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Bhagawan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri
This compilation of Swami Muktananda's talks and writings about his guru, Bhagawan Nityananda, forms an absorbing biography and loving portrait of one of the greatest spiritual masters of modern India.
- GenresHinduismSpirituality
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 2, 2026
This is a book that I will read every day for the rest of my life. I will never put it on my bookshelf. It will be always at hand.
August 28, 2012
This is an amazing journey every time I read it.
I love my Guru :-)
I love my Guru's Guru :-)
I love my Guru's Guru's Guru :-)
I love my Guru :-)
I love my Guru's Guru :-)
I love my Guru's Guru's Guru :-)
April 30, 2023
Swami Muktananda is one of the few outstanding disciples who have unalloyed love and devotion for their Gurus.
From his accounts, it is clear that Swami Nityananda was no easy Guru to learn from. It is very easy to misunderstand his behaviour.
From his accounts, it is clear that Swami Nityananda was no easy Guru to learn from. It is very easy to misunderstand his behaviour.
July 9, 2023
MUKTANANDA TELLS ABOUT HIS OWN SPIRITUAL MASTER
Editor Sarah Scott wrote in the Preface to this 1996 book, “[This book] is a modern story of devotion in an ancient lineage of discipleship. Coming fourteen years after Swami Muktananda’s passing, these are his words, his thoughts, his offering of praise to his Guru, compiled from many sources, across many years. This book is comprised of three sections… Part One is the biography that Swami Muktananda first published in Hindi in 1968, and then in English … in 1972… What his Guru presented in such condensed form, Baba expands and illuminates with personal experiences and anecdotes in Parts Two and Three…
“[H]e fulfills the desires of devotees who asked him: How did you meet your Guru? What was your spiritual practice like? Was it long? Was it difficult? How do his teachings relate to our lives? These and other such questions Baba answered as he traveled the world between 1970 and 1982, sharing the teachings and practices of Siddha yoga Meditation with thousands of seekers…
“The material is therefore woven together from many sources: an anecdote at a public program in Australia, an answer to a question in New York, a contemplation written in the silence of his study. Parts of the material were retrieved from transcripts of Swami Muktananda’s talks and are only now being published. Some of it has appeared in other Siddha Hoga publications. All of it is collected together here for the first time. [This book] presents a full picture, a close view of a spiritual Master through the clear eyes of one who became a Master himself. It is an intimate look at a relationship that led to liberation for the disciple---and the promise of liberation for all whose who pursue this path…
“Before Baba Muktananda passed away in 1982, he kept his promise by transmitting the power and authority of the lineage of Siddha Yoga Masters to Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, just as Bhagawan Nityananda had empowered him more than twenty years earlier. It was Gurumayi who envisioned this book… In relating to Gurumayi, the living Master of Siddha Yoga, we are inextricably linked to Baba Muktananda and through him, to Bhagawan Nityananda.”
Muktananda wrote in the first chapter, “No one knows where my beloved Gurudev was born, where he grew up, and where he did his sadhana. Even though no one has any definite knowledge about his family, in reality it is not more important to know the ancestry of saints and great beings than it is to find the source of the Ganges and other holy rivers… it is their influence, the extraordinary effect of their grace that really matters.” (Pg. 4)
He adds, “Gurudev never consciously performed any miracles himself. He was completely absorbed in God, the Cosmic Consciousness. He saw the same divine Truth in himself and in everything else…Shree Gurudev had no sense of separation, of individuality; he had become one with supreme Consciousness. Therefore, supernatural powers waited on him reverently, and as a result, miracles large and small took place spontaneously. These divine powers were nothing like the tricks that some people learn to do by practicing austerities. Such people can move their hand in a circle and manifest a… piece of fruit, or a gold necklace. Siddhas like these depend on the type of austerity practice, and they last only a short time.” (Pg. 9)
He notes, “All kinds of people used to come to Shree Gurudev---prominent leaders and government officials, engineers, doctors and lawyers, pundits and scholars, yogis, mahatmas, seekers, poets and musicians, researchers, rich men and beggars, the unhappy, the sick, landowners and laborers, actors and actresses, monks and nuns, the well-behaved, the intelligent and the stupid, and also wicked people, thieves, and hunters---in short, every type of person who lives in this world came to Bhagawan Nityananda. Since every kind of person under the sun was there, it seemed to be the Lord’s own congregation.” (Pg. 27)
