Swami Vishnudevanand Giri interview for website
«House of Sun»

– Please, tell us briefly about yourself.

- I was born in 1967 on October 24, in Ukraine, in the family of the director of a printing house. I started my spiritual practice at the age of six. The lifestyle of a yoga monk began to lead from the age of twenty. Completely left the worldly life in 1992.

I lived in the cities of Lozovaya, Sevastopol, Kyiv, Murmansk, Severomorsk, Simferopol, Belogorsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow.

Traveled to places on Earth: Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Turkey, India (Rishikesh, Haridwar, Uttarkashi, Delhi, Omalur, Cochin), Mediterranean Sea, Novaya Zemlya, Faroe Islands.

I studied with many teachers, more than ten.

Intensively practiced yoga sadhana and tapas in seclusion from 1991 to 1995.

Realized samadhi, jnana.

Began teaching others, lecturing on the philosophy of yoga since 1995.

In 2001, I founded the Yoga Monastery and the spiritual settlement of Divya Loka.

In February 2010, I received the spiritual name of Swami Vishnudevananda Giri, took sannyasa and the title of Mahamandaleshwar in the Monastic Order of Juna Akahara at Kumbh Mela , in the city of Haridwar, India.

From 1991 to the present time I spend a significant part of my time in solitude.

However, all this is something external, just information about me as a corporeal person. It says nothing about my inner spiritual life.

Since I am a sadhu, a person of the spiritual path, I think it makes sense to talk about myself on several levels at once – external, internal, secret and transcendent.

On the external, relative level, for others, I am just a person walking the Path of Enlightenment, a philosopher, a sadhu, a monk (sannyasi), the founder of the Yoga Monastery "Collection of Secrets", the founder of the Laya Yoga World Community, the creator of the philosophy of transcendental transhumanism, for my students - I am a spiritual teacher (guru) teaching Laya yoga in the Siddha tradition, Mahamandaleshwar of the monastic order of Dattatreya – Juna Akhara.

On the inner level, I am the illusory body of my chosen deity (ishta-devata) playing in the mandala of pure vision, at least I should think so if I sincerely believe in my yoga practice.

At a secret level, I am a jnani, that is, one who realizes himself like this: “Aham Brahmasmi”, I am the Absolute, Brahman, one without the other, Being beyond gun qualities, descriptions and categories, at least I should think so, if I am a consistent Advaitist.

On the transcendental level, it is impossible to say anything about oneself, it is inconceivable.

- What influenced the choice of your life interests? How did you get into spiritual practice?

– I think that it was not I who came to spiritual practice, but she herself came to me, as the divine power of other, inhuman dimensions.

She, playing, simply invaded my life, without asking me at all, she swept away, like a tsunami, all my ridiculous plans for life, dispelled my illusions about the world, myself, the universe. She was my life and she is my life now.

Spiritual practice, if it is true, is always something greater than ourselves and our choice. This is another universe, mysterious. And when it comes into your life, you don't decide anything, you can't even do anything about it.

Now, if a UFO lands on the lawn with your house, what will you do? What can you possibly do? You can only accept everything that happens to you, or you may not even accept it, but this is not enough that decides. It will still happen whether you like it or not, if it is your destiny.

Since then, I have not lived in the dimension that ordinary people live in, at least psychologically.

I always live in my own incomprehensible, mystical dimension of mystery, divine magic, which is very far from the world of ordinary people.

This world is sometimes beautiful, sometimes amazing, sometimes shocking, and even furious, sometimes transcendent, mysterious, but I can say for sure that this world lives according to its own laws and only those who follow the spiritual path can fully understand these laws.

In general, since childhood, I felt like an alien on Earth, and the question of how you came to this does not quite fit in my case. I didn't come to this, I've always been this.

My life itself is filled to the brim with mysticism. This is one big mystical adventure, although I do not advertise it too much.

Everything was here: travel in the astral world, and communication with spirits, and flights on vinams (UFOs) with creatures from other civilizations, and battles with black sorcerers and magicians, and real meetings with holy teachers, siddhas, and space-time paradoxes , shifting the tunnels of reality, jumping into alternate universes and even encounters with the gods. Maybe someday I'll write a book about all this.

From the age of six, I began the practice of self-exploration, jnana yoga, on my own, relying on the memory of past lives. At fourteen, the practice ended with a profound experience of samadhi.

After fourteen years, I finally formed my own mystical picture of the world, and became, as it were, a “mystical white crow” among my peers, shunning all worldly affairs and plans, dreaming of spending the life of a reclusive philosopher.

