Panchanan Bhattacharya (1853–1919) was a disciple of the Indian Yogi Lahiri Mahasaya

Lahiri Mahasaya

Shyama Charan Lahiri , , best known as Lahiri Mahasaya, was an Indian yogi and a disciple of Mahavatar Babaji. He was also popularly known as Yogiraj and Kashi Baba. He revived the yogic science of Kriya Yoga when he learned it from Mahavatar Babaji in 1861...

. He helped to spread Lahiri Mahasaya's teachings in Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

 through his Arya Mission Institution.

Sri Bhattacharya was born in the Ahiritola area of Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

. He took to the life of Brahmacharya

Brahmacharya

Brahmacharya is one of the four stages of life in an age-based social system as laid out in the Manu Smrti and later Classical Sanskrit texts in Hinduism. It refers to an educational period of 14–20 years which starts before the age of puberty. During this time the traditional vedic sciences are...

, or celibacy, at a very young age. In the course of his wandering he met Lahiri Mahasaya in Varanasi

Varanasi

-Etymology:The name Varanasi has its origin possibly from the names of the two rivers Varuna and Assi, for the old city lies in the north shores of the Ganga bounded by its two tributaries, the Varuna and the Asi, with the Ganges being to its south...

. Lahiri Mahasaya agreed to initiate him in Kriya under the condition that he give up his sannyas

Sannyasa

Sannyasa is the order of life of the renouncer within the Hindu scheme of āśramas, or life stages. It is considered the topmost and final stage of the ashram systems and is traditionally taken by men or women at or beyond the age of fifty years old or by young monks who wish to renounce worldly...

 vows and return to a householder life. Bhattacharya fulfilled this condition and received initiation from Lahiri Mahasaya. As a householder, he worked as a flower vendor.

Around the year 1885 he was permitted by the sage to set up an institution, the Aryya Mission Institution, for publishing Kriya related books. Paramahansa Yogananda

Paramahansa Yogananda

Paramahansa Yogananda , born Mukunda Lal Ghosh , was an Indian yogi and guru who introduced many westerners to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his book, Autobiography of a...

 in his book, Autobiography of a Yogi wrote:

The master now permitted his disciple, Panchanon Bhattacharya, to open in Calcutta a yoga center, the "Arya Mission Institution". The centre distributed certain yogic herbal medicines, and published the first inexpensive editions in Bengal of the Bhagavad-Gita. The Arya Mission Gita, in Hindi and Bengali, found its way into thousands of homes.

The Aryya Mission Institution as founded by Panchanon Bhattacharya closed many years ago. It was revived again in recent years.

Some of Panchanon Bhattacharya's disciples include Sri Sris Mukherjee, Sri Bamandev Banerjee, Sri Netai Charan Banerjee, Sri Barada Charan Majumdar, Sri Kumarnath Mukherjee, Sri Jeevanlal Choudhury amongst others. Many disciples initiated by Sri Lahiri Mahasaya

Lahiri Mahasaya

Shyama Charan Lahiri , , best known as Lahiri Mahasaya, was an Indian yogi and a disciple of Mahavatar Babaji. He was also popularly known as Yogiraj and Kashi Baba. He revived the yogic science of Kriya Yoga when he learned it from Mahavatar Babaji in 1861...

 also came to Him for instruction on advanced kriyas.
The late Maheshwari Prasad Dubey was a disciple of Sri Nitayi Charan Bandhopadhyaya (Banerjee), the disciple of Panchanon Bhattachrya listed above. His disciple Ashok Kumar Singh teaches the kriya yoga of this lineage. See www.vedickriyayoga.com.

See also

• Autobiography of a Yogi
  Autobiography of a Yogi
  In 1946, Paramahansa Yogananda , published his life story, Autobiography of a Yogi, which introduced many westerners to meditation and yoga...
  
  
• Kriya Yoga
  Kriya Yoga
  Kriya Yoga finds mention in the ancient spiritual texts of Patanjali Yogasutras "Tapah svadhyayeshvara pranidhani kriyayogah" . It was later revived by Yogiraj Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri in the 19th century. Subsequently Paramhansa Yogananda in his Autobiography of a Yogi reported the same for his...
  
  
• Lahiri Mahasaya
  Lahiri Mahasaya
  Shyama Charan Lahiri , , best known as Lahiri Mahasaya, was an Indian yogi and a disciple of Mahavatar Babaji. He was also popularly known as Yogiraj and Kashi Baba. He revived the yogic science of Kriya Yoga when he learned it from Mahavatar Babaji in 1861...
  
  
• Mahavatar Babaji
  Mahavatar Babaji
  Mahavatar Babaji is the name given to an Indian saint by Lahiri Mahasaya and several of his disciples who met Mahavatar Babaji between 1861 and 1935. Some of these meetings were described by Paramhansa Yogananda in his book Autobiography of a Yogi , including a first hand telling of Yogananda’s own...
  
  
• Sri Yukteswar