Yogacharya Dr Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani's talk on Importance of a living Guru-Sishya Parampara at the Kashi Yoga Festival, October 2020

1. GURU SISHYA PARAMPARA
The Reservoir of Authentic
Rishiculture Yoga
Yogacharya
Dr ANANDA BALAYOGI BHAVANANI
MBBS, MD (AM), ADY, DSM, DPC, PGDFH, PGDY, FIAY, C-IAYT, DSc (Yoga)
Director CYTER of Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth & Chairman ICYER at
Ananda Ashram, Puducherry, India. yognat@gmail.com
Prepared for the “KASHI YOGA FESTIVAL”​ , 17 - 18 October 2020

2. www.icyer.com

3. Trans-generational transmission of teachings
in maintained without break………….

4. Importance of Guru
• Yoga, like all forms of esotericism, presupposes the
guidance of an initiate, a master who has firsthand
experience of the phenomena and realizations of the
yogic path.
• Ideally, he /she should have reached the ultimate
spiritual destination of all yogic endeavour -
enlightenment (bodha, bodhi), or liberation (moksha).
• Thus, contrary to the “pop” Yoga espoused by a large
number of Westerners, authentic Yoga is never a do-
it-yourself enterprise.
(Georg Feuerstein, The Yoga Tradition)

6. Guru-Sishya Parampara
• Abundant living reservoir of traditional wisdom.
• Keeps alive the timeless art & science of Yoga,
one of greatest treasures of our Indian culture.
• Unbroken lineage passes on undiluted teachings
from master to disciple.
• Sishya in time becomes a master to his disciples.
• Safeguards wisdom of the lineage for generations
to come.
• Highest quality control.

7. "The real Guru enables their
disciple to manifest their
potential thus becoming a Guru
themselves. The goal is to
empower them and NOT to keep
them, limited and disempowered
as a disciple forever“.
- Yogamaharishi
Dr Swami Gitananda Giri
ICYER @Ananda Ashram, Pondicherry

8. Can a tradition that originated 5000
years ago possibly be relevant today?
• This question is legitimate enough.
• Over the part two centuries, we have seen the
erosion of tradition religions beliefs, values, and
practices in Europe and America and increasingly
slide in other parts of the world. . . .
• Since then, secular humanism - propped up by
scientific materialism - has unsuccessfully tried
to fill the void created by this onslaught
on traditional mores and religious creeds.
(Georg Feuerstein, The Path of Yoga)

9. Guru-Sishya Parampara
• Uninterrupted transmission of Universal Wisdom.
• Purity, fidelity and clarity of purpose maintained
• Based on value, trust, love and reverence.
• Disciple had to first earn the trust of the Guru and
prove to be worthy of the teachings.
• Imparted timeless wisdom with heartfelt blessings.
• Received with gratitude.
• Transmitted to next generations in a similar
manner- “Vazhaiadi Vaazhai”.

10. Cardinal Guiding Principles
Utopian Ideals
Spirit of Altruism

11. • To strike water, one needs to dig deep in one place.
• Maharishi Patanjali in his timeless Yogasutra advises
us to follow “Ekatatvaabhyasa”
• One needs to go consistently and persistently as
deep as possible on the singular path one has
chosen towards transformation and liberation.
• This is the same with any living system of knowledge
as the tendency to go hopping from one tradition to
another only leads to one becoming a puddle digger.
• Such a person never gets to the source of water, nor
of the life-enriching teachings.

12. Guru-Sishya relationship
• The Guru-Sishya relationship is a “One-to-One”
relationship that encompasses every human
relationship under the sun.
• This is based on an intimate, dynamic, and
experiential connection that ignites, sustains and
drives one's Yogasadhana towards fruition.
• It is based on a sense of freedom and individual
choice rather than dogma and bondage.

15. Gurukula, the womb of the Guru
• The Sishya becomes
an integral part of
the Guru’s extended
spiritual family.
• The safe “space” for spiritual enfoldment is the
Gurukula, the womb of the Guru where the Sishya
is nourished.
• Inner growth is facilitated in a loving, yet disciplined
manner.

16. • Just as a mother enables her child to grow in her
womb, the Guru enables their Sishya to grow
spiritually in a safe and nourishing environment.
• Inner growth is natural and adequate time is given
for it to occur in a spontaneous and Sahaja manner.
• Neither artificial, nor externally forced.
• Facilitates individual growth into universal nature.

