Describe your typical day’s activities as a yogi.
When i’ve not been traveling for a long time, when i am here, typically my day will start anywhere from 2:30 to 3 a.m. i first take a hot lemon drink with some mineral salt while i chant Sanskrit prayers for peace to invoke and welcome the morning. After showering, i do some stretching, typically yoga-vinyasa followed by meditation and study of Sanskrit texts.
At 8 a.m. the downtown office opens, where i get my brief- ing and they plan their day. i usually attend to devotees’ let- ters and emails and then go back into my room and do my personal study before lunch. After the lunch i go back into my room for an hour praying for devotees that are having health issues or difficult situations in life and are needing some noble wishes to be directed to them. i catch up with all the work, letters, and briefings assisted by a network of volunteers and staff here and across the country.
By 7 o’clock i’m beginning to wrap up the day and by 8 o’clock i like to go back into my room and do some more reading and meditation. From 9 p.m. until 2 a.m. is usually my rest period when nothing is done. i typically get four hours of sleep with my normal routine and six hours of sleep when i’m very tired, like when i’m doing lots of lectures. many times i am practicing Yoga Nidra, which is a kind of conscious sleep. i spend about eight hours in yoga and mediation daily.
carpinteria is a long way from the himalaya mountains of india where you received your spiritual training; what brought you here and why did you decide to make this your permanent residence?
When i was touring the country for lectures i happened to come to Santa Barbara. the environmental synergy and general ambience seemed very good for a retreat set-up, a monastic retreat. it just so happened that devotees who worked on the publication of my translated Sanskrit texts lived here. So i ended up frequenting this place because of the publication set-up. it started as a hiding and retreat place for me, now slowly people have come to know of my presence here in the city. [my guru] Paramahamsa Swami Hariharananda lived here off and on during 1989 to 1993.
can you talk a little bit about your childhood in india and how you came to be a monk?
i grew up in different places in india. i grew up with some very spiritual people and monks. i studied using both traditional as well more modern curriculum, but i grew up around monks because i was recognized as a monk at birth, because of this i was given preferential treatment by being able to have fellowships with other monks, even while i was growing up. my major spiritual training was done in Hima- layan terrain. this is where i did advanced study of Sanskrit literature and esoteric spiritual practices including very dif- ficult meditations.
how did you come to study with Paramahamsa Swami hariharnanda?
He was coming to the u.S. periodically. i knew about him, that he was part of the Kriya Yoga lineage, like Paramaham- sa Swami Yogananda, who wrote “Autobiography of a Yogi,” i wrote him a letter and he conveyed that i should see him. When i saw him he started telling me that it would be good for me to take formal monkhood from him, and finally i did.
how is kriya yoga, of which you are a master, differ- ent from more commonly known types of yoga such as ashtanga or iyengar?
Kriya Yoga is more a high-end meditation practice in yoga philosophy. i don’t publicly teach the meditation practice, it’s only for those who, through their yearning want to have a daily meditation. there’s no financial condition, only a spiritual commitment. it is yoga. it has mudras and asanas, but it is an internal and rigorous mental exercise, which is very subtle. it is not an external type of yoga, although it is very complementary to Vinyasa Yoga.
you are the president of the nonprofit Self enquiry life Fellowship. what is the primary goal of the organization?
i’m more of a ceremonial president, meaning i only look after the spiritual aspects. the primary goal is the dis- semination of ancient Sanskrit texts as it relates to spiritual living, conscience living, and Himalayan yoga. So, translat- ing ancient wisdom to see what could be relevant to solve modern problems.
BOTTOM, Giri makes his home in a modest private residence tucked in the Carpinteria Foothills.
OPPOSITE PAGE, Swami Vidyadhishananda Giri first came to the South Coast area by chance, began frequenting it because fellow researchers lived here, and moved to Carpinteria in 2006.
60 carPinteriaMaGaZINE
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