The Blog of Peace: About Shri Swami Shankarananda

SPECIAL EDITION BLOG August 2010

Swami Shankarnanda ji

Swami Shankarananda is an American-born guru in the lineage of Bhagavan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri. The gurus of this lineage are noted for awakening the kundalini energy of seekers by means of shaktipat. Shankarananda is an author and authority on the philosophy and practice of Kashmir Shaivism. He emphasises spiritual practice (sadhana), especially meditation, mantra and Self-Inquiry. He is a prominentspiritual teacher in Australia, where he founded the Shiva Ashram, a residential spiritual school where about 40 seekers live and members of the wider public visit for programs, retreats and courses. He is also a spokesman forHinduism in interfaith dialogue.

Born Russell Michael Kruckman, son of artist Herbert (Herb) (1904-1998) and school teacher Selma (1908-1998). He was a Pulitzer scholar at Columbia University, New York, where he played on Columbia's US Champion intercollegiate chess team, earning the title of US Chess Master. He taught Shakespeare and English Literature at Indiana University. In 1970, a decisive encounter with the American yogi Ram Dassinspired him to go to India where he met his guru, Swami Muktananda Paramahamsa, the disciple of Bhagawan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri.

He spent 12 years studying with Muktananda, the first three of which were spent at his ashram in Ganeshpuri. To this day, Shankarananda makes regular visits with large groups of devotees to the town of Ganeshpuri, the seat of his lineage.

In 1974 he was initiated by his guru to awaken people spiritually via shaktipat diksha (initiation). Muktananda wrote of Shankarananda, "He is able to carry my message to everyone. Has the power to make people experience the divine presence." Since that time, Shankarananda has headed ashrams in Ann Arbor, Los Angeles, New York and Melbourne.

In 1977, at the request of his guru, he was initiated into the Saraswati order of monks by Mahamandaleshwar Swami Brahmananda.

In 1991 he founded the Shiva School of Meditation and Yoga in Melbourne with the assistance of Swami Bhairavi Ananda (Devi Ma), who is the co-director. They established a residential ashram^] on the Mornington Peninsula.

Lineage

Swami Shankarananda places great importance on lineage, saying that a guru should come from an authentic lineage. He belongs to the shaktipat tradition (see below) of Bhagavan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri, sometimes called the "Siddha lineage". Shankarananda received shaktipat initiation from his guru, Swami Muktananda, who was initiated by his guru, Bhagavan Nityananda. Bhagavan Nityananda seems to have called his path Raja Yoga. Baba Muktananda called his path Siddha Yoga, and also Maha Yoga, Maha Kundalini Yoga, Purna Yoga or Gurukripa Yoga. Shankarananda calls his yoga Shiva Yoga, emphasising the link with Kashmir Shaivism. He points out that all these names designate the same yoga, based on shaktipat initiation. He works for harmony within his own tradition, and recognises and values the many teachers and yogis who belong to it. He has held several large events with other teachers in his lineage, and, in 2009, launched a website that documents the lineage of Bhagavan Nityananda and the many gurus and teachers it has produced .

Shaktipat guru

Muktananda emphasised the importance of a Self-realised guru who can awaken and guide the kundalini energy of a seeker. Swami Shankarananda was instructed by Muktananda to awaken people at meditation intensives by touch. Muktananda gave him a wand of peacock feathers that he himself had used to give shaktipat. Shankarananda is one of the first Western shaktipat gurus of the Siddha tradition. Shankarananda says that within every person there is a great power and a great potential that can be awakened by means of the grace of the guru and through spiritual practice.

Kashmir Shaivism

Swami Shankarananda came into contact with Kashmir Shaivism through his teacher, Swami Muktananda, who was an important disseminator of this philosophy in recent times. Described by Shankarananda as a "philosophy of Consciousness", Kashmir Shaivism, like Advaita Vedanta, advocates the primacy of consciousness as the ground of all being. In contrast to Advaita Vedanta, however, Kashmir Shaivism regards phenomenal reality as an expression or manifestation of consciousness, rather than maya or illusion.

In recognition of his international work in spreading the Sanatana Dharma, in early 2007 Swamiji was invested as a Mahant (spiritual leader) in a formal ceremony that took place in Haridwar, India. His official title is Sri Mahant 1008 Swami Shankarananda Saraswati of the Panch Agni Akhada.