17. • Ever since the founding of the East India Company
in London in 1600 and the Dutch East India
Company two years later, there has been a growing
impact of Western secular imperialism upon the
age-old religious traditions of India.
• This has led to progressive undermining of the
native Indic value system through the introduction
of Western-style (science-oriented and essentially
materialistic) education combined with new
technologies.
(Georg Feuerstein, The Yoga Tradition)

18. The Guru never holds on to the Sishya
nor lets them hold on to them.
• Sishya is not meant to be a
replica of the Guru.
• Helped to become the "best"
they that they can be.
• This is true freedom.
• This is true growth.
• This is true love.
Without such a relationship,
can true spiritual growth manifest?

19. Degeneration of the system
• However as with any other human hierarchical
system, degeneration has set in.
• Misuse and abuse of power by many ‘leaders’ led to a
breakdown of this system.
• Generalized distrust has crept into this sacred
relationship.
• Modern mega Gurus are the antithesis of this concept
as they lack an intimate direct connection with their
followers who just put them on a pedestal and “hero
worship” them.

20. The Guru Brand™
• Modern Yoga has so many "Brands" that lack
substance.
• More based on external packaging than content.
• This is just mass hysteria and "rock star"
tendencies clothed in spiritual terms.
• They are basically just “Spiritual MBAs” and
“Spiritual CEOs”.
• Disciples have become sheep to be counted and
used to create empires.

22. Truly, the ancient Rishis would turn
over in their graves if they could see
the advertisements in modern Yoga
journals, promising “power over
others”, “magnetic personalities”,
“enhanced sexuality” etc. through
“Yoga” in exchange for a few dollars.
The Clash of the Judeo-Christian materialistic &
intellectual tradition with the ascetic, intuitive Yoga
tradition has produced un-imaginable confusion,
mis-information and distortion.
- Ammaji Yogacharini Meenakshi Devi Bhavanani,
In “The History of Yoga from Ancient to Modern Times”

23. The “Dead Guru” phenomenon
• Follower worships their dead guru
and justify everything they think,
say and do as being “approved by
the Guru”.
• Nothing but "Bhranti-darshan"
that Maharishi Patanjali quotes as
an obstacle to spiritual progress.
• Plain spiritual escapism!
• Real Yoga begins only when we
take up our responsibility
(Swadharma) in life.

24. The modern ANTI-GURU movement
• Tries to bypass this time-tested methodology and
make it seem redundant.
• Terms like post-modern Yoga and post lineage Yoga
are brandied around as if no one needs guidance on
the path anymore.
• Rooted in glorification of individual ego.
• Tendency to “think” we know what is “best” for us.
• This to me is no more than an excellent illustration of
the saying, 'The blind trying to lead the blind'.

25. • This lacks rationality as the very soul of the
teachings is lost when the teachings are
debased into mere techniques and theoretical
concepts rather than being transformative
tools of self-realization.
• This has resulted in people trying to ‘DO” Yoga
rather than “BE” Yoga.

26. Why do “Yoga Scholars” fear Yoga
Lineages…? Satish K Sharma
• The importance of lineage can’t be underestimated.
• It ensures that the accumulation of spiritual wisdom, of
many lifetimes of experimentation are not lost.
• Served two purposes – the preparation of the individual
and the transferral of the body of knowledge so carefully
and painstakingly acquired and refined by the lineage.
• If there is one thing supremacists and colonialists hate, its
indigenous institutions and history bears witness to the
corruption and deconstruction of such knowledge
traditions by those who would conquer.
• “Post lineage Yoga” is an “asura sutra” …………..

27. Modernity dragging us downhill ………
Acharya Birju Maharaj
• We are being dragged away from our Yogic Guru-Shishya
parampara in the name of research, reasoning, logic,
authenticity (against doubts created by some people),
different lineages, different scriptures, different paths...etc.
• If we will not be aware, we surely will be dragged to
disaster and asked to endlessly keep proving that, what is
not at all required to be proven.
• Most of the Nobel laureates are proven to be wrong for
their research, depending on the wind of material markets.
• Yogic wisdom will face the same problem after being
completely taken over and en-cashed by such materialistic
people.

28. “If I were everything each of my students
wanted me to be, I would be a monster”.
- Swami Gitananda Giri

29. • Yoga is a state of being and the attainment of
this exalted “state of being” requires Guru
Krupa.
• Modern Yoga that bypasses the Guru-Sishya
Parampara is NOT Yoga anymore.
• It is just a cheap plastic imitation that lacks
life, light and soul.
• It may "look" like Yoga, but is NOT the real
deal anymore.

30. Yoga will survive !
• But the age-old, well-tested Yoga tradition,
which has great vitality, will easily survive
public opinion.
• Furthermore, as the more flamboyant and
questionable teachers drop out of sight as the
students themselves become more realistic
and mature, Yoga will very likely gain in
strength over the years to come.
(Georg Feuerstein, The Path of Yoga)