Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath

Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath was born in Gwalior in 1944 and studied at Sherwood College and then Fergusson College in Pune, where he was heading for a career in the army. A motorcycle accident ended that, and he turned instead to yoga, training in the Himalayas with Nath yogis. He was taught Goraksha Nath Yoga by Gagangiri Nath, received a certificate from Swami Hariharananda Giri at Jagannath Puri authorising him to teach Kriya Yoga to householders, and was also guided by Satyananda Giri, a disciple of Sri Yukteswar. His own tradition holds that the decisive influence was Shiva Goraksha Babaji, and that he descends from the Solar Dynasty of Ikshvaku Rama.

What he teaches is Kundalini Kriya Yoga, alongside practices he calls Shivranjan Yoga, Siddhanath Surya Yoga and the Earth Peace Meditation. The thread running through all of it is a phrase he returns to constantly: Earth Peace Through Self Peace. He has been given the titles Yog-Martand by the Shankaracharya of Dwarkadhish and the Brahman Samaj of Kashi, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Ratna for charitable work, and he spoke at the United Nations in New York in 2007.

With his wife Gurumata Shivangini he built the Siddhanath Forest Ashram in the Sita Mai valley outside Pune, in the Simhagad region, where most of the retreats are held. They have raised two children and are grandparents, and he makes a point of teaching that renunciation is not a requirement for this path. He continues to travel, with programmes in North America, Europe, India and Australia.