Guru-Param-Para (Lineage of the Guru Order) Guru Sisya (Master and Disciple)
Traditionally and ordinarily Guru means one from whom Sisya, “the disciple,” gets in itiation and instructions in the spiritual discipline.
Strictly speaking, until the teacher and initiate meet, they have no relationshi p as Master and disciple.
The relationship between the Master and the disciple originates at a personal me eting and actual initiation by the Master.
Treating a realized Yogi of the past as Master through presumption and suppositi on is an idealization of the whole subject.
Since the acceptance from the Master’s side is absent, it cannot be a true Master and disciple relationship. It is merely the product of the person’s imagination. It can be mentioned here that in India many people are not able to find a teache r and then imagine some great realized Sage such as Lord Krisna, Lord Siva, Yogi Vasistha or Paramhansa Sri Ramakrisna as their Guru. Without meeting these per sonalities, there is absolutely no Master-disciple relationship.
Their situation merely reflects their intellectual disposition and predicament. It is nothing but fooling oneself, or fooling others, to consider a yogi of the past as one’s Guru. Where is the role of Guruvaktragamya, “learning directly from t he living lips of a Guru” in this personal idealization? How can a dead person be able to advise without the living lips? The subject is discussed in Babaji -The Divine Himalayan Yogi and his Legacy, in Chapter 41.
It becomes imperative to mention here that Babaji maintained very strict rules i n this respect of Guru-Sisya relation since it is the righteous way to be in the path and to receive Beatitude .
Mahamuni Babaji upheld the decorum of the Master-disciple relationship when he a sked his disciple, Lahiri Mahasay to initiate the group of people at Dunagiri Hi ll.
These people were past students of Lahiri Mahasay, and thus it was Lahiri Mahasa y’s responsibility to initiate them, since Babaji was not their Master.
Similarly, it can be remembered when in the epic Ramayana Yogi Viswamitra (who w as quite competent and qualified yet) asked Yogi Vasistha to advise Rama, since Yogi Vasistha was the Guru and priest of the Ikkhaku dynasty.
Initiation is essential (as mentioned earlier) and so is the actual relation bet ween the Master and disciple. It is the Master or Guru who helps the disciple f ind the righteous path to the ultimate Self, or Brahma.
The Guru of the Guru is called Param Guru, and the Guru of the Param Guru is cal led Para-par Guru for the disciple. Again, the Guru of Para-par Guru is the Par amesthi Guru for the initiate.
The Sanskrit word “Param Para” literally means “the traditional way of perpetuation of the spiritual discipline from the Master (the Guru) to the disciple and the li
neage through which the blessings of the realized Master flow to the followers o f the particular discipline.”
Lahiri Mahasay purposely did not start any organization. He repeatedly said tha t the practice of Kriya was the primary “work” of each individual.
He knew a formal organization would jeopardize Kriya practice for two reasons: First, because an organization would bypass the Guru-Param-Para, “Guru-disciple re lationship.” The sad by-product of this would be a mechanistic (and thus, valuele ss) approach to Kriya practice. The close, loving attention of the Guru would b e lost in an organizational setup.
Second, organizations require a management and support structure. Maintaining, organizing and promoting such a structure demands an incalculable amount of time and attention. This time and attention would be best used if applied directly to Kriya practice.
Furthermore, Yoga is not a matter of institutionalization; rather, it is a tradi tion of Guru-Param-Para, “personal Master and disciple relation,” which is the right eous way.
That is why Mahamuni Babaji, the divine Master of Lahiri Mahasay himself, pointe d out for one “Not to be tempted to be involved in spiritual organizations or to s tart organizations around the teaching of Kriya.”
Babaji further commented, “Those getting Kriya from the organizations and unpermit ted persons are not getting initiation of the Kriya discipline.” The scriptures s tate the same sentiment in 13:10 Gita.
Lahiri Mahasay held up the advice of Babaji repeatedly to his disciples not to s tart organizations around the teachings of Kriya.
Lahiri Baba spread his Kriya Network through his disciples. When they attained Realization, Lahiri Mahasay permitted them to initiate others into this holy Sci ence.
They were reminded that Guru-Param-Para (relationship through the lineage of the Guru order) is the righteous way. Gita 4:1, 2.
Thus only the fortunate seekers actually got Kriya. His disciples started funct ioning as his agents, much like branch centers, as though he was headquarters. The Kriya Network of currents of Kriya Ganges flow from the Divine Himalayan Yog i Mahamuni Babaji through Lahiri Mahasay and his selected disciples and their ch annels and lineage. Some of them are listed below.
Kriya Network at a Glance
(The Currents of the Kriya Ganges: Both original tradition and modified trend). Kriya and Ganges flow from the same source: Holy Himalayas.
It is practically impossible to give an exact account of the currents of the Kri ya Ganges as some Masters teach very secretly.
The Currents of the Kriya Ganges Description of the Network
Mahamuni Babaji: The Father of Kriya 1. Lahiri Mahasay: The Polestar of Kriya
2. Swami Mahabir, a disciple of Babaji, who was sent to Babaji by Lahiri Mahasay .
Sometimes Mahamuni Babaji sent messages to Lahiri Mahasay through Mahabir Swami, and collected the donation of Kriya Initiation with which Babaji served and fed some yogis and Swamis on different occasions.
