Brief Autobiography of Rudra Shivananda

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Rudra Shivananda

Rudraji was born into a Sikh family and was educated in a Christian school. As a young boy, he had an inquisitive mind and did not blindly accept the things taught to him. There were many questions which his teachers could not answer to his satisfaction. Two of his close relatives passed away and he was shocked. He could not accept it when his teachers told him to just believe whatever is taught to him. So, he sought to find answers in other areas.

During his university days, he become friends with an astrologist and this provided the opportunity to meet with and learn from astrology. Later on, Rudraji was able to use astrology to help others by prescribing the ancient mantras to overcome the obstacles revealed in their astrological charts.

Rudraji was also attracted to the teachings and practices of Tibetan Buddhism, called Vajrayana. He eventually decided to take higher teachings but was told that he had to become a monk and go on a three year retreat. His normal practice involved visualising complicated Mandalas or Yantras in minute detail, one hundred thousand full prostrations while reciting mantras as well as other meditations.  After a period of doing this visualisation practice, the buddha in the center of the mandala changed and started telling him not to become a monk but to get married instead. Rudraji thought that this was some mental obstacle to his practice and increased his effort to maintain his visualisation of the Mandalas. However, the bright and glowing image persistently appeared in his vision.

Concerned, Rudraji shared this problem with his Buddhist teacher at that time. The teacher went into deep meditation and eventually told Rudraji that the visions were not mental obstacles and advised him to follow the instructions given by the man in his visions as Rudraji had a bigger role to play in this life. So, Rudraji contacted his mother and surprised her with the news that he wished to get married, whom at that point, had already given up any hope of her son ever getting married.

Rudraji eventually tied the knot and continued on his career and became a householder with two children. One day, ten years later, he stumbled on a seminar flyer with the picture of the man who appeared in his visions many years before. That man was Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath. Rudraji immediately contacted the organiser to attend the seminar. The seminar was small intimate gathering of only 6 people including the organiser and her husband. This gave Rudraji the opportunity to get to know this teacher. He immediately felt a close bond with Yogiraj and soon aspired to become his disciple.

Over the course of the next few days, Rudraji would visit his SatGuru, Yogiraj, to be initiated into Kriya Yoga techniques. At the time, Yogiraj was not yet as well-known as today and this allowed Rudraji to spend a lot of time with his SatGuru. Over the years, Rudraji assisted Yogiraj to organise Kriya Yoga seminars in the United States and other countries. He would drive Yogiraj around the United States and have long talks with him. Yogiraj was not only his SatGuru, but his friend. Even today, Yogiraj and his wife is always concerned if Rudraji is eating well and taking good care of himself. Yogiraj’s wife personally taught Rudraji’s wife to prepare the food which Rudraji loves.

Before he met his SatGuru, Rudraji studied and became a Reiki Master. He visited hospitals to help to heal patients with terminal illnesses. There were some successful healings but he realised that without changing the patient’s mental and emotional habits, the illnesses could recur. This is because the underlying causes had not been addressed. He became convinced that the best healing is Self-Healing.

Rudraji’s experience with Yoga, Christianity, Buddhism and other philosophies puts him in a powerful position to help students from various backgrounds and religions. Like the past Kriya Masters, he views Yoga as a science and not a religion. Students from other faiths had been accepted and initiated by him into Kriya Yoga. He was able to clarify their doubts not only about Yoga, but also in relation to other religions.