Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Swami Satyananda Saraswati was born in the Himalayas. He left his home at the age of 19, in search of spiritual truth. He joined Swami Sivananda, in Rishikesh and adopted the yogic way of life in 1943.
For 12 years he served his guru. After completing his yogic training, he travelled throughout India as a wandering yogi for a further 9 years, interacting with and inspiring people from all strata of society, in order to assess their needs. In 1956, he founded the International Yoga Fellowship Movement and, in 1963, the Bihar School of Yoga, to spread the word of yoga to people of all nationalities and creeds.
Over the next 20 years Paramahamsa Satyananda toured internationally and became a leading exponent of yoga and tantra. He was highly respected and loved by yoga aspirants, disciples and devotees all over the world. He also initiated and trained thousands of sannyasins and karma sannyasins to further the yoga movement in India and abroad.  He held a yoga conference in Dublin in the 70’s.
During this period he also authored over 80 books on yoga and spirituality, which are a valuable source of knowledge. In 1984, he founded Sivananda Math, a charitable institution, and the Yoga Research Foundation, a medical and scientific institute. In 1988, after completing his duty to the yogic mission, he renounced all that he had created and now leads the life of a paramahamsa sannyasin. Since that time he has lived a secluded life in Rikhia.

Swami Satyananda passed away on the 5^th of December 2009

Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati is the successor to Swami Satyananda and opened the first university of yoga in the world. This is recognized by the government of India. It grants higher degrees in MA, MSc, MPhil, DL