Gopalpurpp at 17:10, 11 January 2026

2026-01-11T17:10:25Z

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{{Short description|Modern school of yoga}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox university
| name = Bihar International School of Yoga
| image =
| type = [[Yoga]]
| established = 1963
| city = [[Munger]]
| state = [[Bihar]]
| country = [[India]] and international
| website = [http://www.biharyoga.net biharyoga.net]
}}

The '''Bihar School of Yoga''' is a modern school of [[yoga]] founded and developed by Sri Swami [[Satyananda Saraswati]] in [[Munger]], [[Bihar]], India, in 1963.<ref name="aveling">{{cite book |first=Harry |last=Aveling |title=The Laughing Swamis: Australian Sannyasin Disciples of Swami Satyananda Saraswati and Osho Rajneesh |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1994 |isbn=978-8-12081-118-8 |page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ehB5Gt2qE8C&pg=PA61}}</ref> The system of yoga taught at the school is recognised worldwide as Bihar Yoga or the Satyananda Yoga tradition.<ref name="History Niranjan 2013" group=B>{{harvnb|TheHistory|1995|page=7}}</ref> In 2019, the school was awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Outstanding Contribution Towards Promotion and Development of Yoga.<ref name="award">{{cite news |title=Prime Minister Narendra Modi confers Yoga Awards 2019 |url=https://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/prime-minister-confers-yoga-awards-2019-1567241410-1 |publisher=Jagranjosh |date=September 1, 2019}}</ref>

==History==

[[Swami Satyananda]] inaugurated the Bihar School of Yoga (BSY) on 19 January 1964, [[Vasant Panchami]], by lighting the akhanda jyoti (eternal flame) as a dedication to his guru, Swami [[Sivananda Saraswati]].<ref name="Vision Niranjan 2013" group=B>{{cite book |last=Saraswati |first=Niranjanananda |title=The Vision of a Sage |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=2013 |isbn=978-93-81620-97-7 |pages=45, 50, 60, 75, 93-113}}</ref> The school became a centre of Yoga training from the mid-1960s: Regular fifteen-day and one-month courses were conducted in Munger, as well as a six-month sadhana course<ref name="History Niranjan 2013" group=B/> and a nine-month International Teacher Training course in 1967.<ref name="Vision Niranjan 2013" group=B/><ref group=B>{{cite book |title=My Spiritual Journey with Swami Satyananda |first=Vishwaprem |last=Prema Baxi |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=2013 |isbn=978-93-81620-90-8 |page=79}}</ref> In 1968, to propagate the school's teachings, Swami Satyananda went on his first world tour to Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Japan, USA, Canada, England, France, Holland, Sweden, Austria and Italy.<ref name="Shore to Shore" group=B>{{cite book |first=Satyananda |last=Saraswati |title=Yoga from Shore to Shore |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=2013 |isbn=978-81-85787-19-0}}</ref> There, he presented yoga as a science for balancing the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of the personality, suitable for every walk of life.<ref name="Sanchez 2015">{{cite book |title=Daoist Meridian Yoga: Activating the Twelve Pathways for Energy Balance and Healing |first=Camilo |last=Sanchez |publisher=Singing Dragon |year=2015 |isbn=978-1848192850 |page=10}}</ref> Between 1969 and 1985, he traveled throughout India and the world many times, propagating yoga from "door to door and shore to shore".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Persson |first=A. |title=Intimate Immensity: Phenomenology of Place and Space in an Australian Yoga Community |journal=[[American Ethnologist]] |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=46 |year=2007 |doi=10.1525/ae.2007.34.1.44 |jstor=4496784}}</ref><ref name="Shore to Shore" group=B/>

