The Heritage

Extends back to Swami Ambikananda, Swami Venkatesananda and Swami Sivananda.

Swami Sivananda Saraswati was a Hindu spiritual teacher and a proponent of Yoga and Vedanta.

A venerated saint of modern times, Swami Sivananda is the inspiration behind the international Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres. Born in India, he served for many years as a medical doctor before renouncing worldly life and establishing the Sivananda Ashram in 1932.

His mission was to serve humanity by sharing his profound understanding of yoga, and in 1936, he founded the Divine Life Society to publish and freely distribute spiritual texts.

To make the teachings more accessible, he developed the “Yoga of Synthesis,” an amalgamation of the formal doctrines of yoga (or the Four Paths of Yoga) that he summarized as follows: “serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realize.” Over his lifetime, Swami Sivananda authored more than 300 books that have provided spiritual guidance to millions around the world. Though he never left India, his teachings quickly spread worldwide, leaving an international legacy of love, peace, and knowledge still unfolding today.

Swami Venkatesananda Saraswati was a disciple of Sivananda Sarasvati. He received his spiritual training at the Divine Life Society in Rishikesh, India, and disseminated his master’s teachings in South Africa, Mauritius, Australia, and New Zealand. Swami has done a great service in making people realise the importance of the Bhagavad Gita through is spiritual commentary, that up to date has been considered the most illuminating interpretation that has yet been given in the English language.

Swami Ambikananda Saraswati. A Yoga practitioner and teacher for over forty years, she is dedicated to continuing the message of her guru (Swami Venkatesananda): that the human heart can be satisfied by nothing less than the Divine. She translates original Yoga Sanskrit texts into English and is the originator of the TYA Teachers Course and the founder of the registered charity Mukti.