What is Traditional
Kundalini Science?

What is PKYC?

Is PKYC right for me?

PKYC Director/Guide

Our Lineage

Testimonials

Bri. Joan Shivarpita Harrigan, Ph.D. Director, PKYC-USA

Having practiced, studied, and taught Raja yoga and Advaita Vedanta for almost thirty years, Joan has been tutored in Traditional Kundalini Science since being initiated as a brahmacharini (monastic) in the Shankaracharya tradition in 1987. She is the designated successor in the lineage of Traditional Kundalini Science specialists represented by Swami Chandrasekharanand Saraswati and is the author of Kundalini Vidya, The Science of Spiritual Transformation. Her doctoral dissertation investigated the effects of Hatha yoga asanas and diaphragmatic breath awareness on stress.

Swami Chandrasekharanand Saraswati – Director, PKYC-India

Ordained a monk in the Adi Shankaracharya order in India in 1956, Swamiji has over forty years' experience researching the teachings and methods for guiding Kundalini process. He supplemented his special instruction in oral tradition commentaries with intensive scripture study and by gathering spiritual methods throughout India. Versed in Raja yoga, Advaita Vedanta, Ayurveda, and Sanskrit and Tamil texts, Swamiji is the living representative authorized by a lineage of Kundalini specialists with an intact oral tradition over five hundred years old and an ageless inner tradition. A repository of spiritual knowledge both ancient and modern, his outlook is universal and practical. Swamiji resides in Rishikesh, India.

Their story
Bri. Shivarpita (Joan Harrigan) met Swami Chandrasekharanand Saraswati in Rishikesh, India while she was on pilgrimage and retreat there in 1986. The Saraswati order, in which Joan and Swamiji are ordained, specializes in preserving Sanatana Dharma, the knowledge of the Veda. Saraswati is the Vedic goddess of learning, language, and culture. The monastic order is one of ten founded by Shankaracharaya, the great revitalizer of Vedanta in seventh century India who made profound commentaries on the Brahma Sutra, the principal Upanisads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Yoga Sutra and who authored many important texts.

Swamiji (a title of respect and endearment for Vedic monks) was born in Tamil Nadu in 1930. After completing his education and initial work life, he took vows of renunciation in 1956 at the age of 27 from his master, Swami Bodhanand Saraswati. Swami Bodhanand had masters degrees in Sanskrit and in Ayurveda and instructed Swamiji in Ayurveda, Sanskrit texts, and Kundalini Vidya, the teachings of his spiritual lineage. His master was Swami Krishnanand. All are in the lineage of Gomutigiri Maharaja, who founded the Gurukula (place of study with the master) of the lineage at Kalishwara Mahadev temple in Himachel Pradesh near the Beas River in the Himalayan Mountains of Northern India. This spot has been a holy site from at least the time of the Ramayana and is where Gomutigiri was bestowed the lineage teachings inwardly upon finding and meditating before an ancient Siva linga that is revered there to this day.

Swamiji found Bodhananda Maharaj after becoming a beggar and searching eight months for a master. When Bodhananda finally accepted Swamiji as his student, he initiated him and instructed him to do intense practice in the forest by the Ganges in the foothills of the Himalayas. Swamiji also studied the Vedic scriptures in Rishikesh, developing a special interest in Patanjali, compiler of the Yoga Sutras and author of treatises on Sanskrit grammar and the Ayurvedic health system. Upon completing his spiritual goal at age 33, after sixteen days continuous experience, he wanted to leave the body and merge with the One. But his master told him he must stay in the world for a particular purpose and gave him his spiritual knowledge. Swamiji then withdrew from stable life and became a wandering mendicant. For twenty-five years, he walked the length and breadth of India, providing Ayurvedic services to villagers and learning the unique knowledge of other sadhus. During this time, he was initiated by three great adept (siddha) masters of South India: Kakabhusanda, Tirumular, and Agastya, receiving their inner instruction in the sacred science and being granted adept status himself. Kakabhusanda is a siddha being of light who has seen seven universes. Tirumular is the 7th century Shaivite saint who authored the Tiru Mantiram, a renowned treatise on yoga. Agastya is known for explaining the highly refined Siddha medical system as well as authoring works on grammar and other sciences.

After twice completing his circuit throughout India, Swamiji again settled in Rishikesh. There, according to karmic fate, Joan Shivarpita Harrigan, his mother in a previous life, met him. Swamiji agreed to help guide the seeker, who had been ardently practicing Yoga and Vedanta for ten years while living disengaged from the world. Educated in the Catholic tradition, she developed an early interest in Christian mysticism and Eastern philosophy. She began practicing yoga while in college and completed a doctoral dissertation on the effects of hatha yoga and breath awareness on stress. Widowed in her youth, an experience that deepened her spiritual quest, she contemplated the underlying similarities in the lineages of Jesus and Yoga/Vedanta. Prior to meeting Swamiji, she had been doing regular spiritual study and practice while offering some spiritual instruction and counsel but was not satisfied with her level of spiritual development.

Under Swamiji's spiritual guidance, the block in her process was quickly removed, and she was blessed with initiation by the Great Master, Kakabhusanda. Receiving the spiritual name Shivarpita, the brahmacharini (renounced initiate) was accepted as Swamiji's disciple according to the Great Master's directive, and has been trained as heir to the teachings of the lineage ever since. She is the first Westerner to receive the lineage teachings.