The gatherings and conventions became a regular feature in many countries and he was recognised as a teacher, inspirer and yogi and yoga became a household name.<ref group=B>{{cite book |title=Satyananda Yoga in Europe, Volume 2 |first=Satyananda |last=Saraswati |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=2013 |isbn=978-8186921913}}</ref><ref name="aveling"/> In 1973, the Bihar School of Yoga hosted the Golden Jubilee Yoga Convention to celebrate the 50th year of renunciation of Sri Swami Sivananda, and the 50th birth anniversary of Swami Satyananda.<ref name="Vision Niranjan 2013" group=B/> Eminent speakers were H.H. Jagadguru Swami Shantananda Shankaracharya of Dwarakapeeth; Sri [[B. K. S. Iyengar]], [[Chidananda Saraswati|Swami Chidananda]] of the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh; [[Sivananda Saraswati|Swami Sivananda]], Assam; and Kaviyoga [[Shuddhananda Bharati]] of Madras.<ref group=B>{{harvnb |History |1995}}</ref>

In 1983, Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, spiritual successor to Swami Satyananda Saraswati, took over the presidency of Bihar School of Yoga. In 1988, Swami Satyananda Saraswati left Bihar School of Yoga and settled in the small hamlet of Rikhia, Jharkhand, to pursue higher sadhana and work for the upliftment of the deprived and neglected section of society.<ref>{{cite book |title=Shakti Manifest |first=Barbara |last=Pidgeon |publisher=Westland |year=2014 |isbn=978-93-84030-29-2 |page=15}}</ref> Following the mandate of his Guru, in 2009 Swami Niranjanananda, relinquished and renounced all institutional responsibilities.<ref group=B>{{harvnb |TheHistory |1995 |p=39}}</ref> He now lives as an independent sannyasin, following the lifestyle and sadhanas of a paramahansa sannyasin.

An institute of Yogic studies was created in 1994.<ref name=center group=B>{{cite journal |title=Bihar School of Yoga |url=http://www.satyanandayogacenter.com/id1.html |website=satyanandayogacenter.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721233536/http://www.satyanandayogacenter.com/id1.html |archive-date=2015-07-21 }}</ref> The school publishes ''Yoga Magazine''.<ref group=B>{{cite web |title=Welcome to Satyananda Yoga - Bihar Yoga |url=https://www.biharyoga.net/ |publisher=Bihar School of Yoga |access-date=24 May 2019 |quote=Yoga Magazine}}</ref>

=== Research and social application ===

In the 1970s and 1980s the Bihar School of Yoga propagated its yoga practices. One of its founding principles was to 'impart yogic training to householders and sannyasins alike'.<ref group=B>{{harvnb |TheHistory |1995 |page=23}}</ref> In medical centres in India and around the world and at the school, research was conducted to establish the effects of yogic practices and a yogic lifestyle on diseases such as asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. A 40-day diabetes camp was conducted in Bilaspur in 1971, and a therapy program for diabetes in Sambalpur, Odisha, in 1978.<ref group=B>{{harvnb |History |1995 |pages=58, 89-92}}</ref> In 1977, the Yoga Research Centre was established at Bihar School of Yoga<ref group=B>{{cite book |title=Mere Aradhya, My Beloved Guru |first=Dharmashakti |last=Saraswati |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=2011 |isbn=978-93-81620-06-9 |page=273}}</ref> which expanded and grew into the Yoga Research Foundation founded in 1984.<ref name="Vision Niranjan 2013" group=B/> In 1982, the BSY assisted in the yoga and research program conducted by Dr Hiroshi Motoyama.<ref group=B>{{harvnb |History |1995 |page=152}}</ref>

The school was called to teach yoga in the coal and steel industries such as the Bhilai Steel Plant, Tisco Jamshedpur and subsequent years,<ref group=B>{{harvnb |History |1995 |pages=96, 130}}</ref> Hindustan Copper Ltd in Ghatsila, at Barauni Refinery Officer’s Club, the [[Indian Oil Corporation]] in Assam, the Indian Oil Refinery in Haldia, West Bengal, at BARC, Trombay and BHEL, Bhopal,<ref group=B>{{harvnb |History |1995 |pages=12, 32, 48, 49}}</ref> and paper industries, the Indian railways and government undertakings such as the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Kolkata, the Bhopal Management and Training Institute.<ref group=B>{{harvnb |History |1995 |page=104}}</ref> Participants were able to increase efficiency at work and thereby the output. Besides the corporate section, Swami Satyananda introduced the teachings in schools, prisons and as a therapy.<ref group=B>{{harvnb |TheHistory |1995 |page=25}}</ref>

