Swami Muktananda

By: Dr. John Ankerberg, Dr. John Weldon; ©1999

Swami Muktananda claims to help people escape the delusion of duality through kundalini yoga.

 

Swami Muktananda

Info at a Glance

Name: Swami Muktananda, Siddha Yoga Dham of America (S.Y.D.A.).

Purpose: To help people through kundalini yoga to escape the delusion of duality.

Founder: Muktananda Paramahansa.

Source of authority: The writings of Muktananda.

Revealed teachings: Yes, also several of the texts used by the late Muktananda claim divine inspiration; for example, one of his main texts, the Shiva Sutras, are held to be revealed by the God Shiva to a sage, Vasuguptacharya (Muktananda, Play of Consciousness, p. 201).

Claim: To be a dispenser of mass shaktipat (the transmission of occult power from guru to disciple).

Examples of occult potential: Spiritism, kundalini arousal, ancestor worship.

Attitude toward Christianity: Rejecting.

Quote:

“Muktananda, He is the God of the universe.” (Muktananda, Mukteshiwari, part 2, p. 158.)

Note: Swami Nityananda, Muktananda’s guru has had a direct or indirect influence upon several modern gurus. For example, Swami Rudrananda (1928-1973), the author of Spiritual Cannibalism (1973), was a disciple of both Nityananda and Muktananda, and Rudrananda went on to heavily influence the spiritual anarchist Da (Bubba) Free John of the Free Primitive Church of Divine Communion (the Dawn Horse Community).

Doctrinal Summary

God: Shiva, Nirguna Brahman (impersonal being, consciousness, bliss).

Jesus: A man who attained God-realization.

Salvation: By personal effort and yoga; through kundalini arousal and knowledge of one’s innate divinity.

Man: Inwardly divine.

Sin: Ignorance, attachment to maya (illusion).

The Bible: Largely irrelevant.

Death: Non-existent; a benevolent transition.

Heaven and Hell: Inner states or temporary places.