Swami Satyadharma Saraswati RIP

Jun 24, 2019 | XTeaching | 0 comments

Image of Swami Satyadharma Saraswati

(I wrote about Swami Satyadharma Saraswati in a 2012 post. You can read about her life below.)

Swami Satyadharma Saraswati D. 12/6/19

Several years ago, I recommended there was a must-attend event and yogis needed to go along to it. Swami Satyadharma, a powerful and authentic presence, was going to be presenting at the Yoga Australia Conference. The ‘real deal’, I had described her. That post was titled, ‘Not to be Missed’.

Sadly now, with her death June 12, 2019, she will be very much missed.

I found out just how much her students will miss her at the yoga teachers’ retreat I attended this last weekend. Swami was meant to be one of the teachers presenting, along with Mega Jones and myself.

Instead of having Swami presenting to us, there was a celebration and honouring of her, lovingly organised by Megan. The form this took was something called a Flower Havan.

This was my introduction to a Havan. It is a sacred ceremony that is rooted in Vedic yoga traditions. It involves offering flowers and devotional music to the Divine Feminine. The intention is to let go of what doesn’t serve us any longer, as well as open us to the new and beneficial.

I wish I could describe how beautiful this ceremony was, beginning with the way Megan and her helpers set up the yoga room. A warming fire in the fireplace, candles, fragrant flowers and prasad (Sarah Chef’s divine raspberry/blueberry/cashew cheesecake). 

Those who had been touched by Swami, inspired and transformed by her presence, were fortunate indeed. The Flower Haven gave an opportunity to others of us who hadn’t had as close and enduring a relationship with her to experience her through their love.

A Transformative Presence

I was privileged to meet Swami Satyadharma Saraswati while attending the Divine Feminine Conference. She spoke cogently and passionately on some aspects of yoga that might ordinarily be deemed esoteric. In her manner of explaining, abstract concepts became alive for me and accessible.

Swami Satyadharma Saraswati was born in the USA. She resided in India continuously for 35 years as a Sannyasin, spiritual renunciate, and teacher of Yogic Science. She was a highly experienced practitioner and teacher of the classical yogic systems within Satyananda Yoga. She spent many years under the direct tutelage of Paramahamsa Satyananda and his chief successor Swami Niranjanananda.

During that time, she played a key role in the development of the Bihar School of Yoga as well as the Bihar Yoga Bharati, the world’s first Yogic University.

Since the year 2000, in accordance with her guru’s mandate, she spent part of each year, touring overseas, delivering workshops and seminars. She was chosen by Swami Niranjanananda as the official Yoga Ambassador to formally represent Satyananda/Bihar Yoga internationally and specifically in South East Asia and Australasia.

Certain individuals are the real deal in yoga, mainly because they are steeped in personal practice over many years. Swami Satyadharma Saraswati was one of these, a beautiful–a beautiful soul, inside and out.  

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