Research in yoga was initiated in India at the K.E.M. Hospital, Bombay, by K. K. Datey and at the Burla Medical College, Orissa by Dr Panda. Further research was conducted In Australia on the management of cancer and the increase of melatonin, in the USA on cardiac disorders, addiction, biofeedback and alpha waves.<ref group=B>{{cite book |title=Yoga Sadhana Panorama Vol. 7 |first=Niranjanananda |last=Saraswati |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=2018 |isbn=978-81-938420-0-3 |page=208}}</ref>

In 1987, 300 school teachers received yoga training at Ganga Darshan, according to a new education policy of the Department of Education, Government of Bihar, introducing yoga in all government schools.<ref group=B>{{cite book |title=Bhakti Yoga Sagar Vol. 1 |first=Satyananda |last=Saraswati |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=2009 |isbn=978-81-86336-74-8 |page=208}}</ref>

=== The next generation ===

From 1983, Swami Niranjanananda introduced the Satyananda Yoga–Bihar Yoga tradition in society through practical and social application. Business interests, medical practitioners, educational institutions, government bodies and spiritual organisations requested seminars, workshops and classes.<ref group=B>{{cite book |title=Yoga Sadhana Panorama Vol. 7 |first=Niranjanananda |last=Saraswati |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=2018 |isbn=978-81-938420-0-3}}</ref> Yoga Research Foundation held Yoga Asthma Study Camps internationally; research was conducted in England on AIDS, and on addiction in various countries of Europe.<ref group=B>{{harvnb |History |1995 |page=74}}</ref> A yoga in prisons project ran in the state of [[Bihar]]. The Indian army also requested to learn and apply yoga. The school conducted yoga camps for army personnel in the desert at [[Bikaner]], in [[Ladakh]], and at the [[Siachen Glacier]] base camp.<ref group=B>{{cite book |title=Yoga Sadhana Panorama Vol. 7 |first=Niranjanananda |last=Saraswati |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=2018 |isbn=978-81-938420-0-3 |page=208}}</ref>

In November 1993, Swami Niranjanananda hosted the Tyag Golden Jubilee World Yoga Convention at the BSY to celebrate Swami Satyananda’s 50 years of renunciation.<ref group=B>{{harvnb |History |1995 |page=121}}</ref> Swami Chidananda Saraswati of the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, gave the inaugural speech to a gathering of about 16,000 people from India and abroad. Many eminent scholars, spiritual personalities and artists took part.<ref group=B>{{cite book |title=Yoga Sagar Commemorative Volume |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=1994}}</ref>

In 2013, yoga shivirs, programs and conventions were conducted throughout India, by senior teachers of Bihar School of Yoga and trainees of the next generation.<ref group=B>{{cite book |title=Yogayatra 2013, World Yoga Convention 2013 |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=2014}}</ref> In October 2013, the World Yoga Convention and Golden Jubilee of Bihar School of Yoga took place in Munger. Over 50,000 yoga practitioners, teachers, students and aspirants participated in this historic event either in person or through the internet. The Convention marked the completion of fifty years of yoga propagation by the Bihar School of Yoga.<ref group=B>{{cite book |title=Experience of Yoga, World Yoga Convention 2013 |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=2014}}</ref>