He explains, “Some people used to ask why Shree Gurudev did not come out from his four walls and engage in social work with people who were confused and suffering. This question came from ignorance, which is why the work of great beings is often misunderstood. The sun does not leave its place, yet it illumines the world. The moon does not leave its place and go from house to house, yet it showers the nectar of coolness.” (Pg. 42)
He states, “Another name for the Guru’s grace is Shaktipat. Only Siddha Gurus can give Shaktipat. They have an extraordinary capability that enables a seeker to experience his or her own life as divine. It is absolutely true that unless Shaktipat is received from a thoroughly proficient Guru, a person will not be completely satisfied. He will also lack intimate knowledge of the all-pervasiveness, purity and unity of the Supreme Reality. Shaktipat is a wonderful and mysterious spiritual process in which the Guru showers the energy of his own soul on the disciple. In the scriptures, the grace of the Self is called Shaktipat. Without the grace of the Siddhas, Shaktipat cannot take place.” (Pg. 49)
He recounts, “Along with the command to meditate, Bhagawan Nityananda also emphasized the importance of knowledge. He was a great love of Vedanta, and he manifested nondual consciousness fully, Vedanta had become a dynamic force in him. His nondual awareness could be seen in his actions. Shree Gurudeva used to say that pervading everything is blissful Consciousness. In everything, whether animate or inanimate, God exists. In the form of the Inner Self, He dwells in a human body. He is the one who has become the light of the eyes and illumines everything. He makes the arms and legs move. He gives the ears the power to hear… He makes all the senses active. That same Lord pervades the entire world completely, never losing His oneness.” (Pg. 71)
He observes “There is a powerful tradition of Gurus called the Siddha Yoga tradition, in which the Master can touch a disciple or just point a finger at him, and thereby set in motion the process of Siddha Yoga… with the grace and blessing of a Siddha Guru, we don’t have to do yoga; it happens spontaneously within us. We call the Yoa that happens like this by itself Siddha Yoga… a Guru like this is very rare. It takes a lot of courage to make friends with a Siddha and spend your time with him. There was a great exponent of Siddha Yoga in the tradition of the Siddhas---my Guru. People would get Shaktipat by just coming into his presence…” (Pg. 78)
He recounts, “Although the Guru has great gifts to give, he can give them to us only when we become worthy of receiving them. I can tell you this from my own experience. For several years I kept coming and going from my Baba’s place. When I was there, I would become restless, so I would leave and go somewhere else for a while. The reason for this was ego and pride… he would insult me in front of everyone again and again, and I would die… This went on for several years. He kept working on me, and I kept coming and going… Finally, after a long time, he gave me something, and through his grace I attained what I had been seeking. But it was only after I had become a disciple that I was able to receive this gift.” (Pg. 89-90)
This book will appeal to those interested in Eastern Gurus.
Editor Sarah Scott wrote in the Preface to this 1996 book, “[This book] is a modern story of devotion in an ancient lineage of discipleship. Coming fourteen years after Swami Muktananda’s passing, these are his words, his thoughts, his offering of praise to his Guru, compiled from many sources, across many years. This book is comprised of three sections… Part One is the biography that Swami Muktananda first published in Hindi in 1968, and then in English … in 1972… What his Guru presented in such condensed form, Baba expands and illuminates with personal experiences and anecdotes in Parts Two and Three…
“[H]e fulfills the desires of devotees who asked him: How did you meet your Guru? What was your spiritual practice like? Was it long? Was it difficult? How do his teachings relate to our lives? These and other such questions Baba answered as he traveled the world between 1970 and 1982, sharing the teachings and practices of Siddha yoga Meditation with thousands of seekers…
“The material is therefore woven together from many sources: an anecdote at a public program in Australia, an answer to a question in New York, a contemplation written in the silence of his study. Parts of the material were retrieved from transcripts of Swami Muktananda’s talks and are only now being published. Some of it has appeared in other Siddha Hoga publications. All of it is collected together here for the first time. [This book] presents a full picture, a close view of a spiritual Master through the clear eyes of one who became a Master himself. It is an intimate look at a relationship that led to liberation for the disciple---and the promise of liberation for all whose who pursue this path…
“Before Baba Muktananda passed away in 1982, he kept his promise by transmitting the power and authority of the lineage of Siddha Yoga Masters to Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, just as Bhagawan Nityananda had empowered him more than twenty years earlier. It was Gurumayi who envisioned this book… In relating to Gurumayi, the living Master of Siddha Yoga, we are inextricably linked to Baba Muktananda and through him, to Bhagawan Nityananda.”
