Dr Mireen Friedrich-Rust (Samta) Kronberg, Germany For twenty-two years we had the good fortune to have Swami Atmananda as our family guru. She was the most honourable, humble, wise and loving person we ever met. To say good-bye to her physical form, I wrote...
Swami Pragyamurti Saraswati Acharya, Satyananda Yoga Centre, London I have had to come to terms with the death of one of my first and most influential yoga teachers, Swami Atmananda, who came into my life in the late 1960s. Her memory lingers on at the...
Swami Nischalananda Saraswati Director, Manadala Yoga Ashram, Wales Swami Atmananda Saraswati influenced a large number of yoga practitioners, including myself. For a number of years she was the Director of the Satyananda Yoga Centre in Belfast, one of the first yoga centres in Europe, which...
Maya Teckwani Yoga student, Singapore Dearly known as Mataji, Swami Atmanandaji would sit on the verandah and greet us as we walked into the hall to get ready for our yoga class, her glittering hair surrounding her glowing face at sunset. It was magical to...
Keith Hillier Yoga student, Singapore I will never forget Mataji – she made an impression on me from the moment I met her. Actually, she interviewed me for just about 2 minutes before accepting me into her yoga class! From then on for the next 10 years in Singapore,...
Kamalu Roopani Yoga student, Dubai, UAE Mataji was there for me at every turn of my life. In my twenties, when I was foundering and searching for some direction to my life, she restored me from a state of crisis to balance. Even after I...
Inge Fiedler (Ishwari) Yoga teacher, Bichenbach, Germany The last words you said to me last September (2003) were: Forget me, I want to be free when I go. No, my family and I will never forget you! We met Swami Atmananda when we came to...
When you left me I just held your hands close to my heart, The smile on your face wiped my tears away, Knowing you’re forever free. And I heard your voice, Whispering deep in my heart, love, Telling me you’re always near me, Saying...
Inge Friedrich-Rust (Divyadrishti) Yoga teacher and psychotherapist Kronberg, Germany Teaching is finished In the last twelve years, when Swami Atmananda withdrew to Rikhia, her teachings became more subtle. ‘I am nothing. I am less than an ant,’ she would say, and I did not...
Inge Friedrich-Rust (Divyadrishti) Yoga teacher and psychotherapist Kronberg, Germany Have a strong mind Again and again she exhorted me: ‘Your mind must be strong!’ ‘Your mind must be steady!’ and she made me face my mind. She would create situations of praise or criticism for...
Inge Friedrich-Rust (Divyadrishti) Yoga teacher and psychotherapist Kronberg, Germany Your duty is to the family first ‘Your duty is to the family first and yoga second. Never let yoga disturb the harmony in your family,’ and ‘Do your duty to your husband. He is a...
Inge Friedrich-Rust (Divyadrishti) Yoga teacher and psychotherapist Kronberg, Germany ‘When I die, you will cry,’ Swami Atmananda said back in 1991 when she got ready to close the Singapore ashram to ‘leave the world behind’ and follow her beloved guru Swami Satyananda to Rikhia. ‘No,...
Dilip Gidwani Mataji’s nephew, Canada I have been at a loss to know what tribute to write for someone who is still instrumental at each step I take in my life. It is not the presence or absence of the physical body of the person...
Cita Willoughby Yoga teacher, Haslemere, West Sussex I often think of Swami Atmananda with affection. Back in the ‘70s I attended one of her seminars. At lunchtime one of the girls asked me if I’d like to go to the village with her– she wanted something...
Bibi Daly Yoga student, Lancing, West Sussex, UK Swamiji came into my life in 1982 in Singapore, when I was searching for a cure for asthma. She was quite an intimidating figure at first, but her warmth, strength, kindness and humour shone through. Swamiji always...
Swami Kriyamurti Saraswati Reborn For when after those years, I began to live alone, something new started bursting out of me, something that came from an unknown place. I was reborn! And this newness continues, even today. Swami Atmananda led me from darkness and...
Swami Kriyamurti Saraswati A Thorough Overhaul Swami Atmananda gave me a thorough overhaul, a massive injection of normality. She brought me to my senses, down to earth; she showed me that it is the little things that matter, that each moment has tremendous significance,...
Swami Kriyamurti Saraswati I was 24 when I turned up at the Limestone Road, Belfast, for a yoga weekend with Swami Atmananda. It was not a beautiful house. It had no garden, just a back yard, and all the windows were sealed. But inside I...
In the course of her sannyasa life, Swami Atmananda served her Guru’s mission in many capacities. After living with and serving her master during her early years, she spent many years founding, directing and inspiring yoga centres in Europe and South East Asia. During these...
My relationship with Swami Atmananda started when I came to Munger in the 1960’s. She figures in many of my earliest memories of life in the ashram with Swami Satyananda. I remember her as a dedicated and devoted disciple, always seeking ways in which to serve...
Singapore In India Swami Atmananda looked after the administration of Bihar School of Yoga according to the instructions of Swami Satyananda, before setting off on a tour of the Far East in 1978, and this time she settled in Singapore and opened another ashram. She...
Sannyasa The most important person in Swami Atmananda’s life was her guru, Swami Satyananda Saraswati, who founded Bihar School of Yoga. She saw him in Mumbai when she was a young girl, when he was travelling around India, and although her father initially opposed her...
Rikhia In 1991 Swami Atmananda closed the Singapore ashram and gave up her possessions, her following, and went on a pilgrimage with Swami Ramdev to the holy places of India, from Gangotri in the north, to Rameshwaram in the south. But ultimately she came to...
Northern Ireland When she was a young woman of twenty-eight, Swami Satyananda sent her abroad, to bring yoga to Europe, and she arrived in the cold in her saffron robes and sandals – which she always wore (she never even liked to wear socks). She...