In 2015, the school embarked on its "Second Chapter of Yoga", exploring the depth of yoga vidya, the science of yoga, to attain an understanding and experience of the aim of yoga.<ref group=B>{{cite book |title=The Second Chapter of Yoga |first=Niranjanananda |last=Saraswati |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=2016}}</ref> The focus of the second chapter is yoga vidya and a yogic lifestyle which can be developed by applying it in one’s day-to-day life. Teacher training courses were discontinued and yoga capsules for health and sequential yoga yatras for hatha yoga, raja yoga and kriya yoga began.<ref name="Hatha Yoga Yatra 1 2017" group=B>{{cite book |title=Hatha Yoga Yatra 1, Understanding Shatkarmas |first=Niranjanananda |last=Saraswati |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=2017 |isbn=978-93-84753-35-1 |page=208}}</ref> An annual one-month training, Progressive Yoga Vidya Training is offered to sincere and committed aspirants.<ref name="Progressive Niranjan 2016" group=B>{{cite book |title=Progressive Yoga Vidya Training Series 1 |first=Niranjanananda |last=Saraswati |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=2016 |isbn=978-93-84753-52-8}}</ref> In 2018, the Munger Yoga Symposium officially launched the Second Chapter in which over 1,000 yogacharyas and yoga teachers from around the world participated.<ref group=B>{{cite book |title=Yoga Chakrodaya, Munger Yoga Symposium 2018, Books 3/3 |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=2019 |isbn=978-81-940805-1-0}}</ref> Since 2020, Bihar School of Yoga offered online presentations for the management of health and stress-related imbalances. The school remains an independent institution, without any branches.<ref group=B>{{cite web |title=About Bihar School of Yoga |url=https://www.biharyoga.net/bihar-school-of-yoga.php}}</ref>

==Teachings==

Bihar School of Yoga teaches yoga practices including [[asana]], [[pranayama]], [[pratyahara]], [[dharana]], and [[Dhyana in Hinduism|dhyana]].<ref name="History Niranjan 2013" group=B/>{{rp|p=11,20}}<ref name="Vision Niranjan 2013" group=B/><ref group=B>{{cite book |title=Meditations from the Tantras |first=Satyananda |last=Saraswati |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar| orig-date=1st pub. 1974 |year=2012 |isbn=978-81-85787-11-4}}</ref><ref name="Patel Application">{{cite journal |author1=Patel, D. |title=Application of Yogic Techniques in the Psychological Well Being of the Individuals | journal=International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Sciences | volume=2|issue=6|page=4|year=2014| url=https://www.raijmr.com/ijrhs/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IJRHS_2014_vol02_issue_06_09.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Prime Minister's Awards for Outstanding Contribution for Promotion and Development of Yoga -2019|url=https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=190546|publisher=Government of India AYUSH |date=June 20, 2019}}</ref> It presents [[Kriya Yoga school|kriya yoga]], [[kundalini yoga]], [[nada yoga]] and [[laya yoga]] in a step by step system, and teaches the philosophies of [[raja yoga]], [[jnana yoga]], [[bhakti yoga]], [[karma yoga]], [[tantra]], [[Samkhya]] and [[Vedanta]].<ref name="Patel Application"/><ref group=B>{{cite book |title=Yoga & Kriya|first=Satyananda |last=Saraswati |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar| year=2013 | pages=329, 359, 445, 471, 499, 525, 516, 538, 698, 724, 771-113}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Bhavnani |first=A.|title=A Brief Geographical History of Yoga in Modern India| journal=International Journal of Yoga and Allied Sciences | volume=1|issue=2|page=163|year=2013| issn=2278-5159|url=https://indianyoga.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/v1-issue2-article11.pdf}}</ref><ref group=B>{{cite book |title=Dynamics of Yoga|first=Satyananda |last=Saraswati |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar| orig-date=1st pub. 1966 |year=2015 |isbn=978-81-85787-14-5}}</ref> Yoga is presented as a lifestyle, meant to enhance the quality of life, including daily activities, interactions, thoughts and emotions.<ref group=B>{{cite book |title=Yoga in Daily Life|first= Niranjanananda |last=Saraswati |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar| year=2012 |isbn= 978-93-81620-23-6}}</ref>{{r|Sanchez 2015|p=9}} The [[hatha yoga]] techniques ([[Shatkarma]], Asana, Pranayama, [[Mudra]], [[Bandha_(yoga)|Bandha]]) are combined.<ref name="Gourley 2014">{{cite web |last=Gourley |first=Bernie |title=Book Review: Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha by Swami Satyananda Saraswati|date=June 2014 |url=https://berniegourley.com/2014/06/01/book-review-asana-pranayama-mudra-bandha-by-swami-satyananda-saraswati/}}</ref><ref name="Yogapedia 2023">{{cite web |title=Satyananda Yoga|date=December 2023 |author=Yogapedia |url=https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/9379/satyananda-yoga}}</ref>


