User:Rorschach8/Swami Kailashananda

Swami Kailashananda  aka Yogi Gupta (September 25, 1917 – May 6, 2011) was a Hindu spiritual teacher, Acharya and a proponent of Yoga and Nature Cure. Kailashananda was born Kailash Nath Gupta in Kanpur, in United Provinces. He studied law and served in one of the high courts of India as a lawyer for several years before taking up monasticism. For most of his life he lived either in Lakshman Jhula, Muni Ki Reti, Rishikesh or New York City, where he was known as Yogi Gupta. He was the first graduate of the Sivananda Vedanta Forest Academy of Rishikesh to settle in the US (1954). He authored two books on yoga, and founded several organizations in India and the United States dedicated to yoga. Yogi Gupta New York Center, was one of the first such in New York City and operated continuously from the mid-1950s until 2002.

Early life
Born Kailash Nath Gupta, Swami Kailashananda by his mid to late twenties had begun as a legal practicioner in one of the High Courts of India. As Mahatma Gandhi was getting ready to go on his journey to South Africa to open his first ashram, Swami Kailashananda was inspired a great deal by Gandhi's project to free India by Ahimsa, one of the most prolific practices of the Yamas and Niyamas. Swami Kailashananda himself practiced law from the standpoint of helping the poor and underprivileged in India; much of his practice was Pro bono. Soon after starting as a lawyer, Swami Kailashananda decided he had an even higher calling in life and left the bar. As he told his disciples many years later, when he was in the middle of a court case, Lord Shiva appeared to him and gave him direction where to find his Guru. This vision prompted him to take the path of Sannyasa and Self-realization. He then turned his case over to a colleague and walked out of the court, the bar and worldly life that very day and went to his guru, realizing as a devout Hindu and spiritual Soul since birth, that to fully immerse himself only in service to God in man might have an even greater effect than trying to serve humanity in a more roundabout fashion in the court.

He then stayed with his guru, Swami Brahmalingeshwarananda, a cave-dwelling Hermit, in remote locations throughout India for a number of years. He was his guru's only fully initiated disciple, so Swami Kailashananda received all his guru's Darśana and spent a number of years in the Himalyan forests with him, serving him one-on-one. His guru had other devotees and other chelas but not disciples. His guru was rarely seen by the public except during holy festivals, such as Kumbh Mela or Maha Shivaratri. During these festivals his guru would appear and give darśana to the masses of pilgrims.

His guru would send him on pilgrimages to famous holy sites, which included the major Shiva temples. Then he would go back to his guru's Ashram and his guru would ask him what he experienced. Eventually this all ended and Swami Kailashananda settled in the Rishikesh Laxmanjhoola Valley of Northeast India. He was looking for property on which to build an ashram when a Sadhu came to his forest abode and had him go look at some property on the banks of the Ganges at Manikoot Mountain in Laxmanjhoola.

Initiation
While in Benares, Swami Kailashananda was initiated into the holy order of Sannyasa (ordained monk) by his guru.

Foundations
He is the founder of The Kailashanand Mission Trust (KMT) (1952) and Yogi Gupta Ashram (1969). He established Swarg Niwas Temple, and Trayambakeshwar Temple on the bank of the Ganges at Lakshman Jhula, at a distance of 5 kilometres from Rishikesh.

Disciples
His most notable disciple is hatha yoga teacher Dharma Mittra who studied at his ashram in 1964-1975.

Authorship
He is the author of a book on hatha yoga, Yoga and Long Life, a book on psychic development, Yoga and Yogic Powers , and a book on Hindu funeral rites, "Shradha and Heavenly Fathers". He recorded two LPs, "Yoga Food Concepts" and "Divine Perception".

Death
Swami Kailashananda died on 6 May 2011 in his Kutir on the bank of the Ganges, in Lakshman Jhula.