About Guruji

“A question arose in my mind: What is death? What is life? And what happens when a person dies? This question became so prominent in my mind that I abandoned my thoughts of a career in the Army and began to search. During my search, I came across yoga and this lineage. I learned that through this practice one can understand what happens after death. And then the question of the immortal soul emerged.”

Thus, his encounter with death led him to the study of yoga. Shortly after returning from military training and spending his time contemplating the meaning of life, he remembered a friend who had once advised him to read Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda.

“I was nineteen or twenty at the time. I went to a bookstore and found the book. I still remember paying sixteen rupees for it. I read it in one breath. The pictures of Lahiri Mahasaya, Babaji, and others felt so familiar to me, as if I already knew them. When I read about Kriya Yoga, I thought: This is what I must do. And I began to search for a guru.”

For several years, Yogiraj wandered across India in search of a guru who could teach him the original Kriya Yoga.

“I faced many adventures and misadventures while searching for a guru. So many fake gurus, so many techniques that were labeled ‘Kriya Yoga’ only in name, so many false sadhus and sannyasis. I was 25 years old. Did I think that those three years of searching would be so educative? Now I can compare and see what is right and what is wrong.”

Finally, in 1982, Yogiraj met Satyacharan Lahiri, the grandson of Lahiri Mahasaya—the founder of the modern Kriya Yoga tradition—who had received the teachings directly from Babaji. The techniques taught by his guru felt remarkably familiar to Yogiraj, as if he had known them before. His practice advanced rapidly, and within just two years he became a guru and successor of Satyacharan Lahiri.

“This happened on the morning of the 28th of April, 1984. My life changed completely. People began coming to me on their own. I never advertised myself or told anyone that I was a guru. Yet people came, asking questions. I became more eloquent and able to answer their queries. But with this came great responsibility—for when you initiate someone, you are responsible for what they do and what they make of their lives.”

Later in 1984, Shailendra experienced his first samadhi—the merging of individual consciousness with the cosmic absolute. After this, Babaji appeared to him and taught him specific breathing techniques and pranayamas. Yogiraj moved to the countryside, built a house on a farm with the help of his disciples, and began living a simple life devoted entirely to practice.

“Suddenly, I became wiser. And I also grew extraordinarily strong—so much so that I could lift most of my disciples overhead with one hand. That was the first time I realized that yogic practice also grants extraordinary physical power.”

Once, when a disciple asked him a philosophical question, he spontaneously began dictating a full commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. His disciples recorded his words for three weeks.

“There was an indescribable atmosphere. Guruji’s whole body and the aura around him shone golden,” recalls Nahar Babu, a disciple. In the following years, Guruji composed a commentary on Yoga Darshan in three days, and another on the Shiva Sutras in a single day. Fifty-four poems followed within three more days. These works were soon published. Rumors began to spread across Gwalior that Yogiraj healed people, communicated with spirits, and even disappeared in front of witnesses. His photographs appeared not only in devotees’ homes but even in temples alongside images of Hanuman.

“Now you understand why I had to leave Gwalior! This kind of fame is a disturbance. Anyone could come and knock at my door—it was just a small one-room cottage. I eventually had to put gatemen outside to control the crowd. It became difficult to step out in the city; people gathered around me. Since childhood, I somehow knew I would write books, live in a palace-like building, and create a temple of Shiva. Many thought I was crazy. I had no job, no business—and people would laugh: ‘He has no money, yet thinks like a king.’”

In 1993, a descendant of the Bharatpur Maharajas—who long ago built the cremation ground (smashan) and palace in Govardhan—transferred the property to Shree Shailendra ji with the participation of the Archaeological Survey of India, appointing him as its guardian and keeper.

“A miracle! I was unemployed, and suddenly I became the owner of a palace! This happened only through the grace of my guru and Govardhan Maharaja. I am certain Shiva himself and Babaji orchestrated this.”

Shiva, as mentioned earlier, has always played an important role in Yogiraj’s life—he was the family deity. In 1998, Shailendra discovered a natural Shivalingam. He installed it in the cremation ground at the site where Maharaja Jaswant Singh of the Bharatpur dynasty had been cremated, and he began performing daily Shiva worship.

At present, Yogiraj lives in the smashan, practices yoga, initiates disciples around the world, and engages in philosophical discussions with seekers.

“My house is open to all true seekers who come to me with a sincere heart,” he says.

Though his outward life appears quiet and simple, extraordinary events continue to occur around him and his disciples. A detailed account of his life and experiences will be available in the biographical book “Awakener” and many others Books on this website.