Autobiography of a Yogi

[Greg Goode]

At 01:18 PM 9/30/97 -0700, Vidyasankar Sundaresan wrote:

>Re: the legend about Mahavatar Babaji initiating Sankaracarya into Kriya
>Yoga - The Autobiography of a Yogi does not say that Sankara's guru,
>Govinda was also initiated by the Mahavatar Babaji. From what I remember,
>the text seems to say that Govinda taught Vedanta to Sankara, while the
>Babaji taught him Kriya Yoga.

I think I remember reading the same thing about Govinda and Babaji in
the AUTOBIOGRAPHY text.

>According to some oral traditions, Sankara's guru, Govinda, is supposed to
>be an ever-young, undying Himalayan ascetic. I don't know the origins of
>this tradition, as the southern monasteries don't seem to subscribe to it,
>but the same thing is also said of Mahavatar Babaji, by the Kriya Yoga
>teachers. If anything, there seems to be a tendency to identify Mahavatar
>Babaji with Govinda.

I've seen photographs of Babaji!  He's still alive.  There is an ashram of
Babaji devotees in California.  It's called Haidakundi Universal Ashram in
my vague memory.  They advertise the On Namah Shivaya bracelets in Hinduism
Today.  You can purchase Babaji photos for your altar.

>Sri Yukteswar Giri, guru of Sri Yogananda, became a
>sannyasin at the Bodhgaya matha...


I have Sri Yukteswar's SCIENCE OF RELIGION (title from memory), which argues
for a different mathematical calculation of yugas.  I think as he sees it,
all time periods come out shorter than on the conventional view.
Anyone have any info?

--Greg