Muktananda wrote in the first chapter, “No one knows where my beloved Gurudev was born, where he grew up, and where he did his sadhana. Even though no one has any definite knowledge about his family, in reality it is not more important to know the ancestry of saints and great beings than it is to find the source of the Ganges and other holy rivers… it is their influence, the extraordinary effect of their grace that really matters.” (Pg. 4)
He adds, “Gurudev never consciously performed any miracles himself. He was completely absorbed in God, the Cosmic Consciousness. He saw the same divine Truth in himself and in everything else…Shree Gurudev had no sense of separation, of individuality; he had become one with supreme Consciousness. Therefore, supernatural powers waited on him reverently, and as a result, miracles large and small took place spontaneously. These divine powers were nothing like the tricks that some people learn to do by practicing austerities. Such people can move their hand in a circle and manifest a… piece of fruit, or a gold necklace. Siddhas like these depend on the type of austerity practice, and they last only a short time.” (Pg. 9)
He notes, “All kinds of people used to come to Shree Gurudev---prominent leaders and government officials, engineers, doctors and lawyers, pundits and scholars, yogis, mahatmas, seekers, poets and musicians, researchers, rich men and beggars, the unhappy, the sick, landowners and laborers, actors and actresses, monks and nuns, the well-behaved, the intelligent and the stupid, and also wicked people, thieves, and hunters---in short, every type of person who lives in this world came to Bhagawan Nityananda. Since every kind of person under the sun was there, it seemed to be the Lord’s own congregation.” (Pg. 27)
He explains, “Some people used to ask why Shree Gurudev did not come out from his four walls and engage in social work with people who were confused and suffering. This question came from ignorance, which is why the work of great beings is often misunderstood. The sun does not leave its place, yet it illumines the world. The moon does not leave its place and go from house to house, yet it showers the nectar of coolness.” (Pg. 42)
He states, “Another name for the Guru’s grace is Shaktipat. Only Siddha Gurus can give Shaktipat. They have an extraordinary capability that enables a seeker to experience his or her own life as divine. It is absolutely true that unless Shaktipat is received from a thoroughly proficient Guru, a person will not be completely satisfied. He will also lack intimate knowledge of the all-pervasiveness, purity and unity of the Supreme Reality. Shaktipat is a wonderful and mysterious spiritual process in which the Guru showers the energy of his own soul on the disciple. In the scriptures, the grace of the Self is called Shaktipat. Without the grace of the Siddhas, Shaktipat cannot take place.” (Pg. 49)
He recounts, “Along with the command to meditate, Bhagawan Nityananda also emphasized the importance of knowledge. He was a great love of Vedanta, and he manifested nondual consciousness fully, Vedanta had become a dynamic force in him. His nondual awareness could be seen in his actions. Shree Gurudeva used to say that pervading everything is blissful Consciousness. In everything, whether animate or inanimate, God exists. In the form of the Inner Self, He dwells in a human body. He is the one who has become the light of the eyes and illumines everything. He makes the arms and legs move. He gives the ears the power to hear… He makes all the senses active. That same Lord pervades the entire world completely, never losing His oneness.” (Pg. 71)
He observes “There is a powerful tradition of Gurus called the Siddha Yoga tradition, in which the Master can touch a disciple or just point a finger at him, and thereby set in motion the process of Siddha Yoga… with the grace and blessing of a Siddha Guru, we don’t have to do yoga; it happens spontaneously within us. We call the Yoa that happens like this by itself Siddha Yoga… a Guru like this is very rare. It takes a lot of courage to make friends with a Siddha and spend your time with him. There was a great exponent of Siddha Yoga in the tradition of the Siddhas---my Guru. People would get Shaktipat by just coming into his presence…” (Pg. 78)
He recounts, “Although the Guru has great gifts to give, he can give them to us only when we become worthy of receiving them. I can tell you this from my own experience. For several years I kept coming and going from my Baba’s place. When I was there, I would become restless, so I would leave and go somewhere else for a while. The reason for this was ego and pride… he would insult me in front of everyone again and again, and I would die… This went on for several years. He kept working on me, and I kept coming and going… Finally, after a long time, he gave me something, and through his grace I attained what I had been seeking. But it was only after I had become a disciple that I was able to receive this gift.” (Pg. 89-90)
This book will appeal to those interested in Eastern Gurus.
December 20, 2017
When you devote yourself with great devotion to a spiritual path or to a spiritual master, you can attain enlightenment, grace; a state of contact and union with God that very few achieve but many seek.
The book "Bhagawan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri" is the story of the Guru (the spiritual master) of Swami Muktananda Paramahamsa ....
When reading this book I understood the devotion that people have for a spiritual master and how devotion brings them closer to God. I understood why Christians love Christ and Muslims respect and learn from Muhammad, Buddhists to Buddha and why devotees of Gurumayi follow her with such devotion.
I saw my grandmother many times and today my father has great devotion to his teachers and his God ... I hope this book awakens this interest. Well, it's no use reading a lot if you do not apply what you read. I've even thought about stopping reading for a whole year and dedicate myself to meditation ... I do not know if I can, I'll tell you.
The book "Bhagawan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri" is the story of the Guru (the spiritual master) of Swami Muktananda Paramahamsa ....
