Sri Yukteswar Giri
Born	10 May 1855 Serampore, West Bengal, India
Died	9 March 1936 Puri, West Bengal, India

Priya Nath Karar, known by his monastic name Sri Yukteswar Giri (May 10, 1855-March 9, 1936), was the guru of Paramahansa Yogananda. He was a Vedic astrologer, or jyotishi, a yogi, and an exponent of the Bhagavad Gita. He was a member of the Giri branch of the swami order. His guru was Lahiri Mahasaya of Benares. Yogananda later styled Sri Yukteswar Jnanavatar, or "Incarnation of Wisdom". Image File history File links Sriyukteswar. ... May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). ... 1855 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Serampore, India, is a pre-colonial town on the right bank of the Hoogli River in the Hooghly (Hughli) district of West Bengal. ... West Bengal   (Bengali: পশ্চিমবঙ্গ, Poshchimbôŋgo) is a state in eastern India. ... March 9 is the 68th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (69th in Leap years). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Puri can mean: Puri, a city in the Indian state of Orissa, which is famous for the Jagannath temple and the serene beaches located there . ... West Bengal   (Bengali: পশ্চিমবঙ্গ, Poshchimbôŋgo) is a state in eastern India. ... May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). ... 1855 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... March 9 is the 68th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (69th in Leap years). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Guru - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Paramahansa Yogananda (Bengali: পরমহংস যোগানন্দ Pôromôhongsho Joganondo, Hindi: परमहंस योगानन्‍द; January 5, 1893–March 7, 1952), was an Indian yogi and guru. ... ... A woman practising hatha yoga in the water wile swimming and drowning it is funny to watch Yoga (Devanagari: योग) is a family of ancient spiritual practices originating in India. ... Bhagavad Gīta भगवद्गीता, composed ca the fifth - second centuries BC, is part of the epic poem Mahabharata, located in the Bhisma-Parva chapters 23–40. ... Swami playing the Harmonium Swami is a primarily Hindu honorific, loosely akin to master. It is derived from the Sanskrit language and means owner of oneself, denoting complete mastery over instinctive and lower urges. ... Shyama Charan Lahiri, best known as Lahiri Mahasaya (September 30, 1828 - September 26, 1895) was an Indian yogi and the guru of Sri Yukteswar Giri. ... Benares (also known as Banaras, Kashi, Kasi and Varanasi (वाराणसी)) is a Hindu holy city on the banks of the river Ganga or Ganges in the modern north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ...

Biography

The following details of Sri Yukteswar’s life come from Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi, and Swami Sri Yukteshvar Giri Maharaj, a biography by Swami Satyananda Giri.^[1]

Sri Yukteswar was born in Serampore, India to Kshetranath Karar and Kadambini. The wisdom that readers are familiar with in Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi was evident at an early age. He was a bright student, though his formal education ended with a few years at two different colleges. For a time, he attended Serampore Christian Missionary College, where he developed an interest in the Christian Bible. This interest would later express itself in his book, The Holy Science, which shows the union of the scientific principles underlying Yoga and the Christian Bible. He also attended Calcutta Medical College for almost two years. Serampore, India, is a pre-colonial town on the right bank of the Hoogli River in the Hooghly (Hughli) district of West Bengal. ...

He married and had one daughter. His wife died a few years after their marriage, and Sri Yukteswar entered the monastic Swami order some time after that.

In 1884, he met his guru, Lahiri Mahasaya, who initiated him into the path of Kriya Yoga. Sri Yukteswar would spend a great deal of time during the next several years in the company of his guru, often visiting Lahiri Mahasaya in Varanasi from his home in Serampore. He converted his family home in Serampore into an ashram, where he had resident students and disciples. Shyama Charan Lahiri, best known as Lahiri Mahasaya (September 30, 1828 - September 26, 1895) was an Indian yogi and the guru of Sri Yukteswar Giri. ... Kriya Yoga is a very specific system of Yoga that was revived in modern times by Lahiri Mahasaya, c 1861. ... Shyama Charan Lahiri, best known as Lahiri Mahasaya (September 30, 1828 - September 26, 1895) was an Indian yogi and the guru of Sri Yukteswar Giri. ...

Sri Yukteswar had few long-term disciples. However, in 1910, the young Mukunda Lal Ghosh would become Sri Yukteswar’s chief disciple, and spread the teachings of Kriya Yoga throughout the world as Paramahansa Yogananda. Yogananda attributed Sri Yukteswar’s small number of disciples to his strict training methods, which Yogananda said “cannot be described as other than drastic”, but whose purpose was to aid the disciples in the difficult challenge of achieving self-realization. Paramahansa Yogananda (Bengali: পরমহংস যোগানন্দ Pôromôhongsho Joganondo, Hindi: परमहंस योगानन्‍द; January 5, 1893–March 7, 1952), was an Indian yogi and guru. ...

