Swami Shyam

Swami Shyam (1924- February 2017), born in Chandani, Jalaun district, Uttar Pradesh, India, was raised in the Vedic tradition of Knowledge of the Self (Atma-gyan). Shyam has meditated, studied and been dedicated to this tradition since his early childhood, when his father invited Swami Ramanand, a guru from Uttar Pradesh, to live in their home. Swami Ramanand initiated the young Shyam in meditation, and the family home became a meeting place for satsang (the company of true knowledge) for those who lived in the region. Ramanand taught the Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita, the Srimad Bhagavatam and other scriptures, as well as meditation. In 1973 Shyam moved to Kullu, Valley of Gods, Himachal Pradesh, India.

Meditation and knowledge of the self are the essence of Shyam's teachings. He has meditated, studied and taught meditation throughout his life, and established organisations for the continuation of this work, such as the International Meditation Institute (IMI), which he founded in 1976 in Kullu; Shanti-Sneh Abhiyan, which he formed in 1986 in Kullu; and the Man-Friend Association, which he founded in the early 1960s in Chandigarh, India. In 1986, at the First International Yog Conference in New Delhi, Shyam was awarded the Yog Shiromani Award by the President of India, Giani Zail Singh, for his work in the field of meditation and self-realization and the 1974 Integrity Award presented by Geoff Stirling on behalf of Apache Communications in Gander, Newfoundland. Shyam has spoken by invitation to thousands of people throughout India and in Europe, North America and South America, at international conferences, organisations, universities and schools, as well as on television and radio.

The published works of Shyam include original works in English and Hindi, as well as translations with commentaries of ancient Sanskrit texts, published by the International Meditation Institute. (See below for a list of titles.) Some of these books have been translated into French, German, Hebrew, Punjabi, Norwegian and other languages. He wrote every day, sometimes several times, culminating in thousands of writings based on his own practice and inner research.

In addition to prose, Shyam had seven published volumes of poetry; he has written over 10,000 poems. His poetry speaks of the knowledge of the universal Self, meditation and the sense of love and devotion. It is written in classical meters, which are traditionally sung. Lauded twentieth- and twenty-first-century Hindi poets Mahadevi Varma and Gopaldas Neeraj, as well as scholars of Hindi literature, Laxmi Narayan and Ganpati Chandra Gupta, have written introductions to his published volumes of poetry. Academic theses have been written on his philosophy and his creative works (see selection listed below).

The basis of Shyam's teachings is meditation. The core of his teachings is the vision of oneness, the knowledge of I, you, or self, which he says is "pure, free, forever, birthless and deathless." This knowledge, he says, is unfolded through the practice of meditation, study and the application of that knowledge in a person's waking state. His mantra, "Amaram Hum Madhuram Hum", means, "I am eternal, I am blissful." It encapsulates the essence of Shyam's philosophy and teachings.

Books about Shyam
Below is a selection of published books and PhD dissertations on the poetry, philosophy and life of Shyam:

(A) In Hindi:

• Shyam Sandesh: Swami Shyam ke Sakshatkar (Swami Shyam: Direct Experience) by Vishwaprakash Dixit "Batuk"

• Hindi Bhakti Yog Kavya Parampara aur Shyam Kavya (The Tradition of Hindi Bhakti Yog Poets and the Poet, Swami Shyam) by Rameshwar Prasad Dvivedi

• Swami Shyam: Vishwa-Sant tatha Guru Shreshth (Swami Shyam: Universal Saint and Guru Consciousness) by Anita Naiyyar (Shanti Prakashan, Rohtak, India, 2008.)

• Sant Surabhi by Sita Sharma, (Jalandhar, India)

• Sadhana ke Swar (The Voice of Sadhana) by Suman Mishra. (Shyam Dhyan Kendra, Farrukhabad, India, 2010.)

(B) In English:

• Shyam Vedanant: A Comparison of Shankaracharya, Vivekanand and Swami Shyam by Rhonda Himes, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, India.

• Genesis Dawn: I Meet Myself by Robert W. Eaton

• Meditation, Oneness and Physics: A Journey through the Laboratories of Physics and Meditation by Glen Peter Kezwer (a study based on research in Physics and Swami Shyam's teachings). (Sterling Publishing, New Delhi, India.)

Books by Shyam
Books in English

Meet Your True Self through Meditation, 1994

Raj Yog (with a Foreword by S. D. Tripathi, Punjab University; in English and Hindi), 1977, 2011

Doubtless Meditation, 2005

Life Never Knows Death (translated into Norwegian by Leif Ims), 2006

You, the Leading Awareness, 2012

Why Meditation? (in English, French, German, Hindi, Punjabi and Hebrew), 1983, 1988, 1994

Mastermind (translated into Hindi by Meenakshi Mishra), 1975

Shyam's Philosophy, 2003

Nine Yog Lessons (in English and German), 2003

Direction of Life

Message of Unity, 1986

The World Is Oneness, 2006

How It All Happened, 2013

A Human Being Should Know that the Self Never Dies, 2011

Translations of Sanskrit Texts

Bhagavad Gita, 1985

Bhagavad Gita: A Precise Rendering, 2001

Bhagavad Gita: The Importance of Human Life, 2009

Patanjali Yog Darshan (in English, German, French and Hindi), 1980, 1990, 2001

Light of Knowledge: Shankaracharya's Vivek Chudamani, 1977, 2011

The Avadhoot Gita, 2007

Ashtavakr Gita: Simplified Knowledge of the Self, 2001

Ashtaavakr Gita: A Precise Study of the Human Mind, 2001

Ashtaawakr Gita: The Scripture of Knowledge for All Times, 1998

Books in Hindi

Dhyan Kyon? (translated into Punjabi by Manjeet Singh)

Patanjali Yog Darshan

Nirbandh Man (translation of Mastermind by Meenakshi Mishra)

Shyam Sudha (Introduction by Ganapati Chandra Gupta), 1981, 1990

Shyam Amrit (Introduction by Mahadevi Varma)

Shyam Jyoti, 1984

Shyam Amar (Introduction by Gopaldas Neeraj), 1989

Shyam Rang (Introduction by Laxmi Narayan)

Shyam Gitavali, 2002

Films about Shyam
In 1977, Film Australia released a documentary film entitled Swami Shyam in the series Our Asian Neighbors: India, produced by Bruce Moir and directed by Chris Noonan. Film Australia summarised the documentary: "A guru and his followers live in an ashram in Kulu Valley, within the Himalayas. The audience is directly involved in experiencing an Indian Swami. The film ends with one of the Swami's three-minute lessons in meditation."

In 1995, Jean-Pierre Piché directed Sadhana: Back to the Source, a docu-drama in which a seeker meets four teachers from different parts of India. The fourth segment is his meeting with Shyam in the Himalayas, including an initiation into the technique of meditation.