== Alleged abuse ==

{{Further|Sexual abuse by yoga gurus| Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse#Mangrove Yoga Ashram}}

An Australian Royal Commission investigated allegations of child sexual abuse at the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain, New South Wales, Australia during the 1970s and 1980s. Alleged abuses by and against multiple individuals took place between 1974 and 1989, with eleven witnesses alleging abuses in Australia, and two witnesses alleging abuses in both Australia and India.<ref>{{cite web |title=Report of Case Study No. 21 |date=April 2016 |author=Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse |page=9 |url=https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/Case%20Study%2021%20-%20Findings%20Report%20-%20Satyananda%20Yoga%20Ashram.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Report of Case Study No. 21 |date=April 2016 |author=Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse |page=29 |url=https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/Case%20Study%2021%20-%20Findings%20Report%20-%20Satyananda%20Yoga%20Ashram.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Report of Case Study No. 21 |date=April 2016 |author=Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse |page=31 |url=https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/Case%20Study%2021%20-%20Findings%20Report%20-%20Satyananda%20Yoga%20Ashram.pdf}}</ref> Two witnesses alleged that Satyananda, who was no longer alive at the time of the Royal Commission, had sexually abused them; this evidence was deemed "out of scope" and "untested", and accordingly no finding was made against Satyananda in the Australian Royal Commission's final report.<ref>{{cite web |title=Report of Case Study No. 21 |date=April 2016 |author=Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse |page=31 |url=https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/Case%20Study%2021%20-%20Findings%20Report%20-%20Satyananda%20Yoga%20Ashram.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/dec/04/yoga-ashram-didnt-consider-sex-abuse-crime-royal-commission |title=Yoga Ashram didn't Consider Sexual Abuse as a Crime |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=4 December 2014}}</ref><ref name="Paikhana Hargreaves 2017">{{cite web |last1=Pankhania |first1=Josna |last2=Hargreaves |first2=Jacqueline |url=https://www.theluminescent.org/2017/12/a-culture-of-silence-satyananda-yoga.html |title=Culture of Silence |website=The Luminescent |date=December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Browne |first=Rachel |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/paradise-lost-satyananda-yoga-ashram-is-the-subject-of-royal-commission-hearing-20141127-11v3rl.html |title=Satyananda Yoga Ashram is the subject of royal commission hearing |work=The [[Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=28 November 2014}}</ref>

The psychotherapist Josna Pakhana and the yoga teacher and researcher [[Jacqueline Hargreaves]] write that "shocking levels of abuse were deeply entrenched"<ref name="Paikhana Hargreaves 2017"/> in Satyananda's Mangrove Mountain ashram in Australia in the 1970s.<ref name="Paikhana Hargreaves 2017"/> They state that the Royal Commission "concluded that Swami Satyananda Saraswati (b. 1923, d. 2009), the founding guru, had overarching authority at the Mangrove Mountain ashram (and its centres) in his role as head of Satyananda Yoga worldwide."<ref name="Paikhana Hargreaves 2017"/>

== Awards ==

The [[Prime Minister of India]] conferred the National Yoga Award 2019 on the Bihar School of Yoga for outstanding contributions to the promotion and development of yoga.<ref name="award"/>

==References==

=== Primary ===

{{reflist|group=B}} 

=== Secondary ===

{{reflist}}

== Sources ==

* {{cite book |title=Past, Present & Future, Consolidated History of Bihar School of Yoga 1963-1994 |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=1995 |isbn=81-86336-02-8 |ref={{harvid|History|1995}} }} 
* {{cite book |title=The History of Bihar School of Yoga|first=Niranjanananda |last=Saraswati |publisher=Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar |year=2013 |isbn=978-93-81620-41-0 |ref={{harvid|TheHistory|1995}} }} 

== External links ==

* {{Official website|http://www.biharyoga.net}}
* [http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/trends/rediscovering-yoga/605859.html Rediscovering yoga]

{{Yoga as exercise}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1963 establishments in Bihar]]
[[Category:Yoga schools]]

Bihar School of Yoga - Revision history

Gopalpurpp at 17:10, 11 January 2026