Paramahamsa Satyananda & Swami Niranjanananda
Paramahamsa Satyananda was born in the Himalayan foothills at Almora (U.P.), India. He left his home at the age of 19, in search of spiritual truth. He joined his guru, Swami Sivananda, in Rishikesh and adopted the sannyasa way of life in 1943. For 12 years he served his guru as one of the main pillars of the Divine Life Society. After completing his sannyasa training, he travelled throughout India as a wandering mendicant for a further 9 years, interacting with and inspiring people from all strata of society, in order to assess their needs. In 1956, he founded the International Yoga Fellowship Movement, and, in 1963, the Bihar School of Yoga, to disseminate yoga to people of all nationalities and creeds.
Over the next 20 years Paramahamsa Satyananda toured internationally and became a leading exponent of yoga and tantra. He was highly respected and beloved by yoga aspirants, disciples and devotees all over the world. He also initiated and trained thousands of sannyasins and karma sannyasins to further the yoga movement in India and abroad. During this period he further authored over 80 books on yoga and spirituality which are a valuable source of knowledge. In 1984, he founded Sivananda Math, a charitable institution, and the Yoga Research Foundation, a medical and scientific institute. In 1988, after completing his duty to the yogic mission, he renounced all that he had created and now leads the life of a paramahamsa sannyasin. Since that time he has lived a secluded life in Rikhia. Over the last few years he has opened his doors for about a month each a year for festivals and satsangs. Thousands of people have travelled from throughout the world simply to hear him speak.
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati was born in Rajnandgaon, Madhya Pradesh in 1960. At the age of 4 he joined the Bihar School of Yoga and was initiated into Dashnami Sannyasa by Paramahamsa Satyananda at the age of 10. He spent twelve years overseas and toured many countries setting up ashrams and centers in Europe, Australia and America whilst developing an understanding of the specific needs of different cultures.
In 1983 he was appointed President of the Bihar School of Yoga. During the next 11 years he guided the development of BSY, Sivananda Math and the Yoga Research Foundation. In 1990 he was initiated as a Paramahamsa and in 1993 anointed preceptor in successor to Paramahamsa Satyananda. Bihar Yoga Bharati, Institute for Yogic Studies was founded under his direction in 1994, dedicated to university level studies in applied yogic science, philosophy and psychology. He has authored over 20 revealing and precise books, on yoga, Tantra and the Upanishads. Swami Niranjanananda is laying the foundations to preserve and regenerate the total scope of yogic science by combining academic and scientific methodology with a spiritual vision.