Sri yukteswar giri

sriyukteswar and yogananda

Sriyukteshwar was born in 1855 and, at that time, had been given the secular name of Priya Nath Karar. Mainly remembered thanks to his uncommon understanding of the nature of consciousness, Swami Maharaji may be considered as an "Jnanavatar" i.e. an incarnation of wisdom. His monastic name, Yukteshwar, means: union with Ishwara (the aspect of God controlling nature). He was born from wealthy parents and, during his early adulthood, he got married and invested his heritage in properties. He was not a rich man, but the properties gave him the possibility to have a modest regular income. He entered the Swami order after the death of his wife, and from that time on he dedicated his life to studying, learning and teaching. He divided his time between two ashrams: one in Puri and one in Serampore. Sri Yukteswar did not meet his guru Chyama Charan Lahiri early in his life. He was initiated by him in the practice of kriya yoga in his adulthood, and, later, authorized to give the holy initiation as well. Amongst his disciples, Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, Sri Satyananda and Paramahansa Hariharananda are the most famous ones. Paramahansa Yogananda, a few days before his mahasamadhi (conscious exit from the body - 1952), was standing in front of Sri Yukteswarji's picture along with a disciple of his. The latter said: He must have been a great man ! Yogananda replied: He was not a man, he was a God !! Swami Maharaji consciously left his body when he was 81 y.o., while meditating in the lotus posture. His body is still buried in his Ashram where a shrine has been built. His grave may be visited still today. Yogananda said once that if Yukteswarji's words had not been so sincere, he would have been the most followed Guru of all India. Yogananda was aware anyway that great masters (of whom he was one) look for quality rather than quantity. The enormous love that Yogananda felt toward his Guru may be felt by reading his masterpiece "Autobiography of a Yogi" - Published by Self-Realization Fellowhip. This book, originally written in 1946 has been considered as one of the most beautiful books about yoga for years.
Swami Maharaji did not write a lot during his passage on earth. Only two books written by him are known: The holy Science - written in 1894 and a commentary upon the first chapters of the Bhagavad-Gita. The "holy science" was written after Babaji himself had asked Yukteswarji to complete a work showing the eternal truths and similarities hidden both in Christian and Hindu religions. This task was performed perfectly, and, still today, this book is published by Self-Realization Fellowship in many languages amongst which English, French, Italian and Japanese. The same books contains a wide astrological interpretation about the unfolding of the universe's evolution.
Sri Yukteswar, after many researches discovered a mistake in the Hindu almanac. He said that there is an equinotial cycle of 24.000 years through which universe's evolution unfolds. each sub-cycle is called "Yuga". Evolution unfolds from era to era like a circle. "Kali Yuga" is the
period of ignorance, lasting 1.200 years ( more or less from 500 a.c. to 1.700 a.c. ).Dwapara Yuga is the electrical age, lasting 2.400 years (more or less from 1.700 to 4.100 a.c. ). Treta Yuga in the mental age, lasting 3.600 years ( more or less from 4.100 to 7.700 a.c. ). Satya Yuga will be the most evoluted age, lasting 4.800 years ( from 7.700 a.c. to 12.500 a.c. ). At this point, the involution starts, and takes place in a reverse order. ( Satya yuga from 12.500 a.c. to 17.300, Treta Yuga from 17.300 a.c. to 20.900 a.c., Dwapara Yuga from 20.900 a.c. to 23.300 a.c., kali Yuga from 23.300 a.c. to 25.500 a.c. ). This process is practically endless. The more evolute the era, the easier is for people to get liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth.. I humbly beg your pardon because my understanding of these matters is not high enough to grasp all the hidden meanings beyond Master's words and I am aware that my explanation may be a bit inadequate. On the other hand, I can't help encouraging you to read Sri Yukteswarji's main book ( the Holy science ) which, I think, is the most beautiful one about universal religion that you can find all over the world. The one on the right, is Swami Maharaji's picture that Yogananda used to like the most. I remember that I was quite scared the first time I saw it. A friend of mine made me notice anyway that not only love and sweetness come out of a God-realized saint. It may seem difficult to understand, especially for people who tend to see love and compassion as the only attributes of divinity, but God's power creates and destroys worlds, and such tremendous force is clearly visible in Sri Yukteswar's gaze. While looking at this picture Yogananda addressed his guru as "The Lion of Bengala".