However, karma, social environment – all this requires playing certain games, pretending that you are part of this society, and this is not easy if you are so young.

And I played various games of this world not for myself, but for others. Since the second grade, I have been doing a lot of martial arts (sambo, judo, karate) with very good Russian masters. All of them were very famous in the country at that time. They taught not only wrestling, but also the art of energy management, qigong, inner emptiness, and breathing practices. Thanks to them, I came to yoga, the regular practice of meditation.

From about the age of eight, I regularly ran in the mornings to the deserted shore of the Black Sea and meditated there. There were many mystical experiences during this time.

One day, I saw a lot of stone figures on this shore, people sitting and standing, fish, as a child, I thought that it should be in the order of things. They were literally frozen statues, overgrown with algae, as if they had come out of the water. I could swear it was the most incredible sight by adult standards. When many years passed and I came to this place, all this disappeared.

I, like everyone else, graduated from high school, and in order to get a higher education at the age of less than seventeen, on the advice of my father, I entered the Higher Naval Political School.

Such studies gave me a lot in terms of self-discipline, the ability to overcome difficulties. I will not say that I studied hard at this school, although I had many top grades in my diploma. I just secretly quietly continued my spiritual searches and experiments there, in addition, I studied western philosophy in order to explain the incredible experiences that I had as a child.

I plunged headlong into reading Marx, Lenin, Kant, Hegel, Fichte, Freud, Berdyaev, Losev, Schopenhauer, Voltaire, and so on.

Western philosophy, except for Nietzsche ("Beyond Good and Evil", "Thus Spoke Zarathustra") greatly disappointed me, it could not say anything about my experiences (at least it seemed to me then) and I was looking for something then more.

After graduating from a military school, I became a naval officer.

But, of course, I did not intend to pursue a military career, because I had my own secret incomprehensible mystical life, various mystical powers developed. And I had a strong detachment from everything worldly.

I wanted to enter one prestigious university, to graduate school, to pass the candidate minimum in order to become a Ph.D., but when I crossed the threshold of the university, I quickly realized that this path was not for me.

I wrote quite a few philosophical articles and essays, just like that, for myself, not for publication, "on the table." For several years I led a very strange way of life as a philosopher, silent, hermit, something in between Diogenes and Berdyaev.

I left the world of people psychologically, intellectually, although my body seemed to perform some other social functions by inertia.

For three years I managed to pretend that I was doing my job, but it was just a game. Why was I not in a hurry to leave the mundane environment right away?

I didn't want to leave him in a state of denial, weakness, negativity. It was a challenge for me to keep playing, practicing, training. And I accepted this challenge and won it.

After that, I began to actively study Eastern philosophy – Advaita Vedanta, Sankhya, yoga, vishishta-dvaita according to accessible texts.

Sacred texts of Shri Shankaracharya – "Atma Boddha", "Tattva Boddha", "Viveka Chudamani", "Aporokshanubhuti", "Contemplation of Brahman", "10 Slokas on Atman", "Shiva Samhita", "Gheranda Samhita", "Shat Chakra Nirupana" "and many others have become my reference books.

Advaita Vedanta as a doctrine, philosophy, teaching simply enchanted my heart, I realized that only Advaita Vedanta itself can be deeper than Advaita Vedanta.

For about ten years, I studied Buddhist doctrines, Buddhist philosophy, and received various Buddhist tantric teachings in order to understand the place of my teaching.

One day, in the year 1986, I met a Vaishnava monk who was selling his books and preaching the teachings of Swami Prabhupada's Bhaktivedanta lineage in the subway underpass.

I watched him stand for several hours, it was quite cold, then I asked him a question: “Are you tired of all this?”. To which he replied: “Aren't you tired of living in this conditioned world of samsara? Suffer, get sick, be reborn and die again and be reborn again.

Since I myself had a colossal personal experiences, I began to argue with him, I won’t say that he convinced me of something, but I realized that my experience should somehow be expressed in the outside world.

Beginning in 1987, I began visiting various teachers.

In 1990, I decided: stop playing along with anyone's ideas, it's time to show the cards, I decided to leave the worldly life and become a monk in order to openly lead a spiritual lifestyle, openly follow my values. In 1991-1992, I left the worldly life, parted ways with friends, relatives, and, having received some initiations, began to live as a monk in seclusion. A few lay friends supported me during this time.

I started an intensive practice – a solitary retreat. I led the practice first in the north in the Murmansk region, and it was quite intense. Basically it was Kundalini yoga, Nidra yoga, Raja yoga and Jnana yoga contemplation in motion.

