students to teach yoga in prisons and drug rehabilitation centers. Satchidananda advocated vegetarian diet for its health, ecological, and spiritual benefits. In 1972, he established the first vegetarian health food store in New York City, which remained the only all–vegetarian store in Manhattan, until its closure in late 2018. In 1976, Sandra McLanahan founded one of the first integrative health clinics in the US, offering

yoga therapy Yoga as therapy is the use of yoga as exercise, consisting mainly of postures called asanas, as a gentle form of exercise and relaxation applied specifically with the intention of improving health. This form of yoga is widely practised in classes ...

, at that time new to America. Branches were opened in many places around the world. The Integral Yoga headquarters at Satchidananda Ashram–

was founded in 1986. The LOTUS shrine cost $2 million, and Satchidananda blessed it on its opening by flying his helicopter to sprinkle holy water over it. The opening parade included a "flame-tossing juggler" and a baby elephant as well as religious figures.

Satchidananda was an early advocate of the interfaith movement in America. In the early 1950s, when the

was preparing for Guru Poornima Day, where each separate lineage honors its own Guru, Satchidananda suggested that the focus be on Sivananda and spiritual masters of other faiths. That tradition continues today in all Integral Yoga centers. In later decades, Satchidananda collaborated with other interfaith advocates, including the Very Rev. James P. Morton of the Interfaith Center of New York, Rabbi Joseph Gelberman, Brother

David Steindl-Rast David Steindl-Rast OSB (born July 12, 1926) is an American Catholic Benedictine monk, author, and lecturer. He is committed to interfaith dialogue and has dealt with the interaction between spirituality and science. Life and career Steindl-Rast ...

OSB, and Pir Vilayat Khan, holding monthly meetings. In 1968, Satchidananda co-founded the Center for Spiritual Studies in 1968 in New York with Rabbi Gelberman, Br. David, and Eido Tai Shimano. Over the years, he received many honors for his humanitarian service, including the Juliet Hollister Award presented at the United Nations in 1996. In 2002, he received the

U Thant Peace Award The U Thant Peace Award was created by Sri Chinmoy's peace meditations at the United Nations, after U Thant's death. First offered in 1982, the award is given to individuals and organizations who have exemplified the lofty spiritual ideals of the ...

. In 2014, he was posthumously honored as an "interfaith visionary", with the James Parks Morton Interfaith Award by the Interfaith Center of New York. He was named a "Fellow of World Thanksgiving" by the World Thanksgiving Council in 1981 and named "Hindu of the Year" by ''

Hinduism Today ''Hinduism Today'' is a quarterly magazine published by the Himalayan Academy, a nonprofit educational institution, in Kapaʻa, Hawaiʻi, USA. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally, currently in 60 nations. Founded by ...

'' magazine in 1994. In 2009, Nalanie Chellaram founded a non-profit international collective of charities established in honor of Satchidananda and based on his core teaching of selfless service. SIS exists to serve children and families in need around the globe through various seva (selfless service) projects. Currently, SIS operates charities in Spain, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, India and the United States.

Sexual misconduct allegations

In 1991, about a decade before his death, protesters accused Satchidananda of molesting his students, and carried signs outside a hotel where he was staying in Virginia that read "Stop the Abuse". Several former disciples claimed he used his spiritual authority to coerce them into sexual relationships. After those first allegations, several more women made similar allegations of sexual manipulation and abuse. Satchidananda denied all the alleged abuses but refused to be interviewed about them. In response to the controversy, at least 12 board members of various branches of the Integral Yoga Institute stepped down. Ex-members formed a support group, the Healing Through Truth Network, to support his alleged victims and to raise awareness of the misconduct claims. None of the alleged victims filed criminal charges. Despite these events, followers remained loyal; Meryl Davids Landau wrote in the ''Elephant Journal'' in 2012 that the question for her was whether the teachings had served her, and she concluded that even though men like Swami Satchidananda and John Friend were "imperfect messenger , one can appreciate what one gets from them.

Death

On 19 August 2002, Swami Satchidananda died after speaking at a peace conference in South India. His funeral took place in Yogaville on 22 August 2002.

Books

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References

Sources

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External links

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Swami Satchidananda.org

Satchidananda Ashram Yogaville

{{DEFAULTSORT:Satchidananda Saraswati, Swami

Swami Satchidananda Saraswati Satchidananda Saraswati (; 22 December 1914 – 19 August 2002), born C. K. Ramaswamy Gounder and usually known as Swami Satchidananda, was an Indian yoga guru and religious teacher, who gained fame and following in the West. He founded his ow ...

1914 births 2002 deaths American Hindus Indian emigrants to the United States Indian Hindu spiritual teachers Indian yoga gurus Modern yoga pioneers Modern yoga gurus