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Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri

Yoga traditions

  • 1855–1936
  • taught in Serampore, West Bengal, India
  • Website ↗
Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri seated

Photo: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Teaching

That the scriptures of East and West teach the same truth, and that the heart's natural love, study and meditation lead to it. In Yogananda's account he trained his disciples strictly, valued practical people and a balanced daily life, and taught Kriya Yoga. 2, 3

Who it is for

For readers who want to understand the background of Kriya Yoga and of Yogananda's teaching, and who are interested in comparing Indian philosophy with the Bible.

Life and places
  • He was born on 10 May 1855 at Serampore in Bengal. 1
  • In Autobiography of a Yogi he tells Yogananda that his father, a wealthy businessman, left him the family house in Serampore, which had become his hermitage. 5
  • He had a second hermitage at Puri, near the Bay of Bengal. 5
  • He spent his last days in Puri, where he died on 9 March 1936, and was buried in the garden of his Puri ashram. 6

Where to start

  • The Holy Science is short; its introduction, written in 1894, explains its purpose. The chapters about him in Autobiography of a Yogi (1946, free online) describe his life and way of teaching. 2, 3
Public context
  • He was a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya and the guru of Paramahansa Yogananda, who trained with him in Serampore and Puri from 1910. 2, 3, 4

Works

  • The Holy Science (Kaivalya Darsanam)

    Book · 1894 · Self-Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles (linked edition)

    A short treatise in Sanskrit sutras with his English explanations. It sets out a Sankhya and Vedanta account of creation and of the way back to Spirit, compares it with passages from the Bible, especially Revelation, and presents a cycle of ages of 24,000 years.

    archive.org

The short summaries are ours.

More works of Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri in the library

In their own words

Short passages in the words of Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, each with its source. Where the quoted text is not in the language of this page, a translation follows and says whose it is.

  • The object of this book is to point out the harmony underlying the various religions, and to help in binding them together.

    The Holy Science (Kaivalya Darsanam) · Introduction, fourth paragraph (dated Serampore, 1894); SRF seventh edition · archive.org

  • The heart’s natural love is the principal requisite to attain a holy life.

    The Holy Science (Kaivalya Darsanam) · Chapter 3 (The Procedure), commentary on Sutras 5–6, p. 36; SRF seventh edition · archive.org

  • You must not get overdrunk with ecstasy. Much work yet remains for you in the world. Come; let us sweep the balcony floor; then we shall walk by the Ganges.

    Autobiography of a Yogi · Chapter 14 (An Experience in Cosmic Consciousness); 1946 edition · en.wikisource.org Recorded: Words as Paramahansa Yogananda recalls them in Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), written down decades after the event.

  • The vanished lives of all men are dark with many shames. Human conduct is ever unreliable until anchored in the Divine. Everything in future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now.

    Autobiography of a Yogi · Chapter 12 (Years in my Master's Hermitage); 1946 edition · en.wikisource.org Recorded: Words as Paramahansa Yogananda recalls them in Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), written down decades after the event.

Documented teaching relationships

  • Learned personally with Lahiri Mahasaya

    YSS specifically describes Sri Yukteswar as a personal disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya.

    Biographical tradition · yssofindia.org

  • Personal teacher of Paramahansa Yogananda

    SRF describes Yogananda’s personal training with Yukteswar from 1910; Harvard Pluralism also names Yukteswar as his teacher.

    Biographical tradition · yogananda.org , pluralism.org

  • Tradition traced to Adi Shankara

    In Autobiography of a Yogi, his disciple Yogananda writes that every swami belongs to the monastic order organised in its present form by Shankara, that all its monks trace their spiritual lineage to him, and that Sri Yukteswar belongs to its Giri branch.

    Biographical tradition · en.wikisource.org

  • Personal teacher of Paramahamsa Hariharananda

    The biography of Kriya Yoga International says Sri Yukteswar initiated Hariharananda into Kriya Yoga in the Serampore ashram in 1932.

    Stated by an institution · kriya.org

Teaching relationships are documented statements. They confer no trust and do not attest realisation.

Sources
  1. Swami Sri Yukteswar · Yogoda Satsanga Society of India Organisation founded by his disciple Yogananda; biography accessed 10 Oct 2026
  2. The Holy Science, SRF seventh edition (1972, printing 1977) · Internet Archive upload Scan of the SRF edition uploaded by a user; read for the passages and compared with a second scan of the same edition accessed 10 Oct 2026
  3. Autobiography of a Yogi (1946) · Project Gutenberg eBook #7452 His own book; text of the 1946 first edition, transcribed by volunteers accessed 10 Oct 2026
  4. A Beloved World Teacher · yogananda.org Self-Realization Fellowship, the organisation he founded; biography accessed 10 Oct 2026
  5. Autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter 12: Years in my Master's Hermitage · Wikisource Volunteer transcription of the 1946 text by his disciple Yogananda; his account of the Serampore and Puri hermitages accessed 11 Oct 2026
  6. Autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter 42: Last Days with my Guru · Wikisource Volunteer transcription of the 1946 text by his disciple Yogananda; his account of the guru's death and burial in Puri accessed 11 Oct 2026

Compiled by us from the sources listed. Last checked 11 Oct 2026.

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This description is factual. It contains no recommendation, ranking or assurance. Statements about effects are those of the respective source.