Almost every year Mahabir Swami visited Lahiri Mahasay under the instructions of Babaji on a particular day - the day following the new moon of February (Mahasi varatri day, the only day Lahiri Mahasay used to fast and observe every year. Some years Babaji himself graced to give darsan to Lahiri Mahasay on that day). Babaji, or his messenger, Mahabir Swami, used to meet Lahiri Mahasay at Sarnath. This place, located north of Benares, was where Lord Buddha first preached his message to the world.
Lahiri Mahasay would take the help of a disciple named Krisna Ram, who would pul l his Divine Gurudev by rickshaw to Sarnath. Once they arrived, Lahiri Mahasay had Krisna Ram wait until he returned.
The great yogi would walk some distance alone until meeting with Mahabir Swami. He would then hand over a bag containing the Kriya donations. Mahabir Swami c onfirmed this fact to the author when the author was in a group pilgrimage with Mahamuni Babaji to Badrinath in the Himalayas.
3. Swami Satyeswarananda Giri Babaji (the author) initially learned Kriya from Swami Satyananda, Sriyukteswar’s chief monastic disciple in India.
The author lived for twelve years in the Himalayas, sometimes with Mahamuni Baba ji, and after twenty four years of Kriya practice he was blessed by Babaji, who initiated the author into Purna (complete) Kriya, at Dunagiri Hill, Himalayas.
The Disciples of Lahiri Mahasay and their Lineage
(The detailed description of the Kriya Network is written in a separate book, Ba baji Volume III The Original Kriya Tradition along with Guru-param-para and line age.)
4. Panchanan Bhattacharya, the chief disciple of Lahiri Mahasay 5. Swami Kebalananda
6. Swami Pranabananda Giri 7. Brahmachari Kesavananda
8. Tinkori Lahiri (Eldest son of Lahiri Mahasay) 9. Dukori Lahiri (Youngest son of Lahiri Mahasay) 10. Swami Sriyukteswar Giri
11. Brajalal Adhikari 12. Prasad Das Goswami 13. Kali Kumar Banerjee
14. Kesav Chandra Banerjee 15. Ram Dayal Mazumder 16. Hari Narayan Palodhi 17. Bhupendranath Sanyal
Disciples of Panchanan Bhattacharya and lineage 18. Sris Mukherjee (disciple of 4)
19. Nagendranath Choudhuri (disciple of 4) 20. Hari Mohan Bandopadhyaya (disciple of 4) 21. Bodhisatta Bhattacharya (son of 4)
22. Bamdev Bandopadhyaya (disciple of 4) 23. Adyanath Roy (disciple of 18)
24. Sibamoya Bhattacharya (son of 21)
25. Nitai Charan Bandopadhyaya (disciple of 22) Disciples of (5) Swami Kebalananda
26. Panchkori De (Brahmachari Santananda) 27. Tinkori De
Disciples of (6) Swami Pranabananda Giri 28. Jnanendra nath Mukherjee
29. Brahmachari Sananda
Disciples of (7) Brahmachari Kesavananda and his lineage 30. Swami Satyananda
31. Swami Nityananda 32. Swami Vidyanada
Disciples of (8) Tinkori Lahiri and lineage 33. Tara Charan Lahiri
34. Satya Charan Lahiri 35. Abhaya Charan Lahiri 36. Banamali Lahiri
37. Ananda Mohan Lahiri
Disciples of (10) Swami Sriyukteswar and lineage 38. Motilal Mukherjee
39. Swami Satyananda (initiated by Kebalananda) 40. Paramhansa Yogananda
41. Swami Bhabanada Giri 42. Swami Paramananda Giri 43. Swami Narayana Giri 44. Amulya Charan Santra 45. Bijoy Kumar Chatterjee 46. Dr. Bipin Chandra Bhumia
47. Tripurari Har (disciple of 38)
48. Brahmachari Anilananda (disciple of 38)
49. Swami Satyeswarananda Giri (the author, initially learned from 39, later, f rom Babaji in the Himalayas)
50. Swami Sudhhananda Giri (disciple of 39, initiated by Kebalananda) 51. Swami Hariharananda Giri / Ushananda (disciple of 39)
52. Swami Dhirananda Giri (disciple of 39) 53. Swami Niranjanananda Giri (disciple of 39) 54. Swami Jagadananda Giri (disciple of 39) 55. Swami Jnanananda Giri (disciple of 51)
56. Brahmachari Bhubaneswarananda (disciple of 51) 57. Swami Atmananda Giri (disciple of 40)
58. Swami Hariharananda Giri (disciple of 40) 59. Swami Sevananda Giri (disciple of 40) 60. Swami Sadananda Giri (disciple of 40) 61. Swami Binayananda Giri (disciple of 40) 62. Swami Bidyananda Giri (disciple of 40) 63. Swami Satchidananda Giri (disciple of 40) 64. Swami Premananda Giri (disciple of 40)
66. Swami Sradhhananda Giri (disciple of 57) 67. Swami Brahmananda Giri (disciple of 57) 68. Swami Premananda Giri (disciple of 58)
Granddaughter of (16) Hari Narayana Palodhi 69. Binapani Devi
Disciples of (17) Bhupendranath Sanyal 70. Nikhil Dey
71. Sailendranath Mukherjee 72. Jwala Prasad Tiwari 73. Sunil Kumar Ghosh
