Gururaj Ananda Yogi

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Gururaj Ananda Yogi (birth name: Purushottam Narsinhram Valodia, 3rd March 1932, Gujarat, India - died 17th May 1988, Cape Town, South Africa) was the founder of International Foundation of Spiritual Unfoldment[1]. Foundation for International Spiritual Unfoldment (FISU), another meditation society, is also based on his teachings [2]. Gururaj Ananda Yogi started giving satsang in his living room at his home in South Africa and during 1974 with the help of some of his disciples in South Africa started The South African Meditation Society and The International Foundation for Spiritual Unfoldment. On October of 1974 Marguerite Cusley (alias Gita) a teacher from Transcendental meditation of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, organized for him a trip to the UK where Gururaj Ananda was introduced to many TM teachers from around the world and that soon joined his movement, The International Foundation for Spiritual Unfoldment (IFSU).

Within that Organization several National Mediation Societies were created that are today continuing teaching meditation in different countries around the world. Among them: The British Meditation Society [3] The American Meditation Society [4], The Spanish Meditation Society [5], The Danish Meditation Society [6], The Irish Meditation Society, The Belgian Meditation Society, The Canadian Meditation Society and The Israeli Meditation Society. Thiese societies and IFSU are the actual copyright holders of Gururaj's recorded teachings and are engaged in making a major publishing effort in association with publishers in both the USA and Spain.

Gururaj Ananda Yogi was a philosopher, a mystic and a poet that taught in the time honored methods of the oral tradition. His disciples recorded most of his talks both public and informal while staying around in home with him and some of those transcribed talks have been compiled into books [7]. Of particular relevance was the one published in Spain by Espasa Calpe that received very good critics in the general press [8]. Antonio Gala in his articles in El Pais every Sunday used to find inspiration in the quotes from Gururaj Ananda Yogi.

During 2005-2006 BISC in University of California at Berkeley started a project to put all his recorded teachings online using fuzzy logic to do natural language search over them that had to be stopped due to lack of funds [9]

During his lifetime as a guru, Gururaj used to refer to the spiritual path as The Path of Unfoldment. After his death, two of his prime disciples, Rajesh Ananda [10] and Jasmini Ananda [11], founded Foundation for International Spiritual Unfoldment, being the continuation of Gururaj's teachings [12], follows the Meditation for Spiritual Unfoldment school of thought that promotes Gururaj's teachings for The Path of Unfoldment. This and the fact that Rajesh Ananda and Jasmini Ananda were prepared and initiated by Gururaj to be his successors, is debated by IFSU.

Contents

[edit] Biography

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Since a child he displayed a remarkably advanced spiritual awareness. Already by the age of three, his questions consistently concerned the meaning and purpose of life and the possibility of truly knowing or experiencing God. Throughout his childhood and into his early teen years he lived the normal life of a boy in his culture. The exception to this was his intense desire to directly experience the reality of God. He was taught various philosophies by gurus he encountered, and at the age of eight was given a spiritual practice by a monk who wandered from village to village throughout the countryside. Then driven by the fire that raged within him, he left home at the age of 13 to continue his search for the Truth.

Alone in the streets of Bombay he was given shelter by a prostitute that cared for him as a mother.

He took a job in the film industry to support himself and pay his school fees. At first performing such menial tasks as sweeping floors. However, he was well-liked by those with whom he worked, and as he progressively assumed more important duties, he came in contact with many influential people. At a gathering in the home of a film financier in Bombay, Gururaj met the cultured, well educated, husband and father, Swami Pavitrananda. “A spark of communication was set forth though not a single word was spoken”

Swami Pavitrananda became the Guru of young Purushottam and eventually while staying with his Guru in a monastery near Almora in the Himalayas, Gururaj attained Self Realization.

After reaching the state of self realization, Gururaj returned to his work and studies, though he continued to visit Pavitrananda whenever possible. Eventually Pavitrananda told Gururaj that his dharma was to teach to householders in the Western world. Pavitrananda advised him to establish himself in a Western country and immerse himself in the pains, pleasures, joys and sorrows, problems and solutions of full participation in that life.

In his early 20’s, having completed his studies in English, commerce and accountancy, he emigrated to South Africa. There he entered into a business career. He was very successful as a businessman particularly in the film distribution industry as he had well established contacts within the producers and studios in Bombay.

In 1974 after an open heart operation due to a congenital heart disease the worldly vocation of Gururaj stopped and he started giving satsang at his living room in Cape Town, South Africa. It was then when Marguerite Cusley started to visit him. She was a leading teacher from Transcendental Meditation organization founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. After a time visiting Gururaj she wanted him to come to England to present his message and Gururaj then decided to found The International Foundation for Spiritual Unfoldment[13] that would soon include different National Meditation Societies in several countries.

With inexhaustible energy he traveled from country to country several times each year, holding meditation retreats of about a week at a time. Often teaching far into the night, he shared the wisdom he had gained from his own experience on the spiritual path. He considered himself a universalist and taught the essence of the teachings that underlie all the world's major religions.

In the time honored methods of the oral traditions, he would sit with his disciples that would ask him questions that he would answer getting in as much detail as the situation would require. He used to answer also the unspoken questions in the minds of his disciples as the satsang flowed. He never prepared a talk. He would just sit in front of his chelas and ask for questions. He spoke directly from the heart and all his talks were recorded [14] by his chelas and more than 6,000 hours of recorded teachings are being published for the benefit of mankind by the different national meditation societies that under the umbrella of IFSU he founded throughout the year

[edit] Quotes

  • If every moment is well lived, then the next moment will take care of itself
  • The only thing that is non-fiction is the here and now of life, and all joy of life depends on the discovery of the here and now.
  • When one decides to himself, I do not need to preserve the idea of myself, then he finds freedom
  • God’s greatest gift to mankind is the ability to forget
  • To get back to our primal innocence is the duty and purpose of life.
  • To know yourself, you are at liberty to use whatever is offered to you in your circumstances and learn from it
  • It’s not really that love makes the world go around; love is what makes the ride interesting!
  • There is some truth in the saying that love is blind, because true love knows no analysis.
  • It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice

[edit] Books

  • Anderson, V (editor) and Morosani R (editor). (1993). From Darkness to Light : A Selection of Talks by Gururaj Ananda Yogi. American Meditation Society. ISBN 1-883797-00-4
  • Taylor, S (editor). (1980). The Path of Unfoldment, An Introduction to the Teachings of Gururaj Ananda Yogi. London: VSM. ISBN 0-9506781-0-4
  • Anderson, V (editor) and Morosani R (editor). (2002). The Master Reflects. American Meditation Society. ISBN 1-883797-01-2

[edit] Media Interviews

  • Sunday Telegraph, London, 10th April 1983
  • Yoga Today, United Kingdom, 1984
  • Television Series, Civilizations with Enrique Quesad, Madrid, Spain
  • Page 5 TV 5, Las Vegas, Nevada
  • Today in Chicago, CBS TV, Chicago
  • Focal Point, KTIV TV, Sioux City, IA
  • Party Line, NBC TV, Sioux Falls, S.D
  • Midday Am, NBC TV, St Louis
  • At Your Service, KMOX, CBS Radio, St Louis
  • Mac & Friends, KWIT Radio, Sioux City, IA

[edit] Lectures

[edit] Symposia

[edit] Semi-Annual Conferences

  • Sociedad Española de Meditación
  • Dansk Meditation Samfond
  • British Meditation Society
  • American Meditation Society
  • Canadian Meditation Society
  • Irish Meditation Society

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Languages