Satchidananda Saraswati

Swami Satchidananda (birth name CK Ramaswamy Gounder, born December 22, 1914 in Chettipalayam, Tamil Nadu, India, † August 19, 2002 in the state of Tamil Nadu ) was an Indian spiritual teacher and yogi, who worked primarily in the U.S. and published several book titles.

Life and work

After studying C.K. worked Ramaswamy Gounder as a manager at the Indian state-owned power plants and married at age 23.

His wife died five years later, whereupon Ramaswamy entrusted his two sons, his mother and went on a long pilgrimage through India, during which he visited many important Indian yogis and manner. Finally, he found his guru Swami Sivananda, who ordained him to the Sannyasin and gave him his new name.

Swami Satchidananda thereafter initiated some years one of Sivananda Ashram, which was in the hill country of Sri Lanka. There he taught yoga, and introduced several modernizations in the lifestyle of the ashram inmates.

In 1966 he was invited by the artist Peter Max in the United States. Soon after, he moved there and became an American citizen. In 1969, he appeared as the keynote speaker at the famous Woodstock Festival. He founded the Integral Yoga Institute in New York and a spiritual center in yoga, Virginia.

The integral Yoga

The term " integral yoga " was first used by Sri Aurobindo with a specific meaning in works such as The Synthesis of Yoga, which already emerged at the time of the First World War. Although it is reported that there should have been a brief encounter of Sri Aurobindo and Satchidananda, the latter declared that his integral yoga is his own creation. For him it was a matter of different traditional yoga paths flexibly combine in a new system, all aspects of the human personality - to be able to develop fully and harmoniously - body, mind and soul.