Swami Satyananda was born at the foothills of the Himalayas in the year 1923. His ancestors belonged to the kshatriya lineage, the warrior class. As a young man he was initiated into the Dashnami Sannyasa Order by his Guru, Swami Sivananda at Rishikesh. The Dashnami, or ten orders, were formed by Adi Guru Shankaracharya 2,500 years ago, as a means of organizing sannyasins throughout India and providing them with a platform from which to develop their understanding. Sri Swamiji belonged to the Saraswati order, dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, and this is his spiritual lineage.
He was a Paramahansa, an avadhoota, which is a very high calibre of sannyasin. More than anything, Paramahansa is a state of mind. His Guru initiated him into the Paramahansa order when he was just 19 years old, but he told him he would have to wait to live that life he had a mission to fulfill first. He said, “You have come early to the station.” So Swamiji said, “Okay, then I’ll go back home and come back when the train is due to arrive.” But Swami Sivananda told to him to stay in the ashram. He said, “If you go back, you may miss the train. You stay here and work hard. Purify, and the light will unfold from within. The knowledge is in you.” That is what Swami Sivananda told him – work hard and purify. He did not say meditate and purify, he did not say do asanas and pranayama. He said, “Work hard and the light will shine from within.” Sri Swamiji stayed in his Guru’s ashram for twelve years, and in that time he did not study the Vedas and Upanishads and he did not learn yoga or tantra. He spent his days doing hard work, just as everybody here in Rikhia does.
In the early days in Rishikesh the ashram had no access to water, and the inmates would have to collect it in buckets from the river below. Swamiji dug a canal from a stream high above in the mountains so that water came right down to the ashram, and then he built a reservoir so that they could store the water, too. He constructed buildings and ran the dispensary, edited and translated books and worked in the kitchen and garden. Swami Sivananda used to say that each person is a treasure house of knowledge, that knowledge not something you borrow from outside, it is a process of unfolding from within. Sri Swamiji was a firm believer in this. He did so many things in his Guru’s ashram. He worked hard day and night, and he became a master of everything.
Most people think that Swami Satyananda was only a master of yoga because he taught so many, amazing and effective practices, but he was a master of everything. He could talk about the wisdom of any millennia and any of the sciences of day, of every faith and religion with utmost ease, clarity and conviction, and he could quote from any of the scriptures verbatim. He was thoroughly versed in the Vedas, Upanishads, the Koran and the Bible, all the spiritual texts. Like Saraswati, he had them all in the palm of his hand. He could talk about any subject, whether it was history or geography, arts and sciences, and all literature – Hindi, English, Greek, modern and classical. And it’s not that he only spoke on high concepts, he could discuss anything with anybody. With local villagers here in Rikhiapeeth, he would just as easily go into great detail about how to milk a cow or the best time of year to plant the crops. He even knew how to make a perfect dosa. It was so simple for him because he had access to all knowledge.
That is how we knew him, so full of knowledge and wisdom, but he always said that he became like that by the grace of Swami Sivananda and by living in his Guru’s ashram. In fact, he said that everything that happened in his life was because of meeting his Guru. He gave all the credit to his Guru. Sri Swamiji would say that the knowledge is inside of us, too, but right now it’s stored on a hard disc and we can’t access it because we don’t know the code. Only Guru knows the code.
He taught yoga to millions of people around the world. He shared so many different practices, but what did he practice? All his life he lived in the awareness of Guru, no matter what he was doing. Whether he was giving lectures or administering the ashram, whether he was interacting with people, giving them spiritual guidance, even when he was in sadhana, his awareness was of Guru. No matter what he did, he lived with that constant awareness of Guru. Just as when you remember your loved ones and that connects you to them, in the same way he always remembered Guru, and was connected to that force. Guru is not a person. Guru is a tattwa, a primordial element. Guru is an energy, a force, and finally, that is what you have to connect with. That is called Guru Bhakti Yoga, and that is the yoga Swami Satyananda practiced 24-hours a day, every day of his life.
Sri Swamiji lived his life in twenty year cycles. He lived the life of a student, he lived in his Guru’s ashram, then he was a world-famous yoga teacher, fulfilling his Guru’s command to spread yoga from door-to-door and shore-to-shore. Finally, in 1989, just as his Guru has told him, his train finally arrived. He came to Rikhia to live the life of a Paramahansa, a tapasvi and practice higher sadhanas. From the moment he arrived, things started to become very clear and his life began to crystallize. For 20 years he remained totally immersed in the sadhana of remembrance. He used to say, “I came to Rikhia to leave my body, but I haven’t got a return ticket yet, so that is what I’m waiting for. The day I get a return ticket, I’ll leave like a jet plane.” And when he got his return ticket, he left. That was on 5th December 2009.
The purpose of Guru Bhakti Yoga in Rikhiapeeth is to connect with the energy of Guru. We are part of a beautiful lineage of Gurus. Lord Siva is the first Guru of our lineage, so if you remember Siva you are also remembering Swami Satyananda and Swami Sivananda. They are not different; they are part of the same current of energy. The energy of this lineage is flowing like a river, right from Siva to Adi Shankaracharya all the way through to Swami Sivananda and Swami Satyananda.
Living in awareness of Guru means living in awareness of knowledge, because Guru is knowledge. That knowledge is in you, and ultimately the Guru is in you. The physical Guru comes into your life and acts as a detonator, exploding the hard, stony surface so that you can draw that knowledge from within. There is no other reason for Guru to enter your life. Knowledge is not accumulating information from books, passing exams and getting a degree. Knowledge is the unfoldment of the inner Self. Real knowledge has a greater purpose, and only the Guru can guide you in this.
Although millions of people considered Swami Satyananda to be their Guru, he never considered himself a Guru. Discipleship was more important to being than gurudom, and he always considered himself a disciple. “One has to remain a disciple,” he would tell us, and he exemplified that in his life. Sri Swamiji lived his whole life, every moment, with awareness of Guru. Whatever he preached, he practiced. That was his quality. He did not just say things. He did them, he lived them. And he told us, “Yes, this is the way.”