Sri Yukteswar was especially skilled in Vedic Astrology, and prescribed various astrological gemstones and bangles to his students. He also studied astronomy and science, as evidenced in the formulation of his Yuga theory in The Holy Science.

The noted author W.Y. Evan-Wentz met Sri Yukteswar, and described him in the preface to Autobiography of a Yogi:

"Sri Yukteswar was of gentle mien and voice, of pleasing presence, and worthy of the veneration which his followers spontaneously accorded to him. Every person who knew him, whether of his own community or not, held him in the highest esteem. I vividly recall his tall, straight, ascetic figure, garbed in the saffron-colored garb of one who has renounced worldly quests, as he stood at the entrance of the hermitage to give me welcome. His hair was long and somewhat curly, and his face bearded. His body was muscularly firm, but slender and well-formed, and his step energetic."

Sri Yukteswar died at his Puri ashram on March 9, 1936.

The Holy Science

Sri Yukteswar wrote The Holy Science in 1894, at the request of Lahiri Mahasaya’s guru, Mahavatar Babaji. In the introduction, Sri Yukteswar states the goal of The Holy Science thus: The Holy Science is a book written by Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri in 1894, published in the United States by Self-Realization Fellowship, and in India by Yogoda Satsanga Society of India. ... Mahavatar Babaji - a drawing from Autobiography of a Yogi, commissioned by Yogananda and based on his own meeting with Babaji Mahavatar Babaji is a legendary Hindu saint, yogi, and culture hero. ...

“The purpose of this book is to show as clearly as possible that there is an essential unity in all religions; that there is no difference in the truths inculcated by the various faiths; that there is but one method by which the world, both external and internal, has evolved; and that there is but one Goal admitted by all scriptures.”

Many ideas revolutionary for that time were introduced in The Holy Science. One of them is Sri Yukteswar’s break from Hindu tradition in showing that the earth is not in the age of Kali Yuga, but has advanced to Dwapara Yuga. His proof is based on a new perspective of the precession of the equinoxes. Kali Yuga is also the title of a book by Roland Charles Wagner. ... The Dvapara Yuga is the third out of four yugas, or ages in the Hindu religion. ...

He also introduces the idea that the sun takes a ‘star for its dual’, and revolves around that star in about 24,000 years, which accounts for the precession of the equinox. Current research into this theory is being conducted by the Binary Research Institute. They produced a documentary on it called The Great Year, narrated by James Earl Jones. James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla Township, Mississippi in Tate County) is among Americas best known African American film and stage actors. ...

The theory of the Sun's binary companion expounded by Sri Yukteswar in The Holy Science has attracted the attention of Dr. David Frawley, who has written about it in a several of his books. He explains that the theory offers better proof of the age of Rama and Krishna and other important historical Indian figures than other dating methods, which make some of these figures out to be millions of years old - too old for the accepted chronology of human history on Earth. The Holy Science is a book written by Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri in 1894, published in the United States by Self-Realization Fellowship, and in India by Yogoda Satsanga Society of India. ... Dr. David Frawley (born 1950 in Wisconsin, U.S.A.) is currently one of the worlds leading authors on Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma), Yoga, Ayurveda, and contemporary Indian politics. ... Lord Sri Rama (center) with wife Sita, brother Lakshmana and devotee Hanuman. ... Krishna with Radharani, 18th C Rajasthani painting Krishna (कृष्ण in Devanagari, in IAST ), according to various Hindu traditions, is the eighth avatar of Vishnu. ... Earth (IPA: , often referred to as the Earth, Terra, the World or Planet Earth) is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth largest. ...

Quotes from The Holy Science^[2]

“Firmness of moral courage when attained removes all the obstacles in the way of salvation. These obstacles are of eight sorts, viz., hatred, shame, fear, grief condemnation, race distinction, pride of pedigree, and a narrow sense of respectability, which are the meannesses of the human heart.”

“The Holy Sound Pranava Sabda appears spontaneously through the culture of Sraddha the energetic tendency of heart’s natural love, Veerya the moral courage, Smiriti the true conception and Samadhi the true concentration.”

“It has been clearly demonstrated in the foregoing pages that “Love is God,” not merely as the noblest sentiment of a poet but as an aphorism containing an eternal truth.”

See also

• The Holy Science

• Sri Yukteswar is pictured at the extreme upper left of the crowd on the cover of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The Holy Science is a book written by Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri in 1894, published in the United States by Self-Realization Fellowship, and in India by Yogoda Satsanga Society of India. ... The Beatles, an English musical group from Liverpool, were the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful popular music band in history. ... For other uses, see Sgt. ...

Notes

1. ^ from A Collection of Biographies of 4 Kriya Yoga Gurus by Swami Satyananda Giri
2. ^ The Holy Science by Jnanavatar Swami Sriyukteswar Giri, published by Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, 1949

External links

• Online books about Sri Yukteswar

• Sri Yukteswar Including extracts from Autobiography of a Yogi

• The Great Year Documentary

• Sri Yuktesvar about Babaji