Priya Nath Karar, known by his monastic name Sri Yukteswar Giri (May 10, 1855-March 9, 1936), was the guru of Paramahansa Yogananda. He was a Vedic astrologer, or jyotishi, a yogi, and an exponent of the Bhagavad Gita. He was a member of the Giri branch of the swami order. His guru was Lahiri Mahasaya of Benares. Yogananda later styled Sri Yukteswar Jnanavatar, or "Incarnation of Wisdom".

Biography

The following details of Sri Yukteswar’s life come from Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi, and Swami Sri Yukteshvar Giri Maharaj, a biography by Swami Satyananda Giri.from A Collection of Biographies of 4 Kriya Yoga Gurus by Swami Satyananda Giri

Sri Yukteswar was born in Serampore, India to Kshetranath Karar and Kadambini. The wisdom that readers are familiar with in Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi was evident at an early age. He was a bright student, though his formal education ended with a few years at two different colleges. For a time, he attended Serampore Christian Missionary College, where he developed an interest in the Christian Bible. This interest would later express itself in his book, The Holy Science, which shows the union of the scientific principles underlying Yoga and the Christian Bible. He also attended Calcutta Medical College for almost two years.

He married and had one daughter. His wife died a few years after their marriage, and Sri Yukteswar entered the monastic Swami order some time after that.

In 1884, he met his guru, Lahiri Mahasaya, who initiated him into the path of Kriya Yoga. Sri Yukteswar would spend a great deal of time during the next several years in the company of his guru, often visiting Lahiri Mahasaya in Varanasi from his home in Serampore. He converted his family home in Serampore into an ashram, where he had resident students and disciples.

Sri Yukteswar had few long-term disciples. However, in 1910, the young Mukunda Lal Ghosh would become Sri Yukteswar’s chief disciple, and spread the teachings of Kriya Yoga throughout the world as Paramahansa Yogananda. Yogananda attributed Sri Yukteswar’s small number of disciples to his strict training methods, which Yogananda said “cannot be described as other than drastic”, but whose purpose was to aid the disciples in the difficult challenge of achieving self-realization.

Sri Yukteswar was especially skilled in Vedic Astrology, and prescribed various astrological gemstones and bangles to his students. He also studied astronomy and science, as evidenced in the formulation of his Yuga theory in The Holy Science.

The noted author W.Y. Evan-Wentz met Sri Yukteswar, and described him in the preface to Autobiography of a Yogi:

"Sri Yukteswar was of gentle mien and voice, of pleasing presence, and worthy of the veneration which his followers spontaneously accorded to him. Every person who knew him, whether of his own community or not, held him in the highest esteem. I vividly recall his tall, straight, ascetic figure, garbed in the saffron-colored garb of one who has renounced worldly quests, as he stood at the entrance of the hermitage to give me welcome. His hair was long and somewhat curly, and his face bearded. His body was muscularly firm, but slender and well-formed, and his step energetic."

Sri Yukteswar died at his Puri ashram on March 9, 1936.

The Holy Science

Sri Yukteswar wrote The Holy Science in 1894, at the request of Lahiri Mahasaya’s guru, Mahavatar Babaji. In the introduction, Sri Yukteswar states the goal of The Holy Science thus:

“The purpose of this book is to show as clearly as possible that there is an essential unity in all religions; that there is no difference in the truths inculcated by the various faiths; that there is but one method by which the world, both external and internal, has evolved; and that there is but one Goal admitted by all scriptures.”

Many ideas revolutionary for that time were introduced in The Holy Science. One of them is Sri Yukteswar’s break from Hindu tradition in showing that the earth is not in the age of Kali Yuga, but has advanced to Dwapara Yuga. His proof is based on a new perspective of the precession of the equinoxes.

He also introduces the idea that the sun takes a ‘star for its dual’, and revolves around that star in about 24,000 years, which accounts for the precession of the equinox. Current research into this theory is being conducted by the Binary Research Institute. They produced a documentary on it called The Great Year, narrated by James Earl Jones.

The theory of the Sun's binary companion expounded by Sri Yukteswar in The Holy Science has attracted the attention of Dr. David Frawley, who has written about it in a several of his books. He explains that the theory offers better proof of the age of Rama and Krishna and other important historical Indian figures than other dating methods, which make some of these figures out to be millions of years old - too old for the accepted chronology of human history on Earth.

Quotes from The Holy ScienceThe Holy Science by Jnanavatar Swami Sriyukteswar Giri, published by Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, 1949

“Firmness of moral courage when attained removes all the obstacles in the way of salvation. These obstacles are of eight sorts, viz., hatred, shame, fear, grief condemnation, race distinction, pride of pedigree, and a narrow sense of respectability, which are the meannesses of the human heart.”

“The Holy Sound Pranava Sabda appears spontaneously through the culture of Sraddha the energetic tendency of heart’s natural love, Veerya the moral courage, Smiriti the true conception and Samadhi the true concentration.”

“It has been clearly demonstrated in the foregoing pages that “Love is God,” not merely as the noblest sentiment of a poet but as an aphorism containing an eternal truth.”

See also

• The Holy Science

• Sri Yukteswar is pictured at the extreme upper left of the crowd on the cover of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Notes

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External links

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• Srimad Bhagavad Gita - A Spiritual Commentary by Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri. Online version.

• Swami Sri Yukteswar Maharaj - Biography by Swami Satyananda Giri. Online version.

• Sri Yukteswar Including extracts from Autobiography of a Yogi

• The Great Year Documentary

1855 births | 1936 deaths | Hindu religious figures | Indian religious figures | New religious movements | People of Kolkata | Yogis | Astrologers

Yukteswar Giri | Swami Sri Yukteswar | Sri Yukteswar Giri | Sri Yukteswar Giri | Yukteswar Giri