Elders from India
.png)
Surendra Puri Maharaj
Mahant Surendra Puri belongs to the ancient monastic order Shri Panch Dashnam Juna Akhara. He was born near Haridwar. At the age of fourteen, he left his home and decided to dedicate himself to spiritual life with his teacher, Mahant Ashok Puri.
From 14 years old to 17 he resided in the Maya Devi Temple and the Bhairo Temple, both headquarters of the Juna Akhara in Haridwar. In 1992, he received initiation and became a sannyassi acharya.
During that time, he learned Sanskrit at the Bhola Giri Sanskrit Vidyalaya school. These were years of study and learning a new life in the ashram, of spiritual routine and coexistence with other sadhus or sannyasis were also he has years of service (seva) to his community. From 17 to 22 His teacher had an ashram in Punjab, and they moved there. He continued in this new ashram with the previous period of daily work in the ashram and the study of Sanskrit and Yoga.
At 23 to 30 years old lived in the Himalayas. He left the ashram and moved to Yamunotri, the source of the Yamuna River in the Himalayas. He remained there for seven years, developing his own spiritual practice (sadhana) and learning how to use the medicinal plants abundant in the area. He lived in a small cave in the valley, where later a Shiva temple was built with the help of his devotees and local people.
His teacher asked him to return to Haridwar at 30 years old to assist in the ashram. He then performed other services: he is responsible for managing an area of the ashram, teaching Sanskrit to children at the Maya Devi Education Foundation, and helps provide medical care to the underprivileged through the Maya Devi Health Foundation. In January 2012 at 36, he arrived in Europe, where he shares his experience in spiritual life and the path of Yoga, leading satsangs and sacred rites in Spain, France, Denmark, and Germany.
I met Maharaji Surendra Puriji in Kumba Mela 1998, when both of us were with our respective Gurujis and the whole community of Juna Akhada where we visited each other and began a long relationship. My dear friend has participated in several times of the alliance of the Native American and South American traditions, with an experienced path of mutual respect and agreements between sacred wisdom of western and eastern spiritual traditions.
.jpg)
Shri Mahant Dayanand Puri
Shri Mahant Dayanand Puri is a revered spiritual master of the Juna Akhara, the largest monastic order of India. His spiritual journey began at the age of seven, when a profound inner awakening led him to the Himalayan mountains where he lived among sadhus, immersing himself in ascetic discipline and meditation.
In 1986, during the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar, he met his Guru Shri Mahant Maharaj Machander Puri Ji, receiving Diksha into the Naga Sannyasi tradition. He spent the following sixteen years traveling across India with his Guru, serving with dedication and eventually being appointed Thanapathi, Asthkaushal Mahant, and later Secretary of Juna Akhara, Girnar–Junagadh.
With over thirty years of teaching experience, he shares “traditional yoga, meditation, pranayama, Vedic rituals, satsang, spiritual healing and life-enhancing practices” He has taught internationally in California, Italy, Israel, Ukraine and Russia, guiding hundreds of seekers.
For the past twenty-five years, he has led the Vishwa Chetan Ashram in Tapovan, Rishikesh, where he lives in deep connection with Ganga and the Himalayan energy, serving Mother Kali and Lord Shiva. Today he continues to guide seekers worldwide on the path of inner awakening and transformative yogic wisdom.