Who is Swami Gyaneshwarpuri:
Swami Gyaneshwarpuri is a devoted disciple of His Holiness Vishvaguru Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda, Yoga Master and Teacher of the Spiritual Path from India, who he has been a follower of since 1996. During that time, he has undergone a tumultuous spiritual transformation as a result of Kundalini awakening, which, at the age of 53, resulted in his ordination – Sanyas Diksha – as a Hindu and yogic monk at the Maháprabhudíp ashram in Střílky on 23 July 2021. Becoming a swami was a longtime wish and goal of his life. Therefore, he observed the fast and went to the mountains and the forest to meditate. Until his wish literally miraculously came true by the Swamiji’s Grace. Since then he has remained in santosha – contentment, all of his worldly desires dissipated, and he is returning to the Spiritual Home from which we came. Swami Gyaneshwarpuri stays as a lonely, silent hermit in the caves of the Moravian Karst. He was lucky enough to have been born near this most sacred place in the Czech Republic, a magical and mystical space, inhabited in the past by shamans and hermits, which he decided to follow. He is not a yoga teacher and does not preach Hinduism. He has the right to use the spiritual title of swami (master of the self) and to wear the orange robe, the dress of Indian yogis and sadhus. He has thus obtained this highest initiation of the Swamiji. He is of a cosmopolitan supra-religious mindset and inner disposition, hence he also worships the Christianity of Jesus, Buddhism, Taoism and other world religions. He is historically the first Hindu monk ordained in the Czech Republic. He writes professional publications in the field of speleology, sacral history and archaeology and, last but not least, his own original mysticism and philosophy, poems, spiritual stories and fairy tales with spiritual lessons. He pursues the Power of Love in all things and walks the Path of Knowledge (jnana yoga) as implied by his spiritual name Gyaneshwarpuri (gyana = jnana), which translates as “He who has understood”. He is therefore an inner jnani, which corresponds to his hermit’s philosophy of life, incomprehensible at first sight. He has been liberated since birth, but he has not yet realized the highest state of moksha consciousness, when the individual “self” becomes the whole Universe. However, he has his own inner guidance and connection to God, the Divine Self. To realize God and attain Enlightenment is his highest and only Goal in this incarnation to which he dedicates his spiritual yoga sadhana, meditation in retreat, mantra japa, repetition of God’s name, prayers, yoga asanas, kriyas, etc. according to Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda’s System of Yoga in Daily Life. At present, he often stays in lonely and desolate places in the mountains and forests. He has studied the Bible on his own since childhood, but he has never claimed to be a Christian. Later, he also read the Bhagavad Gita and other Indian scriptures. He also read some Buddhist and Taoist scriptures. However, what appealed to him most was the wisdom of Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, Paramhansa Yogananda, Ramana Maharshi, Hanshan, Bhagwan Sri Dip Narayan Mahaprabhuji and of course Swami Maheshwarananda, in whom he recognized the essence of his spiritual insight into Truth from his meditation caves and mountain hermitages. He also venerates the ideal of the Himalayan yogis of India and St. Francis of Assisi. He does not teach yoga publicly, and as a true jnana, a man of knowledge, he accepts neither yoga students nor personal disciples. Currently, on Swami’s recommendation, he lives with his mother in a small ashram in Brno – Bosonohy. The hermit Gyaneshwarpuri is someone who, above all, will not be spoken of, for he combines the boundless humility of Francis’ rule with the boundless rigour of Sri Devpuriji against the demons of egoism. This, my friends, is Himalayan yoga in the Czech Republic.
Welcome, dear friends, to the website of the yoga monk Swami Gyaneshwarpuri.