After about a year and a half, I left for the south, where no one knew me, to continue my retreat. My practice was going well, very well indeed, because a strong foundation had been created. I was very happy to live in seclusion.

This is difficult to understand for those who have not practiced in seclusion, who have not lived as a hermit.

It is an incredible feeling of happiness and freedom.

In 1995, I wanted to continue my practice while remaining in seclusion all my life. But then I got Guru's recommendations and certain signs to start a certain mission.

– Could you tell us about your spiritual path? What teachers, meetings, events left a mark in your memory?

– I met many teachers in my youth, and I am grateful to all of them.

One of my first teachers was a very wise spiritual healer (I don't name him for ethical reasons).

Another teacher of mine was a very famous magician in Russia (I don’t name him for ethical reasons), who could scatter clouds with a glance and turn the clock hand on the dial, he could push a dozen people with one hand and knock them down with his power of internal energy.

For about three years I followed the path of Bhakti yoga in the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISCON), I even lectured there for a while. And I am grateful to Prabhu Gargacharya das, Chaitanya Chandra das, Prabhavishnu Swami Maharaj and other teachers for their instruction in Bhakti yoga.

I received teachings and guidance from Swami Maitreyananda, a teacher in the universalist tradition of Sri Ramakrishna.

I practiced Kundalini yoga following the instructions of Yogi Shiva Baba.

But what I had inside, it was already realized before meeting these teachers and it didn't even need to be revealed, so it couldn't be called teaching, transferring, it was a game of learning. These were situations where you find the right words to express what you have already implemented.

But the real learning, the real transmission took place when I met Swami Brahmananda, a Siddha and an Avadhuta.

This is a great holy Master who has incredible spiritual power and holiness. He can come to you anytime, anywhere, compress your perception of time, take any form, reveal incredible secrets. But I don't want to talk too much about this. That time has not yet come. Divine mysteries must always remain divine mysteries, otherwise they lose their power.

The ethics of the Siddhas does not allow them to be put on public display.

– Tell us, please, what is the essence of Laya Yoga?

– The essence of the teachings of Laya Yoga is to be always conscious in a state of non-duality, in the experience of “Aham Brahmasmi” (I am the Absolute) and this should not be at the level of the mind.

– Could you tell us about the “Collection of Secrets” Yoga Monastery? What disciplines are studied and practiced in the Monastery?

– The yoga monastery is the embodiment of my dream about what spiritual education should be like, how Dharma should be transmitted. When it was being created, I asked myself the question: “How would I like to be taught the Dharma, the Path of Enlightenment?”

I thought that I would like to be lectured on philosophy, so that there are classes, practices and periods when you can be in solitude and meditate, be silent, completely focusing on the topic of meditation.

The monastery is an educational institution where the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, yoga of the Patanjali system and Laya yoga in the Siddha tradition as the most important teaching are studied.

In the course of study, novices and monks take classes on:

- hatha yoga,

- raja yoga,

- kundalini yoga,

- nidra yoga (yoga of dreams),

- jnana yoga,

- nada yoga (yoga of inner sound),

- jyoti yoga (yoga of the inner light),

- laya yoga (yoga of contemplation),

- tattva vidya (the doctrine of fusion with the five elements).

In addition, novices and monks study Ayurveda, rhetoric (oratory), eristics (the art of philosophical disputes), vocals, dances, Vedic psychology, and the art of kshatriyas.

Once a year in the Monastery we have an annual debate on Advaita Vedanta and then an annual philosophical conference.

– Tell us about the World Community of Laya Yoga. In which countries are Dharma centers located?

– The global community is an association of all my students outside the Monastery. It has diverse groups that try to serve the Dharma to the best of their ability. Groups of practitioners – there are small Dharma centers in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

– Every year, at the initiative of the World Community of Laya Yoga, the International Congress of Advaita Vedanta is held. Could you tell us about the goals and objectives of this Congress?

– The purpose of this Congress is to unite all who are devoted to the teachings of Advaita Vedanta, who love it, admire it, who practice it. At the Congress, we have a unique opportunity to communicate with saints, Masters, teachers, with each other, receive teachings and just think about how life can go differently, that you can live differently, not in pursuit of pleasures and material things, but in the search for Enlightenment, holiness and wisdom, in communication with saints, teachers, in sadhana, in reflection and meditation.

In addition, the Congress is called upon to unite various spiritual groups, organizations on the principle of "Unity in Diversity".

– What do you like most about your work? Do you have plans for the future?

– I find it difficult to answer such a question, because I try to avoid the concepts of doer, doing, avoid following what I like. I just serve God, serve the Dharma as I understand it by listening to my heart.

