Lakulish Yoga University

The Lakulish International Fellowship’s Enlightenment Mission (LIFE Mission) is a Registered Public Charitable Trust based in Gujarat (India). It was founded in 1993 by Swami Rajarshi Muni, a practicing advanced yogi. The Mission is registered on 26.3.96 by the Assistant Charity Commissioner Bhavnagar, Gujarat, and bears Registration Number E/643/Surendranagar. It is said as follows in the Shiv Purana: “During the twenty-eighth Dwapar age when Dwaipayan, son of Parasar, shall be Vyas and Lord Vishnu shall incarnate as Lord Krishna, son of Vasudev, I too shall incarnate in the body of a celibate and shall be known as Lakulish. The place of my incarnation shall be a siddhakshetra and it shall be renowned among men till the earth shall last”. Swami Pranavanand received spiritual initiation from this timeless being in 1913 and in this manner this spiritual tradition was revived and acquired the profound secrets of Divine Yoga. Swami Pranavanand spent his sannyas life in the secluded practice of Divine Yoga and conquered hunger and thirst. Subsequently he imparted the knowledge of Divine Yoga to Swami Kripalvanand in 1931, installing the latter as Yogacharya and the third Kulguru in the modern day spiritual lineage of Lord Lakulish. Swami Pranavanand is considered the second guru of this lineage. He spent the period of his spiritual practice only in the secluded practice of yoga and meditation as befits the highest class of sannyasi in search of final salvation. Instead of becoming a preacher he spent his life in the study and practice of the priceless knowledge of yoga received from his divine guru and attained a very high stage of progress. He conquered hunger and thirst, a major accomplishment in the spiritual practice of yoga. Swami Pranavanand in turn passed on the profound mysteries of divine yoga to his own chosen disciple Swami Kripalvanand in 1931. The objective of yoga can be interpreted in physical, psychological, as well as spiritual ways because it deals with body, mind and spirit. The physical interpretation is connected with the preliminary objective of yoga; the psychological interpretation embraces the intermediate objective, while the spiritual interpretation emulates the highest objective. There are several levels of development along the path of yoga. An aspirant has to attain these levels in turn and step by step. Starting from the lowest level, he, or she has to proceed gradually, mastering the preliminary and intermediate levels and finally reaching the highest one. As a person masters one level, he or she shifts goals to the next level. Moreover, as the aspirant approaches a particular level, he or she also finds the necessary means to cover the distance to the next higher level. During such step-by-step advancement, a person goes on fixing higher and higher objectives for him or himself, from the preliminary to the intermediary, and from the intermediary to the final objective. In this manner, he or she goes on shifting objectives, each time focusing on a different but quite modest objective that may remain within grasp. One does not suddenly jump to a lofty objective that may be beyond reach for the time being. One proceeds gradually, level by level, until finally the distant goal of liberation is reached. The preliminary objective of yoga is to improve body health and physical abilities. It is through physical soundness and stability that mental prowess can be achieved. Thereafter, the intermediary objective of yoga is to bring a greater degree of harmony between one’s thoughts, emotions, desires, aims, motives, reasoning etc. Through that coalescence it is possible to discover the hidden potentials of the mind. It is by way of unfolding potential mental powers that one can become aware of the inner spirit. To whatever degree one may develop physical abilities and mental powers; one remains incomplete without spiritual growth. It is through spiritual development that a person realizes one’s whole being and becomes perfect. Such spiritual growth is the ultimate objective of yoga. In order to attain the final goal of yoga, one first has to realize the inner spirit and then to merge the atman (individual spirit) with the Brahman (universal spirit), while still in this body. Thus it can be said that the overall objective of yoga is to aid and guide a person to transcend one’s temporal limitations and to break the barriers that separate one’s individual self from the universal self.