I was born as Marek Šenkyřík (7 May 1968) into a traditional Christian family where everyone went to church on Sundays as far back as memory goes. I attained the sacrament of Christian adulthood, Confirmation, in the Catholic Church in 1986. On 23 July 2021, I was ordained a monk, although no longer as a Christian, but as a Hindu. I have become the first ever Hindu monk – swami ordained in the Czech Republic. This text also describes something about my experience as a speleologist in the Moravian Karst. I have discovered a total of four small but very interesting caves. I consider my most important contribution to be the now almost legendary exploration of the historical underground of the Church of the Name of the Virgin Mary in Křtiny, during which a crypt with so-called painted skulls was discovered, being one of the most important speleological discoveries in the Czech Republic in the 20th century. I would also like to point out my spiritual biography up to now, including the orange Hindu monk’s robe. Thank you for visiting my site. What lucky karma has brought you here? I am currently a hermit in the Moravian Karst. I use many of the caves there for meditation purposes. However, I have also meditated at the source of the Ganges and above Rishikesh in the Indian Himalayan Region, in the Chey Pass in the Romanian Carpathians, in Monte Subasio above Assisi, on Stará hora in the Giant Mountains and in the Slovak Paradise. I kept looking for a place where I could be alone and meditate undisturbed, until I finally found it, it seems, in no other place than in the Moravian Karst, thanks to the empathy and understanding of the Administration of the Moravian Karst Protected Landscape Area, who knows about my extraordinary and unusual spiritual needs… I am therefore spiritual and I am trying to positively inspire you. But only my Enlightened Spiritual Master, His Holiness Vishvaguru Mahamandaleshwar Paramhans Sri Swami Maheswarananda of India, understands me properly. If you perhaps need someone like that in your life, someone who understands your soul well, try enrolling in a local Yoga in Daily Life course. I bless you from the bottom of my heart. Will you write me what you have on your mind? I will try to answer you… I will delve into my meditation at the altar and see… I have spent thousands of days and nights in the solitude of meditation caves and mountain hermitages. So I know something for sure. That is my qualification. I act primarily through Love and Knowledge (bhakti and jnana). The power of Love – that is what I believe in. I am a hermit, not a spiritual teacher! That is my mysticism. I have the heart of Devpuriji. Enlightened Master of Yoga endowed with miraculous powers, the hermit Sri Devpuriji lived in the Himalayas at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and then settled in Rajasthan in central India. By the force of his will, he demolished the ashram and expelled the bhaktas, his disciples, and sent snakes against them. People thought that the saint had gone mad. The motives for his actions were beyond human comprehension. From then on, he spoke only to those who were deeply and seriously interested in Knowledge. In this Kali Yuga, he preferred the company of animals to the company of people (Vairagya). On the Path of Yoga, I consider myself a follower of this saint. In some ways, he reminds me of our Saint Francis of Assisi, my former mountain companion. Thank You, God, for guiding me on this Path. For I have known that God has guided me from my birth. My God is Shiva, the eternal Master of all yogis, ascetics and prayers. He is the most compassionate and kindest God in the entire Hindu pantheon. A devotee who meditates upon Shiva will quickly attain final Liberation (moksha). So being a yogi and a Hindu, I know for a fact that I am not of Christian birth, though I have been close to Jesus in my heart since childhood. I will not be a Christian monk in this lifetime (or ever again) because they usually do not uphold the important rule of vegetarianism, which I consider a very serious transgression of the Catholic faith. They shouldn’t be mad at me for criticizing them. I am very clear on this and I am a vegetarian in accordance with my conscience. So I am going back home to India. My current incarnation in the Czech Republic and Europe was only temporary. It’s not just meat, I don’t consume alcohol, tobacco or drugs. I am against them, including the now very popular and supposedly “harmless” marijuana. Unfortunately, some sadhus are setting a very bad example to the world by foolishly using marijuana – contrary to the original yogic teachings – to meditate in altered states of consciousness, for example, which can indeed convey very beautiful, harmonious and even incredible experiences. But I consider these sadhus basically unconscious (maya). Who can know for sure, though? Some people need to wake up from the slumber of mundane illusion somehow. But the price to pay here is impaired health. That’s why I say that drugs, meaning only natural ones, are dangerous and unpredictable. I had to mention this topical issue at length, because it imprisons many people, and as a result they never truly embark on the Way of God. But I have come to know that the spiritual Path is the purification of all evil inclinations to attain only pure (sattvic) qualities. So I seek the company of spiritual and wise people (satsang), for example in our ashram in Střílky. In addition, it is with joy and equanimity that I am already practicing monastic celibacy (brahmacharya) and recommend it to everyone ready for greater well-being, harmony and inner understanding and insight into the mystical science of the saints (anubhava). I relate most closely to the teachings of Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, Paramhansa Yogananda, Shri Mahaprabhuji and of course my Master Paramhans Swami Maheswarananda, but I have drawn heavily from all mystical authors