Kriya Yoga is an ancient Yoga system that was revived by Mahavatar Babaji and Hariharananda was one of the disciples in the lineage of Babaji and he was responsible in spreading the Kriya Yoga to many countries.
Profile
Hariharananda Giri was born as Rabindranath Bhattacharya in the village of Habibpur in West Bengal on May 27th, 1907. He was born into a wealthy and pious family of Brahmins. His father was Haripada Bhattacharya and his mother, Nabin Kali Devi, was extremely pious. Rabi was a brilliant boy who mastered Sanskrit, scriptures and mantras very early in life. He had an excellent memory and soon learnt astronomy, Vedic astrology and palmistry. When he was twelve Rabi met Shri Bijoy Krishna Chattopadhyay who initiated him into Jnana Yoga and asked him to meet Yukteshwar Giri. This meeting happened in 1932 and Yukteshwar Giri initiated Rabi into Kriya Yoga and taught him Cosmic astrology. Rabi came to be known as Rabinarayan and Yukteshwar Giriasked him to stay in the Karar Ashram in Puri and take charge of running it. The second level kriya initiation was given by Pramahamsa Yogananda. He was making excellent progress in his spiritual pursuits and he was initiated into the third level in 1941 by Swami Satyananda Giri and the final level was given between 1943 and 1945 by Shri Bhupendranath Sanyal a householder who had reached the exalted state of realization. By 1948 Rabinarayan was a consummate spiritual student attaining the different states of Samadhi and that included Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Mahavatar Babaji visited Karar Ashram and prophesized that Rabinarayanan would spread Kriya yoga across the world. Though he looked into the affairs of the Karar Ashram, he was appointed as its acharya only in 1950 by Parmahamsa Yogananda and from then he did all the duties of a spiritual teacher to perfection. On May 27th 1959, on his fifty-second birthday, he was initiated into sanyasa by the Shankaracharya of the Puri Matt and was given the name Swami Hariharananda Giri. It was in 1974 that he first went to Switzerland to teach Kriya Yoga and from then on he travelled widely. After 1990 he stayed in the West. At the age of 95, on December 3rd, 2002, in the ashram in Florida, he left his body. The body was flown to India and the Bhu Samadhi was done at the Kriya Yoga Ashram, Balighai, Puri, Orissa.
Philosophy Propounded
The Kriya Yoga has various levels and the ultimate goal is ‘moksha’ or liberation. Swami Hariharananda Giri taught this Kriya to his followers. He was well-versed in all the religious texts of the world and gave a new interpretation to the texts.
Work Done to Spread the Philosophy
Apart from the lectures and satsangs Hariharananda Giri wrote a few books and for many publications. People of all walks of life were his disciples and his legacy lives through his disciples.
