Biography

Before Baba

Having been born and raised as an only child in an affluent family, I knew early in life that there had to be more than money and never ending relationships that were going nowhere. I set up my own altar in the basement and proceeded to pray most of each day. I was out of my parents’ way so it worked for everybody.

High School was disastrous. I felt like a fish out of water. More time on my knees at the altar. My family felt that I was strange at the very least. They forced me to go to school dances and to the Junior-Senior Prom; and to the Senior Prom before graduation. I was awkward and sexually inexperienced so my parents sent me to a psychiatrist. He said I was under too much pressure at home, saw me weekly, and put me on pills to stop my anxiety.

College finally came and I did very well academically and socially. I graduated with a B.A. in Psychology, English literature, and Education. After student teaching in English I learned that I was not cut out to deal with the faculty politics.

Graduate school was wonderful. I graduated.

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My life since Baba

Down on my knees with my head to the floor in a VIP Lounge at the Atlanta Airport, I arose to a shout of Sadgurunath Maharaj Ki Jay as a man in strangely colored clothing and adorned with a ski cap settled into the front chair. I had been dragged by a friend of mine out of my psychotherapy office and told a very powerful Guru would be landing shortly at the Atlanta Airport. On the way she told me that he was very much more than an Indian psychotherapist. This begins an odyssey that continues to this day.

We all joined a motorcade to a lovely estate in Cobb County, right next door to Atlanta. We were ushered into a fabulously refinished basement that held all 40 to 100 of us, with a makeshift throne at the end of the room. Again on my knees and head on the floor arising and chanting Sadgurunath Maharaj Ki Jay. The Guru by the name of Swami Muktananda, affectionally referred to as Baba, took his place up front. We chanted some and members of the group went up to take a card on the table before the throne. I must admit that I took two cards….if one is good, two is better. The card gave me a mantra and we all meditated with this mantra after brief instructions as to how to meditate, intention, and keeping our back straight.

At the end of the meditation I was intoxicated like I’d never been before, and I had not taken anything; not even (kool-aid). My friend had to drive me home and for three days I was very intoxicated. I visited with Baba, went to an intensive weekend at some campground and was totally in love with this Guru.

All of a sudden after asking him to give me lots of money, I became worth a really lot of money and had 5 offices and 10 doctors staffing them. I would fly to intensives on the weekends where-ever Baba was. It was great until he went back to India, and I decided to stop meditating…..the money also stopped coming…..I put 2+2 together and began meditating again…..the money flowed; and better than that, the intoxication came back.

Baba would always tell us to meditate and that, “God Dwells Within You as You.” I had the hubris to ask to become a teacher and he replied by smiling, saying yes through his interpreter, and hitting me over the head with peacock feathers.

Baba made several more trips to the USA. I took my lead from Bhagawan Nityananda, Baba’s Guru who told Baba to leave and go meditate. So I did just that. There are too many Baba stories for this website.

You will find various certificates that document my ecclesiastical titles, etc. The various ceremonies were done in accordance with Vedic Tradition and were done by Vedic Priests at the Hindu Temple Society of Southern California.

*please note that all references to Swami Muktananda, Baba, SYDA, and anything associated with Siddha Yoga may be copyrighted and are the property of the parent Siddha Yoga company.

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Muktananda:

Muktananda is my Guru. At an early age Muktananda lived as a traveling yogi studying under many masters before he realized Badebaba, that is Nityananda, as his Guru. It was then that he received Shaktipat and after a number of years of experiencing and developing he began to pass Shaktipat to many. It is Baba who brought the gift of Shaktipat around the world and created the seeds of the lineages that teach his lessons today. Baba would always teach simply ‘That there is nothing that is not god.’ Muktananda was welcoming to all seekers and gave Shaktipat by the roomfuls. His great work speaks for itself in the hundreds of ashrams he maintained around the world and the many practitioners of sidda yoga in the world today. Baba was keen soul who always said and gave what was needed to those seeking enlightenment at his feet. I bow to Muktananda who continually flows divine grace to all, you will always find me at his lotus feet.

"Muktanandandaya gurave

Shishya-samsara-harine

Bhakta-karyaika-dehaya

Namaste cit-sad-atmane

"Salutations to Muktananda, the Guru, who rescues his disciples from the cycle of birth and death, who has assume a body to meet the needs of his devotees, and whose nature is consciousness and being." (Nectar of Chanting 2-3)

You can learn more about Baba here:
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns5DvpSB9ng
**** No copyright infringement intended ****
1981 VCI Entertainment TV movie about the search for happiness.
www.vcientertainment.com - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454849/ -
http://www.amazon.com/Is-Everybody-Ha...

Citation: Gurudev Sidda Peeth. The Nectar of Chanting. 3rd. New York: SYDA Foundation, 1984. 2-3. Print.

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Nityananda:

Muktananda’s Guru was Nityananda. Nityananda was a great soul, born non-attached and enlightened. From an early age he was a travelling yogi with whom miracles happened spontaneously, of which he always gave the credit to Shiva. In his later years he remained in the now famous Ganeshpuri where he amassed a greater reputation as a guru and a saint. However this never affected his wonderful non-attached and graceful nature. Nityananda was accessible to all and never judged those who came seeking his blessings or his teachings. However, as an avadhut, he was known to act unpredictably to many. Most of what Nityananda taught was done subtly, with silence. In this way his students would spend time with him in meditation and learn through grace. Nityananda taught with little regard to specific creeds, teaching the oneness of the unity of the divine which leads one to enlightenment. I bow to Nityananda who is the source of divine Shaktipat that flows down the lineage around the world today.

I would also like to thank to kind soul who took the great effort to organize and describe Nityananda's lineage for all to see. Please feel free to browse and understand it here:

http://www.nityanandatradition.org/

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Due to copyright claims of SYDA we are extremely limited in what kind of pictures of Muktananda or Nityananda we can show on this website. I highly recommend that you visit these websites to obtain your darshan with the Gurus.

http://www.siddhayoga.org/baba-muktananda

//www.facebook.com/prasad.hegde1

*please note that all references to Swami Muktananda, Baba, SYDA, and anything associated with Siddha Yoga may be copyrighted and are the property of the parent Siddha Yoga company.

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