Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandasji

Shri Dhyanyogi’s simple, pure love and devotion to the welfare of mankind changed the hearts and the lives of the thousands of people he touched.

Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas was a great saint, whose search for spiritual enlightenment took place during another era, in an India that no longer exists. He walked barefoot across India in the 1890′s and early 1900′s, through what were then jungles but are now cleared and settled lands, meeting saints who lived in seclusion, completely detached from the mundane world.

Born in Bihar, India, Shri Dhyanyogi was a very spiritual child. Prior to his birth, his mother had had a vision of Lord Krishna indicating the coming of a great being. His spiritual quest began in earnest at age 7, when he left home in search of God. Although he was quickly found by his parents, he left home again for good at age 13.

The next 30 years were spent traveling all over India learning whatever the saints and yogis would teach him. He mastered Mantra, Yantra, Hatha, Raja and Jnana Yogas, and became adept at yogic philosophies and scriptures. Yet after 30 years of austerities and intense searching, he still had not attained his highest goal, the ultimate encounter with God. Finally, in 1921, on Mt. Abu, he came into the presence of his final teacher, a great master named Shri Yogiraj Parameshwardas, who gave him Shaktipat initiation. He immediately went into the highest state of samadhi and attained the ultimate goal of God realization. He remained in that condition for three days.

Shri Dhyanyogi was a unique being. As a result of his own search, and more specifically, through the grace and guidance of Shri Parameshwardas, he became a master of Kundalini Maha Yoga, with the power to awaken the dormant Kundalini in spiritual aspirants.

For many years, he lived in a small ashram in Bandhwad, in the Indian state of Gujarat, where he carried on his work and teachings. In 1960, he was inspired to begin public instruction in Kundalini Maha Yoga and to conduct group meditation programs throughout India. In doing so, Shri Dhyanyogi became the first teacher in the entire history of this multi-thousand year lineage to come out into the open and work at a mass level to raise humanity’s consciousness.

In 1976, Shri Dhyanyogi came to America as part of his worldwide mission to help spiritual seekers. During his four years here, he established local groups from coast to coast and initiated thousands into the path of Kundalini Maha Yoga. He returned to India in 1980 and spent his remaining years in residence in Ahmedabad, India. To his students’ great sorrow, Shri Dhyanyogi consciously left his physical body after 116 years, entering Maha-samadhi on August 29, 1994, the anniversary of Lord Krishna’s birth.

Shri Dhyanyogi’s simple, pure love and devotion to the welfare of mankind changed the hearts and the lives of the thousands of people he touched. Today, his energy continues to work at the subtle level and through his spiritual heir, Shri Anandi Ma.