Lahiri Mahasaya was a householder saint who was an expert in Kriya Yoga and he had many luminaries as disciples. His disciples and their disciples took Kriya Yoga to the West as predicted by Lahiri Mahasaya.
Profile
Lahiri Mahasaya was born on September 30th 1828 as Shyama Charan Lahiri to a devout Brahmin couple in Nadia district, West Bengal. His father was Gaur Mohan Lahiri and mother was Muktakashi. His mother was a devotee of Lord Shiva but she died when Shyama Charan Lahiri was still a child. Even at the age of three or four Shyama Lahiri would sit in meditation with his body buried in sand. When he was five his ancestral home was washed away in floods, so the family moved to Varanasi and he spent most of his time there. He was good at learning languages and he learnt Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Sanskrit, English, Bengali and French. In 1846 he married Srimati Kashi Moni and had two sons and three daughters. He worked as an accountant in the Military Engineering Department of the British Indian government. His work took him to different places and one such place was Ranikhet. The year was 1861 and while walking in the foot hills of Himalayas a voice called out to him. He walked further and saw Mahavatar Babaji who was to become his guru. He was initiated into Kriya Yoga and was told to take the teachings of Kriya Yoga as his life mission. On his return to Varanasi he began his mission as advised by his guru. From then on he worked for the government and taught the Kriya Yoga to sincere seekers. He continued this till the end of his life on September 26th 1895. On that day, just a few moments before his death he had said, “I am going home. Be comforted; I shall rise again.”
Philosophy Propounded
Lahiri Mahasaya taught Kriya Yoga to all seekers irrespective of their religion or caste. He organized discourses in the Bhagavad Gita. The name ‘Mahasaya’ was given to him by his devotees.
Work Done to Spread the Philosophy
Lahiri Mahasaya did not create any organization to spread his philosophy. But he had predicted that after 50 years of his passing away Kriya Yoga would spread all over the world especially in the West. He had many great disciples and one was Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri who was a spiritual giant. Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri’s favourite disciple was Paramahansa Yogananda who became a famous teacher of Kriya Yoga and was a realised master – Lahiri Mahasaya’s words were proved true.