When reading this book I understood the devotion that people have for a spiritual master and how devotion brings them closer to God. I understood why Christians love Christ and Muslims respect and learn from Muhammad, Buddhists to Buddha and why devotees of Gurumayi follow her with such devotion.
I saw my grandmother many times and today my father has great devotion to his teachers and his God ... I hope this book awakens this interest. Well, it's no use reading a lot if you do not apply what you read. I've even thought about stopping reading for a whole year and dedicate myself to meditation ... I do not know if I can, I'll tell you.
October 23, 2007
My guru's guru
January 14, 2011
Faith Moves Promiscuity
January 4, 2023
▪️ It's a short biography written by Swami Muktanand Paramhansa, a disciple of Avadhuta Nityananda of Ganeshpuri.
▪️This book comprises devotional outpourings of a devoted disciple for his God like Guru.
▪️This is a short biography of a great Avadhuta and extraordinary Siddha Master lived in Ganeshpuri (Maharashtra). His name was Nityananda.
He always abided in "SELF", looked the entire world as "SELF", hence always remained engrossed in the transcendental bliss, that's why people around Him started calling Him by the name "Nityananda".
▪️This book gives a glimpse of what does it mean to be an "Avadhuta".
One who has obliterated all boundries of his individuality, ego and transcended the mind and remain as "Pure Consciousness", is an Avadhuta. That's why the stage of being an Avadhuta is the highest stage of spiritual accomplishment.
▪️ Important quotes and sentences from the book:
🔰Shri Gurudev's teachings : Purity of Mind, Purity of Feeling, Faith in God, Meditation, Knowledge
🔰 _Meditate a lot. When you meditate a lot, true knowledge will spring forth from you. You won't have to read books. Inner knowledge is far superior. Write your own book with your own mind. Meditate. Many books will come out of you."_
🔰" _People try to purify the Self, which is already pure. They make efforts to attain the Self, which is already attained. The truth is that this world is permeated by the Self. Whatever we see and whatever is seen in this world is only the Self. Because of our wrong understanding we see impurity in purity, imperfection in perfection, bondage in freedom, and then we become miserable even in happiness. This is because we are ignorant of the knowledge of our true Self."_
There are many pearls of Wisdom in this book. It is not possible to write about all of them over here.
Whoever came to Him, He usually asked most of them whether they had visited Vajreshwari temple (in a nearby village) and taken bath in the hot spring.
Today there is Samadhi Mandir of Nityananda in Ganeshpuri town and countless devotees flock there every year.
This book is a worth read for seekers.
▪️This book comprises devotional outpourings of a devoted disciple for his God like Guru.
▪️This is a short biography of a great Avadhuta and extraordinary Siddha Master lived in Ganeshpuri (Maharashtra). His name was Nityananda.
He always abided in "SELF", looked the entire world as "SELF", hence always remained engrossed in the transcendental bliss, that's why people around Him started calling Him by the name "Nityananda".
▪️This book gives a glimpse of what does it mean to be an "Avadhuta".
One who has obliterated all boundries of his individuality, ego and transcended the mind and remain as "Pure Consciousness", is an Avadhuta. That's why the stage of being an Avadhuta is the highest stage of spiritual accomplishment.
▪️ Important quotes and sentences from the book:
🔰Shri Gurudev's teachings : Purity of Mind, Purity of Feeling, Faith in God, Meditation, Knowledge
🔰 _Meditate a lot. When you meditate a lot, true knowledge will spring forth from you. You won't have to read books. Inner knowledge is far superior. Write your own book with your own mind. Meditate. Many books will come out of you."_
🔰" _People try to purify the Self, which is already pure. They make efforts to attain the Self, which is already attained. The truth is that this world is permeated by the Self. Whatever we see and whatever is seen in this world is only the Self. Because of our wrong understanding we see impurity in purity, imperfection in perfection, bondage in freedom, and then we become miserable even in happiness. This is because we are ignorant of the knowledge of our true Self."_
There are many pearls of Wisdom in this book. It is not possible to write about all of them over here.
Whoever came to Him, He usually asked most of them whether they had visited Vajreshwari temple (in a nearby village) and taken bath in the hot spring.
Today there is Samadhi Mandir of Nityananda in Ganeshpuri town and countless devotees flock there every year.
This book is a worth read for seekers.
June 28, 2025
Bhagawan nityananda is a guru … the guru object of Bhakti is surveyer of all he is efflugent famous in his town he was known early in life to make miracles later he gave up these things knowing many things a siddha who has attained godhood… muktanana a guru in his own right tells a tale of his meeting the man god nityananda and his own enlightenment how one must simply look inside and how although many among many were in his guru’s presence never attained much due to lack of sadhana
June 30, 2024
Divine, multiple readings only increases the joy within.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews