Satyananda Giri ( bn, স্বামী সত্যানন্দ গিরি) (17 November 1896 – 2 August 1971), is the monastic name of Manamohan Mazumder, an
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n monk and a chief monastic disciple of
Kriya Yoga guru
Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri
Sri Yukteswar Giri (also written Sriyuktesvara, Sri Yukteshwar) (Devanagari: ) (10 May 1855 – 9 March 1936) is the monastic name of Priya Nath Karar (also spelled as Priya Nath Karada and Preonath Karar), an Indian monk and yogi, and the g ...
. He was a close childhood friend of, and brother-disciple to,
Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh; January 5, 1893March 7, 1952) was an Indian Hindu monk, yogi and guru who introduced millions to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his organization Self-Realization Fellows ...
. In his later monastic life, he served as the leader of several yoga training institutions in east India.
Early years
Acharya Swami Satyananda Giri Maharaj (family name Manamohan Mazumder) was born to Mohinimohan Mazumder and Tarabasini Devi at Malkha Nagar of Bikrampore, undivided Bengal, currently Bangladesh, on 17 November 1896.
Later, his father Mohinimohan studied at the Government Art College of Calcutta and the family moved to Calcutta. Mohinimohan was one of the founding fathers of Calcutta Deaf and Dumb School. As a result, the Mazumder family used to live on the school premises.
Across from the school is Garpar Road, where
Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh; January 5, 1893March 7, 1952) was an Indian Hindu monk, yogi and guru who introduced millions to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his organization Self-Realization Fellows ...
(family name Mukunda Lal Ghosh) used to live with his parents. Satyananda met Yogananda when he was 11 years and Yogananda was 14 years old. They were boyhood best friends, brother disciples and colleagues.
Mohinimohan had seven children; Satyananda was the eldest then there was: Nripendramohan Mazumder (Mukul), Khirodmohan Mazumder, Saileshmohan Mazumder (Suddhananda Giri), Nalinimohan Mazumder (Nanimohan, a journalist), Gopimohan Mazumder, the youngest son and Sarjubala, the only daughter (disciple of
Swami Abhedananda
Swami Abhedananda (2 October 1866 – 8 September 1939), born Kaliprasad Chandra, was a direct disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of Ramakrishna Vedanta Math. Swami Vivekananda sent him to the West to ...
who was the disciple of
Ramakrishna
Ramakrishna Paramahansa ( bn, রামকৃষ্ণ পরমহংস, Ramôkṛṣṇo Pôromohôṅso; , 18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886),——— — also spelled Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, born Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya,, was an In ...
).
Satyananda studied at the Mitra Institution of Calcutta, and he knew Bengali, Sanskrit, Hindi, English and Oriya which he learned while he was living at Puri with his Guru
Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri
Sri Yukteswar Giri (also written Sriyuktesvara, Sri Yukteshwar) (Devanagari: ) (10 May 1855 – 9 March 1936) is the monastic name of Priya Nath Karar (also spelled as Priya Nath Karada and Preonath Karar), an Indian monk and yogi, and the g ...
.
He graduated with a B.A. with honors in Philosophy from the University of Calcutta. He then entered into ''Giri'' branch of the
Swami
Swami ( ; sometimes abbreviated sw.) in Hinduism is an honorific title given to a male or female ascetic who has chosen the path of renunciation (''sanyāsa''), or has been initiated into a religious monastic order of Vaishnavas. It is used eith ...
Order, of which his guru Sri Yukteswar was also a part. One of his school classmates and a good friend was Ananda Mohan Lahiri, the bachelor grandson of Lahiri Mahasaya. They later worked together at Yogananda's Ranchi school.
Teacher of yoga
Satyananda was a foremost disciple of
Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri
Sri Yukteswar Giri (also written Sriyuktesvara, Sri Yukteshwar) (Devanagari: ) (10 May 1855 – 9 March 1936) is the monastic name of Priya Nath Karar (also spelled as Priya Nath Karada and Preonath Karar), an Indian monk and yogi, and the g ...
in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and of Paramahansa Yogananda. Yogananda began a school with seven children at Dihika, a small country site in Bengal, India. A year later in 1918, Sir Manindra Chandra Nundy funded the school, and it was moved to Ranchi, India. Yogananda called the school Brahmacharya Vidyalaya. Satyananda joined the Ranchi Brahmacharya School which Yogananda started and his close friends, Dhirananda and Satyananda supported.
In 1920 Yogananda left to spread Kriya Yoga to the United States and then Yogananda called Dhirananda in 1922 to come to help. At Yogananda's request, Satyananda became the Principal and Secretary and ran the school from 1922 to 1942.
During his tenure as director of the school, the Maharaja’s estate went into bankruptcy. He could not help anymore like before. Teachers of the school resolved to ask help from Yogananda and accordingly Satyananda wrote to him for help, but he was himself in financial trouble in the USA. So all hopes were gone. Satyananda donated his salaries of the entire period (twenty years) and saved Ranchi School. Often he called Ranchi his blood-built institution.
Yukteswar Giri trained Satyananda at his Puri Karar Ashram in 1919 when they lived together and subsequently appointed him as the "leader of the East". He also appointed Satyananda at his Puri Karar Ashram as the "Ashram Swami" (the monk of the hermitage) for the Puri Karar Ashram.
Satyananda lived in the hermitages at the Karar Ashram, Puri (from 1919 to 1921), at Ranchi (from 1922 to 1941), and at Sevayatan (from 1943 to 1971). He had more than three thousand devotees in India and abroad, but his three disciples were Brahamachari Yogadananda (since deceased), Manabendra Of Guwahati (Assam) and Kalyan Sengupta (presently practising at Calcutta High Court).
Bibliography
He wrote the following biographies in Bengali:
#Yogiraj Sri Sri Shyama Charan
Lahiri Mahasaya
Charan Lahiri (30 September 1828 – 26 September 1895), best known as Lahiri Mahasaya, was an Indian yogi guru who founded the Kriya Yoga school. In 1861, his non-physical master Mahavatar Babaji appeared to him, ordering him to revive ...
,
#Hangsa Swami Kebalananda Maharaj,
#Swami
Yukteswar Giri
Sri Yukteswar Giri (also written Sriyuktesvara, Sri Yukteshwar) (Devanagari: ) (10 May 1855 – 9 March 1936) is the monastic name of Priya Nath Karar (also spelled as Priya Nath Karada and Preonath Karar), an Indian monk and yogi, and the g ...
(Reminiscences – smritikona),
#Yogananda Sanga (As I Saw and understood Paramhansa Yogananda),
#Dibyajivan (Bengali Version of his Guru’s booklet The Holy Science)
References
*Swami Satyananda. ''Biography of a Yogi''. 2nd Edition. Sanskrit Classics, 2002.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giri, Satyananda
Indian Hindu monks
Founders of new religious movements
1896 births
1971 deaths
20th-century Bengalis
Bengali Hindus
Bengali writers
Paramahansa Yogananda
University of Calcutta alumni
20th-century Indian male writers
Indian biographers
20th-century Indian translators
Indian religious writers
Indian spiritual writers
Indian Hindu saints
Bengali Hindu saints
Indian Hindu religious leaders
20th-century Indian monks
Indian yoga gurus