Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri is the monastic name of Priya Nath Karar, an Indian monk and yogi, and the guru of Paramahansa Yogananda and Swami Satyananda Giri. Born in Serampore, West Bengal, Sri Yukteswar was a Kriya yogi, a Jyotishi, a scholar of the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads, an educator, author, and astronomer. He was a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya of Varanasi and a member of the Giri branch of the Swami order. As a guru, he had two ashrams, one in Serampore and another in Puri, Odisha, between which he alternated his residence throughout the year as he trained disciples.
Shyama Charan Lahiri, best known as Lahiri Mahasaya, was an Indian yogi and guru who founded the Kriya Yoga school. He was a disciple of Mahavatar Babaji. According to the book America's Alternative Religions by Timothy Miller, Lahiri Mahasaya's life was described in Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi as a demonstration of the spiritual attainment that could be achieved by a householder "living fully in the world". A part of Lahiri Mahasaya's face is pictured on the cover of The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Mahavatar Babaji is the Himalayan yogi and guru who taught Kriya Yoga to Lahiri Mahasaya (1828–1895). Babaji first became recognized through the writings of Paramahansa Yogananda, who devoted a chapter of his Autobiography of a Yogi to Babaji and founded Self-Realization Fellowship, a modern yoga movement that Babaji is associated with. The cave where Babaji met Lahiri Mahasaya, located near Ranikhet, is now a tourist attraction and place of pilgrimage in India.
Kriya Yoga is a yoga system which consists of a number of levels of pranayama, mantra, and mudra, intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development and engender a profound state of tranquility and God-communion. It is described by its practitioners as an ancient yoga system revived in modern times by Lahiri Mahasaya, who claimed to be initiated by a guru, Mahavatar Babaji, circa 1861 in the Himalayas. Kriya Yoga was brought to international awareness by Paramahansa Yogananda's book Autobiography of a Yogi and through Yogananda's introductions of the practice to the West from 1920.
Almora is a district in the Kumaon Division of Uttarakhand state, India. The headquarters is at Almora. It is 1,638 meters above sea level. The neighbouring regions are Pithoragarh district to the east, Chamoli district to the west, Bageshwar district to the north and Nainital district to the south.
Panchanan Bhattacharya (1853–1919) was a disciple of the Indian Yogi Lahiri Mahasaya. He was the first disciple to be authorized by Lahiri Mahasaya to initiate others into Kriya Yoga, and helped to spread Lahiri Mahasaya's teachings in Bengal through his Arya Mission Institution.
Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS) is a non-profit, nonsectarian spiritual organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1917 and is a part of the Self-Realization Fellowship which was founded in 1920 to care for and disseminate his teachings. The current president of the SRF/YSS is Brother Chidananda. Paramahansa Yogananda is most noted for his 1946 book Autobiography of a Yogi which became an international bestseller and featured in the 100 Most Important Spiritual Books of the 20th Century by HarperCollins.
Ranikhet is a hill station and cantonment town, near Almora Town in Almora district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the home of the Military Hospital, Kumaon Regiment (KRC) and Naga Regiment and is maintained by the Indian Army.
Hariharananda Giri, was an Indian yogi and guru who taught in India as well as in western countries. He was born as Rabindranath Bhattacharya in Nadia district, West Bengal. He was the head of the Kriya Yoga Institute, United States, and founder worldwide Kriya Yoga Centers. According to some sources, Hariharananda was a direct disciple of Yukteswar Giri.
Haidakhan Babaji, simply called Babaji by his students and devotees, was a religious teacher who appeared near the village of Haidakhan in northern India (Uttarakhand) and taught publicly from 1970 until his death in 1984. He has a following in the Western world, and two ashrams in India.
Bhowali is a town and a municipal board in Nainital District in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is situated at a distance of 11 km (6.8 mi) from the city of Nainital, the district headquarters; at an average elevation of 1,654 m (5,427 ft) from sea level. It is the seat of Bhowali tehsil, one of the eight subdivisions of Nainital district.
Dwarahat is a town, near Almora town and a nagar panchayat in Almora district in the state of Uttarakhand, India.
Almora is a municipal corporation and a cantonment town in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Almora district. Almora is located on a ridge at the southern edge of the Kumaon Hills of the Himalaya range. The Koshi (Kaushiki) and Suyal (Salmale) rivers flow along the city and snow-capped Himalayas can be seen in the background.
Tanakpur is a city and a municipal board in Champawat district of Uttarakhand state of India. Located in the plains area in the northern part of India. The town is the gateway for Purnagiri Temple as well as the 'Gateway to the Kumaon Himalayas'.
Tripathi Kumaon Institute of Technology, formerly Kumaon Engineering College (KEC), is an autonomous engineering and technology institute in Almora district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. The institute is located in the city of Dwarahat.
Kausani is a hill station and Village situated in Bageshwar district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is known for its scenery and its 300 km-wide panoramic view of Himalayan peaks like Trisul, Nanda Devi and Panchchuli. Mahatma Gandhi called this place the 'Switzerland of India', due to similarity in landscapes.
Satyananda Giri, is the monastic name of Manamohan Mazumder, an Indian monk and a monastic disciple of Kriya Yoga guru Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri. He was a close childhood friend of, and brother-disciple to, Paramahansa Yogananda. In his later monastic life, he served as the leader of several yoga training institutions in east India.
Swami Vishnu Tirtha (1888–1969), also known as Munilal Swami, was a sanyas, writer, and guru with a prominent place in the Shaktipat tradition of Siddhayoga. He was born on 15 October 1888 in Jhajjar, Haryana, India. He stayed with an uncle while obtaining an undergraduate degree, then married and was employed as a teacher in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh while he obtained a postgraduate degree and a baccalaureate in law from Aligarh Muslim University. He then practised as a lawyer in the Ghaziabad District of Meerut where his assistant was Late Chaudhary Charan Singh the former Prime Minister of India.
Naukuchiatal or "lake of nine corners" is a small hill station, near Nainital Town in Nainital district of Kumaon, Uttarakhand, India. The chairman is Devendra Singh chanotiya.
Sri Sri Yogiraj Swami Keshavananda Brahmachari (1830-1942) was a Kriya Yogi and master of the Tantras from West Bengal. He was an important disciple of Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri who is popularly known as Lahiri Mahasaya and was well known for his austere Yogic practices through which he had attained the highest degree of enlightenment within his lifetime. He spent a significant part of his lifetime in the Himalayas while being engaged in Yogic practices.
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