of all religions and each of them has enriched my Path and my heart in some way. I eventually found everything I was ever looking for in a comprehensive form as concentrated knowledge in Yoga in Daily Life. It is undoubtedly one of the world’s purest teachings. No wonder, for this is the teaching of one of the greatest living saints on Earth, whose spiritual titles indicate that he is a fully Enlightened Soul and Master of the entire Universe. This yoga teaching best suits my inner knowing from the mountain caves. I am therefore a devoted disciple (bhakta) of Swamiji. I would like to pass on this teaching, which liberates from all suffering, but so far, I am doing so only in a meditative way, following the example of the Himalayan Masters, because my knowledge is still insufficient despite all my efforts. I still consider myself basically a beginner in inner yoga. May I be forgiven by all those who are already beginning to turn to me. I want to uphold the vow of silence (mauna), Silence and solitude outdoors. Therefore, I will live alone in the seclusion of the hermitage. I believe that this will give me the inner gifts that I can then be able to give out in public. And that’s what God demands. That is why Jesus was in the desert – to clarify his spiritual calling. I want to fulfil it following the example of the old Masters in a romantic way. “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” say the elders of Mount Athos who refuse to come out into the open (Matthew 16:26). In solitude, I become whole. “Contemplate your roots in nature and you will find yourself.” (Anthony de Mello). I believe in the mysterious power of God’s name, my mantra, Silence and solitude with God. But it all depends on whether conservationists and foresters are sympathetic. So far, I have mostly faced misunderstandings. Who will let a hermit live in the forest? Please let me know! Will you offer me your forest with a spring of fresh water? A place where I could build my little hermitage and be alone and isolated? Just as St. Francis of Assisi was given the abandoned Mount Alverna by a generous donor for his prayer and meditation… I rely on and believe in this Universal Principle. “LORD… who may live on your holy mountain?” (Psalm 15:1).
I hope I have answered some of your important questions in the introduction to this website.
Vision of the hermitage revival in the Czech Republic.
I have a vision. I see hundreds and thousands of young Czech men and perhaps even women wearing a brown or green cowl made with their own hands, maybe even an orange robe. I see them leaving this civilization and the company of their neighbours for the solitude of the border mountains or the highlands in the interior. I see them looking for abandoned mountain chapels, which there are thousands of in the Czech lands, I see them settling in there and becoming creatures of fairy tales. Hermits, shamans… strangers in the eyes of other people, who live in solitude in sacred places, in oak groves, in prehistoric hillforts, in caves and by forest springs. They are people who have given up their roles and ambitions in this grey joyless world to dedicate their lives to the greatest adventure which is the Spiritual Journey. I see them wandering aimlessly in the forests, talking to flowers, making friends with butterflies, praying among the trees, meditating on mountain tops, singing sacred chants and practising their spiritual exercises… and God bestows His graces upon them for the sincerity of their desire, guiding and protecting them, as He does anyone who has the courage to trust their heart and follow His call. Many return to the human world in time, richer in valuable experience, but some endure the pressure of loneliness and become initiates of the greatest spiritual mysteries. They become mystics in the highest and purest sense of the word, they become holy men and women who have purified their hearts and souls from the powers of darkness and who have glimpsed the deepest Mysteries of God. They will write poems for their kith and kin, and people will seek them for advice and for words of wisdom and comfort, for no one understands the mysteries of life better than the one who has perfectly understood the Self. And the best school of self-knowledge is the life of a lonely hermit. It is a difficult path, but those who are drawn to it by God from deep within would not trade it for anything in the world. They will enjoy a simple life in harmony with the whole Universe. A small backpack with all their belongings in it will do just fine. They will work just enough to defend their position of independence. It is true that they will break the laws of this society, but only because they are governed by Higher Laws, and so they will light a fire in the forest and go freely off the road, and they will fall asleep quietly under the treetops and wake up under the dome of the caves. They will not fight the world, for the world is sufficiently illuminated by their mere existence. And they will be as innocent as butterflies and so kind that even their opponents, officials, gamekeepers and conservationists will end up liking them. A hermit in the forest will become a prestigious affair, as their presence in the forest will become an ecological indicator of a clean, intact and harmonious environment. For a hermit’s heart is extremely sensitive to any kind of pollution and therefore cannot live in just any place. And so all the gamekeepers will compete in offering the most attractive hermitage sites to attract hermits to their forests. And these will all be the most captivating and breathtaking places still left in the Czech lands: by waterfalls and mountain lakes, in the clouds among the mountain pine trees, in lost caves and at important prehistoric archaeological sites, so everyone will have their pick and everyone will get only the best…
The city of Brno in the Czech Republic, where I live.
|
SWAMI GYANESHWARPURI POUSTEVNÍK
