Swami Bodhichitananda Saraswati is a Kriya Yoga Acharya, authorized to give Initiation into Kriya Yoga. Swamiji has lived in the Indian Himalayas since 1991 and is founder of Himalayan Hermitage Eco-Ashram, near to Rishikesh, India. He received his monastic vows as a Swami from Sri Swami Chidananda Saraswati, President of The Divine Life Society, Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh in November, 1999. He was a monk at Self-Realization Fellowship, founded by Paramahansa Yogananda from 1987 to 1991, then came to India and joined Sivananda Ashram for 12 years. His Kriya Yoga Guru is Swami Jnanananda Giri, who walked to India in 1952 after reading Autobiography of a Yogi, and was a monk in Yogoda Satsanga Society, the Kriya Yoga Ashram of Paramahansa Yogananda in India, and after 1963 lived in seclusion and as a wandering Yogi in the Himalayas. Swami Jnanananda directed Swami Bodhichitananda to Initiate qualified students into Kriya Yoga in 2003.