Our inspirers

Swami Sivananda Saraswati
Swami Sivananda Saraswati was born at Pattamadai, (Tamil Nadu) in 1887. After serving as a medical doctor in Malaya, he renounced his practice to search for his Guru in the foothills of the Himalayas. He settled in the sacred valley of Rishikesh and was initiated into the Dashnami Sannyasa tradition in 1924 by Swami Vishwananda Saraswati.
In subsequent years he wrote hundreds of books and articles on yoga and spirituality to maintain and introduce yogic values in the minds of the general public.
His emphasis was on breaking down the barriers which separated the needy from the teachings that could help them, whether this took the form of yoga for health, peace of mind or spiritual aspiration. This ideology continues to guide the work of the Satyananda branch of his lineage.
To this end Swami Sivananda toured India extensively, inspiring people to practice yoga and lead a divine life. He founded the Divine Life Society at Rishikesh in 1936, the Sivananda Ayurvedic Pharmacy in 1945, the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy in 1948 and the Sivananda Eye Hospital in 1957. He attained Maha Samadhi on 14 July 1963.
A great spiritual luminary of the 20th century, Swami Sivananda Saraswati developed yoga as a practical, integrated subject which everyone could apply in their lives. Embodying the spirit of service to humanity, he inspired people to practice yoga and lead a divine life. His eightfold path: serve, love, give, purify, be good, do good, meditate, realize, became a roadmap for spiritual aspirants world wide.

Swami Satyananda Saraswati
Swami Satyananda was born in Almora (Uttaranchal) in 1923. Drawn to spiritual life from an early age, he left home at the age of eighteen, and in 1943 surrendered himself to Swami Sivananda in Rishikesh who initiated him into Dashnami sannyasa in 1947. He served his guru for twelve years, perfecting every aspect of spiritual life. Thereafter, he travelled throughout the Indian subcontinent as a wandering ascetic.
Realizing the need of the times as scientific rendition of the ancient system of yoga, he founded the International Yoga Fellowship in 1956 and the Bihar School of Yoga in 1963. During the next twenty years, Swami Satyananda hoisted the flag of yoga in every corner of the world, consolidated BSY into a foremost institution of yoga, and authored over eighty major texts on yoga, tantra and spiritual life.
Satyananda YogaTM became a tradition which combines classical knowledge with experiential understanding and a modern outlook. In 1984 he founded the Yoga Research Foundation to synchronize scientific research and yoga, and Sivananda Math to assist the underprivileged. In 1988, at the peak of his achievements, he renounced everything and adopted kshetra sannyasa, living as a paramahamsa ascetic. In 1989 Rikhia was revealed to him, where he came to live and performed higher vedic sadhanas in seclusion. Receiving the command to provide for his neighbours in 1991, he allowed the ashram to help the underprivileged villages in the region. From 1995 onwards, he performed a twelve-year Rajasooya Yajna with the sankalpa of peace, plenty and prosperity for all, and in 2007 he announced the establishment of Rikhiapeeth with its mandate to ‘serve, love, give’.
Swami Satyananda attained mahasamadhi, a yogic accomplishment of discarding the body at will to become one with the universal consciousness, in 2009, in the presence of his disciples.

Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati (Swami Niranjan) )was born in Rajnandgaon, India in 1960, joined the Bihar School of Yoga, Munger (Bihar) at the age of seven and was initiated into the Dashnami Sannyasa tradition in 1970 by his Guru, Swami Satyananda Saraswati. He started traveling internationally in 1971 and spent many of his early years assisting in setting up yoga centers in Europe, Australia, North and South America.  
Initiated as a Paramahamsa Sannyasin at the age of thirty, he was anointed Preceptor in succession to Swami Satyananda Saraswati by the leading luminaries of the Sannyasa tradition in 1993.
Swami Niranjanananda has been guiding the activities of Bihar School of Yoga, Sivananda Math and the Yoga Research Foundation since 1983. He founded Sri Panchdashnam Paramahamsa Alakh Bara in 1991 to further the work of his Guru, Swami Satyananda Saraswati. In 1994 he founded the Bihar Yoga Bharati, an Institute for Advanced Studies in Yogic Sciences, and the Bal Yoga Mitra Mandal movement in 1995 to introduce children to yoga.
Through authoring many classic books on Yoga, Tantra and the Upanishads and going on numerous national and international tours for many years, he has provided practical guidance and inspiration to live a yogic lifestyle, develop spiritual awareness and integrate head, heart and hands, for aspirants the world over.
In 2009 after handing over the tasks of institutional administration and international traveling, Swami Niranjan is moving more fully into his role as guru and spiritual master with his base in Munger, to be available for people to utilize his spiritual prowess for their upliftment.

Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati

Swami Satyasangananda (Satsangi) was born in 1953, in Chandornagore (West Bengal). She experienced a series of inner awakenings from the age of twenty-two, which led her to her guru, Swami Satyananda. From 1981 onwards she travelled ceaselessly with her guru in India and overseas, and developed into a scholar with deep insight into the yogic and tantric traditions as well as modern sciences and philosophies, leading to the writing of authoritative commentaries on classical texts.
She is an efficient channel for the transmission of her guru’s teachings. The establishment of Sivananda Math at Rikhia is her creation and mission, and she guides all its activities, working tirelessly to uplift the underprivileged and neglected residents of the surrounding villages. She founded Sivananda Ashram in 2004 and Rikhiapeeth in 2006, where, as the first peethadhishwari, she is dedicated to implementing Swami Sivananda’s three precepts of serve, love and give.
She was initiated as a Paramahamsa sannyasin in 2007 and now she is travelling globally to spread the message of yoga and seva. Embodying compassion with clear reason, Swami Satsangi is the foundation of her guru’s vision.

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