I don't live in plans, at least not in the way "normal" people do. I try to look at the world more broadly. What does the future even mean? This time. It is the fact that we live in time.

We don't control time at all, it controls us.

We are all in the power of the Great God of time - Mahakala.

The future means the world in 50-80 years, in 200-500 years, in 100,000 years, in a million years, in a hundred million years, in billions of years, in hundreds of billions of years, in quintillion, sextillion years. And, of course, the plans for the future are simply grandiose.

In the current life, I try to express the intention (sankalpa) and this intention that the world would change for the better, that the self-organization of the human race would increase, that humanity would finally awaken, achieve immortality, and, leaving the Earth, break out into space, master the boundless expanses of the galaxy becoming like the gods.

– What do you think is the most important thing in a person's life?

– Spiritual search, search for God, search for Truth. The most important thing is to discover your Buddha Nature, achieve Liberation and Enlightenment.

– What, in your opinion, is the spiritual development of a person?

– This development has long been described in many sacred texts, for example, in Shankara’s Viveka Chudamani, Dattatreya’s Tripura Rahasya, Vasistha’s Yoga Vasisthe, Gorokshanath’s Siddha Siddhantha Padhati, and others.

Spiritual development is the passage of certain stages of evolution:

• from an ordinary worldly, secular person, you need to move on to a seeker, a sadhu;

• from a sadhu - to a person walking along the path, you need to go to the Enlightened One, who has known the essence of things - the Jnani;

• from the Jnani one should move on to the perfect - the siddhu, the one who owns space and time;

• from the siddha one must move to God - the one who creates new worlds by the power of the mind.

• from God to God the Creator.

– Do you think it is possible to combine spiritual practice with everyday activities in the modern world?

It is possible and necessary, but only to a certain extent. Then you need to understand that the so-called "modern world" is not even a puddle, and not even a drop or a speck of dust, it is an atom in a vast universe. And getting attached to this one atom and the so-called "daily activities" simply does not make sense if you want to grow further.

– What qualities do you value most in people?

– Loyalty to your values, loyalty to your ideals.

– What are your interests: books, favorite shows and Internet resources?

– It is difficult to sincerely answer the question: do you have interests? – if you yourself as a person for yourself disappeared along with all your interests. I do not live a social high life, except for rare moments when it is absolutely indispensable without it.

I am, first of all, a sadhu, a person walking the path, a monk, a hermit who loves to wander through the forests, fields alone with himself. For me, the world consists of other things – communication with students, meditation, communication with nature, the search for solutions to various problems facing humanity. I really like to unite my consciousness with the elements of earth and water, I like to engage in contemplation on foot, on the move, that is, on the go.

I like to practice drashta yoga – to watch the clouds, the swaying of tree branches, insects, birds, flowing water.

I don't watch TV, so I don't have any favorite shows. I also don’t spend much time on the Internet, sometimes I watch the news. I have always read and like to read books, mainly books on philosophy, sacred texts, as well as books with an analysis of the development of human evolution, describing promising technologies of the future, I respect smart science fiction. I love good classical music.

– What materials (literature, films, authors, etc.) could you recommend to the users of our site for improvement and spiritual development?

– I think that it is more difficult to find anything more perfect in depth and scope than Yoga Vasistha. When I was young, I was very fond of the books of two authors who expressed the same ideas, but in completely different ways – Osho (Bhagawan Shri Rajneesh) and Swami Sivananda.

I believe that every aspiring spiritual seeker can get an incredible boost of inspiration by reading their books.

Osho will help you get a taste of non-dual consciousness, playful, crazy, intoxicating, joyful.

Swami Sivananda will make you feel the strictness, self-discipline, fearlessness, determination of a true sadhu. I would also like to recommend the books of Sri Ramana Maharshi, in particular, “Be who you are” and the new book “Maha Yoga”, published by the Monastery together with the brilliant Russian translator and spiritual practitioner from Sri Ramana Ashram Oleg Mogilever.

If you have a scientific mindset and you are interested in the issues of consciousness and its connection with reality at an accessible level, then I can also recommend the film “The Secret”. For many, it can be a revelation, although the truths set forth in this film have always been known to saints and sages.

- What are your suggestions and wishes to users and the Administration of the House of the Sun?

– I send you my blessings.

May the blessings of all the saints be with you. My wish to everyone is that they quickly embark on the spiritual path, find their Master, begin to perform sadhana, train their consciousness and achieve Enlightenment. And I pray that on your spiritual path there will always be faith, devotion, purity and harmony.

Om shanti!

Swami Vishnudevananda Giri,

July 2010

Divya Loka.