Satchidananda Ashram

Ashram

Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....

 - Yogaville was founded by Yogiraj Sri Swami Satchidananda

Swami Satchidananda

Swami Satchidananda , born as C. K. Ramaswamy Gounder, was an Indian religious teacher, spiritual master and yoga adept, who gained fame and following in the West during his time in New York. He was the author of many philosophical and spiritual books, including a popular illustrative book on Hatha...

 in 1980. The ashram is the international organizational headquarters of Swami Satchidananda's documented teachings, located in the county of Buckingham

Buckingham, Virginia

Buckingham is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Buckingham County, Virginia, United States...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

.

The primary vision of this world-traveled guru Yogiraj Sri Swami Satchidananda (1914-2002) was interfaith understanding as a vehicle to world peace. To this end, with his vision and much work from thousands of disciples and admirers, the LOTUS (Light Of Truth Universal Shrine) was constructed and inaugurated in 1986.

The shrine is shaped like a lotus

Lotus (plant)

Lotus identifies various plant taxa:* Nelumbo, a genus of aquatic plants with showy flowers** Nelumbo nucifera, the Sacred or Indian lotus** Nelumbo lutea, the American or Yellow lotus...

 flower, because it is a place in honor of the divine light, universal motif in all faiths and nonbelievers (science and the formula for light). Swami Satchidananda was familiar with the symbology of these aquatic flowers and their characteristic behavior of always opening and turning to face in the sun's direction.

Expert museum-quality displays are located in the lower chamber of the shrine, with sacred and beautiful authentic artifacts and scriptures from the world's major religions and those lesser known. The faiths represented in the shrine are African, Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

, Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

, Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

 (Sanatana Dharma, the Eternal Truths), Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

, Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, Native American, Shinto

Shinto

or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...

, Sikhism

Sikhism

Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...

, Taoism

Taoism

Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...

. By displaying a shrine to each of these religions, the temple is a living environment to honor Swami Satchidananda's teachings and motto of Integral Yoga, "Truth is One, Paths are Many."

Controversy

Until December 1990, Joy Zuckerman was living at Yogaville, where she was known as Swami Krupaananda. She left after a friend confided in her that Satchidananda had made sexual advances toward her last summer, Ms. Zuckerman said. In 1991, placard-carrying protesters demonstrating against the alleged transgressions marred one of the Swami's last local public appearances, a speech at the Omni Hotel. Satchidananda denied the allegations.

Catherine Cheng, a law student, dropped out of school to further her studies in yoga. Her friends and family were unprepared for the changes that came over her, such as her adoption of the Hindu custom of painting a red dot on the forehead

Bindi (decoration)

A bindi is a forehead decoration worn in South Asia . and Southeast Asia...

. She changed her name to Meenakshi and became engaged to Swami Atmananda (Larry Gross), a man nearly 30 years her senior, just two weeks after meeting him at the Yogaville ashram in Virginia. They claimed they married for love.

External links

• Official website
• http://yogirajsriswamisatchidananda.googlepages.com
• http://integralyogamexico.googlepages.com
• Complete selection of Swami Satchidananda's books and teachings as well as CDs, transcripts, and links to yoga materials and lifestyle guides