Swami Satyananda Giri

Swami Satyananda Giri was born on 17 November 1896 in Bikrampur, Bangladesh. His exemplary life is characterized by clarity, simplicity and spirituality. He was a versatile philosopher, singer, composer, poet, social worker and above all a highly developed disciple and master of the Kriya Yoga tradition. His whole life – every breath and every action – was a single manifestation of divine truth.

In 1911, he met his master Swami Shri Yukteshwar in Calcutta and received the initiation into Kriya Yoga from him. Together with his childhood friend Yogananda he founded an ashram and a boarding school in Ranchi, which later also received Mahatma Gandhi’s recognition. Later, at Shri Yukteshwar’s request, he became the leading Acharya of the Karar Ashram in Puri. In 1940 he retired from running the Ashram and led a life as a wandering monk teaching the practical aspect of Kriya Yoga throughout India. After the mahasamadhi (the last deliberate withdrawal of a realized yogi from his body) of his youth friend Paramahamsa Yogananda, he returned to Puri and served as president of the Karar Ashram and the Sevayatan Satsang Mission in Jhargram until his own death in 1971. His whole life was dedicated to the path of love and truth. He loved, lived and realized this truth.

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