Siddha Yoga
Siddha Yoga is a spiritual path founded by Swami Muktananda. According to its literature, the Siddha Yoga tradition is "based mainly on eastern philosophies" and "draws many of its teachings from the Indian yogic texts of Vedanta and Kashmir Shaivism, the Bhagavad Gita and the poet-saints." The present head of Siddha Yoga is Gurumayi Chidvilasananda.
Ashrams and meditation centers provide places to learn and practice Siddha Yoga. The two main ashrams are Gurudev Siddha Peeth in Ganeshpuri, India, and Shree Muktananda Ashram in New York State, United States. Siddha Yoga has meditation centers in several countries, including India, the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Japan.
Etymology
"Siddha Yoga" is a Sanskrit term adopted by Muktananda to describe the path of self-realization that he embarked on under the guidance of his spiritual teacher, the Indian saint Bhagawan Nityananda. Muktananda regarded the path he learned from his teacher as a perfect path because it embraced all of the traditional yogas, spontaneously bringing the disciple to perfection in each. In 1975 Muktananda founded the SYDA Foundation to administer the work of his global "meditation revolution"."Siddha Yoga" has been a registered service mark of the SYDA Foundation, a domestic non-profit corporation, since 1977. As an educational service mark, it is used in teaching and conducting workshops for individual spiritual development.
The ancient generic Sanskrit term "Siddha Yoga" is attested in the Third Tantra of the Tirumantiram of Tirumular, a Tamil poet of the 7th or 8th century A definition of "Siddha Yoga" is also offered by Swami Shankar Purushottam Tirtha, a yogi from the dual Tirtha/Siddhayoga lineage, who wrote two books on "Siddhayoga" in the early 1900s:
A further definition of "Siddha Yoga" was offered in 1948 by Swami Purushottam Tirtha's disciple, Swami Vishnu Tirtha:
Teachings and practices
Muktananda's Siddha Yoga is based on his personal selection "from the teachings of his guru, Nityananda, and philosophical and practical traditions that preceded him, especially premodern hatha yoga, Vedanta, and Kashmir Shaivism."The Siddha Yoga practices are intended to help the seeker "touch and expand the inner mystical state, until over time he or she becomes established in his experience of yoga or oneness with God."
Yoga practices
Siddha Yoga meditation, or the practice of turning the attention inward, involves silently focusing the attention on a mantra and on the flow of breath. The principal Siddha Yoga meditation mantra is Om Namah Shivaya.Siddha Yoga chanting involves the use of music and sacred mantras "to enter into a dialogue with the divine." There are two main types of Siddha Yoga chants: namasankirtana, and swadhyaya. Scriptural texts chanted in Siddha Yoga ashrams and meditation centers include the morning and evening Arati; the Guru Gita, a hymn of 182 verses transmitted in the Skanda Purana; Shree Rudram, an ancient hymn to Rudra preserved in the Krishna Yajurveda; and the Kundalini Stavah, an eight-stanza hymn to Kundalini.
Siddha Yoga students can participate in satsang, group meetings or programs held weekly at Siddha Yoga ashrams and meditation centers. Satsangs typically include talks, chanting, and meditation. The SYDA Foundation offers a variety of courses and retreats throughout the year, including the meditation intensives first developed by Muktananda in the 1970s.
Siddha Yoga students engage in seva, or "selfless service", as a spiritual practice. Students can practice seva through volunteer work at an ashram or a meditation center in their city. The work of the SYDA Foundation is carried out by the work of "sevites".
Other Siddha Yoga practices include japa, contemplation, and dakshina, the traditional practice of making a voluntary monetary offering to a saint as an expression of gratitude for the grace and teachings one is said to have received.
