Swami Satyananda Saraswati above right is a great yogic master who currently lives in Rikhia in the state of Jarkhand in India. He was born at Almora, Uttar Pradesh in 1923. His Guru Swami Shivananda of Rishekesh was a great living saint (far left) who spent his life expressing his well known motto, Serve, Love, Give. After spending 12 years with Swami Shivananda, Paramahamsa Satyananda founded the International Yoga Fellowship in 1956 and the Bihar School of Yoga in North India in 1963. Over the next 20 years he traveled the world teaching Yoga and inspiring people with his magnetic personality and great wealth of knowledge. He vowed to take yoga from door to door and shore to shore. He saw yoga as a mighty world culture one day that would assist in restoring peace and balance to the world. He authored more than 80 books and inspired thousands of people. Yoga schools and ashrams that teach Satyananda Yoga exist all over the world. Paramahamsaji (as he is respectfully known) now resides in India and has not traveled overseas for many years. Many devotees and yogis however travel to see him each year at special festive times. Now he and Swami Satsangananda reside in Rikhia and practice Seva - service - to the communities around the ashram. Shivananda Math is a charitable organization for rural development. Many rural villages have benefited from receiving food, clothing, education, shelter and work through the tireless work of Swami Satsangananda Saraswati and all those who serve tirelessly to give to those less fortunate.

Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati (above top left) was born in 1960 and at the tender age of 4 he joined his guru Swami Satyananda at Bihar school of Yoga for a spiritual education supervised by Swami Satyananda himself. At the age of 10 he took Sannyasa in 1970. He was then sent overseas and lived in many yoga centers and ashrams in different countries furthering his education and language skills. In 1983 he was recalled to India and was appointed as president of Bihar School of Yoga. He has worked tirelessly since, traveling and teaching world wide and overseeing yogic research and study. He is a gifted teacher, inspirer and yogic leader.

Swami Niranjanananda has authored over twenty books and guides national and international programs. He is a man who belongs equally to both East and West. His cosmopolitan background has contributed to his inherent understanding of people and their particular needs, no matter what society or walk of life they come from. He is universally revered and loved as a spiritual master, not just because of his infinite wisdom and compassion, but because he is a man who radiates joy and celebrates each moment of life.

 

Satyananda Yoga is alive in Australia with many hundreds of teachers being trained here at Mangrove Mountain Ashram north of Sydney in N.S.W, and in India. The Ashram yoga teacher training is the most thorough that I know of. It embodies yoga from its deep roots and brings it into the modern world without losing the essence. satyananda yoga australia website.

Soraya first visited the Australian Satyananda Ashram at Mangrove Mountain in 1979 and in 1981 after a profound experience in Arnhem land decided to go and live in the ashram and study yoga and meditation. She was initiated into Sanyassa on the 1st of January 1982 and took the named Swami Devashakti Saraswati. For the next 8 years Soraya lived in the ashrams teaching yoga and serving. Living in an Ashram allows time to look deeply into the self, to do Sadhana (spiritual practice) without worldly distraction and to serve or prctice Karma Yoga in a positive community environment. In 1989 she left the ashram to experience family life and children. Life was not that simple of course and after being widowed Soraya found herself still teaching yoga and exploring life's journey with 4 sons.

Now married to Terry Oldfield she feels her life's work is beginning in earnest. Together they live at Mandala Yoga Center on the Sunshine Coast in Australia. This is a country retreat where Soraya teaches Yoga and Terry composes inspiring and uplifting music. Together they hold ceremonies to connect with Earth healing energies, and combine music and sound (nada yoga) with chant in their workshops.

Terry and Soraya also travel internationally with their inspiring concerts and transformational workshops, offering mandala meditation circles and spiritual healing and counselling.