Lineage of Kriya Yoga Masters

Lahiri Mahasaya

Kriya Yoga was taught to Lahiri Mahasaya in the last century by a Himalayan yogi known under the name of Babaji. The story of Lahiri Mahasaya's meeting with Babaji is related in Paramahansa Yogananda's book, Autobiography of a Yogi.

Lahiri Mahasaya was a layman, father of a family, but also had obtained the highest realization by the means of Kriya Yoga. He soon became famous and many desciples came to him. He taught Kriya Yoga to monks as well as to householders. He has been called a Yogavatar, "an incarnation of Yoga".

Shri Yukteswar Giri

Among Lahiri Mahasaya's best desciples was Shri Yukteswar who was also a married man. Later he took orders and was known as Swami Yukteswar Giri.

Shri Yukteswar was also a great astrologer, and created a form of astrology which he called Cosmic Astrology. This system establishes the relation between the planets, the stationary stars, the signs of the zodiac and the energy centres (chakras) situated in the human body. This astrology is therefore in direct relationship with the practice of Kriya Yoga. Shri Yukteswar had numerous bright disciples, among whom were Swami Narayana Giri and Paramahansa Yogananda.

Read about Shri Yukteswar's meeting with Babaji at the Kumbha Mela in Allahabad, January 1894

Paramahansa Yogananda

Paramahansa literally means "supreme swan (soul)", and this title was bestowed on Yogananda by Swami Shri Yukteswar in 1935. Paramahansa Yogananda, author of "Autobiography of a Yogi", was one of the first Indian yogis to come to the West. Residing in the United States until his mahasamadhi (a yogi's final conscious exit from the body) in 1952, he had an important part in spreading Kriya Yoga around the world.

Swami Narayana Giri ("Prabhujee")

Among Shri Yukteswar's highly realized disciples was Swami Narayana Giri, his closest disciple for nearly twenty years. In the Indian monastic tradition, the disciple is expected to serve his master all his life. Through this service he thus gets the teachings of his guru, both theoretical and practical, while at the same time acquiring his qualities. Among all the different ways to receive knowledge, service to master is considered to be the best while at the same time the most difficult. This is the path that Swami Narayana Giri had decided to tread. His whole life was dedicated to his incomparable master until his mahasamadhi, that is to say his demise.

Swami Shankarananda Giri

Swami Shankarananda Giri was born on the auspicious day of Janmâstami - the birthday of Lord Krishna. No one knows his actual date of birth, but it has been assumed to be August 5, 1947. He was born by the bank of Chilika Lake in Rambhâ, a small town in the state of Orissa India, and spent his childhood in Bhubaneswar. At the early age of twelve he received initiation to Kriya Yoga at Karâr Ashram (spiritual community) in Puri, which was founded by Shri Yukteswar. At the ages of thirty he entered the monastic order from Jagatguru Shankarâchârya of Gobardhan Math, Puri.

Swami Shankarananda Giri's spiritual practise (sadana) took him through all the stages of Kriya Yoga allowing him to become a Kriya Master. He initiates Kriya Yoga to any earnest seeker regardless of cast, religion or creed who wishes to receive this ancient universal technique. His teachings explain the connection of Kriya Yoga practise with the many spiritual paths and different traditions used as a means for spiritual evolution.

Swami Shankarananda Giri also inherited the astrological system called Cosmic Astrology from his guru Swami Narayana Giri ("Prabhujee"), which was established by Shri Yukteswar. He is the author of Kriya Yoga Darshan (in English) which has been translated into French and Danish, and "Patanjala Yoga Sûtra Kaivalja Darshanam - Bringing the Inner God to Life" in English and French translation.

He has established ashrams at Bhubaneswar, Rairakol and Rishikesh in India as well as centres and associations in European countries. He is the founder of an English Medium School and an charitable hospital (providing yoga-therapy, naturopathy and ayurvedic therapy), within the ashram campus at Bhubaneswar.