Shaktipat
A central element of the Siddha Yoga path is shaktipat-diksha, literally translated as "initiation by descent of divine power," through which a seeker's Kundalini Shakti is awakened God-realization by the Guru. Once active, this inner power is said to support the seeker's steady efforts to attain self-realization.Holy days
Students of Siddha Yoga celebrate two major Hindu religious holy days: Maha Shivaratri and Guru Purnima. They also celebrate the birthdays of Muktananda and Chidvilasananda; Muktananda's divya diksha day ; and the mahasamadhi anniversaries of Muktananda and Bhagawan Nityananda.History
Muktananda
India
Muktananda's spiritual teacher, Bhagawan Nityananda, was born in South India. He first came to Ganeshpuri, a small village located 82 kilometers north of Mumbai, in 1936, settling there in a small hut built for him by the caretakers of the local Shiva temple. As his visitors and devotees increased in number, the hut expanded into an ashram. In his autobiography, Play of Consciousness, Muktananda describes how he received shaktipat initiation from Nityananda on August 15, 1947, and how he attained moksha or God-realization after nine more years of sadhana and discipleship. Nityananda installed Muktananda in a small three-room dwelling in Gavdevi, a mile from Ganeshpuri. After his death in 1961, Nityananda's Ganeshpuri ashram was converted into a samadhi shrine and has subsequently become a renowned temple and pilgrimage site. Under Muktananda's leadership the three-room dwelling in Gavdevi expanded into a flourishing ashram and international retreat site.United States
From August 27 to 30, 1974, Muktananda led the first Shaktipat Intensive in Aspen, Colorado. Through Shaktipat Intensives, created by Muktananda, participants are said to receive shaktipat initiation and to deepen their practice of Siddha Yoga meditation. Historically, Shaktipat initiation had been reserved for the few who had done many years of spiritual service and practices; Muktananda offered this initiation to newcomers and yogis alike.In 1974, Muktananda founded the SYDA Foundation, an organization designated to protect, preserve and facilitate the dissemination of the Siddha Yoga teachings. In 1975 Muktananda founded the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Oakland in the San Francisco Bay Area, and in 1976 he established Shree Nityananda Ashram in the former Gilbert Hotel, South Fallsburg in the Catskills Mountains, north of New York City. His fame increased to the point that he was made the subject of a New York magazine article and a Time magazine article, both in 1976. In 1979, Muktananda created The Prison Project, designed to making the teachings, practices and experience of the Siddha Yoga path available to incarcerated seekers.
Death
Muktananda died on October 2, 1982. He appointed Gurumayi and Subhash Shetty as co-gurus of Siddha Yoga.Subhash Shetty
Subhash Shetty is the former co-guru and spiritual leader of the Siddha Yoga path. He was appointed by Muktananda along with his sister.In 1985, Gurumayi's brother Nityananda stepped down "in disputed circumstances", in which he and Gurumayi "messily parted ways". In October 1985 he had his sannyasa vows revoked. He later told a journalist this was because he had broken his celibacy vow. A different version of the events was reported later, that there had been a battle for succession and Nityananda was forced to leave. In 1987, Nityananda started his own organization, Shanti Mandir. Both it and Shankarananda's Shiva Yoga have been described as schisms from Siddha Yoga.
Gurumayi
One of Muktananda's earliest and principal disciples was Malti Shetty, a young woman from Mumbai who accompanied him as his English language interpreter on his second and third World Tours. In May 1982, Muktananda installed Shetty along with her brother as a co-guru and spiritual leader of the Siddha Yoga path. Gurumayi is the sole spiritual leader of Siddha Yoga since her brother's removal.In 1992, Gurumayi's humanitarian initiative, the PRASAD Project, was incorporated in the United States. The project is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It assists "people to achieve lives of self-reliance and dignity by offering programs of health, education and sustainable community development in India, dental care in the United States and eye care in Mexico." In the treatment of cataracts, PRASAD de Mexico has "performed free eye surgery on 26,087 adults and children."
In 1997, Gurumayi founded the Muktabodha Indological Research Institute with its own publishing imprint, Agama Press. The mission of Muktabodha, based on Gurumayi's original intention for the organization in 1997, is "to preserve endangered texts from the religious and philosophical traditions of classical India and make them accessible for study and scholarship worldwide."
Moving online
In 2004, SYDA changed its focus from large events at its South Fallsburg ashram to bringing programs to where its followers lived. It stated this was to increase accessibility. The ashram staff was cut, and the Sadhana Kutir dormitory and office building was sold. Before 2008, the Ganeshpuri ashram had allowed Western backpackers to drop in for short stays and welcomed Indian visitors on weekends. Subsequently, only visits to its Nityananda temple and Muktananda's shrine were permitted.In 2011, the website was reworked to become the primary means of disseminating teachings and events. In 2013, the website began to livestream video programs. In 2020, in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Gurumayi started speaking in frequent livestreamed video satsangs. As of 2021, students may visit the ashrams only to offer short-term or long-term service, or to attend pre-booked retreats.