Guru Parampara
Lord Krishna :
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥४-७॥
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् ।
धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥४-८॥
Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati bharata
Abhythanamadharmasya tadatmanam srijamyaham
Paritranaya sadhunang vinashay cha dushkritam
Dharmasangsthapanarthay sambhabami yuge yuge – Shrimad Bhagavadgeeta
This is how Swami Vivekananda himself translated the above shloka—
Whenever virtue subsides and wickedness prevails, I manifest Myself. To establish virtue, to destroy evil, to save the good I come from Yuga (age) to Yuga.”[Source]
Lord Krishna is the incarnation of Lord Vishnu and is the central character in the epic of Mahabharatha. His teachings are codified in 700 verses as the Bhagavad Gita. Lord Krishna taught the science of Kriya yoga to Arjuna 1000 years ago.
Mahavatar Babaji revived the technique of Kriya Yoga for the betterment of humankind. Kriya yoga was then descended to Lahari Mahasaya from Mahavatar Babaji and Babaji said to have mentioned that “The Kriya Yoga that I am giving to the world through you in this nineteenth century is a revival of the same science that Krishna gave millenniums ago to Arjuna; and that was later known to Patanjali and other disciples.” (‘Autobiography of a Yogi’, by Paramahansa Yogananda.)
Shyama Charan Lahari who is popularly known as Lahari Mahasay was a householder and was working in British Railways in Bengal. He was transferred to Ranikhet in the foothills of Himalayas on an official duty. When he reached the Himalayas while walking one day, he heard a young man calling him by his name. At first Lahari Mahasay didn’t recognize his guru Mahavatar babaji, but Babaji with his gentle touch on Shyama Charan’s forehead reminded him of his previous incarnations.
Later Babaji initiated Lahari Mahasay into the sacred science of Kriya Yoga and after a few days, Babaji asked Lahiri Mahasaya to leave for home. Babaji also gave him permission to initiate and teach Kriya Yoga to others.
Lahiri Mahasay entered Maha samadhi in Banaras on September 26, 1985.
Sri Yukteswara Giri was born on May 10 1855 in Serampore, West Bengal, his name was Priyanath Karar. He was initiated by Lahari mahasay to kriya yoga. Sri Yukteswara Giri met Mahavatar Babaji in kumbha mela in Allahabad in 1894 and upon request of Mahavatar Babaji he wrote a book called Kaivalya Darsanam.
Also, as per the prediction of Balaji, Sri Yutkeswara Giri came across the disciple Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, who later went to teach Kriya Yoga in the West. Apart from Paramahansa Yogananda Sri Yukeswara Giri had many other disciples namely, Sri Swami Satyananda Giri, Swami Bhavananda Giri etc. Swami Sri Yukteswara Giri attained the Mahasamadhi on March 9, 1935.
Sathyananda Giri was born on 17 November 1896 to Mohinimohan Mazumder and Tarabasini Devi at Malkha Nagar of Bikrampore, undivided Bengal. Sri Satyananda was trained by Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri at his Puri Karar Ashram in 1919. Sri Satyananda was also a disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda.
Satyananda lived in the hermitages at the Karar ashram in Puri, Ranchi and had more than thousands of devotees. Swami Sathyananda Giri attained Niravana on August 2 1971 at the age of 74.
Paramahansa Yogananda: As instructed by Babaji Sri Yukteswara giri ji met a boy named Mukunda who later became renowned Paramhansa yogananda in sacred Allahabad Kumbha mela in 1984.
Yogananda was born January 5, 1893, to Bhagabati Charan Ghosh and Gyan Prabha Ghosh in Gorakhpur, UttarPradesh, India. He taught meditation and Kriya yog to millions in India and in America.
His book on, Autobiography of a Yogi, sold over four million copies, with HarperSan Francisco listing it as one of the “100 best spiritual books of the 20th Century”.[1][2]
On March 7, 1952, he attained Nirvana after giving his speech and reading a final poem on My India, concluding with the words “Where Ganges, woods, Himalayan caves, and men dream God—I am hallowed; my body touched that sod.”[3]
- Goldberg, Philip (March 7, 2012). “The Yogi Of The Autobiography: A Tribute To Yogananda”. HuffPost. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
- “HarperSanFrancisco, edited by Philip Zaleski 100 Best Spiritual Books of the 20th Century“.
- Mata, Daya (Spring 2002). “My Spirit Shall Live On: The Final Days of Paramahansa Yogananda”. Self-Realization Magazine.
