Muktananda
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'''Swami Muktananda ''' ([[May 16]], [[1908]]-[[October 2]], [[1982]]) is the [[monk|monastic]] name of an [[India]]n [[Hindu]] [[guru]]. Muktananda was the founder of [[Siddha Yoga]], a [[new religious movement]] based on the [[Hindu philosophy]] of [[Kashmir Shaivism]]. He wrote a number of books, including an autobiography entitled ''The Play of Consciousness''.
==Life==
Muktananda was born in 1908 near [[Mangalore]] in [[Karnataka|Karnataka State]], [[India]] into a wealthy family. His birth name was Krishna.<ref>[http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/1992/10/1992-10-03.shtml ''Baba Muktananda: 'Meditation Revolution' Continues Ten Years After His Passing'']</ref> At 15 he encountered [[Bhagawan Nityananda]], a wandering [[Avadhuta|avadhoot]] who profoundly influenced his life.<ref> {{cite journal|url=http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/1992/10/1992-10-03.shtml|title=Baba Muktananda's Meditation Revolution Continues Ten Years After His Passing|journal=Hinduism Today|month=October|year=1992|accessdate=2006-06-01}}</ref> He studied under [[Siddharudha Swami]] at [[Hubli]] where he learned [[Sanskrit]], [[Vedanta]] and all branches of [[yoga]] and took the initiation of [[sannyasa]], becoming Swami Muktananda. He began wandering India on foot.
In [[1947]] Muktananda went to [[Ganeshpuri]] to receive the [[darshan]] of Bhagawan Nityananda. He received [[shaktipat]] [[initiation]] from his guru in the early morning of [[August 15]] of that year. According to his description, it was a profound and sublime experience.<ref>{{cite book|last=Muktananda|first=Swami|title=Play Of Consciousness|year=1978|publisher=Siddha Yoga Publications||isbn=0-911307-81-8}}{{Page number}}</ref> Muktananda spent the next eight years living and [[meditation|meditating]] in a little hut in [[Yeola]]. He wrote about his [[sadhana]] and meditation experiences, [[kundalini]]-related, in his autobiography published in [[1978]]. In [[1956]], Nityananda gave Muktananda a small piece of land at Gavdevi, near Ganeshpuri, on which Muktananda developed an ashram.
In the [[1970]]s, on behalf of his guru Bhagawan Nityananda, Muktananda brought the tradition of Siddha Yoga to the West, giving [[shaktipat]] [[initiation]] to thousands of spiritual seekers. [[Rudi (Swami Rudrananda)]], a fellow disciple of Bhagawan Nityananda, sponsored his first trip to the United States in September 1970.<ref name=jm>{{cite book|author=John Mann|title=Rudi: 14 Years With My Teacher}}</ref>
Muktananda established [[Gurudev Siddha Peeth]] as a public trust in India to administer the work there, and founded the SYDA Foundation in the United States to administer the global work of Siddha Yoga meditation.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/1995/4/1995-4-05.shtml|title=Muktananda's Legacy|journal=Hinduism Today|month=April|year=1995|accessdate=2006-06-01}}</ref> He wrote many books; sixteen are still kept in print by the SYDA Foundation.
In May [[1982]], Muktananda appointed two successors as joint leaders of the movement, Swami [[Chidvilasananda]], his former translator, and her brother [[Swami Nityanand]], who later resigned and formed his own group. Muktananda died in October [[1982]] and is buried at Ganeshpuri, where the Gurudev Siddha Peeth ashram houses his [[Samadhi]] shrine.
==Muktananda's message==
Swami Muktananda's main messages are:
*''Honor your Self, Worship your Self, Meditate on your Self, God dwells within you as you''.
*''See God in Each Other.''
==Criticism==
Some former members of Siddha Yoga have accused Muktananda of abusive behaviour which is at odds with his teachings.
