With the soul of a seeker and an inquisitive mind and heart, I set out from the confines of the corporate world to learn Yoga from the experts. Although I practised Yoga as a teenager, I happened to catch the viral trend of the spiritual leaders teaching basic Pranayam on TV in those days. Lagging the knowledge about the meaning and the purpose of the Pranayam and simple Asanas that I began practising, it hardly gave any joy to me. I could not carry it for more than a few weeks.
In the mid twenties, my attention again turned to Yoga. I went to the best Yoga studios in the techno-city of India. I went to all the big names one might have heard that have chains of Yoga studios running worldwide. I went to the demo classes. But I could decipher easily, that behind the polite voices and basic respect for Yoga, these Yoga experts knew nothing of the science and art of Yoga. You might be surprised to hear what I found out. Most of them are running the Yoga studios, the Yogacharyas at the institutes, wherein there is a long waiting list to get-into the ‘Teacher’s Training Program’s, teach Yoga in the name of Hatha Yoga, Ghirand Yoga, Dhyan Yoga and under the flagship of Vigyan Bhairav amongst the most popular forms of Yoga. They all were teaching Yoga according to their unique, specialized styles.
While if one researches into the life of Yogis, one would get to know that the Yogi, whose whole life has been dedicated to the practice of Yoga, strives for the state of Samadhi through Yoga. When I discovered this, my ‘chetana’ immediately became aware and my longingness piqued about the deep state of Samadhi and how does one attain that state through Yoga? What shall I do for that? Now this was a great quest. Yoga became my newfound subject of research.
The Great Quest: What is the Origin of Yoga?
Like with any subject, first I needed to find out the history and origin of Yoga. I researched on the internet. I referred to the modern books available on Yoga. I again talked to the Yoga experts and Yogacharyas about the truth of Yoga and how to know about the origin of Yoga. None of them knew about it. I was surprised. Such important and basic as the origin and deeper truth of Yoga, and no one knows about it! I was determined to find the truth about Yoga. I thought that I will try my best. If I found it I might find a new direction and purpose to my life.
A new journey began into the truth behind the science of Yoga and where did it all begin?
I went from Assam to Gujarat, from Kerala, Tamil Nadu to Rishikesh, Uttarakhand to research.
I turned to one of the prestigious spiritual institutes to imbibe Yoga and understand it deeply. I did all the basic courses this institute had to offer, practiced them for a few years and finally applied for the very expensive few weeks of teacher-training program because they claimed to know a great deal about Hatha Yoga. I grew extremely hopeful that I might finally find the purpose of my life in Hatha Yoga.
I applied for the much talked about course. To my dismay, I failed the screening (interview) process since they made sure that I am not learning it to earn my living as the Yogacharya, but to really pass on the knowledge. It was strange to hear when the courses required a hefty fee that required my savings and beyond that, a personal loan. I obviously wanted to make Yoga the way I live. Besides, I did my research and met a few who did the same course and did not learn much from them as far as the depth of the science of Yoga is concerned. I was growing impatient and losing hope to find the purpose of life in learning and practicing one of the prestigious limbs of Yoga- Hatha Yoga.
I reflected on my experiences. It was that millions are walking the path of Yoga, as if the arrow shot in the dark. It appeared as if God Himself arranged to disappear the knowledge of the origin, the source of Yoga, in the absence of worthy humans on this Planet. My heart sank. I was on the verge of giving up that there was no one who could pass on the truth about Yoga to me. In the name Yoga, there were big spiritual organisations, Yogacharyas, Yoga Guru spread across the world, but it seemed no one knew the truth about Yoga.
The Search in Himalayas
In the span of three years of research and practice, I also spent time in Rishikesh, which is considered as the hub of Yoga in Uttarakhand. During this point, one piece of information turned out to be the fact that the source of Yoga is in the Himalayas and nowhere else. I decided that I will search the Himalayas until I find the source of the Yoga and of the true Yogi.
It was already a few years of full time research and strutting to places as the seeker. I had to face struggles. On one hand, there was always this pressure from my family with their problems and the problem that I was to all of them with being so different and in a way demanding in my non-demanding bold decisions in life. On the other hand, there was the pressure of Indian society for a female seeker who left everything and would mostly travel alone. It had not been easy to be a young woman in the dark tamasic society (I’m not bitter about the way Samsar is. I just feel sad most days that I could have been smarter, more sensitive with knowledge and good karmas in my account.) But I have always been ready to pay any price to come closer to the truth. No matter what, if the family was angry and cursed me, the friends parted, each one of them misunderstanding me for who I was and is destined to be, what the world think of me, throw looks at me, I would attain to the state that I know deep within is possible for a chetana, for a soul. The next phase of my spiritual journey began.
I travelled from Rishikesh to Gaumukh. Wherever I could find the Sadhus and the Sanyasis, I would try to interact, though most of them speak less and talk in riddles or through their eyes (yes I have been fortunate to meet many real Sadhus who still exist). But none of them knew the source of Yoga. Few who could manage, said that this is the ‘Adi-vidya. It has existed since the cosmos came into being. Some would say Yoga came from Guru Gorakshanath. Few said Maharishi Patanjali (though the real name is Maharishi Patanjal and His birth name is what no one knows, which I will keep it as secret as per the protocols of the Himalayan Siddhas) is the father of Yoga. Whoever could manage to muster something that they heard before would tell me that. And most of them said, “Bhole! Everything is because of Bholenath!” Of course, everyone knows that everything is from Mahadeva. But the question that I needed answer for are:
- What are the different types of Yoga?
- What are the names of different limbs of Yoga?
- Where are all the original forms of Yoga hidden?
Time and again the name of ‘Yoga Agam Matha’ came up. That it is a place somewhere in the Himalayas where the people know all the Granths and the manuscripts of Yoga. Yoga Agama Matha is a place that hides all the knowledge that there is on Yoga in itself. But no one knew where Yoga Agama Matha was and what kind of knowledge that place kept as a secret. That is all I knew, nothing more. Now with this information, my problems multiplied. First, I had to find where the Yoga Agama Matha was. Now the search started for this mysterious place. As I searched, some claimed that it is in Uttarakhand, few said it is in Himachal where they knew the Vidya of Yoga. I approached the people whose contact I got. When I went to meet each one of them, I found that even these people did not know anything. They were only making fool of seekers in the name of Yoga Agam Matha. They would tell people to say, ‘Namo Himalaye’. People would say the same after them. In reality, they knew nothing. While few bold ones claim that they have twenty Gurus, even twenty-four Gurus in Himalayas, and that they did Sadhana, and ‘Tapa’ in Himalayas. Though these Yoga Gurus are just selling fantasy stories to the people, and to the naive seekers just to establish themselves as the Yoga Guru.
There is a long list of such pseudo Yoga Gurus that I saw worldwide. I went to the extent to meet the pupils, the students, the co-ordinators of many of these so-called Yoga Gurus, to experience what these people are learning from such Yoga Gurus. Overall, it was a deep disappointment that I experienced that most of them hardly knew anything real about the subject. The Vidya, the science of Yoga. When all my hopes were in deluge, at that time I heard the name of Kaulantak Peeth. Something told me that I must go to Kaulantak Peeth. I tried. They did not give me an entry the first time. I waited for one year and I did a few Sadhnas in that one year. And then a time came when an inner voice urged me that it is time to knock the doors of Kaulantak Peeth again. This time, they at least heard my plea. And after much begging (literally and one full sleepless week), they allowed me.
Kaulantak Peeth treated me like a trainer trains one’s students. They allowed me to attend the two-days Deeksha Shivir and the 7-Days courses and then return to my home. But there was no place I could call home. I came to them because I thought they would help me to find my real home, the Lotus Feet of my Guru. Initially I thought that this is also a deeper level of drama going on here, because how will one attain to any enlightened state if they sent one back to the Samsar! But I persisted and slowly it seeped in that Kaulantak Peeth is a place that hides itself from the greatness that it is. They know the whereabouts, the truth, the ultimate knowledge. I caught hold of the tail of Kaulantak Peeth somehow in my thoughts and my heart. I persisted. Kaulantak Peeth relented. After bearing menacing troubles and tests (which broke my heart and my ego many times) and after a long time, I was allowed inside the Kaulantak Peeth. When I was finally allowed and trusted enough, I found the ‘Granthalay’, the secret library of the ancient manuscripts in the ‘Tankari’ language. In the Kaulantak Peeth ‘Granthalay’, I found a scroll on Yoga. And to my deep joy and surprise, the scroll had all the information on the ancient Vidya of Yoga.
It told about the major 108 types of Yoga. It had the list of all the 108 names of the different kinds of Yoga. In addition to that, it had a list of more forms of Yoga (the ‘Upa-prakar of Yoga) out of which they revealed few names and the others were not mentioned. It was all in the Tankari language. The Sadhaks in Kaulantak Peeth told me that the scroll had all the names of the Yoga Vidyas that are allowed to reveal in written form by the Himalayan Siddhas. Yet, it was Tankari. I still could not trust it completely that they were telling the truth.
I told them that first I would learn Tankari. And only then I would be able to make out a few words (no matter it would be difficult at first), that is there. When I started learning Tankari and began the initial translation, I was again stuck because the ‘sutras’ translated into the local language of the region of the present Kaulantak Peeth, known as Kula Bhasha (Kula language). Yet, learning Tankari benefitted me since I could at least make out the names of the kinds of Yoga that they listed there. It was the first time in my life that I got to know the names of the 108 types of Yoga. One would be surprised to know that till the time when I am writing this article, no one in the world knows about the names, the Vidya and the tradition of all the 108 kinds of Yoga. And what is the ‘Upa-parampara’ of Yoga. First time when this list was revealed to me by the grace of the great Himalayan Siddhas, I got to know that Yoga is the vast ocean. The scroll also has the knowledge about how each one of these Yoga Vidyas originated from Bhagwan Shiva, and how did the tradition of each of the Yoga Vidyas, by which all Maharishis and the Mahasiddhas each one of the Yoga tradition was taken forward. Who those great Rishis were who learnt and realised each of the Yoga Vidya, passed it on further to whom and how did it reach the society. There was all this precious information on this scroll.
After I learnt Tankari, when I deciphered the list of Yoga traditions listed in the scroll, I found the names of the Yoga traditions that are extinct. List of few of them are as follows:
- Durdhar Yoga
- Naga Yoga
- Kanva Yoga
- Tattvartha Yoga
- Agni Yoga
- Surya Yoga
- Vajra Yoga
- Vidhi Yoga
- Vyal Yoga
- Kaal Yoga
Further, I found the names of the Mahasiddhas who took the above Yoga traditions forward. Many such things like where did Yoga originate, when, and how it was taken forward and by who it was taken forward was in the scroll. More surprising is the fact that from Assam till modern day Burma, Nepal, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, modern day Pakistan and Afghanistan, Bhot Desh (modern day Tibet region) constituted the main area for the Mahasiddha practitioners of Yoga. The scroll had names of such great Yogis who are the founders of major Yoga traditions. Names of the few Yogis are:
- Mahasiddha Shukuna
- Mahasiddha Nilva
- Mahasiddha Bhoon
- Mahasiddha Visaari
- Mahasiddha Koopnadhya
It is worth the attention of the entire world that apart from Bhagwan Shiva, the name of Bhagwan Shri Vishnu, Bhagwan Shri Brahma comes as the greatest of Acharyas of Yoga. The name of Mahasiddha Hiranyagarbha appears many times in the scroll. The most shocking fact is that along with Deva Guru Brihaspati, the name of Bhagwan Indra also comes as the Guru of the major Yoga tradition. One of the secrets revealed is that there are few ‘Nikrishta’ Yogis also. You can understand them as dark Yogis. They are using Yoga Vidya and their Siddhis to help spread negative powers. They pretend themselves as the great Yogis. But they are not great in the true sense.
There are descriptions of a few mysterious places in the Himalayas where one benefits in a special way by practising Yoga in these strange places. It also talks about the special places, like the particular sea beaches, name of the river banks and the names of the Jungles where one advances in Yoga Vidya in a unique way.
Now one might wonder if this scroll must be a long one, almost a never-ending scroll. But it is not so. This powerful ancient knowledge is packed in the form of short sutras. It is similar to how Maharishi Patanjal wrote the knowledge in ‘Patanjal Yoga Pradipika’ and like that in ‘Ghirand Samhita’.
First time in my entire life, the secret revealed that if there is any place on Planet Earth where they know about the depths of the science of Yoga, it is the Kaulantak Peeth. The only problem is that the behavior of people from Kaulantak Peeth is mostly rude because they run the things strictly according to the protocols of their ancient tradition. They exist to protect and reveal the knowledge only to the worthy ones. No one else matters to them when it comes to being rude. Neither they reveal the deeper knowledge to the general public or the surface seekers.
One thing was clear to me that it is only the Kaulantak Peeth that knows the history of the highest levels of ancient spiritual sciences and preserves it to this day. My years of research and experience is the guarantee of it. I went throughout India and beyond my own country, to foreign lands to seek the truth about Yoga. How the outside world certifies someone to be the Yogacharya, how through the help of the Government, they made Yoga into a business and started churning out Yogis and issuing certificates of the same, affiliated to the Government. Although, one can never learn the Yoga Vidya in this manner. Yet, who could possibly win from the Government? Things run as the Governments want it to run.
If there is someone out there who is a true Sadhak, who wants to know about Yoga, they must try to approach Kaulantak Peeth and gather courage to agree to all the terms and conditions that Kaulantak Peeth expects one to agree and adhere to. Without that, one can not learn Yoga in its true form and in its deepest forms.
What Did I See in Kaulantak Peeth?
When I started living in Kaulantak Peeth, I saw that the Kaulantak Peethadheeshwar, His Holiness, Mahasiddha Ishaputra, whose real name is Mahayogi Satyendra Nath Ji, takes His nearest, the most trustworthy, and the worthy Bhairav Bhairavis to the branches of the trees and make them practice Yoga on the branches. His Holiness takes them under water, in the middle of rings of fire and makes them practice Yoga. His Holiness makes them practice Kumbhak Pranayama in the smoke. His Holiness makes them live under the harshest of the Sun, in the strong winds; make them sit on the two metal rods fixed on a wall at a certain height and then meditate; under the earth, (dug till a certain level) they are given asan and asked to practice Pranayama in the womb of mother Earth. All of this is practiced by the chosen Sadhaks under the strict supervision of His Holiness, so that no harm comes to the health and life of the Sadhak.
In the different forms of Yoga traditions, there are techniques that need a Yogi to smear oneself with the ‘Bhasm’ (ashes) and meditate (go into Dhyana). I saw some of the unique techniques being practiced by these Sadhaks. I saw how His Holiness, Mahasiddha Ishaputra, Himself meditates on the incredible heights of the Himalayas, sitting over the Glaciers. His Holiness would be sitting in the extreme low temperatures, where a river originates, just under the Glacier, near the icy cold water, and meditate for hours. I was spellbound and shocked at the same time, that the present world does not know anything about such miracles. The people of the land of Bharat, of Himachal Pradesh even, where His Holiness took birth, do not know anything of this. And how would the people possibly know? Kaulantak Peeth does not tell about His Holiness to anyone outside. They do not show it to anyone. While human nature is such that wherever they hear the noise, where they see a good show, they would gather together to witness the show. While Kaulantak Peeth keeps it all as a secret.
