27 Facts About Satchidananda Saraswati

Ramaswamy Gounder and usually known as Swami Satchidananda Saraswati, was an Indian yoga guru and religious teacher, who gained fame and following in the West.

Satchidananda Saraswati founded his own brand of Integral Yoga, and its spacious Yogaville headquarters in Virginia.

Satchidananda Saraswati was the author of philosophical and spiritual books and had a core of founding disciples who compiled his translations and updated commentaries on traditional handbooks of yoga such as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Bhagavad Gita for modern readers.

Satchidananda Saraswati began working in his family's automobile import business, learning how to weld.

Satchidananda Saraswati was a temporary manager of Perur Temple, and met his wife there.

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Satchidananda Saraswati married and had two sons; his wife died suddenly 5 years into his marriage.

Satchidananda Saraswati was initiated into pre-sannyasa in the Ramakrishna Thapovanam and given the name Sambasiva Chaitanya.

Satchidananda Saraswati left the Sri Ramana Ashram when he could not bear the suffering of Ramana's arm cancer and treatment procedures.

Satchidananda Saraswati travelled to Rishikesh, a holy town in the foothills of the Himalayas on the banks of the Ganges.

Satchidananda Saraswati's devotees opened Satchidananda Thapovanam in Kandy in October 1955.

Filmmaker Conrad Rooks paid for Satchidananda Saraswati to fly to New York in 1966, and artist Peter Max, who had been working with Rooks, introduced him to his many friends; Satchidananda Saraswati eventually stayed for five months.

In 1973, Columbia Records produced a vinyl double LP Swami Satchidananda Saraswati that featured a kirtan and a talk by Satchidananda Saraswati based on questions asked by students.

Satchidananda Saraswati became a US citizen in 1976, having arrived on a visa stating that he was a "Minister of Divine Words".

In over fifty years of public service, Satchidananda Saraswati made eight world tours and logged nearly two million miles of travel around the globe.

In Europe, Satchidananda Saraswati was often a guest speaker at programs sponsored by institutions such as the British Wheel of Yoga and the Italian and German Yoga Federations.

Satchidananda Saraswati traveled to Eastern Europe twice, as part of a citizen-diplomacy delegation.

Satchidananda Saraswati made yearly tours of India and Sri Lanka, and traveled in Asia and the Middle East to speak at yoga, peace, health, and other conferences.

Satchidananda Saraswati taught a blend of hatha yoga and yoga philosophy which he named Integral Yoga.

Satchidananda Saraswati advocated vegetarian diet for its health, ecological, and spiritual benefits.

The LOTUS shrine cost $2 million, and Satchidananda Saraswati blessed it on its opening by flying his helicopter to sprinkle holy water over it.

Satchidananda Saraswati was an early advocate of the interfaith movement in America.

In later decades, Satchidananda collaborated with other interfaith advocates, including the Very Rev James P Morton of the Interfaith Center of New York, Rabbi Joseph Gelberman, Brother David Steindl-Rast OSB, and Pir Vilayat Khan, holding monthly meetings.

In 1968, Satchidananda Saraswati co-founded the Center for Spiritual Studies in 1968 in New York with Rabbi Gelberman, Br.

Satchidananda Saraswati was named a "Fellow of World Thanksgiving" by the World Thanksgiving Council in 1981 and named "Hindu of the Year" by Hinduism Today magazine in 1994.

In 2009, Nalanie Chellaram founded a non-profit international collective of charities established in honor of Satchidananda Saraswati and based on his core teaching of selfless service.

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Satchidananda Saraswati denied all the alleged abuses but refused to be interviewed about them.

On 19 August 2002, Swami Satchidananda Saraswati died after speaking at a peace conference in South India.