William Rodarmor made these accusations public in “[[CoEvolution Quarterly]]" of winter [[1983]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rodarmor|first=William|title=The Secret Life of Swami Muktananda|journal=[[CoEvolution Quarterly]]|year=1983|url=http://www.leavingsiddhayoga.net/secret.htm}}</ref> [[Lis Harris]] repeated and extended those in the ''[[The New Yorker]]'' of [[November 14]], [[1994]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Lis|last=Harris|authorlink=Lis Harris|title=O Guru, Guru, Guru|journal=The New Yorker|date=November 14, 1994|url=http://www.leavingsiddhayoga.net/o_guru_english.htm}}</ref>
Sarah Caldwell suggests in 2001, in the academic journal ''Nova Religio'', that Muktananda was both an enlightened teacher and a secret practitioner of an esoteric form of [[Tantra|Tantric]] sexual yoga, and that he also
engaged in actions that were not ethical, legal, or liberatory with many
disciples.<ref>{{cite journal | author= Sarah Caldwell | title=The Heart of the Secret: A Personal and Scholarly Encounter with Shakta Tantrism in Siddha Yoga| journal= Nova Religio | year=2001 | volume=5 | issue=1 | pages= 9–51| url = http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/pdf/10.1525/nr.2001.5.1.9|accessdate=2008-01-15|format=PDF | doi= 10.1525/nr.2001.5.1.9 <!--Retrieved from URL by DOI bot-->}} </ref>
==Bibliography==
*''Light on the Path'' (1972), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-914602-54-3
*''Mukteshwari: The Way of Muktananda'' (1972), SYDA Foundation
*''Getting Rid of What You Haven't Got'' (1974), Wordpress ISBN 0-915104-00-8
*''Ashram Dharma'' (1975), SYDA Foundation, ISBN 0-911307-38-9
*''I Love You'' (1975), SYDA Foundation
*''Selected Essays'' (1976), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-37-0
*''God is With You'' (1978), Siddha Yoga Publications ISBN 0-914602-57-8
*''I Am that: The Science of Hamsa from the Vijnana Bhairava'' (1978), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-914602-27-6
*''I Welcome You All With Love'' (1978), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-65-6
*''In the Company of a Siddha: Interviews and Conversations With Swami Muktananda'' (1978), Siddha Yoga Publications ISBN 0-911307-53-2
*''The Nectar of Chanting: Sacred Texts and Mantras Sung in the Ashrams of Swami Muktananda'' (1978), SYDA Foundation, ISBN 0-914602-16-0
*''Play of Consciousness: A Spiritual Autobiography'' (1978), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-81-8
*''Satsang with Baba : questions and answers between Swami Muktananda and his devotees'' (1978), Volumes 1 - 5, SYDA, ISBN 0-914602-40-3
*''Kundalini: The Secret of Life'' (1979), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-34-6
*''To Know the Knower'' (1979), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-914602-91-8
*''Meditate'' (1980), State University of New York Press, ISBN 0-87395-471-8
*''Kundalini Stavah'' (1980), SYDA Foundation, ISBN 0-914602-55-1
*''The Perfect Relationship: The Guru and the Disciple'' (1980), SYDA Foundation, ISBN 0-914602-53-5
*''Reflections of the Self'' (1980), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-914602-50-0
*''Secret of the Siddhas'' (1980), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-31-1
*''A Book for the Mind'' (1981), SYDA Foundation
*''Does Death Really Exist?'' (1981), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-36-2
*''Lalleshwari'' (1981), SYDA Foundation, ISBN 0-914602-66-7
*''Where Are You Going?: A Guide to the Spiritual Journey'' (1981), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-60-5
*''I Have Become Alive: Secrets of the Inner Journey'' (1985), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-26-5
*''From the Finite to the Infinite'' (1990), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-31-1
*''Mystery of the Mind'' (1992), SYDA Foundation
*''The Self is Already Attained'' (1993), Siddha Yoga Meditation Publications, ISBN 0-914602-77-2
*''Bhagawan Nityananda'' (1996), Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-45-1
*''Nothing Exists that Is Not Shiva: Commentaries on the Shiva Sutra, Vijnana Bhairava, Guru Gita, and Other Sacred Texts'' (1997) Siddha Yoga Publications, ISBN 0-911307-56-7
==See also==
*[[Shree Muktananda Ashram]]
*[[Oakland Ashram]]
== References ==
<references/>
== Further reading ==
*Brooke, Tal. "Riders of the Cosmic Circuit". Chariot Victor Pub, 1987 ISBN 0-595-09315-9
==External links==
* [http://www.siddhayoga.org/index.html SYDA Official Website]
* [http://www.leavingsiddhayoga.net Leaving Siddha Yoga Official Website]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muktananda}}
[[Category:1908 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:Hindu gurus]]
[[Category:Kashmiri Saivites]]
[[Category:Yogis]]
[[Category:Indian Shaivites]]
[[es:Swami Muktananda]]
[[fr:Swami Muktananda]]
[[sa:स्वामी मुक्तानन्द]]