I have been fortunate to go to the high altitudes of the Himalayan ranges in Himachal Pradesh. I went to incredible places in the great Himalayan National Park. There, sitting at the Lotus feet of Mahasiddha Ishaputra, I practiced meditating for long periods many times under the tall Deodar trees. My life transformed after this. I outgrew my old life. I could clearly see through the ‘Paap Karma’ from my previous lifetimes, that I committed intentionally and unintentionally. Eventually I went into a state where I was perpetually in great pain in the depths of my being for committing those ‘Paap Karmas’. I intensified the practice of meditation and I did ‘Prayachitt Vidhan’. Then came the state where I could feel as if the thick walls of my sins began to crumble to the ground, slowly. Then I experienced the blossoming of thousands of flowers within. A miraculous change happened in my life that was beyond my vivid imagination before.
But I say, that it is time that the world must wake up, the Governments must take heed and wake up too, and must support the greatest Mahayogi who exists on this Planet at this point in time. The one who love Yoga tradition, who love their Sanskriti, who love the Hindu Dharm, must go to such a great ‘Chetana’ as the Mahasiddha Ishaputra is, and with all the respect and love in their hearts must request His Holiness to not keep the greatest knowledge, the ancient knowledge of Yoga as secret. Because if it is kept as a secret, it is on the way to extinction. What is left of the Yoga Vidya must be passed on to the worthy ones. The ancient manuscripts on Yoga written in ‘Tankari’ that has the knowledge of the 108 traditions of Yoga and further the knowledge of the sub-traditions of the same must come out.
I personally learnt the ‘Patanjal Yoga’ from His Holiness. I did a few courses under the name of ‘Patanjali Yoga’ before also. But it was in Kaulantak Peeth that my eyes opened and I got to know about the depths of ‘Patanjal Yoga’. I learned Hatha Yoga. I learnt ‘Ghiranda Yoga’. I learnt ‘Ati Yoga’. It was in Ati Yoga that I began to realise the beauty of Yoga. Since then I have been trying to learn ‘Durdhara Yoga’ and I am still learning it during the time period when I am writing this article.
Further, I studied a few of the manuscripts in Kaulantak Peeth and I began to learn about the history and origin of Yoga tradition. Now I clearly know how it all began and how the tradition of Yoga went ahead according to its proper lineage and under whose guidance since its very origin. If you have even a little desire to know the truth about Yoga, it is only and only His Holiness, Mahasiddha Ishaputra, in the entire range of Himalayas and there is only one ‘Matha’ in the entire world itself, ‘Yoga Agama Matha’ that is under the care of Mahayogi Satyendra Nath Ji, that can pass on the knowledge to you. ‘Yoga Agama Matha’ is in the Himalayas. But due to a few reasons, I am not revealing the name of the location of the same. In the near future, I would reveal the whereabouts of the ‘Yoga Agama Matha’ to you. Though I can reveal that it is an utterly simple looking, old traditional house, where the ancient manuscripts about the knowledge of Yoga are preserved till today.
On the basis of my experience, I can tell this openly in front of the whole world. I can guarantee and challenge the world if need be, that if there is place on this beautiful planet, the vortex of the ancient knowledge of Yoga, if there is the waterfall of Yoga, it is the ‘Yoga Agama Matha’ under the direct supervision of His Holiness, Kaulantak Peethadheeshwar, Mahasiddha Ishaputra. There is no other place in my experience that has the origin, the history, the comprehensive list, the tradition and the techniques of all the forms of Yoga.
Time to Throw Degree to the Bin!
If you have the degree or certifications of Yoga, it is time that you get rid of them now. If you are a Yogi of the Government, it is time to wash off the stain from yourself. The time has come for the true seekers of Yoga Vidya to go to Kaulantak Peeth. Remember, Kaulantak Peeth is a place where the Guru will never praise you, but mostly criticize you. Where the Guru will not seem to care, but will treat you with much harshness like a commander treats a new trainee. So if you can muster that much courage in you, to take in all the insults, to go beyond your big ego, only then there would be a hope for you to become a true Yogi. And if you would surrender yourself to learn the Yoga Vidya, then you would become a true Yogi and realise the essence of Yoga. If you think that they tell about the history of Yoga anywhere else, then you are mistaken. All that information is misleading. If you, the reader, happen to read this article, herein, I claim that the information that I passed on to you here, I bear the responsibility for the words written , because I, with all my sincerity, have spoken the truth.