Swami Chetanananda (“Swamiji”) is an American spiritual teacher who has spent his life assimilating the great tantric traditions into a new non-dual model of understanding the nature of reality. In the process, he has developed an approach to spiritual work that anyone can practice in the context of everyday life.
Swamiji’s teaching draws from his study of kundalini yoga, Śakta Śaivism, Śrī Vidyā, Vajrayana tantrism, osteopathy, quantum physics, and neuroscience. He teaches that consciousness is in eternal union with respiratory process, which he calls the Breath of Life, and that it can be experienced through contact, alignment and flow with the creative energy. In his view, everything that exists is a manifestation of the Breath of Life: alive, divine and permeated by beauty.
Swamiji is fiercely dedicated to unearthing the most authentic teachings of ancient traditions and mining their essence. He teaches practical techniques for working with creative energy to help students unfold their highest potential to realize what he calls an “unimaginable possibility.”
Swamiji is the author of several books on spirituality published by Rudra Press, including Dynamic Stillness, Vols. I & II ; The Breath of God; Open Heart, Open Mind; The Logic of Love; Choose to Be Happy; Will I Be the Hero of My Own Life? and There Is Only One.
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Born and raised in the Midwest, Swamiji began studying and teaching asana practice in 1969, long before yoga became a household word. His experience of yoga informed his life, and the quality of contact he established with his inner self through yoga practice became a touchstone for his spiritual work. In 1971, Swamiji established the first American yoga-based intentional community in Bloomington, Indiana. In the same year, he met his heart guru, Swami Rudrananda (Rudi) of New York City, and began to study with him. Rudi was a disciple of the Siddha Yoga lineage, founded by Bhagavan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri. After Rudi’s passing in 1973, Swamiji became his successor, and established the Nityananda Institute for the development and promotion of yoga-related studies. For 45 years, he headed ashrams, first in Bloomington, then in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and, most recently, in Portland, Oregon. He has also had meditation centers in Santa Monica, California; Boston; Seattle; and New York City.
While continuing to share the eyes-open kundalini meditation technique taught by Rudi, Swamiji has refined and elaborated Rudi’s teachings. He offers a practice based on three principles: contact with creative energy, alignment through releasing tensions and blockages, and flow to extend the individual energy into the vast field of universal awareness.
2023澳洲幸运10开奖官网直播视频结果 KASHMIR ŚAIVISM AND ŚAKTA ŚAIVISM
Swamiji studied with Swami Muktananda from 1973 to 1982 and took sannyas from him in 1978, when he received the name “Chetanananda,” meaning “the joy of consciousness.” In the course of his studies with Muktananda, Swamiji began in-depth exploration of the non-dual system of Kashmir Śaivism, recognizing in the ancient texts a deep resonance with his own inner experiences. From 1982 to 1986, he was closely associated with Swami Lakshmanjoo in Srinagar, who was the last living lineage holder of the tradition of Abhinavagupta, the foremost proponent of non-dual Śaivism.
Swamiji has since sponsored numerous scholars to help discover new manuscript sources and publish new translations, including the first English translation of the Tantrasāra of Abhinavagupta. For the last 30 years, Swamiji has collaborated with Professor Alexis Sanderson, the most accomplished expert in the field. He currently acts as the chairman of the board of the Institute for Śaiva and Tantric Studies, which was established to support the translation of key Sanskrit sources of the tantric tradition.
Swamiji’s teachings on Kashmir Śaivism convey the essence of this elegant philosophical system in direct and non-technical terms. In 1989, he wrote the first English commentary on the Śiva Sutras in his two-volume book, Dynamic Stillness. He has since also presented commentaries on the Pratyabhijñāhṛdaya, the Spandakārikā, and the Mālinīvijayottara Tantra. Currently, he is in process of writing a commentary and exegesis relating quantum language and mantra that is based on Abhinavagupta’s masterwork, the Tantrāloka.
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In 1978, while teaching meditation in Bloomington, Indiana, Swami Chetanananda had a profound vision of the Goddess Tripurasundarī, during which the Goddess transmitted to him her essence mantra. He reported this experience to Swami Muktanananda, who directed him to study with the Brahmin priests at Mookambika Devi Temple, in Karnataka, India. This launched Swamiji’s study of the teachings of Śakta Śaivism in the Śrī Vidyā lineage and his practice of the worship of the Goddess through the Śrī Chakra sadhana.